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Finance & Investment This week Ex-SSE chief boosts Powervault funding Ian Marchant is a member of Green Angel Syn- dicate, which has backed the energy storage firm Former SSE chief executive Ian Marchant is among new investors in energy storage company Powervault, which hit its £750,000 funding target just seven days aer launch and is now "over-funding". Powervault said it had secured further investment from Green Angel Syndicate – the only specialist cleantech investor in the UK – which has pledged £195,000 via crowdfunding platform Crowdcube. The group includes Marchant, who is also an adviser to demand-side response firm Upside Energy – which secured a total of £545,000 seed funding from Clearly So last month to expand its management team and run a pilot project with National Grid. Powervault has also secured £200,000 – its largest single investment – from venture capital firm Future Matters, which invests in early-stage companies operat- ing in cleantech and digital technology industries. At the time of going to press, Powervault had raised £897,370 from 368 investors – 119 per cent of its target – with 15 days le for further investment. Its first fundrais- ing campaign broke a world record in 2014 by raising £150,000 of seed funding in just eight hours. The company launched the second generation of its energy storage system late last month, to prepare for the introduction of smart tariffs. It said the new system will extend the benefits of cheap power already experienced by customers with solar and Economy 7 tariffs by charg- ing automatically when power is cheap and storing the energy for use at peak times. LV ELECTRICITY Second Chinese company still plans to buy Hinkley stake The China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) is still plan- ning to buy a stake in Hinkley Point C, according to one of its senior officials. China General Nuclear (CGN) signed an agreement with EDF in October to take a 33.5 per cent share of the £18 billion nuclear project. CNNC did not buy a stake, despite being involved in the preceding discussions. However, a senior official at the company, Xie Jiajie, told the Telegraph it still plans to do so once a final investment decision has been made: "We decided it would not be good for two large Chinese companies to hold stra- tegic discussions with EDF. That is why we asked CGN to hold discussions on behalf of CNNC. "The final proposal is for the Chinese to take a 33.5 per cent stake in the project. But this will be a combination of CGN and CNNC. We haven't yet decided what percentage we are going to invest." WATER Tideway Tunnel an 'expensive folly' Critics of London's super sewer, the Thames Tideway Tunnel, have claimed it is an "outdated and expensive folly", which is not needed to maintain the Tideway's water quality. The Thames Blue Green Economy (TBGE) group – a coalition of water industry experts, engineers, academics, politicians and environmental representatives – has insisted construction of the tunnel must be stopped and alternatives put in place, "before more damage is done and more time and money is wasted". A spokesman for Thames Water said: "The tunnel is urgently needed to prevent tens of millions of tonnes of raw sewage polluting the tidal River Thames every year." RENEWABLES UK's investment attractiveness slides The attractiveness of the UK as a destination for renewable energy investment has plummeted again, because a "non-commit- tal approach" to energy policy and uncertainty surrounding the role of renewables in the future energy mix undermine the sector's appeal to investors, EY analysts have warned. EY's latest Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index, published on Tuesday, has revealed that the UK has slipped to an all-time low of 13th place among the 40 most attractive renewable energy markets globally – down from 12th in September 2015. Marchant: backing energy tech start-ups UTILITY WEEK | 13TH - 19TH MAY 2016 | 15 Stock watch Shares in Centrica plunged almost 10 per cent on Thursday aer the company announced the unexpected sale of 350 million new shares at 200p each. They finished the day trading at 208p aer closing at 230.7p the day before. The company's overall market value dropped by more than £400 million to around £11.4 billion. The £700 million raised will be used to pay down debts and fund acquisitions. CENTRICA SHARE PRICE, FIVE DAYS 5 May CENTRICA SHARE PRICE, THREE MONTHS 240 220 200 180 Mar 2016 Apr 2016 May 2016 pence pence 240 230 220 210 200 6 May 9 May 10 May