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Energy Storage on the Smart Grid: 99.45% Cheap and 0.55% Cool
Infocast’s Storage Week was all I had hoped it would be, and more. While I thoroughly enjoyed serving on three discussion panels and was warmly received by roughly 250 attendee...[T]he most important value for me came from the opportunity to hear four days of high-level presentations by industry executives, national thought leaders and policymakers who repeatedly stressed that:
From a utility perspective grid-based energy storage is the functional equivalent of an instantly dispatchable generating asset;
The combination of wind assets with cost effective load-shifting storage can improve internal rates of return by 50% or more;
The combination of solar assets with cost effective load-shifting storage can improve internal rates of return by 50% or more;
When it comes to grid-connected energy storage, cost, reliability, maintenance and cycle life will be the primary decision drivers.
Consensus was that an optimal smart grid configuration will need storage capacity equal to at least 5% of peak system load and areas that rely heavily on intermittent renewables like wind and solar will need a higher capacity to maximize the value of those assets.
In the example of California, the required annual storage build was estimated at 500 MW per year for the next 10 years. Of this total, 50 MW would need to be fast storage in the form of flywheels and Li-ion batteries and the 450 MW balance would be 4 to 6 hour storage in the form of pumped hydro, compressed air, flow batteries and advanced lead acid batteries.
The following table assumes that fast storage for frequency regulation will have an average discharge duration of 15 minutes and load shifting storage will have an average discharge duration of five hours. It shows how the aggregate annual storage build for both California and the U.S. as a whole will break down in terms of both MW of dispatchable power and MWh of stored energy.
State of California MW Percent MWh Percent
Annual Fast Storage Build 50 10.00% 12.5 0.55%
Annual Load Shifting Build 450 90.00% 2,250 99.45%
Nationwide (8x California)
Annual Fast Storage Build 400 10% 100 0.55%
Annual Load Shifting Build 3,600 90% 18,000 99.45%
Using a quick and dirty pricing metric of $1 million per MW for fast storage devices including flywheels and Li-ion batteries the annual revenue potential of $400 million is impressive. Using an equally quick and dirty pricing metric of $500,000 per MWh for load shifting storage, the annual revenue potential of $9 billion is mind-boggling.
In the fast storage space, the leading contenders are Maxwell Technologies (MXWL), a leading manufacturer of supercapacitors; Active Power (ACPW), which builds low-speed flywheel systems for industrial power conditioning and UPS applications; Beacon Power (BCON), which builds high-speed flywheel systems for utility frequency regulation and recently snagged a DOE loan commitment for a 20 MW fast storage demonstration project; Altair Nanotechnologies (ALTI), which has built and deployed 2 MW of fast storage that is currently being tested by a major utility; and A123 Systems, which has also built and deployed several MW of fast storage for utility customers in the U.S. and overseas.
In the load shifting space, the leading contenders are Dresser Rand (DRC) which builds above ground compressed air systems, ZBB Energy (ZBB), which builds zinc-bromine flow batteries; lead-acid battery manufacturers like Enersys (ENS), Exide (XIDE) and C&D Technologies (CHP); and innovators like Axion Power (AXPW.OB) which is in the early stages of demonstrating the capabilities of its lead-carbon storage technologies.
The broader market has not yet come to grips with the realities that:
The combination of wind and storage yields better returns than wind as a stand-alone;
The combination of solar and storage yields better returns than solar as a stand-alone; and
While the fast storage developers have been grabbing all the headlines because of the push to develop PHEVs and EVs, the manufacturers of cost effective load shifting systems will lay claim to well over 90% of the anticipated revenue.
As investors in the $100+ billion wind and solar sectors come to understand the critical need for storage to maximize the economics of those intermittent renewables, interest in the $2 billion storage sector will surge. As storage sector investors come to understand the critical need for cost-effective load shifting storage, interest in established manufacturers of less glamorous technologies will also surge. It all goes back to my fundamental premise that for the next decade, cheap will beat cool.
I'm in transit from California to Europe and won't have access to electronic copies of the Storage Week presentation materials for a few days. So I apologize for the dearth of links to source materials. When those materials become available, I'll follow up with a more detailed series of articles that get into the grittier questions of which companies are best positioned to capitalize on explosive growth in both fast and load-shifting grid based energy storage.
For the first time in my career, I find myself on the leading edge of a trend that will be larger than most investors can begin to imagine. It's going to be a fun decade for investors who position their portfolios early because events like Storage Week and the anticipated IPO from A123 Systems are rapidly sending a clear signal to the broader market.
DISCLOSURE: Author is a former director and executive officer of Axion Power International (AXPW.OB) and holds a large long position in its stock. He also holds a small long position in Exide (XIDE), Active Power, Enersys and ZBB.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/149644-energy-storage-on-the-smart-grid-99-45-cheap-and-0-55-cool?source=email
Q-Cells Shortens Work Hours, Vestas Lays Off 1,900 April 29, 2009 | about stocks: QCLSF.PK / VWDRY.PK
http://seekingalpha.com/article/133911-q-cells-shortens-work-hours-vestas-lays-off-1-900?source=email
By Ucilia Wang
Work-hour reduction and layoffs are becoming a norm in the renewable energy industry.
Q-Cells (QCLSF.PK) has cut working hours for about 2,000 employees, or 80 percent of its staff, according to German media reports (picked up by Deutsche Bank's equity research division). The solar cell maker cited falling demand as the cause for the move, which came less than a week after Oerlikon Solar (OERLF.PK) said it, too, had reduced work hours for about 200 employees (see Green Light post).
Q-Cells, like many other solar manufacturers, have had to lower its sales expectations and scale back factory operations over the last six months. Q-Cells noted in its 2008 annual report, posted last month, that the first half of 2009 would be extra tough for the solar industry, given the economic crisis and the arrival of the winter in which fewer installations typically take place.
"Due to a short term mismatch between global supply of photovoltaic systems and a weaker short term demand due to the aforementioned uncertainties in project financing and the general economic situation, inventory has been built up and prices have been falling over the last months," according to the annual report.
Inventory build up and the falling prices of solar energy equipment have caused several companies to take multimillion-dollar write downs (see LDK Solar Faces Tough Road Ahead, Says Analyst). Financial analysts also voiced concerns about SunPower's (SPWRA) inventory build up when the company discussed its first-quarter earnings last week. SunPower's CEO Tom Werner said he expects the inventory to decrease quickly in the second quarter.
Warmer, spring weather should help to perk up demand, but not by much, wrote Alexander Karnick, an equity research analyst with Duetsche Bank, in a research note.
"We suspect there could be a slight [mainly weather related] sequential improvement of shipment levels in Q2. However, we assume that Q2 shipments in terms of [year-over-year] development will still be strongly below last year's levels for the entire industry," write Karnick. "Sharply fallen prices, inventory built in Q4, Q1 [market participants speculating about 1GWp inventory across the globe] and under-utilized plants [i.e., short-term work] will likely suppress profits in Q2 as well."
While solar companies are seeing a sharp drop in sales, wind turbine maker Vestas Wind Systems (VWDRY.PK) in Denmark actually saw a 70 percent jump in first-quarter net income. The company on Tuesday posted €56 million in net income on €1.1 billion in sales for the first quarter.
Still, Vestas is cutting jobs – 1,900 of them. The layoffs will take place in Europe, mostly in Denmark and the United Kingdom. The company said it's cutting its European operations because it wants to devote resources to its efforts in the United States and China, the two growth markets.
The company is eager to gain a strong foothold in China, which is keen on promoting renewable energy generation. Last week, Vestas said it had sold 58 wind turbines to Datang Huolinhe Renewable Power Co. to build a wind farm in Inner Mongolia. Earlier this month, Vestas announced it had designed a wind turbine specifically for the Chinese market. The company noted that over 90 percent of the components for the new turbine would be made in China.
ATS Automation Tooling Systems in Canada said Tuesday it's shutting down Photowatt France, its silicon wafer, cell and panel subsidiary for three weeks. Canada-based ATS [TSX: ATA], which designs and makes factory equipment for telecom, semiconductor, computer and solar equipment makers, said the temporary measure will affect 450 employees at Photowatt's factory in Bourgoin-Jallieu.
Last month, ATS said it was laying off 80 full-time employees at its headquarters in Cambridge, Ontario, and 160 temporary employees at Photowatt as a result of slow demand for its products and services.
Chevy Volt to sport smart charging, flex fuel
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10210454-54.html?tag=nl.e703
by Martin LaMonica
Even as it faces a massive corporate restructuring, General Motors this summer will begin testing prototypes of the electric Chevrolet Volt, a car that could be pivotal to its future.
GM on Thursday hosted a teleconference to discuss its community outreach efforts and work with electric utilities to establish an industry "ecosystem" to make electric vehicles attractive to buyers.
The Volt is scheduled for mass production starting in November 2010 in the U.S. and introduction in mid-2011 in Canada. About 80 prototypes will be built for fleet testing this summer, said vehicle line director for the Chevy VoltTony Posawatz, who revealed a few more details about the highly anticipated sedan.
