Clean Technica

Total funding in the solar energy sector amounted to more than $4.3 billion spread across 66 transactions in the second quarter of 2012, with strong results in venture capital funding, debt funding, and corporate funding in particular, according to a Mercom Capital Group report.

Mercom’s 2Q solar energy market research results are especially encouraging given reports “of solar companies downsizing or going out of business seemingly every day.” That was the case for venture capital (VC) funding in Q2, for example, which at $376 million in 32 transactions was slightly higher than in Q1. The average size of VC investments in the solar energy sector has been dropping consistently since 2010, “with large VC deals becoming rare,” Mercom points out in its “Solar Funding and M&A Q2 2012” report.