Total S.A. (TOT, FP.FR) is increasing its clean technology venture investing in Europe and North America , as it seeks to diversify outside of oil, according to a senior official at the French company.

Paris-based Total's venture arm already made two direct investments in U.S. start-ups--recently backing cellulosic ethanol company Coskata Inc. and previously investing in biofuels start-up Gevo Inc.

"We've started with our corporate venture arm at the end of 2008. It's quite a young activity. We're ramping it up," said Manoelle Lepoutre, senior vice president of sustainable development and environment at Total, and president of Total Energy Ventures International.

The company also invested in Chrysalix Ventures, a Canadian clean technology venture capital firm that is funneling deals to Total, said Lepoutre, who said Total has looked at more than 200 deals so far, evaluated in detail about 20, and is working actively on three or four.

"We do look at all kinds of new energy technologies," she said, not just biofuels. Total, for example, is interested in energy-efficiency companies that could help the company reduce its own consumption, as well as in waste treatment and reduction, such as those involved with water management.

Total is aiming to invest in the range of between $5 million and $10 million, taking minority stakes in companies that are "pre-commercial," she said.

The interest in corporate venturing stemmed from Total's larger view on the world's energy markets. "We are convinced that the demand in energy will grow drastically all over the world. Today the part of fossil fuels is around 80%. We do believe that this part will be lower in 2030, around 75%," said Lepoutre. The idea is to keep an eye out on the emerging clean technologies.

While Total is doing some of its renewable energy development--it has numerous interests in the solar industry--the venture arm's investments do not automatically translate into licensing or other larger industrial deals, according to Lepoutre.

Speaking of Coskata's technology, for example, Lepoutre said: "At this stage we don't have specific detailed applications in our [company], but we know that it fits globally in our strategy."

Lepoutre said the investment in Coskata would help the company commercialize its technology. Coskata already has a demonstration plant in Madison , Pa. , and is planning its first commercial facility in the Southeast to process biomass into biofuels.

Διαβάστε ακόμα