Energy Investors Funds has promoted eight of its senior staff. Mitch Coddington and Mark Segel have been promoted to senior partner from partner. Keith Derman, Warren MacGillivray, Andrew Pike, Cam Reese, Jose Torres-Monllor and Mark Voccola have been promoted to partner from senior vice president.

Energy Investors Funds‘ United States Power Fund IV has completed the acquisition of two operating hydroelectric projects, Allegheny 8 and Allegheny 9 in partnership with Northbrook Energy. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Hudson Transmission Partners, which is developing the Hudson Transmission project, has closed on $850 million in debt and equity. Energy Investors Funds and Starwood Energy Group Global are providing equity financing, while the debt is coming from a consortium of institutional investors through a private placement arranged by SG Americas Securities and RBS Securities. The funds will be used to finance the Hudson Transmission project, an underground and underwater cable between New Jersey and Manhattan.

Energy Investors Funds has snagged a remaining 20% interest in Calypso Energy Holdings, and now owns 100% of the company. Calypso Energy is a portfolio of 12 power generation projects, and Energy Investors Funds initially bought an 80% stake in the company in late 2007. Terms of the latest deal were not released.

Landfill Energy Systems, which is backed by Energy Investors Funds, has acquired Innovative Energy Systems. Oakfield, New York-based Innovative Energy Systems owns and operates a portfolio of nearly a dozen landfill gas-to-energy projects located in New York and Vermont. Formed in 1987, Energy Investors Funds are focused on the independent power and electric utility industry. The firm has offices in Boston, New York and San Francisco.

Energy Investors Funds and NTE Energy LLC have formed a joined venture to develop, build and operate large-scale hybrid renewable energy facilities in the U.S. No financial terms were disclosed.

Energy Investors Funds has sold the Glen Park Hydroelectric Project to Fort Chicago Energy Partners for $80.1 million. Glen Park is a 33-megawatt hydroelectric generation facility near Watertown, New York.

Energy Investors Funds has acquired the largest equity stake in Astoria Energy II LLC, a company created to develop, construct, own and operate a new natural gas-fired power plant in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens. No financial terms were disclosed.

Energy Investors Funds has acquired Watertown Renewable Power LLC, a 30-megawatt biomass power project currently under development in Watertown, Connecticut. The seller was Tamarack Energy Inc. No financial terms were disclosed.

The latest issue of Venture Capital Journal is out and I’ve got a free story for non-subscribers. Entitled “Project financiers now on speed dial,” the story looks at how cleantech companies have been squeezed by the economic downturn and credit crunch. A lot of these venture-backed companies, like solar companies and biofuel makers, need big investments to scale up. And they can’t go back to their VCs because – except for a handful of new cleantech growth funds – most venture firms just can’t write checks of that size.

This is where project financiers like John Buehler of Energy Investors Funds come in. After Buehler recently put $60 million into a $160 million debt and equity round for Solar Power Partners