Getting millions of plug-in vehicles on the road in the coming years will require new technologies and the installation of a car-charging infrastructure in communities, say automakers. One technology important to widespread plug-in use is so-called smart charging, where car batteries are charged at off-peak times in the middle of the night.
With the release of the 2011 Volt late next year, General Motors will allow consumers to set what time the car can be charged using GM's OnStar in-car communication system.
"We will have a customer-selectable car-charging feature at a minimum," Posawatz said. "We don't have to put in smart meters to get those kinds of features and accommodations."
By controlling when and how fast a car's battery is charged, a utility can smooth out the demand on the power grid and avoid having to install more power plants to meet peak demand. In places where there is time-of-day electricity pricing, consumers could potentially get cheaper off-peak rates.
A Volt, which has a 16 kilowatt-hour battery, will consume about 2,500 kilowatt-hours a year, according to the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). The average U.S. home consumes about 11,000 kilowatt-hours a year.
Smart charging, which would work with a utility's smart grid programs for running the grid efficiently, will become more important as millions of plug-in vehicles get attached to the grid, said Mark Duvall, director electric transportation at EPRI. The first generation of mainstream electric cars coming out next year won't require it, he said.
Another important step to making electric cars more palatable to consumers is having dedicated outlets that can charge at 240 volts, twice as fast as a normal outlet.
The city of San Francisco is trying to coordinate among different agencies to establish a plug-in charging infrastructure, including streamlined permitting for dedicated car charging lines, said Robert Hayden, clean transportation adviser for the city's Department of the Environment.
Making charging pedestals available in public places for people who live in apartment buildings, for example, is also important to plug-in car adoption, but very expensive and complicated, he said.
Costs?
Because of GM's precarious financial position, there's a lot riding on the commercial success of the Chevy Volt and the underlying electric power train which GM plans to use in different cars.
But in its review of automakers receiving federal aid, the Obama administration's auto industry task force found the Volt technology promising but too expensive to be commercial viable.
GM executives have said they expect to lose money on the first generation of Volts. Posawatz said on Thursday that GM could shed thousands of dollars per car through high-volume domestic manufacturing of components, such as batteries and chargers, and technology improvements.
"It certainly may not be a Moore's Law relationship, but I do believe that we have just begun the journey of taking down the cost of batteries and the vehicle," he said, adding that GM is already working on a second-generation Volt focused on lower costs.
Posawatz offered a few more technical details on the 2011 Volt, which will have an internal combustion engine that can run both gasoline and E85, a blend of gas and ethanol. The engine acts as a generator for the battery for rides beyond 40 miles.
The batteries themselves will have a thermal management system that includes liquid cooling and the ability to start in very cold temperatures even when it's not plugged in, he said.
The anticipated battery life will be 10 years and 150,000 miles. After their use in moving cars, GM anticipates that utilities could use the batteries--still at 75 percent capacity--for grid storage and they would eventually be recycled.
Martin LaMonica is a senior writer for CNET's Green Tech blog. He started at CNET News in 2002, covering IT and Web development. Before that, he was executive editor at IT publication InfoWorld.
Topics: TransportationTags: Chevy Volt,PHEVs,General Motors,EVs
China Vies to Be World’s Leader in Electric Cars
By KEITH BRADSHER
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/02/business/global/02electric.html?_r=1&th&emc=th
April 2, 2009
TIANJIN, China — Chinese leaders have adopted a plan aimed at turning the country into one of the leading producers of hybrid and all-electric vehicles within three years, and making it the world leader in electric cars and buses after that.
The goal, which radiates from the very top of the Chinese government, suggests that Detroit’s Big Three, already struggling to stay alive, will face even stiffer foreign competition on the next field of automotive technology than they do today.
“China is well positioned to lead in this,” said David Tulauskas, director of China government policy at General Motors.
To some extent, China is making a virtue of a liability. It is behind the United States, Japan and other countries when it comes to making gas-powered vehicles, but by skipping the current technology, China hopes to get a jump on the next.
Japan is the market leader in hybrids today, which run on both electricity and gasoline, with cars like the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight. The United States has been a laggard in alternative vehicles. G.M.’s plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volt is scheduled to go on sale next year, and will be assembled in Michigan using rechargeable batteries imported from LG in South Korea.
China’s intention, in addition to creating a world-leading industry that will produce jobs and exports, is to reduce urban pollution and decrease its dependence on oil, which comes from the Mideast and travels over sea routes controlled by the United States Navy.
But electric vehicles may do little to clear the country’s smog-darkened sky or curb its rapidly rising emissions of global warming gases. China gets three-fourths of its electricity from coal, which produces more soot and more greenhouse gases than other fuels.
A report by McKinsey & Company last autumn estimated that replacing a gasoline-powered car with a similar-size electric car in China would reduce greenhouse emissions by only 19 percent. It would reduce urban pollution, however, by shifting the source of smog from car exhaust pipes to power plants, which are often located outside cities.
Beyond manufacturing, subsidies of up to $8,800 are being offered to taxi fleets and local government agencies in 13 Chinese cities for each hybrid or all-electric vehicle they purchase. The state electricity grid has been ordered to set up electric car charging stations in Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin.
Government research subsidies for electric car designs are increasing rapidly. And an interagency panel is planning tax credits for consumers who buy alternative energy vehicles.
China wants to raise its annual production capacity to 500,000 hybrid or all-electric cars and buses by the end of 2011, from 2,100 last year, government officials and Chinese auto executives said. By comparison, CSM Worldwide, a consulting firm that does forecasts for automakers, predicts that Japan and South Korea together will be producing 1.1 million hybrid or all-electric light vehicles by then and North America will be making 267,000.
The United States Department of Energy has its own $25 billion program to develop electric-powered cars and improve battery technology, and will receive another $2 billion for battery development as part of the economic stimulus program enacted by Congress.
Premier Wen Jiabao highlighted the importance of electric cars two years ago with his unlikely choice to become minister of science and technology: Wan Gang, a Shanghai-born former Audi auto engineer in Germany who later became the chief scientist for the Chinese government’s research panel on electric vehicles.
Mr. Wan is the first minister in at least three decades who is not a member of the Communist Party.
And Premier Wen has his own connection to the electric car industry. He was born and grew up here in Tianjin, the longtime capital of China’s battery industry, 70 miles southeast of Beijing.
Tianjin has thrived in the six years since Mr. Wen became premier. It now has China’s first bullet train service (to Beijing), a new Airbus factory and an immaculate new airport. Tianjin has also received a surge of research subsidies for enterprises like the Tianjin-Qingyuan Electric Vehicle Company.
Electric cars have several practical advantages in China. Intercity driving is rare. Commutes are fairly short and frequently at low speeds because of traffic jams. So the limitations of all-electric cars — the latest models in China have a top speed of 60 miles an hour and a range of 120 miles between charges — are less of a problem.
First-time car buyers also make up four-fifths of the Chinese market, and these buyers have not yet grown accustomed to the greater power and range of gasoline-powered cars.
But the electric car industry faces several obstacles here too. Most urban Chinese live in apartments, and cannot install recharging devices in driveways, so more public charging centers need to be set up.
Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries also have a poor reputation in China. Counterfeit lithium-ion batteries in cellphones occasionally explode, causing injuries. And Sony had to recall genuine lithium-ion batteries in laptops in 2006 and 2008 after some overheated and caught fire or exploded.
These safety problems have been associated with lithium-ion cobalt batteries, however, not the more chemically stable lithium-ion phosphate batteries now being adapted to automotive use.
The tougher challenge is that all lithium-ion batteries are expensive, whether made with cobalt or phosphate. That will be a hurdle for thrifty Chinese consumers, especially if gas prices stay relatively low compared to their highs last summer.
China is tackling the challenges with the same tools that helped it speed industrialization and put on the Olympics: immense amounts of energy, money and people.
BYD has 5,000 auto engineers and an equal number of battery engineers, most of them living at its headquarters in Shenzhen in a cluster of 15 yellow apartment buildings, each 18 stories high. Young engineers earn less than $600 a month, including benefits.
When Tianjin-Qingyuan puts its entirely battery-powered Saibao midsize sedan on sale this autumn, the body will come from a sedan that normally sells for $14,600 when equipped with a gasoline engine. But the engine and gas tank will be replaced with a $14,000 battery pack and electric motor, said Wu Zhixin, the company’s general manager.
That means the retail price will nearly double, to almost $30,000. Even if the government awards the maximum subsidy of $8,800 to buyers, that is a hefty premium.
Large-scale production could drive down the cost of the battery pack and electric motor by 30 or 40 percent, still leaving electric cars more expensive than gasoline-powered ones, Mr. Wu said.
But Mr. Wu has plenty of money to pursue improvements. He interrupted an interview at his company’s headquarters on Thursday to take a call on his cellphone, politely declined an offer from the caller, and hung up.
The general manager of a state-controlled bank had called to ask if he needed a loan, he explained.
Detroit Electric resurrected as $25,000 electric car
by Martin LaMonica
March 30, 2009 2:00 AM PDT
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10206089-54.html?tag=nl.e703
Detroit Electric, an auto brand once favored by Thomas Edison, is mounting a 21st century comeback with electric cars aimed at U.S. soccer moms and Chinese city dwellers.
