Cleantech continues to be a hot investment area, with venture investments matching the last 2010 quarter at $2.04 billion and up 43 percent over a year ago in Q2 2010, with a resurgence in solar leading the parade, according to The Cleantech Group.

The number of deals recorded in 2Q10 was down from a record high of 192 in 1Q10, but still represents a strong quarter by historic standards.

“In spite of the persistence of wider concerns about the strength and sustainability of the global recovery, the strong flow of investment dollars to cleantech growth companies has continued in 2Q10, with cleantech venture investment in the first half of 2010 edging slightly ahead of the record total recorded during the first half of 2008 [$4.04 billion versus $4.02 billion],” said Richard Youngman, head of global research at the Cleantech Group.

“Key to this has been the resurgence of solar, and a high volume of follow-on rounds, including many blockbuster deals, which are, in part, a response to the lackluster and unpredictable state of the cleantech IPO market. Goldwind and Solyndra’s recent IPO withdrawals have been the norm of late, and Tesla’s trend-bucking triumph the exception.”

Corporate activity around cleantech innovation has continued to play an important role in maintaining the levels of investment activity. Corporations are becoming key participants in many of the largest venture and growth capital investment rounds.

“The significant strengthening of corporate and utility investment into the cleantech sector, relative to 2009, is very encouraging, given the key role they will play in enabling broader adoption of clean technologies at scale,” said Scott Smith, partner, Deloitte & Touche and Deloitte’s clean tech leader in the United States.

“Major U.S. utilities are increasing direct investments in wind and solar due to improving cost scenarios, favorable tax credits and incentives, and evolving pressure to meet Renewable Portfolio Standards. Meanwhile, the largest global companies are seeing the business case for operational cleantech integration, leading to record corporate investment. ”

The leading sector in the quarter by amount invested was solar ($811 million), followed by biofuels ($302 million) and smart grid ($256 million). Energy efficiency was the most popular sector measured by number of deals, with 31 funding rounds, ahead of solar (26 deals) and biofuels (13 deals).