World Energy Buys Northeast Energy, Moves Deeper Into Efficiency

Worcester, MA-based World Energy Solutions (NASDAQ: [[ticker:XWES]]) said today it has acquired Northeast Energy Solutions, an energy efficiency firm based in Cromwell, CT. The purchase price is about $4.75 million in cash, stock, a promissory note, and potential earn-outs.

This is the second acquisition in as many months for World Energy, which has been moving strongly into the energy efficiency market. In September, the company bought the energy procurement business of Co-eXprise, an enterprise software firm. Back in March, World Energy said it had invested in a seed financing round for Retroficiency, a Boston-based energy-efficiency software startup.

World Energy specializes in energy management services, such as the demand response market, in which utilities pay factories, stores, and municipalities to curtail their energy use during peak demand times. The company is led by CEO Richard Domaleski.

Author: Gregory T. Huang

Greg is a veteran journalist who has covered a wide range of science, technology, and business. As former editor in chief, he overaw daily news, features, and events across Xconomy's national network. Before joining Xconomy, he was a features editor at New Scientist magazine, where he edited and wrote articles on physics, technology, and neuroscience. Previously he was senior writer at Technology Review, where he reported on emerging technologies, R&D, and advances in computing, robotics, and applied physics. His writing has also appeared in Wired, Nature, and The Atlantic Monthly’s website. He was named a New York Times professional fellow in 2003. Greg is the co-author of Guanxi (Simon & Schuster, 2006), about Microsoft in China and the global competition for talent and technology. Before becoming a journalist, he did research at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. He has published 20 papers in scientific journals and conferences and spoken on innovation at Adobe, Amazon, eBay, Google, HP, Microsoft, Yahoo, and other organizations. He has a Master’s and Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT, and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.