The company on Monday is expected to announce a partnership with Malaysian auto manufacturer Proton Holdings to introduce an all-electric sedan next year.
Detroit Electric will offer a compact four-door, based on an existing Proton model, with a range of 180 kilometers (110 miles), for between $24,000 and $26,000. An extended-range option will go 320 kilometers, or about 200 miles, and cost $4,000 to $5,000 more. The company also plans to make a hatchback.
The car will use lithium-polymer batteries supplied by a Korean manufacturer and run on an engine developed by Detroit Electric's Netherlands-based engineering team.
The company will market the cars in China, Europe, and the U.S. as an everyday vehicle, comparable in size and performance to popular gasoline cars, said Albert Lam, the CEO of Detroit Electric and the former CEO at British sports car designer Lotus Engineering.
"In 2007, we adopted the Detroit Electric name and revived it because it brings us in line with the vision and essence of electric driving they had," Lam said on Friday. "We want to produce an affordable, practical pure electric car."
In early part of the 20th century, Detroit Electric was one of a number of electric car manufacturers. These cars drove only about 20 miles per hour and had limited range but were considered suitable for city use and, by some, easier to drive than gasoline cars, which required a manual start.
In 1900, 28 percent of all cars produced were electric, but 20 years later the industry was all but dead, according to Michael Brian Schiffer, author of a history of electric cars in the U.S. The original Detroit Electric went out of business in the 1930s.
A century later, nearly all automakers are developing all-electric or hybrid cars aimed at mainstream buyers, which will start coming out next year.
Detroit Electric, though, is taking a different route than established auto companies, choosing a business model that relies on contract manufacturing and a network of partnerships, according to Lam.
Virtual corporation
Rather than build cars itself, Detroit Electric's engine and battery pack will be fitted onto Proton's existing cars and manufactured in Malaysia by Proton. Detroit Electric will modify the styling to distinguish its cars.
"Contract manufacturing is the future of the auto industry," Lam said. The business model will allow it to bring cars to market faster and eliminate the need to raise the money to build those facilities, Lam said.
The electric motor and controller offer are relatively light weight at 18 kilograms for 200 horsepower and designed with very few components, he said.
The cars will first be launched in Europe and China in the first quarter of 2010 and then made available in the U.S. by the third quarter of the year, he said. That's a delay from the 2009 target the company set last year to deliver both electric sedans and trucks when it announced its production plans.
In terms of performance, the cars will have the peppy acceleration typical of electric powertrains, going from zero to 60 miles per hour in less than 8 seconds. The top speed will be 110 miles per hour and they will seat five people.
The company plans to establish dealer networks in the U.S., China, and Europe and position their cars as electric alternatives to popular sedans, according to Marianne McInerney, North American president of Detroit Electric.
An oft-cited statistic is that most U.S. citizens don't drive more than 40 miles in a day, which this car will allow people do do, she noted. "This car has been designed to appeal to appeal to the broadest audience possible."
In its first year, the company plans to manufacture 40,000 cars a year and increase volume from there, Lam said. He added that the company is in discussions with other manufacturers in Asia.
A signing ceremony in Kuala Lumpur to mark the partnership with Proton, whose majority shareholder is the Malaysian government, will be attended by Malaysia's prime minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who has driven an early Detroit Electric prototype.
Martin LaMonica is a senior writer for CNET's Green Tech blog. He started at CNET News in 2002, covering IT and Web development. Before that, he was executive editor at IT publication InfoWorld. E-mail Martin.
Topics: Deals and investments, Transportation
California to get 46 retail hydrogen stations by 2014
by Liane Yvkoff
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-10204075-48.html?tag=nl.e433
Paving the way for the so-called Hydrogen Super Highway, California Fuel Cell Partnership released a roadmap that details plans for 46 retail hydrogen fueling stations in six targeted California communities by 2014. Hydrogen is considered to be the holy grail of clean transportation because Fuel Cell Vehicles (FCV) emit only water when driven, but a lack of infrastructure is one of the major roadblocks to this advancement.
"By 2017, automotive manufacturers plan to place 50,000 zero-emission fuel cell vehicles in customer hands. FCVs will provide the performance, durability, driving range, and comfort that customers want, and meet the nation's need for a domestic fuel that is better for the environment," said Catherine Dunwoody, CaFCP's executive director in a press release.
For the moment, only six of the state's 26 hydrogen refueling stations are open to the public. Most are privately owned and operated for corporate fleet or testing vehicles. The CaFCP gave details for the cost of building 40 stations by 2012, which is projected to be $181.5 million and is expected to be funded largely by the government to incentivize the industry to begin the transition to hydrogen.
The limited refueling options is one of the reasons that Honda is leasing its Fuel Cell Vehicle, the Honda FCX Clarity, only to customers in Southern California. Honda plans to lease 200 of these vehicles to customers over three years. The first customers received their leased vehicles in the summer of 2008, paying $600 per month for three years for a vehicle that for the most part is limited to driving in Southern California.
Although Honda has already chosen the first round of drivers for the Clarity, potential customers can still apply for the second batch of cars that will be released. Honda plans to roll out more of these not-quite-production vehicles to drivers in other parts of California as more hydrogen refueling stations become available, according to its Web site.
The National Hydrogen Association lists current and future hydrogen stations on its Web site. Going with the community input approach, the Cleantech Authority--an information hub for alternative energy--maintains a collaborative Google map that lists some of the hydrogen stations in California.
Solar Targets Slashed as Demand Seen Dropping by 25%
http://seekingalpha.com/article/126419-solar-targets-slashed-as-demand-seen-dropping-by-25?source=email
Barclays Capital analyst Vishal Shah Tuesday morning cut his ratings on both First Solar (FSLR) and SunPower (SPWRA) to Equal Weight from Overweight, citing continued concerns that tight credit markets may hurt solar sector demand in Q2 and Q3. “With over 1 GW of inventory in the channel, any demand recovery is unlikely to result in overall industry shipments growth until Q4,” he writes.
Shah now sees global photovoltaic shipments of 3.8 GW in 2009, down 25% from 2008, and below his previous forecast for a flat year. He expects the German market to be flat.
For SunPower, Shah slashed his price target to $18, from $35. His 2009 EPS estimate falls to $1.45 a share, from $2.30; for 2010, he sees profits of $2 a share.
For First Solar, his price target drops to $110, from $140; he trimmed his 2009 EPS estimate to $5.10, from $6, while maintaining his 2010 estimate of $8 a share.
Shah says his new downbeat view of the sector follows recent checks and negative datapoints from Monday’s earnings news from Energy Converson Devices (ENER). Also adding to the grim environment for the solar stocks Tuesday morning: disappointing results from Canadian Solar (CSIQ).
Put it altogether, and you get a recipe for a big sell-off in solar shares. In Tuesday’s trading:
First Solar is down $12.06, or 9.7%, to $112.80.
SunPower is down $2.87, or 12.3%, to $20.44.
Energy Conversion Devices is down $4.66, or 25.3%, to $13.77.
Canadian Solar is down 48 cents, or 12.2%, to $3.40.
Heres another,mabe not clean energy but clean air....any smokers here?
Rauchless Inc., a Nashville-based company, will soon test-market its smokeless cigarette-like device in Europe, and hopes to enter the U.S. market before 2009.
How it Works:
The smokeless device has a built-in sensor that distinguishes whether the smoker sucks on the filter or not. The pressure drop caused by the smoker triggers the intensive heating up of a coil to such a temperature that the sucked in air reaches a temperature high enough to evaporate the nicotine and aroma when it reaches the filter.
The Hi-Tech cigarette has a miniature MPU computer chip on board that designates the length and temperature of each consecutive puff. It is impossible to reach the essential heat with conventional means and the battery used has to be very light small enough to fit inside the size of a cigarette.
The Rauchless™ R&D team has achieved its goal, though, and is now fine-tuning the electronic elements to facilitate economic mass production.
http://www.nashvillepost.com/news/2007/10/3/locals_say_their_alttobacco_company_worth_200_million
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., March 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- EMTA Holdings, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: EMHD - News), an energy and fuel conservation company and maker of XenTx(TM), Synergyn(TM) and other engine treatment and fuel efficiency products, announced today that its newly formed wholly-owned subsidiary, Lumea, Inc. (Lumea), has acquired substantially all of the assets of Easy Staffing Services, Inc. (Easy) a light industrial staffing company.
According to the terms of the agreement, EMTA acquired the assets of Easy for 15 Million shares of its common stock, the issuance of Notes Payable of $8.75 Million and the assumption of approximately $2.25 Million in debt. Audited financial statements for Easy will be prepared and filed within 75 days of the closing.
Easy, now Lumea generated approximately $101 Million in revenues and EBITDA in excess of $1 Million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2008. Lumea currently has an operating staff of 94, operates 26 offices in 10 states, and manages approximately 5,000 leased employees.
Lumea currently has relationships with numerous industrial/commercial clients. Each of these clients is a potential user of EMTA's energy conservation and emissions reducing products. By employing cross-selling techniques to Lumea's broad client base, EMTA anticipates higher sales revenue and a reduced sales cycle time. In addition, with President Obama's renewed emphasis on reducing green house gasses, EMTA believes that the demand for its emission reducing technologies will grow rapidly.
