Accelergy, EnviroTower, Solar EnerTech, Western GeoPower, and GO Ethanol

• Accelergy, a catalytic materials discovery and commercialization firm, has closed a Series B of undisclosed size. [PE Week Wire reported today that the round size was $25mm] The round was led by Goldman Sachs, with new investors Sequoia Capital China and Lux Capital, plus existing investors Nth Power, Technology Partners, Mobius VC and Advent International all participated as well.
  

• Cooling tower water purification system developer EnviroTower has announced an $8.5mm (Canadian?) Series C co-led by NGEN and existing investor XPV Capital. Cooling towers are a surprisingly large user of water supplies.

• Solar EnerTech raised a $5.6mm private placement ($5.1mm of equity, $0.5mm of convertible debentures). The Shanghai-based solar PV manufacturer will use the funds to help complete their manufacturing facility. Knight Capital Markets participated in the transaction. Also of note, Solarfun, another Chinese solar manufacturer, filed for a $162mm IPO recently.

• Geothermal project developer Western GeoPower announced the "negotiation" of a C$2.5mm private placement. The capital will go toward their San Francisco-area project at The Geysers Geothermal Field.
  

• Paladin Capital Group has led a $145mm debt and equity financing of GO Ethanol, a developer of ethanol production facilities in Ohio ("Greater Ohio" = GO) and surrounding areas. SunTrust, Robinson, Humphrey led the debt portion of the financing.
  

• London-based Environmental Technologies Fund announced that their first fund has raised $66mm for deployment into cleantech venture capital. The company claims to be the first European cleantech VC fund backed exclusively by institutional investors, and they are specifically targeting expansion-stage investments.

Other news and notes: Good news for nanotech investors -- a recent survey indicates that consumers are willing to tolerate some risks if it means real benefits... Cleantech investors drawn to the potential investment opportunities in broadband over powerline (BPL) should be aware of this ongoing debate... VCs have taken "a particular shine" to cleantech investments, apparently... Finally, there continues to be a lot of strong talk around various alternative fuels. First, there's this algae vs soybean biofuels "smackdown" (??). Then this argument that a hydrogen economy will never "make sense." Also, there's this interesting interview with Lee Lynd of Mascoma, promoting cellulosic ethanol. But in the end, these are all different ways at achieving the same thing -- moving vehicles around. And cost per mile will be the end determinant, no matter what arguments people make right now ahead of the results.