Clean Energy Initiative

Invite: Monday, June 27th - The Speed of Solar - A Look at the Progress Solar Power Is Making

On Monday June 27th, NDN/NPI will be hosting a Clean Energy Solution Series Event on "The Speed of Solar."

 Solar Panels

Please join us at 12:00 pm for an insider discussion of the ascent and maturation of solar technology, The Speed of Solar:  A Review of the Tremendous Progress Solar Power Has Made in America.  This lunchtime discussion will highlight this growth and feature Danny Kennedy, founder of Sungevity, the fastest growing solar company in the US, Andrea Luecke, Executive Director of The Solar Foundation, and Rachel Tronstein, Clean Energy Advisor in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy.  

Please RSVP soon.  If you are not able to attend, please join us via webcast by simply clicking here at 12:00pm.

This event is the second in a series of events we are calling the “Clean Energy Solution Series.”  Our intent is to showcase the leaders, companies, ideas and policies who are hastening our transition to a cleaner, safer and more distributed energy paradigm of the 21st century.   If you have suggestions for future events please contact me at cgiesen@ndn.org.

Has Solar Gained Grid Parity?

At a luncheon yesterday hosted by the New America Foundation, Thomas Dinwoodie, founder of SunPower, and Daniel Shugar of Solaria, argued that the cost of solar power had come down enough to make it competitive with nuclear power, new natural gas plants, and even new coal plants.

"It has already happened. Solar is competitive," said Mr. Dinwoodie, of SunPower, the founder of the second largest US solar company.  Solar costs have fallen sharply in the last few years, because of increased production and technological advances. "Solar is ramping down in cost where it is competitive with all these other forms of energy," Dinwoodie said.

He said the cost of solar power, currently 13.9 cents a kilowatt hour, would fall to 7 cents a kilowatt hour by 2020, according to the department of energy.  That would put solar prices in the range, or even cheaper, than conventional energy sources, he said.

The Federal government tax credit subsidies cover up to 30% of the cost of new projects. In California, with its expanded Renewable Portfolio Program is asking for one third of its electricity from renewable power. These help to put solar panels across the rooftops of homes and retain merchants. 

O Monday, June 27 at 12:00 pm, we will host an event reviewing the recent rapid ascent and maturation of solar technology, The Speed of Solar:  How Rapidly Growing Solar Technologies are gaining Grid Parity.  This lunchtime discussion feature Danny Kennedy, founder of Sungevity, the fastest growing solar company in the US, Andrea Luecke, Executive Director of The Solar Foundation, and Rachel Tronstein, Clean Energy Advisor in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy.  Please join us for what will be a terrific event. 

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Clean Energy Solution Series - The Speed of Solar: A Review of the Tremendous Progress Solar Power Has Made in America

NDN's Clean Energy Solution Series

Monday’s panel on the progress of solar energy was illuminating.  No longer a cottage industry selling to the wealthy in the state of CA, solar energy is now mainstream and viable in almost every state. 

There is no better example than Sungevity, a company founded by Danny Kennedy, which focuses exclusively on residential solar installation. His company is active in 8 states: California, Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, Colorado, Arizona, Massachusetts, and New York.  You can either purchase your system or work with Sungevity for a customizable lease program.  His presentation, ‘The Sun Also Rises’ made a compelling case for solar energy as a mainstream source of energy. 

Andrea Luecke, Director of the Solar Foundation, made the point that solar PV has increased by 73% since 2000.  At the same time, the cost of PV has decreased by over 20% while the number jobs in the solar industry have grown at a rate of 26%. 

Rachel Tronstein, a Senior Advisor for Energy Efficiency at the Department of Energy, presented DOE’s SunShot program.  The goal of SunShot is to reduce the cost of solar PV by 75% by 2020. Reducing the total installed cost for utility-scale solar electricity to roughly 6 cents per kilowatt hour without subsidies will result in rapid, large-scale adoption of solar electricity across the United States.  In doing so, solar will be cost competitive with fossil energy.