"The opportunity to expand our industrial/commercial XenTx sales utilizing Lumea's customer relationships should result in increased revenues for EMTA, enhanced client product/service offerings for Lumea and will positively impact our overall profitability which should be reflected in increased shareholder value", concluded Mr. Lonergan, President/CEO of EMTA Holdings, Inc.
About Lumea, Inc.
Lumea, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of EMTA Holdings, Inc., was formed for purposes of implementing a roll-up strategy in the light industrial staffing space. Lumea currently has 26 offices in 10 states and manages 5,000 leased employees. The company currently has three subsidiaries, Lumea Staffing, Inc, Lumea Staffing of California, Inc., and Lumea Staffing of Illinois, Inc. For more information, go to www.lumeastaffing.com.
About EMTA Holdings, Inc:
EMTA Holdings, Inc., (OTCBB: EMHD - News) develops and manufactures innovative products to conserve energy, particularly for petroleum-based fuels. The Company's engine and fuel additives are marketed under the brands XenTx(TM), Synergyn(TM) and CleanBoost(TM) brands, and are sold both to commercial and retail customers. They are available from key distributors, major automotive retailers and online at http://www.emtacorp.com/store. For additional information on EMTA products, please visit http://www.xentx.com.
CONTACT:
Tim Clemensen
Sr. Vice President
Rubenstein Investor Relations, Inc.
212-843-9337
Unbelievable! I'll be watching for ZPM's arrival in the US. Really cool concept, now let's see if they can deliver.
Here ya go! grab a Hydrogen powered air compressor and hit the road.
If you can, imagine a vehicle that runs on air, achieves over 100 gas-equivalent mpg and over 90 mph, has zero to low C02 emissions, seats six, has plenty of space for luggage, cuts no safety corners, and costs no more than an average economy to mid-size vehicle.
http://zeropollutionmotors.us/
http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/4251491.html
Down the Road - A Potential Killer App for Electric Vehicles
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1161274/Scientists-develop-mobile-phone-battery-charged-just-10-seconds.html
Scientists develop mobile phone battery that can be charged in just 10 seconds
By David Derbyshire
Last updated at 7:31 PM on 11th March 2009
Comments (23)
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Thing of the past? The new mobile phone batteries will be recharged in just 10 seconds
A revolutionary mobile phone battery that recharges in 10 seconds instead of several hours has been created by scientists.
The new device charges 100 times as fast as a conventional battery and could also be used in phones, laptops, iPods and digital cameras within just two or three years, they say.
The same technology could even allow an electric car to be charged up in the same time that it takes to fill a conventional car with petrol - removing one of the biggest obstacles to green, clean motoring.
The quick-charge battery is the brainchild of engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The MIT team say their invention uses materials already available to battery manufacturers and would be simple to mass produce.
The invention is based on conventional lithium ion rechargeable batteries found in most cameras, phones and portable computers.
Lithium ion batteries are used in portable gadgets because they store a large amount of energy in a small space.
However, they are also relatively slow at recharging - which can be a nuisance for anyone who forgets to charge up their phone overnight.
Dr Gerbrand Cedar, who devised the new battery, said: 'Electric car batteries have a lot of energy so you can drive at 55mph for a long time, but the power is low. You can't accelerate quickly.'
Dr Cedar and colleagues have now found a way of speeding up this process, the science journal Nature reports.
Conventional lithium ion batteries contain two electrodes - one made from lithium and one from carbon - submerged in a liquid or paste called an electrolyte.
When a battery is being charged up, ions - or positively charged atoms - flow from the lithium electrode to the carbon one. When a battery is discharging, the ions flow the other way.
The new battery could also work with rechargeable cars
Charging up or discharging a battery is slow because it takes time to 'detach' the ions from one electrode and absorb them into the other.
The researchers took a conventional electrode made from lithium iron phosphate and altered its surface structure so that ions were released and absorbed 100 times more quickly than normal.
A prototype made using the new technique could be fully charged or discharged in just 10 to 20 seconds. A similar sized ordinary battery takes six minutes to charge.
Unlike other battery materials, the new material does not degrade when repeatedly charged and recharged. That could lead to faster batteries lasting between two or three years, they said.
'The ability to charge and discharge batteries in a matter of seconds rather than hours may open up new technological applications and induce lifestyle changes,' Dr Ceder said.
The technology could also usher in a new generation of smaller, lighter batteries that allow phones and handheld batteries to be the size of credit cards.
Although the invention will be popular with owners of electronic portable gadgets - who will no longer need to remember to keep them charged up overnight - it could also usher in a new era of electric cars.
Bigger batteries for plug in electric cars could charge in just five minutes - compared with about eight hours for existing batteries.
Owners of electric cars would be free to drive long distances, safe in the knowledge that they could top up their battery in a few minutes at a service station - just like the owner of a petrol or diesel car.
Cleaner trash-to-energy tech hits the ground
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10192431-54.html?tag=nl.e433
March 10, 2009 8:41 AM PDT
Cleaner trash-to-energy tech hits the ground
by Martin LaMonica Font size Print E-mail Share 3 comments Yahoo! BuzzBOSTON--To many communities, trash-to-energy means burning garbage. But a handful of companies say they are close to bringing cleaner technology to market for making electricity or ethanol from waste.
At a panel discussion on waste-to-energy at the AlwaysOn GoingGreen East conference here on Tuesday, representatives from four companies detailed their plans to use gasification to convert waste products to usable energy. Some products are ready to be deployed more widely while others are still in the pilot testing phase.
The promise of using municipal solid trash or other waste products for useful energy is tantalizing: it's a renewable resource and reduces the need for methane-emitting landfills or incineration.
But making the technology less expensive, along with resistance from communities over environmental concerns, remain formidable barriers.
"It's a bit of minefield. We all run companies where 40 companies have failed before us," said Bill Davis, the CEO of Ze-Gen, a start-up which has a pilot facility for turning construction debris into electricity.
Workers at Ze-Gen's waste-to-electricity test facility in Bedford, Mass, where construction debris is heated in an oxygen-starved chamber to break the material down into its component elements, including hydrogen and carbon monoxide.
(Credit: Ze-Gen)
Representatives from the four companies--Ze-Gen, IST Energy, Enerkem, and Plasco Energy Group--took pains to point out that gasification is different and cleaner than combustion.
In a gasifier, a feedstock like municipal trash is heated at high temperatures and pressure, which breaks down the material into a synthetic gas, which contains hydrogen and carbon monoxide. That synthetic gas, or syngas, can be burned in a commercial turbine to make electricity or heat.
Plasco Energy Group appeared to be furthest along in terms of commercializing the technology. It has a facility in Ottawa, Canada, that handles 100 tons a day of municipal garbage left over after recyclable items have been removed. The company plans to open a manufacturing facility this summer to produce more of these 100-ton modules and is in discussion with communities in California, British Columbia, France and the U.K., according to CEO Rod Bryden.
Bryden hopes to replicate the model in Ottawa where the waste-to-energy facility is sited in the city and the community holds the company to high environmental standards for air quality and waste water disposal.
After creating a syngas, its equipment can separate residual materials and turn them into products, so that 99 percent of the input is used. Left-over solids, for example, can be mixed to make asphalt or other construction equipment, Bryden said.
"One of the things about garbage (as a feedstock) is that it's where the people are and that's where the energy is used," he said. Wind and solar, by contrast need to have transmissions constructed. "The first barrier to overcome is environmental (such as air quality). If you can't get by that, you won't be able to get into business."
Costs, too
Enerkem uses a gasification process as well, but makes ethanol rather than electricity. Last year it signed a contract with Edmonton in Canada to supply 25 years worth of telephone poles which will be converted into ethanol.
It plans to open a facility in Montreal, which took only four months to be permitted. By contrast, the last incinerator in the U.S. was built in 1996, according to Vincent Chornet, the CEO of Enerkem.
Next week, the company will announce plans for another waste-to-ethanol facility in Mississippi, he said.
Permitting, however, remains a formidable barrier, said Stu Haber, the CEO of IST Energy, which has developed a waste-treatment machine that can fit onto a flatbed truck. It's aimed at hospitals, prisons, and other buildings that generate at least two tons of trash a day.
Regulations for waste-to-energy were not written for gasification technology, which means that state agencies don't know how to deal with IST Energy's product, which the company intends to start manufacturing this summer.
"If we can't (get through) restrictions in government agencies, we'll have to go out business and it will make it harder for the industry," Haber said.
Also, within communities there's opposition from people who associate waste-to-energy with incineration, noted Ze-Gen's Davis.
On a technical level, making sure that a gasification can produce enough energy to be a replacement for fossil fuels, such as natural gas, still remains a challenge. Ze-Gen's business model, for example, is to get a high-quality fuel that can replace natural gas at a power plant facility. But with falling fossil fuel prices, the target is harder.
"Our competitor effectively is landfill most of the time so the biggest long-term issue is economics," said Ze-Gen's Davis.
Solar Shakes
Solar Energy Market Set for Shakeout Before Recovering
March 03, 2009
http://seekingalpha.com/article/123881-solar-energy-market-set-for-shakeout-before-recovering?source=email
The solar energy market is at the leading edge of a massive correction, but lower prices will prime the market for recovery and growth, according to Lux Research.
