IBT Partners has specialised knowledge in the cleantech sector and provides financial, business and technical consultancy services.

The cleantech* sector has specific challenges that need appropriate expertise. Our know-how helps you achieve your international business and trade development goals. We offer you sector-specific knowledge, as well as our contacts and opportunities for networking.

Our services and solutions are tailored to the needs of each of our customers, please see Government and Corporate for more detailed information.

Read more about the cleantech sector:

• Background
• Current challenges
• Opportunities

Cleantech background information

Clean technology is a growing and developping sector characterised by significant innovations. These are often initiated by the private sector, but founded by the public sector, such as cheap debt from China, European deals for off-shore wind energy, feed-in tarrifs for solar, or regulations enhancing the developmet of smart grids. The sector is driven by factors including resource scarcity notably for oil, rare earth elements, water, and the need for energy independence, greater efficiencies and climate change¹. 

Cleantech does not only comprise renewable energy, but also other environment-friendly technologies, including those preventing air, water and soil pollution, recycling and waste disposal technologies, biofuels, and green technologies such as vehicle electrification, or energy-saving appliences.

Current challenges in the cleantech sector

Cleantech legislation brings challenges to non-cleantech businesses. Regulations that would minimise pollution and energy waste are increasingly imposed at both national and international levels. This is a threat to many businesses as it requires higher investments in cleantech, thus reducing margins. However numerous companies turned this adverse situation into their advantage by basing their marketing strategies on values such as envioronmental protection and sustainable development.

Cleantech businesses are sometimes victims of their own success. Reduced prices for solar panels and wind turbines are beneficial for the development of the cleantech sector, but put a break on margins for companies engaged in the equipment production.  incur decreased share prices for companies engaged in the equipment production. Going forward, funding these private innovative companies looks harder as several high profile IPOs have stumbled.    

Opportunities in the cleantech sector

In order to keep pace with developments in the cleantech sector, it is important to have access to actual, accurate and complete information and in-depth expertise. We will help you to address all important issues, including trends, key success factors, advances and innovations, supply and demand development, operational and financial risks, benchmarking, as well as regulations and opportunities for funds and grants.

Some of the key opportunities and trends in the cleantech industry include:

• Renewable energy

  → Read more about opportunities in the renewable energy sector.

• Efficiency 

  → Efficiency (material usage efficiency and energy efficiency) will remain the dominant sector for investments, as investors seek out for less capital intensive deals. The success of the sector will also reflect increasing prices of commodity materials, where recycling will become a major issue. Even though the efficiency sector has registered most deals (151), the total amount of investments was higher in the solar sector and transportation, sectors that are more capital intenstive. ¹

• Drop-in biofuels

  → Rising oil prices are necessitating new solutions that will considerably benefit the cleantech sector. "Drop-in" biofuels which use bacteria or yeast to create chemically similar counterparts will increasingly replace diesel, jet fuel, butanol or bio natural gas.¹

• Role of MNCs

  → Many multinationals around the world operating within the energy, petro-chemical or technology industry are starting to invest invest and acquire within the cleantech sector for growth.¹

• E-waste laws

  → Stricter regulation on the disposal of electronic waste is expected to be launched in Europe, thus leading to new enviornmentaly friendly waste disposal technology.

• Stock prices

  → Even though some publicly traded cleantech stocks have disappointed, there remain numerous high flyers with some star performers since their IPOs. Specifically companies who are engaged in battery membrane technology, organic light-emitting devices, LED supply, inverter manufacturing or efficient motor manufacturing.¹  

• VC investments

  → Numerous investments made by venture capitalists in cleantech by the end of 2010 predict similar development for the future. The major cleantech deals included Abound Solar raising $110 million, Opower raising $50 million and Europlasma raising € 25 million. ¹

• Desalination development

  → A shortage of drinking water and stricter wastewater discharge regulations will push the cleantech sector to innovate in desalination technologies.

• Green buildings

  → Green incentives will encourage investments in passive housing.

• Hybrid vehicles

  → Vehicle electrification will require contribution from the cleantech sector not only in the engine and battery development, but also in building a new infrastructure.

• Batteries

  → Lithium-ion batteries will increasingly replace Ni-MH batteries.

• Expanding subsectors

  → Development in the cloud computing based energy products, building controls, scheduling technologies, power electronics and smart-grid oriented products are expected.²

* Cleantech stands for clean technology

1) Fried, R. 2011.Cleantech Trends Strong for 2011. Online at: http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.feature/id/1880/page/1

2) Kuo, I. 2010. What to watch for in cleantech in 2011: companies, IPOs and trends. Online at: http://venturebeat.com/2010/12/10/predictions-green-cleantech-energytech-ipos-2011-venture-capital/

Contact us

If you would like to know more about our cleantech sector expertise, please contact us at
clean@ibtpartners.com
for additional information.