Danny Kennedy

Danny Kennedy - Founder, Sungevity

A long-time social entrepreneur, Danny has achieved global recognition as an environmental activist, spokesperson, and opinion leader. Most recently, Danny was the Campaigns Manager for Greenpeace Australia Pacific. In 2001, he ran Greenpeace’s California Clean Energy Campaign, the success of which helped lead to the current California Solar Initiative. Danny was the founder and first Executive Director of Project Underground and serves on several nonprofit boards.

 

Andrea Luecke - Acting Executive Director, The Solar Foundation

Andrea Luecke is responsible for developing and implementing national educational initiatives and high-level research that promote the widespread adoption of solar energy. Ms. Luecke played a key role in authoring and releasing the National Solar Jobs Census 2010 and is currently playing a leadership role on two long-term U.S. Department of Energy programs: Solar America Communities and the Solar Instructor Training Network. Ms. Luecke is regularly asked to present on practical "best practice" approaches to widespread solar deployment at the national and international levels. View Powerpoint here.

 

Rachel Tronstein - Clean Energy Advisor in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). View Powerpoint here.

In this role she focuses on how to make renewables cost competitive with traditional forms of electricity in the near term. She joined the DOE in early 2009, first working in the Policy International Office with an emphasis on U.S.-China clean energy cooperation. Before coming to the DOE, Rachel worked at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York as the Commitments Senior Manager focusing on clean energy. Rachel has an MSc from the London School of Economics, and a BA with Honors from the University of Michigan, where she was President of the undergraduate student body.

Invite: Thur, June 16th - Wireless and the Grid - A Clean Energy Solution Series Event

Please join NDN/NPI on Thursday, June 16, at 12:30pm for what will be a powerful look at "Wireless Technology:  New Technologies and the Electric Grid".  This lunchtime discussion will highlight how wireless communications are creating new innovation opportunities for clean energy technologies and the smart grid.  We will also release new national polling which shows public support for new approaches on energy outside the scope of the current debate. 

Joining my colleagues Dan Carol, Senior Fellow for Innovation and Clean Economy and Michael Moynihan, Chair of NDN's Clean Energy Initiative, are the following set of experts:

Nick Sinai, Senior Advisor to CTO, Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

Stewart Kantor, CEO of Full Spectrum

Kurt Yeager, Executive Director of Galvin Electricity Institute

Ann Shaub, Executive Director Home Management Services

Please RSVP today!

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This event is the first in a series of events we are calling the Clean Energy Solution Series.  Our intent is to showcase the leaders, companies, ideas and policies who are hastening our transition to a cleaner, safer and more distributed energy paradigm of the 21st century.  If you have suggestions, please contact me at cgiesen@ndn.org.

 

 

Hertz to add Electric Vehicles to their Fleet

In the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Room, with Jack Hidary of Hidary Foundation, James Woolsey, Senator Jeff Bingaman (NM) and Congressman Jay Inslee (WA), Hertz announced that they were expanding their Global Electric Vehicle initiative to Washington DC and will add all electric (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric (PHEVs) vehicles, including the Chevy Volt and Nissan LEAF to its Union Station fleet. In doing so, Hertz will be making the next generation of electric vehicles available to the general public through its car sharing operation.

The EV and PHEV Hertz fleet in Washington, D.C. will serve a testing ground for consumers as manufactures ramp up production to achieve the President's goal of 1 million Electric Vehicles on the road by 2015. The first vehicles will be located at Union Station, blocks from Capitol Hill and ideal for visitors commuting to the city for work or play.  Together with the Union Station Redevelopment Corporation, and NRG Energy Inc., Hertz is working to install a NRG’s “eVgotm” branded charging stations in Union Station.  There are plans to add Electric Vehicles to additional locations in the Washington, D.C. metro region in the near future, including Hertz Local Edition rental car locations and select hotels. 