In a new report “Finding the Solar Market’s Nadir,” Lux projects that the available capacity of solar cells and modules will measure twice the demand in 2009, while the overall market could shrink from last year’s $36 billion over 5.5 GW to $29 billion over 5.3 GW this year.
While oversupply in the solar market has been looming for some time, the correction has been more aggressive due to the economic crisis,” according to Ted Sullivan, Senior Analyst at Lux Research, and the report’s lead author. “In order to reduce inventories, suppliers will have slashed their cell and module prices by 25% or more.
While this spells a shakeout in the near term, the price reductions will push solar closer to grid parity and prime the market for recovery and growth.
Lux’s report finds that:
Cell and module capacity will overshoot demand by twofold in 2009 to reach 10.4 GW, precipitating a shakeout that will eliminate all but the top players.
Silicon availability will become increasingly irrelevant as module players seek to cut inventory. But the resulting price reductions will flatten out by 2011, bringing solar closer to grid parity and enabling the market to grow to $70 billion across 18.5 GW in 2013.
As the most readily financeable technology, crystalline silicon will continue to dominate the market this year. But competing thin-film technologies, including amorphous silicon and CdTe, will continue to grow aggressively, and CIGS also stands to gain overall despite expectations of widespread company failure.
As the Spanish market dwindles, Germany will again become Europe’s buyer of last resort. The U.S. market growth, meanwhile, will depend heavily on the government stimulus package just signed.
Caveat Emptor
4 Reasons Why 'Going Green' Will Put Many Investors in the Red
March 04, 2009
http://seekingalpha.com/article/124022-4-reasons-why-going-green-will-put-many-investors-in-the-red?source=email
by Louis Basenese
A few months ago I warned you about the bubble in U.S. Treasuries. And sure enough, it’s popping. Treasuries have already plummeted 20% from their December peak. By my estimates, they’ve still got another 20% to go.
But regardless of how far price falls, it’ll be a pittance compared to the losses from the next bubble - one that could be $21 trillion large when the air comes rushing out…
In what, you ask?
Green energy… but first let me provide you with a brief historical and psychological perspective. Otherwise, I’m afraid you’ll be too quick to dismiss my prediction. And that could lead to disastrous results.
Speculative Bubbles Dot The Free-Market Landscape
Instances of speculative bubbles dot the free-market landscape…
The 17th century brought us the Tulip Mania bubble, which like every bubble, was fueled by the social contagion of boom thinking. Tulips were the most-coveted flowers on the planet, different from every other flower known to horticulturists. As such, the incredible demand sent prices through the roof. The madness reached its peak during the winter of 1636-37, when tulip bulbs were changing hands ten times in a day. Soon after, however, the market crashed in spectacular fashion.
In 1720, it was the South Sea Bubble, where massive over-speculation in Britain’s South Sea Company - which was granted a monopoly to trade in Spain’s South American colonies as part of a treaty during the War of Spanish Succession - caused financial ruin for many. (Incidentally, the bursting of this bubble led to a Bubble Act - talk about a useless and ineffective piece of legislation.)
Fast-forward a couple hundred years and we endured the Japanese asset price bubble of 1990 and, of course, the infamous dot-com bubble of 2000.
Lately, we’ve stepped it up even more. Three bubbles - the housing bubble, the commodity bubble and the U.S. Treasury bubble - have been crammed into a ridiculously short time span of less than eight years.
The Green Energy Super Bubble
And unless our pattern of behavior suddenly changes, the ominous green energy super-bubble that’s forming will burst before the prior three have ample time to deflate.
We’ve ordained a bubble economy because favorable speculative conditions constantly exist. The ever-shrinking gap between bubbles serves as all the proof we need.
Cash is the fuel.
Legislation is the accelerant, providing extra incentives via tax credits or subsidies.
And popular culture is the explosive kicker.
Together, they comprise the primary ingredients for a first-rate asset bubble.
And right now, there’s only one industry that rests squarely at the intersection of public policy, investing and popular culture - alternative energy.
That’s right. I believe “going green” will lead to lots of red for unprepared investors. As much as $21 trillion, based on former venture capitalist, Eric Janszen’s estimates. And here’s why…
1. The legislation is in place. And more is on the way. Under the Bush administration we got the ridiculous ethanol mandates. And solar and wind credits were routinely extended. Now, President Obama is making the environment and green-collar jobs the cornerstones of his economic recovery plan.
2. Money is already pouring into the sector. More than $200 billion was invested in clean energy and clean technology markets in the last two years. And yet, record amounts of cash are still waiting to be deployed. According to Bloomberg, speculators are sitting on $8.85 trillion in cash, desperate for an outlet.
3. Tough credit conditions actually encourage more speculation. Wayne Woo, director of Good Energies, reports that green start-ups will now give up to 75% ownership (up from 50%) to get their projects off the ground. Getting a bigger piece of the potential profit pie, for the same perceived level of risk, is bound to encourage more speculation.
4. Green is the new black. Forget fashionable. Going green resembles a religious movement nowadays. This alone has people ignoring economics in the name of social responsibility.
Unmistakably, the ingredients are all there.
What Will Burst This Green Energy Bubble?
The only question left is, “What will burst this green energy bubble?” Plenty of scenarios exist…
Government spending could fail to create sustainable jobs, which would, in effect, cause green investment to grind to a halt. Or, the lack of focus toward one be-all, end-all alternative-energy solution, whether it be wind, solar, biofuel, or something else, could frustrate investors and force them to bail.
Likewise, too many so-called green innovations still reside in the laboratory. Many will never make it to market, which is another surefire way to hand investors 100% losses and sap enthusiasm and future investment.
In the end, the economics just don’t add up. Without tax breaks and government subsidies, not a single alternative energy will be able to compete. So no matter how popular or fashionable alternative energy becomes, if it remains economically stupid, it’s destined to fail.
No doubt, the run-up and profits will be historic. Just be forewarned that the green euphoria will ultimately be replaced with despair and massive losses.
It’s hard to gauge exactly when it will occur, however. I estimate we’ve got another two to three years before we hit the peak. That’s why, given the capital still rushing in, I don’t recommend avoiding the sector altogether.
Just be smart and buy proven (not probable) green energy companies. You don’t want to own companies that are stuck in the lab with loads of potential. Instead, pick the ones with bona fide products and loads of sales. And religiously use trailing stops. It’s the only way to make sure you don’t bail too early… or worse, too late.
Some Wind is Blowing --
http://www.dealipedia.com/deal_view_investment.php?r=13804
PRESS RELEASE - Invenergy Wind LLC receives a $30 million investment
Leaf Clean Energy Company (”Leaf”) [LSE: LEAF.L], an AIM listed company incorporated for the purpose of investing in clean energy companies and projects in North America, is pleased to announce its participation in the completion of a convertible note financing in Invenergy Wind LLC (”Invenergy” or the “Company”) with a $30 million investment. The funding will assist Invenergy to pursue growth and additional market expansion of its worldwide wind energy business.
Invenergy is a leading clean energy company focused on the development, ownership, operation and management of large-scale electricity generation assets in the North American and European markets. The Company serves a wide range of utilities, load serving entities and energy merchants. Invenergy’s assets primarily consist of large scale wind energy electric generating facilities.
Invenergy is one of the top 5 wind energy developers in North America, having placed nearly 2,000 MW into operation since 2004. In addition to its large portfolio of operating assets, Invenergy also has a strong and diversified pipeline of wind power projects in advanced stages of development across North America and Europe.
Peter Tom, Chairman of Leaf, said: “This is an exciting investment for Leaf. Invenergy represents a unique combination of high quality wind power projects, a highly experienced management team and a market with considerable growth potential.”
Michael Polsky, CEO of Invenergy, said: “We look forward to working with Leaf in our efforts to expand Invenergy’s leading international wind energy business. We welcome Leaf’s participation and are delighted to have them as partners.”
Simon Shaw, Chairman of Energy & Climate Advisors, the investment advisor to
Leaf Clean Energy Company, said: “Invenergy is an excellent wind platform representing a high quality portfolio of assets and a strong market position.”
About Leaf Clean Energy CompanyLeaf Clean Energy Company (”Leaf”) [LSE: LEAF.L], is a publicly traded clean energy investment company that was incorporated for the purpose of acquiring interests in, owning, operating and managing clean energy companies and projects primarily in North America. The sector spans multiple industries, including wind energy, solar energy, energy efficiency, pollution control, emission credit aggregation, waste-to-energy, wave energy, biomass power and biofuels. The company’s main investment objective is to achieve long term capital appreciation through its acquired interests in the clean energy sector, as well as through the potential generation and commercialisation of carbon credits derived from these projects. Leaf is advised by Energy & Climate Advisors, a joint venture between EEA Fund Management Ltd. and Shaw Capital.
www.leafcleanenergy.com
www.eeafm.comwww.shawgrp.com/markets/shawcapital
About Invenergy Wind LLC
Invenergy Wind LLC is focused on the development, ownership, operation and management of large-scale wind energy generation assets in the North American and European markets. The Invenergy companies have approximately 2,000 MW of wind projects in operation. Invenergy is one of the top 5 wind energy developers in North America.
www.invenergyllc.com
Google Gets into Home Energy Management
http://seekingalpha.com/article/119910-google-gets-into-home-energy-management?source=article_lb_articles
By Jeff St. John
Google Inc. (GOOG) on Tuesday launched a new prototype software to measure home energy use, and threw its weight behind getting utilities to open up that energy data to customers and third party developers like itself.
