Investors eye cleantech IPOs; 19 slated for 2010, 10 more to watch

Investors are showing growing interest in initial public offerings by environmental, "greentech" or "cleantech" companies, according to a new report.
Already, 19 companies have filed to go public, including electric automaker Tesla Motors and alternative energy producer Ameresco in the U.S. and T-Solar Global in Spain.
According to research by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, green companies are on the move.
A few data points:
- Green companies plan to raise $9.6 billion worldwide in 2010.
- That's more than triple the total value of IPOs for the industry in 2009.
- The MSCI World Index of stocks in developed nations surged 80 percent since March 2009.
- Nineteen green companies have announced IPOs since September.
- Twelve of those 19 are from wind or solar businesses.
Cleantech is big business, and several nations -- the U.S., Japan and some in Europe -- have simultaneously tightened emissions regulations and earmarked billions to fund infrastructure modernization and renewable energy projects.
Katie Fehrenbacher at Earth2Tech put together a nice list of 10 greentech firms she believes may make the jump to the public markets this year.
Here's the rundown of all 10, some of which we've previously covered on SmartPlanet:
- Silver Spring Networks (smart grid: wireless networking systems for utilities)
- Zipcar (automotive: car-sharing service and fleet management system)
- Lemnis Lighting(lighting: LED systems)
- BrightSource Energy (energy: solar thermal power for utilities)
- BridgeLux(lighting: LED systems)
- Amyris Biotechnologies (energy: chemicals and biofuels from synthetic organisms)
- Smith Electric Vehicles (automotive: electric trucks and vans for commercial fleets)
- Boston-Power (technology: lithium-ion batteries for laptops and EVs)
- PowerGenix(technology: nickel-zinc batteries for electronics and EVs)
- General Motors (automotive: consumer and commercial vehicles)
Of course, it's all speculation. My bet's on renewable energy. What's yours?
This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com