 This is an ingenious way to expose the consumer to electric vehicles.  It is quite a commitment to buy any new car, but to purchase a brand new technology is a leap of faith.  This program allows consumers to drive the vehicles and become comfortable with them.  If it works, these folks will share their experience with others. 

 To book an available EV, consumers can sign up for a free Hertz car sharing membership at www.connectbyhertz.com. Hertz plans to deploy of EVs and PHEVs in both the U.S. and other countries throughout 2011.  As the world’s largest general-use airport car-rental brand, Hertz is uniquely positioned to introduce multiple groups of consumers – urban drivers, university students, travelers and corporations – to all-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. As part of its strategy, Hertz is forming partnerships with manufacturers, charging station providers, municipalities, NGO’s, corporations and other stakeholders. To date, the company has ordered vehicles from GM, Nissan, Toyota, and Mitsubishi, and is working with Starwood Hotels, NRG and other companies to build out further EV infrastructure.

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Valley of Death

The timely presentation of Peter Fusaro on Green Energy Financing at our next New York Clean Energy Forum is echoed this week by a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on the Clean Energy Deployment Administration (CEDA). 

With clean energy projects so vital to our economy, environment and security, it is critical that they get over the inherent hurdles of financing.  The Senate Energy Committee is addressing this issue with The Clean Energy Deployment Administration (CEDA) as established under the American Clean Energy Leadership Act which will increase the capital available for clean energy projects thereby helping to mature the underlying technologies and move them to scale. 

CEDA would create a financing entity with the resources, tools, and independence to help American clean energy technologies cross what is affectionately but accurately named the “Valley of Death” that sits between the invention of an energy technology and its full commercial deployment.   Often, with clean energy technology, there is a point at which an energy technology is ready for scale up from a pilot project to a full-scale plant.  But, this critical moment is often when these technologies falter, lose steam and die.  Hence, the “Valley of Death”.

There are typically two elements of clean energy finance:  equity and debt.  Federal tax credits have stimulated equity investments in wind, solar, geothermal; and other clean energy projects.  But, securing a loan for these projects has been more problematic, especially for high risk projects – Bankers will say to prove the feasibility of these projects and then they will consider a loan.  The problem is that commercial scale energy projects often millions or billions of dollars, beyond that of a typical venture capitalist.  In addition, these projects have rates of returns well below what a venture community expects.  The Valley of Death sits precariously between the venture capital and the finance worlds.

As developed in the American Clean Energy Leadership Act, CEDA would administer various types of credit instruments, such as loan guarantees, insurance products and clean energy backed bonds to accelerate private sector investment in the commercial deployment of new energy technologies.  CEDA would be an agency within the Department of Energy (DOE) and be under the direction of an administrator, board of directors and technical advisory council.  It would function in many ways like the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).  

CEDA, if passed, could be the important link between energy technology and energy implementation. 

 

Noted Leader in Clean Energy Financing will Speak to NYC Clean Energy Forum

The third, in our very successful NYC Clean Energy Forums, will feature Peter Fusaro, Chairman of Global Change Associates, who will speak on “Green Financing During Tough Economic Times” This event will be Tuesday, May 17, 8:30am at the Harvard Club, 35 W 44th St, in the Mahogany Room. Click here to RSVP.  

 Peter is a thought leader on emerging energy and environmental financial markets.  He has been at the forefront of energy and environmental change for 36 years and is currently advising on carbon trading and finance as well as clean energy technology and renewable energy to companies worldwide.  In addition to his position as Chairman of Global Change Associates, Peter has written over 15 books on energy and environmental finance markets.  These books include the most recent, Energy and Environmental Project Finance Law and Taxation: New Investment Techniques as well as the best selling, What Went Wrong at Enron.

