From today’s Houston Chronicle:

As hot as the alternative energy sector is, the international credit crunch coupled with falling oil prices could squeeze investment, particularly for startup companies, an analyst said Thursday.
“The concept of alternative energy has a lot of momentum,” said Dan Pickering, head of research for Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Securities in Houston. “But lower oil prices make it harder to justify investment. At $50 a barrel, a lot of that investment will die.”
But even if oil doesn’t fall that far amid global economic woes, access to capital for new ventures is tough to get despite the sector’s political popularity, Pickering said after giving a presentation at an alternative energy forum sponsored by Ernst & Young.
“This is an environment where existing companies have an advantage,” he said. “Wall Street risk tolerance is going down.”
This year’s triple-digit oil prices, which reached a record close of $145.29 on July 3, have fallen more than 40 percent amid economic worries, the financial crisis and sharply reduced demand in the U.S. and elsewhere. On Thursday crude closed down $2.36 at $86.59 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Joseph Muscat, Americas director of venture capital and cleantech for Ernst & Young, noted that the $700 billion bailout package passed by Congress last week included renewals of subsidies and tax credits for wind, solar and biofuels. Such incentives in the U.S. and elsewhere “are here to stay,” he said.
But Muscat concurred that the credit crisis will squeeze new companies.
New initial public offerings came to a halt in July, he said, while credit markets have gone cold and private equity investors have become pickier.
But financing for new innovations should pick up as the markets stabilize, he said.