Google's new PowerMeter iGoogle gadget isn't available to the public yet, though curious people can check out a demo and hear from Google employees who say they've saved big on their power bills by using it.
Nor does Google have utilities or power monitoring equipment makers lined up yet to supply data to PowerMeter, though it's actively looking for partners.
As part of that effort, the search giant is asking the California Public Utilities Commission to make electricity data "available in a standardized, open format, freely available to third-parties with permission from the consumer" – another shot across the bow of a "smart grid" industry grappling with how to manage data on how millions of customers use energy.
Tracking and adjusting energy use can help homeowners save 10 percent or more on their power bills – a statistic quoted often by makers of home energy monitoring and control equipment and software like Tendril Networks, Greenbox, Gridpoint, Control4 and others involved in pilot projects with utilities (see Sensus and 4Home Look Toward Home Area Networking and Tendril Expands Its Reach in Smart Homes).
But all that hardware and software needs data to be useful -- and for now, it's likely that most of that data will come from the millions of smart meters now being installed by utilities across the country (see Smart Meter Installations Grow Nearly Fivefold and SCE Preps $1.63B Smart-Meter Program).
The Obama administration has called for 40 million smart meters to be installed in American homes as part of its economic stimulus proposal, and current versions of the stimulus bill include $32 billion for improving the nation's transmission grid, $4.5 billion of it dedicated to grants for smart grid-related projects (see Draft Stimulus Plan Has Billions for Smart Grid).
So, while other options for collecting and distributing home energy data may emerge (see A Broadband Smart Grid?), right now smart meters are at the heart of pilot projects that enlist customers in energy-saving measures like demand response programs (see Smart Grid Test: Customers Give Thumbs Up and Tendril Targets Meter Makers).
And Google's call to regulators to get utilities to open that data to third parties could play into an ongoing industry debate over open standards for smart meter data communications (see Smart Grid: A Matter of Standards and Traditional Meter Makers Say Stimulus Favors New Smart Grid Companies).
"Our tool is free and scalable, and we plan to release the technical specifications (application programming interfaces or API) so anyone can build applications from it," Google told the CPUC.
And Google wants everyone else in the smart meter business, utilities included, to be equally as open, as long as customers have the power to keep their own data private if they so choose.
Google has been pushing its name into smart grid lately. It joined the smart grid trade group Demand Response and Smart Grid Coalition in November, and in September it said it would work with General Electric Co. (GE) on renewable energy and smart grid technologies (see Google and GE Gang Up for Green Energy).
That's part of an overall energy platform that includes about $45 million in renewable energy investments by its philanthropic arm, Google.org, and a call for a $4.4 trillion national energy policy heavy on replacing coal-fired power plants with renewable energy sources, which would need lots of new "smart" transmission.
All that has led Ron Ambrosio, global research leader for IBM's (IBM) Energy & Utilities business, to cite Google as a natural competitor – and potential partner – in the smart grid industry (see IBM, EDF to Research Smart Grid Tech).
Some Light in New Jersey --
http://seekingalpha.com/article/119911-pse-g-proposes-773-million-solar-project?source=email
By Ucilia Wang
New Jersey's largest utility on Tuesday proposed a $773 million project to install solar panels on its own properties, utility poles and public schools.
The Public Service Electric and Gas Co. (PEG) (PSE&G) said the project would add 120 megawatts of capacity and help it meet a state mandate to generate 22.5 percent of all of its power from renewable sources. The project would meet nearly 7 percent of the statewide goal, the company said.
The utility estimated that the cost of installing the solar energy systems would be $6.44 per watt. While PSE&G said it would put up the money to install those solar panels, it wants to pass on the costs to ratepayers. The company said that would amount to about $0.10 per month for the first year for a residential customer, and increase to $0.35 per month in 2013.
The project will need the approval of the state Board of Public Utilities.
Solar energy has become more attractive to utilities thanks to a vote by Congress last October to allow power companies to take advantage of an investment tax credit. The tax credit allows utilities to offset the cost of developing a solar energy project by as much as 30 percent, a benefit that existed only for independent solar power developers (see Lawmakers Approve Energy Tax Credits, Bailout).
PSE&G's proposal reaffirms some industry observers' belief that utilities will move away from what has been a common approach: utilities would pay third-party developers for solar electricity generated from power plants owned and operated by those outside developers.
Last month, the chief executive of the Pacific Gas and Electric Co., a Northern California utility, said his company would start making equity investments in solar power projects in the next two quarters, a shift from the company's practice of buying solar power from project developers (see Is a PG&E Solar Rooftop Investment on the Horizon?).
In the past, utilities said they didn't want to shoulder the financial burdens and risks of building and operating their own solar power projects, which could costs roughly $7 million per megawatt of installed capacity (using conventional solar panels).
But those risks might not be so bad when a number of independent solar project developers that have deals to deliver power to utilities have been laying off staff and having a difficult time lining up project financing (see OptiSolar Lays Off 300, Half the Staff and Inside Ausra's Big Change).
PSE&G is proposing to break down its $773 million project into four segments: A 40-megawatt ($264 million) project to install solar panels on utility poles and street lights; a 43-megawatt ($273 million) project to install on schools and city/county land; a 35-megawatt ($221 million) project to build a power plant on PSE&G's own property; and a 2-megawatt ($15 million) project to install panels on the roofs of the state affordable housing communities.
PSE&G serves nearly three quarters of the state's population, or 1.7 million gas customers and 2.1 electric customers, the company said on its Website.
Dark Days for Green Energy
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/04/business/04windsolar.html
By KATE GALBRAITH
Wind and solar power have been growing at a blistering pace in recent years, and that growth seemed likely to accelerate under the green-minded Obama administration. But because of the credit crisis and the broader economic downturn, the opposite is happening: installation of wind and solar power is plummeting.
Factories building parts for these industries have announced a wave of layoffs in recent weeks, and trade groups are projecting 30 to 50 percent declines this year in installation of new equipment, barring more help from the government.
Prices for turbines and solar panels, which soared when the boom began a few years ago, are falling. Communities that were patting themselves on the back just last year for attracting a wind or solar plant are now coping with cutbacks.
“I thought if there was any industry that was bulletproof, it was that industry,” said Rich Mattern, the mayor of West Fargo, N.D., where DMI Industries of Fargo operates a plant that makes towers for wind turbines. Though the flat Dakotas are among the best places in the world for wind farms, DMI recently announced a cut of about 20 percent of its work force because of falling sales.
Much of the problem stems from the credit crisis that has left Wall Street banks reeling. Once, as many as 18 big banks and financial institutions were willing to help finance installation of wind turbines and solar arrays, taking advantage of generous federal tax incentives. But with the banks in so much trouble, that number has dropped to four, according to Keith Martin, a tax and project finance specialist with the law firm Chadbourne & Parke.
Wind and solar developers have been left starved for capital. “It’s absolutely frozen,” said Craig Mataczynski, president of Renewable Energy Systems Americas, a wind developer. He projected his company would build just under half as much this year as it did last year.
The two industries are hopeful that President Obama’s economic stimulus package will help. But it will take time, and in the interim they are making plans for a dry spell.
Solar energy companies like OptiSolar, Ausra, Heliovolt and SunPower, once darlings of investors, have all had to lay off workers. So have a handful of companies that make wind turbine blades or towers in the Midwest, including Clipper Windpower, LM Glasfiber and DMI.
Some big wind developers, like NextEra Energy Resources and even the Texas billionaire T. Boone Pickens, a promoter of wind power, have cut back or delayed their wind farm plans.
Renewable energy sources like biomass, which involves making electricity from wood chips, and geothermal, which harnesses underground heat for power, have also been slowed by the financial crisis, but the effects have been more pronounced on once fast-growing wind and solar.
Because of their need for space to accommodate giant wind turbines, wind farms are especially reliant on bank financing for as much as 50 percent of a project’s costs. For example, JPMorgan Chase, which analysts say is the most active bank remaining in the renewable energy sector, has invested in 54 wind farms and one solar plant since 2003, according to John Eber, the firm’s managing director for energy investments.
In the solar industry, the ripple effects of the crisis extend all the way to the panels that homeowners put on their roofs. The price of solar panels has fallen by 25 percent in six months, according to Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association, who said he expected a further drop of 10 percent by midsummer.
(For homeowners, however, the savings will not be as substantial, partly because panels account for only about 60 percent of total installation costs.)
After years when installers had to badger manufacturers to ensure they would receive enough panels, the situation has reversed. Bill Stewart, president of SolarCraft, a California installer, said that manufacturers were now calling to say, “Hey, do you need any product this month? Can I sell you a bit more?”
The turnaround reflects reduced demand for solar panels, and also an increase in supply of panels and of polysilicon, a crucial material in many panels.
