Financing Energy Innovation: The Need for New Intermediaries in Clean Energy
Name
sustainability-12-10440-v2.pdf
Size
2 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
0ccddda37836cab2a9ab7b0699cc81ad
Author(s)
In, Soh Young
Monk, Ashby H. B.
Knox, Janelle K
Date Issued
December 2020
Journal
Sustainability
Publisher
MDPI AG
Citation
In, Soh Young et al. "Financing Energy Innovation: The Need for New Intermediaries in Clean Energy." Sustainability 12, 24 (December 2020): 10440 © 2020 The Authors
Version
Final published version
Abstract
This study aims to advance the understanding of and address the valley of death that is significantly widening in the clean energy domain due to its financing challenges. We conduct a case study on three new investment vehicles in the US energy sector (First Look Fund by Activate, Prime Impact Fund by Prime Coalition, and Aligned Climate Capital), which set their missions to contribute to bridging the valley of death in clean energy. While three cases focus on different technological development phases, they raise a consistent point that investment opportunities (and risks) are not assigned to the appropriate investors. We argue that current financial intermediaries have failed to effectively channel funding sources to entrepreneurs, as we evidence network fragmentation and information asymmetries among investor groups and companies. Therefore, we propose three intermediary functions that can facilitate intelligent and effective information flow among investors throughout the entire energy technology development cycle. Our findings highlight the emergence of collaborative platforms as critical pillars to address financing issues among new energy ventures.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.3390/su122410440
