Siemens VC arm buys stake in waste heat recovery co.

Munich, Germany-based Siemens Venture Capital said yesterday it plans to take a minority stake in Pune, India-based Transparent Energy Systems.

Transparent Energy Systems, which provides waste heat recovery systems, is the 12th energy and environmental technologies company in which Siemens has invested. Transparent Energy Systems said it plans to use the new capital to expand operations. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

"The field of energy and environmental technologies is highly attractive for venture capital investors," said Ralf Schnell, the CEO of Siemens Venture Capital, in a news release. "Despite the difficult overall business environment, we will continue to see attractive growth rates in the area of green technologies."

According to Siemens Venture Capital, with the recent acquisition more than 30 percent of the companies in its portfolio are active in environmental technologies. The parent company, Siemens (NYSE:SI), said it generates about a quarter of its revenue, or €19 billion ($26.4 billion) in fiscal year 2008, from products in the company’s environmental portfolio.

Another Asian company working in the waste heat recovery systems space is Shanghai’s China Energy Recovery, which has technology that uses industrial waste to generate low-cost electrical power. In doing so, industrial manufacturers are able to reduce their energy costs, shrink their emissions footprints and generate sellable emissions credits (see Advocating an energy efficiency thrust).

Thermal Energy International of Ottawa, Canada, which provides custom energy, emissions reduction, and bioenergy products, manufactures its FLU-ACE waste heat recovery technology for boilers and dryers (see New steam recovery process trialed in China).