On the wind side, turbines that once had to be ordered far in advance are suddenly becoming available.
“At least one vendor has said that they have equipment for delivery in 2009, where nine months ago they wouldn’t have been able to take new orders until 2011,” Mr. Mataczynski of Renewable Energy wrote in an e-mail message. As he has scaled back his company’s plans, he has been forced to cancel some orders for wind turbines, forfeiting the deposit.
Banks have invested in renewable energy, lured by the tax credits. But with banks tightly controlling their money and profits, the main task for the companies is to find new sources of investment capital.
Wind and solar companies have urged Congress to adopt measures that could help revive the market. But even if a favorable stimulus bill passes, nobody is predicting a swift recovery.
“Nothing Congress does in the stimulus bill can put the market back where it was in 2007 and 2008, before it was broken,” said Mr. Martin, the tax lawyer with Chadbourne & Parke. “But it can help at the margins.”
The solar and wind tax credits are structured slightly differently, but the House version of the stimulus bill would help both industries by providing more immediate tax incentives, alleviating some of their dependency on banks.
Both House and Senate would also extend an important tax credit for wind energy, called the production tax credit, for three years; previously the industry had complained of boom-and-bust cycles with the credit having to be renewed nearly every year.
Over the long term, with Mr. Obama focused on a concerted push toward greener energy, the industry remains optimistic.
“You drive across the countryside and there’s more and more wind farms going up,” said Mr. Mattern of West Fargo. “I still have big hopes.”
A new electric drive patent worth a look-see --
http://puregreencars.com/Green-Cars-News/Technology/solomon_technologies_awarded_new_patent_for_electric_drive_techn.html
Batteries are seen as key to electric market power
GM and Toyota push development plans while Ford says it will continue to use a supplier.
By Ken Bensinger
January 13, 2009
Reporting from Detroit -- The car world is stepping on the accelerator as it shifts away from the piston and toward the electron.
This week at Detroit's auto show, nearly every major automaker, including General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp., announced plans to develop more electric vehicles.
But amid all the chatter about charging times, range and 0-to-60 acceleration, an essential business question is emerging. Many industry experts say it could utterly change the complexion of the auto business: Who makes the battery?
"The battery is critical," said Larry Burns, head of research and development and strategic planning at GM.
Burns contends that because the battery is the most expensive and high-tech component in an electric car, the companies that make batteries well -- rather than those that can most efficiently weld together steel frames -- could emerge as the most powerful players in the industry.
The auto industry, Burns said, is not unlike the computer business, which was once led by hardware makers but now is dominated by software and services.
"If you look at the major industries that have been transformed," he said, "not many of the incumbents come out of that transformation strong."
Such predictions put a rather big target on the back of companies such as GM, Toyota and Ford. Might the next automotive behemoth be BYD Co.?
That Chinese company controls nearly a third of the world's cellphone battery market, but it recently decided to try its hand at making cars and now is pushing hard into electric transportation.
On Monday, BYD unveiled a battery-powered vehicle it claims can go 250 miles on a single charge. It will go on sale in China this year.
"Our leading position in rechargeable battery technology . . . has given BYD a unique advantage," said Wang Chuan-fu, chairman of the Shenzhen, China, company, which hopes to bring its electric car stateside in 2011 and to build plants in the U.S. soon thereafter.
The idea that expertise in the petroleum-fired engine may no longer dictate the industry's direction has many old-line companies on high alert.
"This is an absolute game-changer," said David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research. He says batteries will become so crucial that assuring they are produced in the U.S. will become a matter of national security.
On Monday, GM announced that it would build a special plant in the U.S. just to assemble the battery for the Chevy Volt extended-range electric vehicle, due out late next year.
In addition, GM will open its own 30,000-square-foot battery research center and enter a research partnership with the University of Michigan.
"The supply, design and construction of batteries must be a core competency of GM," Chairman and Chief Executive Rick Wagoner said as he announced the plans.
For the time being, GM will use a South Korean supplier, LG Chem Ltd., to make the lithium ion cells at the heart of the Volt battery, but the automaker plans to develop its own technology in the future. "GM is getting back in the battery business," Wagoner said.
The news prompted Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) to call for federal grants and government programs to help speed battery development on these shores.
"We must be in the position to produce the essential components in the U.S. and not rely on advanced technology and critical building blocks produced elsewhere," Levin said.
Toyota is ahead of the game. The automaker is betting heavily on its hybrid system, which runs partially on batteries, and has plans to incorporate the technology across its lineup in the near future.
Like several other Asian carmakers, Toyota has a stake in a battery plant. It owns 60% of Panasonic EV Energy Co., a joint venture that makes batteries for cars such as the Prius and is developing advanced batteries for plug-in hybrids and a line of tiny city cars with a limited range that Toyota announced this week.
Masatami Takimoto, executive vice president in charge of R&D at Toyota, said the company was aware of the threat of losing control of the industry to battery makers, as well as companies that make the technology used to integrate the battery with the car's drive system -- essentially software.
"I think that possibility exists," Takimoto said. "Preventing that is the way for automakers to survive."
To do that, he contends, car companies must build up battery expertise even as they continue to hold the lead in the technology of brakes, dashboards and, yes, internal combustion engines, which he says aren't dead yet.
Not all companies agree with the carmaker-as-battery-maker strategy, however. Ford on Sunday said it was developing a mid-size battery-powered vehicle for sale in the U.S. in 2011, as well as a plug-in hybrid for 2012. But unlike GM or Toyota, Ford has no plans to develop the battery itself. Instead, it's handing those duties over to Magna International Inc., a supplier in Aurora, Canada.
"In an environment where there are limited resources, our argument is why don't we work with people that already have the technology in hand?" said Mark Fields, Ford's president of the Americas. He said the company would not develop its own batteries.
Alexander Edwards, head of auto analysis for consulting firm Strategic Vision Inc., believes that such a plan carries less risk. By shifting attention to batteries, he said, "GM and others might be locking themselves too much into one solution rather than keeping open to various solutions," he said.
Battery makers appear to see things in a different light. Peter Bahn-suk Kim, chief executive of LG Chem, GM's partner in battery development, cracked a big smile when discussing the future of the automotive battery industry.
"This is a very good opportunity for profit growth," he said. "In the future, we may make these batteries in the United States."
ken.bensinger@latimes.com
Hard to say, but my guess is "yes" down the road a piece. IMO, solar will be hot once more (pun intended).
I wonder if Solfocus will end up in the equity markets?
Nice investment by Apex Venture Partners!
Yup, I was in and out early on. It does look promising. I'm mostly trading ETFs these days waiting for the penny market to come back. GLTY!
Snow, I am in ZLNK. This R/M is going to be called Action Energy.
Could be renewable energy, solar, ....who knows?
Rainmaker has done a nice job on the board.
You may want to check it out.
PRESS RELEASE - SolFocus Inc receives a $47.5 million investment
SolFocus, the leading developer of Concentrator Photovoltaic (CPV) systems, today announced that it has raised $47.5 million in the first close of its Series C financing and appointed Mark Crowley chief executive officer. SolFocus will use the new funding to accelerate expansion of its manufacturing operations and extend its early base of commercial CPV deployments. The company aims to grow deployments from .5 MW in 2008 to approximately 100MW by the end of 2010.
The round was led by Apex Venture Partners with follow-on investment by New Enterprise Associates (NEA), NGEN Partners and others. The company anticipates a second close later this month.
Mark Crowley, who was named president of SolFocus in August 2008, will assume the role of chief executive officer to guide the company in its transition from small scale demonstration installations to large scale commercialization. The previous CEO and founder, Gary D. Conley, will continue as chairman of the board and help uphold the company’s commitment to innovation.
“This is an exciting time to be taking the helm of SolFocus,” said Mark Crowley, chief executive officer. “We have developed and delivered .5 MW of our high efficiency, cost-effective CPV systems, and are now poised to roll out product in high volume. Our C Round funding will allow us to invest rapidly to support our aggressive growth plans.” Mr. Crowley noted that this first close comes despite what is one of the most challenging funding environments in history. “Many good companies are going unfunded today; this close is strong validation from investors that our CPV systems are compelling today, and will help drive the growth of the solar industry tomorrow.”
The SolFocus CPV design employs a system of reflective optics to concentrate sunlight 500 times onto small, highly efficient solar cells. The industry-leading SolFocus 1100S system achieves over 25% efficiency, and uses 1/1,000th of the active, expensive solar cell material compared to traditional silicon-based photovoltaic panels. In addition, the cells used in SolFocus CPV systems have over twice the efficiency of traditional silicon cells. In solar-rich regions of the world, such efficiency can accelerate the trajectory for solar energy to reach cost parity with fossil fuels.
SolFocus integrates its CPV panels with its advanced tracking system that continuously aligns the solar array with direct sunlight throughout the day as the sun moves across the sky. The tracking capability results in energy generation ideally matched to peak demand periods.
The funding and leadership developments follow the release of the SolFocus 1100S system in November and the announcement of two groundbreaking customer deployments in Europe: the largest CPV installation, announced with EMPE in November, and the first CPV installation in Greece, announced with Samaras Group.