 Our forums focus on issues surrounding the modernization of the electricity architecture and the promotion of clean energy in the United States. The host of is Michael Moynihan, Director of our Clean Energy Initiative and a New York

Energy In the Center of the Policial and Economic Arena

This past year has been a perfect storm for energy. In just one year, the energy industry has been severely hit with natural disasters, man-made disasters, brutal partisan politics, international chaos, financial chaos and a tepid U.S. economy. The culmination of all of the above has landed the energy industry in the center of the political and economic spectrum.

Now and with urgency, our country needs a strong, clear, clean energy policy that will address the technological and financial challenges of all energy sources - oil, gas, renewables, nuclear and coal. Unfortunately bold action often becomes confused with partisan rhetoric and provides no real solutions to our energy crisis.

Yes, the Democrat’s plan to eliminate the egregious oil depletion allowance is a good one, but that really won’t make the price of gasoline go down. Yes, we need more domestic supplies of energy, but offshore drilling is no panacea and only begins to address domestic energy supplies. While Carbon reduction looms huge on the horizon, it is safe to say that any such legislation is DOA in the 112th Congress. Furthermore, Japan’s nuclear disaster in Fukushima has put a kink in the role of carbon free nuclear energy.

At the heart of our Clean Energy Initiative’s Electricity 2.0 program is the need to replace, modernize and expand our energy infrastructure with a co-equal goal of addressing our mounting environmental problems. In our country, we are blessed with intellectual heft that can provide innovative clean energy technology, now, what we need is leaders who can provide smart, flexible, and politically survivable solutions.

Here are some solutions that should occur without delay:

Regulatory Framework - provide regulatory rulings that uphold just, reasonable rates and non discriminatory policies but allows for and creates flexibility for transmission challenges and infrastructure innovation.

Get Real about the Environment – even though recent polling says never to use the “E” word (environment) – legislators, regulators, stakeholders and the public need to get real about climate issues and find flexible workable solutions to address carbon.

Clean Energy Deployment Administration – it is essential that we help our clean energy inventions move into the commercial marketplace by providing financing to get technologies over this critical development hump.

Commitment to Research and Development – a hallmark clean energy is continued and increased monies for R&D to develop more innovations in clean energy technology and to refine technology to bring down the costs for consumers.

Michael Granoff Outlines Roadmap for Electric Vehicles

Michael Granoff did an excellent job outlining the value of electric vehicles and the opportunities they present for energy independence, environmental restoration and new sources of economic growth. He pointed out how the electric vehicle system can take advantage of underutilized electricity, reduce oil consumption and provide resources for renewable development.   Although Better Place is way ahead in this game, nearly every major automaker has an active program to develop and introduce EV and Granoff says that in the coming decade, EVs will be at the center of mainstream personal transportation.

Our next meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 17 and will feature Peter Fusaro, a well known thought leader on emerging energy and environmental financial markets.  He is Chairman of Global Change Associates, an energy and environmental consultancy in New York.  He will speak on “Green Financing during Tough Economic Times.”  It will again be at the Harvard Club and begin at 8:30am.  We hope you can join us.

Invite: April 12 - Michael Granoff to Speak at 2nd New York Clean Energy Forum

Michael Granoff will speak on "Securing Oil Independence through Electric Cars at Scale: Lessons from Israel". The event will be on Tuesday, April 12, at 8:30am at the Harvard Club, 35 W 44th Street in the Mahogany Room In New York.

Michael is the head of oil independence policies for Better Place, an organization dedicated to accelerating the transition to sustainable transportation through a revolutionary switchable battery model for electric cars. Granoff works with stakeholders of all types to calibrate policies consistent with ending the corrosive effect of oil dependence on the economy, the environment, and U S national security. Stakeholders with which Granoff works include governments on every level, industry, non-governmental organizations, and current and future Better Place partners. Granoff is founder of Maniv Energy Capital, a New York-based investment group and the first investor in Better Place. This should be a fascinating speech on a timely topic that will play an important role in our Nation's energy policy.

I hope you will join us.  Click here to rsvp.  All of our Clean Energy Forum's in New York are hosted by Michael Moynihan.

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