Intel puts more cash into cleantech

China's renewable energy industry has received its first investments from Intel Capital, with the group announcing deals today with a thin-film solar company and an energy storage firm.

Intel Capital, the investment arm of Santa Clara, Calif.-based chipmaker Intel (Nasdaq: INTC), put up $20 million in funding for Shenzen's Trony Solar Holdings and invested an undisclosed amount in Beijing-based NP Holdings, marking its first two cleantech investments in China.

In April, Intel Capital established its second China Technology Fund, a $500 million fund dedicated to Chinese technology startups, including environmentally friendly technologies. Intel Capital said that one non-cleantech company is also getting an undisclosed investment, China's Viewhigh, a software product and service provider for the country's healthcare industry.

Trony, founded in 1993, focuses on amorphous silicon, or A-Si, photovoltaic power generation systems, A-Si solar curtain walls, and A-Si solar cells. The company has 40,000 square meters of manufacturing space, with a current production capacity of 35 megawatts. Some of Intel Capital's funding will go toward Trony's plans to expand its capacity to 105 MW in early 2009.

NP Holdings works on the research and development of massive electric energy storage equipment with a wide range of applications. The company has developed applications in peak shaving, time shifting, load leveling, infrastructure upgrade deferral, distribution generation, back-up power, remote area power systems, energy efficiency management, and electric vehicle batteries.

While these are the first two cleantech fundings for Intel Capital in China, there are likely to be more in the future.

"If there are opportunities to accelerate green innovation and reduce dependency, then Intel Capital will certainly evaluate it," Christine Dotts, a spokeswoman for Intel, told the Cleantech Group.

Intel Capital did not say how many companies it's targeting with its second China Technology Fund, but over the past 10 years, the group said it's invested in more than 80 companies across mainland China and Hong Kong. And nearly 30 Chinese companies received investments from Intel Capital's first China Technology Fund, a $200 million fund.

According to the most recent data from Intel Capital, the group has invested a significant amount of its capital in companies based outside of North America. For the first half of this year, Intel Capital poured approximately 61 percent of its dollars into foreign companies. The numbers for the latest quarter are already approaching that percentage, with about 56 percent of the group's cash going into companies outside of North America for the third quarter.

Today's deals follow a string of cleantech investments from Intel Capital over the past few months.

In June, Intel announced that it would spin off its solar assets to form an independent photovoltaic cell maker called SpectraWatt, with Intel Capital leading a $50 million investment round in the new solar company (see Intel Inside solar cells: mixed bag?).

Other investors in that deal include Cogentrix Energy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Goldman Sachs; PCG Clean Energy and Technology Fund; and solar module manufacturer Solon.

In July, Intel Capital led an €84 million round of financing for Berlin-based thin-film developer Sulfurcell (see Thin film pulls in a crowd). For Sulfercell, Intel Capital said it would invest €24 million, with Climate Change Capital Private Equity, AIG, Demeter Partners, zouk ventures and BankInvest putting in €38 million. The rest of the round came from existing investors.

Sulfurcell makes thin-film solar modules using copper indium gallium selenide, or CIGS, technology, instead of polysilicon.

Intel Capital has also invested $12.5 million in Branchburg, N.J.-based Voltaix, which makes materials for semiconductor and solar cell manufacturing, and an undisclosed amount in San Francisco's Grid Net, a smart grid software company.