About SolFocus
The SolFocus mission is to enable solar energy generation at a Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) competitive with traditional fossil fuel sources. To achieve this goal, SolFocus has developed leading concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) technology which combines high-efficiency solar cells (approaching 40%) and advanced optics to provide solar energy solutions which are scalable, dependable and capable of delivering on the promise of clean, low-cost, renewable energy. SolFocus is headquartered in Mountain View, California with European operations headquartered in Madrid, Spain, and manufacturing in Mesa, Arizona as well as with manufacturing partners in India and China.
http://www.dealipedia.com/deal_view_investment.php?r=13470
Now John Doerr from Kleiner Perkins is on Bloomberg TV discussing the smartgrid, RPS, etc. He praised Obama's team up and down. The future looks very bright for clean/green/renewables going forward.
Barbara Boxer, Chair oif the Environment and Public Works Committee, is on Bloomberg TV right now discussing the clean-green approach of the Obama administration. She quoted Tom Friedman and mentioned Hot, Flat, and Crowded.
More push for Clean-green-renewable. It's in the air.
DEVENS, Mass., Jan 06, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- --Beijing SNTA Electric Power
Technique Company Becomes First AMSC Channel Par tner for the Chinese Power Grid
Market
American Superconductor Corporation (NASDAQ: AMSC), a leading energy
technologies company, today announced that it has received its first order for a
D-VAR system to meet dynamic reactive compensation requirements for a 220
kilovolt (kV) power transmission grid in Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, China.
Reactive power compensation is necessary to stabilize voltage, relieve power
grid congestion, improve electrical efficiency, and prevent blackouts in power
grids.
Beijing SNTA Electric Power Technique Company, Ltd. (SNTA), which has ordered
the 16 MegaVAR D-VAR system, is AMSC's first channel partner for the Chinese
power grid market. SNTA will install the D-VAR system in the 220kV Xijiao
substation, which is located in Chifeng and is operated by North East Power Grid
(NEPG).SNTA is one of China's primary suppliers of low- and high-voltage
reactive compensation products and turnkey power grid sol utions.
The Xijiao substation is connected to seven wind farms that produce a combined
600 megawatts (MW) of power. The China Electric Power Research Institute, which
is a part of China's State Grid Corporation and is responsible for transmission
engineering, has determined that additional voltage support is required at the
Chifeng Xijiao substation to maintain reliable operation of the power grid
served by this substation and enable secure transmission of wind-generated
electricity to load centers.
The contract between AMSC and SNTA was signed on December 31, 2008 in a ceremony
at SNTA headquarters in Beijing. AMSC expects to deliver the D-VAR system to
SNTA by mid 2009.
According to the International Energy Agency, China's power grid will require
approximately US$1.5 trillion in investments by 2030.
"As China builds out and upgrades its power grid to meet the demands of its
rapidly growing economy, it is seeking cut ting-edge energy technologies that
will meet these demands rapidly and in the most effective way possible," said
Greg Yurek, founder and Chief Executive Officer of AMSC. "Our solutions meet
these requirements, and we expect strong growth in the Chinese power grid market
for many years to come."
D-VAR reactive compensation systems are classified as Static Compensators, or
"STATCOMs," a member of the FACTS (Flexible AC-Transmission System) family of
power electronic solutions for alternating current (AC) power grids. They are
able to detect and instantaneously compensate for voltage disturbances by
dynamically injecting leading or lagging reactive power into the power grid.
AMSC has received orders for over 60 STATCOM power grid solutions worldwide,
more than all other manufacturers combined. The company's STATCOM customers
include more than 20 electric utilities and 40 wind farms.
About American Superconductor (NASDAQ: AMSC)
< BR>AMSC is a leading energy technologies company offering an array of solutions
based on two proprietary technologies: programmable power electronic converters
and high temperature superconductor (HTS) wires. The company's products,
services and system-level solutions enable cleaner, more efficient and more
reliable generation, delivery and use of electric power. AMSC is a leader in
alternative energy, offering licensed wind turbine designs and electrical
systems. As the world's principal supplier of HTS wire, the company is enabling
a new generation of compact, high-power electrical products, including power
cables, grid-level surge protectors, Secure Super Grids(TM), motors, generators,
and advanced transportation and defense systems. AMSC also provides utility and
industrial customers worldwide with voltage regulation systems that dramatically
enhance power grid capacity, reliability and security, as well as industrial
productivity. The company's technologies are protected by a broad and deep
intellectual property portfolio consisting of hundreds of patents and licenses
worldwide. More information is available at www.amsc.com.
American Superconductor and design, Revolutionizing the Way the World Uses
Electricity, AMSC, Powered by AMSC, D-VAR, PQ-IVR, PowerModule, Secure Super
Grids, dSVC, Windtec and SuperGEAR are trademarks or registered trademarks of
American Superconductor Corporation or its subsidiaries.
Any statements in this release about future expectations, plans and prospects
for the company, including our expectations regarding the future financial
performance of the company and other statements containing the words "believes,"
"anticipates," "plans," "expects," "will" and similar expressions, constitute
forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. There are a number of important factors that
could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such
forward-looking statements. Such factors include: uncertainties regarding the
company's ability to obtain anticipated funding from corporate and government
contracts, to successfully develop, manufacture and market commercial products,
and to secure anticipated orders; the risk that a robust market may not develop
for the company's products; the risk that strategic alliances and other
contracts may be terminated; the risk that certain technologies utilized by the
company will infringe intellectual property rights of others; and the
competition encountered by the company. Reference is made to these and other
factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of the company's most recent
quarterly or annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In
addition, the forward-looking statements included in this press release
represent the company's views a s of the date of this release. While the company
anticipates that subsequent events and developments may cause the company's
views to change, the company specifically disclaims any obligation to update
these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements should not be
relied upon as representing the company's views as of any date subsequent to the
date this press release is issued.
SOURCE: American Superconductor Corporation
CONTACT:
American Superconductor Corporation (NASDAQ: AMSC)
Jason Fredette, 978-842-3177
Director of Investor & Media Relations
jfredette@amsc.com
Copyright Business Wire 2009
-0-
KEYWORD: United States
North Americ a
Massachusetts
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: Energy
Alternative Energy
Utilities
Other Energy
Technology
Other Technology
Manufacturing
&nb sp; Other Manufacturing
Environment
Sempra solar energy project makes advances in costs
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-thinsolar5-2009jan05,0,7584003.story
From the Los Angeles Times
ENERGY
Sempra solar energy project makes advances in costs
An analyst says a Sempra Generation project powering California homes beats conventional sources on cost-effectiveness.
By Marla Dickerson
January 5, 2009
Generating clean electricity that's as cheap as power from fossil fuels is the Holy Grail of green-energy companies. A new solar project powering California homes appears to be closing in on that prize.
Sempra Generation, a subsidiary of Sempra Energy in San Diego, just took the wraps off a 10-megawatt solar farm in Nevada. That's small by industry standards, enough to light just 6,400 homes. But the ramifications are potentially huge.
A veteran analyst has calculated that the facility can produce power at a cost of 7.5 cents a kilowatt-hour, less than the 9-cent benchmark for conventional electricity.
If that's so, it marks a milestone that renewable fans have longed for: "grid parity," in which electricity from the sun, wind or other green sources can meet or beat the price performance of such carbon-based fuels as coal and natural gas.
"We now have an alternative-energy source that can actually deliver cost-competitive electricity with no subsidies," said Mark Bachman, senior equity analyst for Pacific Crest Securities in Portland, Ore.
The stock of First Solar Inc., the Tempe, Ariz., company that manufactured the solar modules for the project, has soared 20% since Bachman released his analysis in mid-December. It jumped $13.54 on Friday to $151.50.
The trouble is that no one involved in the deal is willing to confirm Bachman's conclusions, not wanting to reveal valuable know-how.
What they will say is that this facility, known as El Dorado Energy Solar, is producing electricity at costs below anything comparable to date.
"Our contract is the least expensive solar power ever delivered in the world at scale," said Michael Allman, chief executive of Sempra Generation. The company has inked a 20-year deal to sell the electricity to Pacific Gas & Electric Co. of San Francisco, whose service territory covers much of Central and Northern California.
Sempra constructed the project on 80 acres next to its El Dorado Energy gas-fired power plant, located about 40 miles southeast of Las Vegas in Boulder City. The solar facility uses photovoltaic panels similar to those mounted on homeowners' roofs, except the panels are anchored to the desert floor in long rows and there are lots of them -- 167,000 to be exact.
Another difference is technology. Conventional solar modules turn sunlight into electricity using a semiconductor known as polycrystalline silicon. That's the same material used in computer chips. Until recently, it had been pricey and in short supply.
First Solar uses a lower-cost semiconductor known as cadmium telluride, which it fashions into so-called thin-film cells that are cheaper to manufacture than their silicon-based counterparts.
"It's like the Wal-Mart of solar panels," Allman said.
Allman said Sempra planned to install an additional 50 megawatts of First Solar panels at the El Dorado site. He said Sempra was looking to do a much bigger project of about 500 megawatts adjacent to its Mesquite Power Generating Station, a gas-fired plant near Phoenix.
First Solar's technology is proving popular with Southern California energy companies looking to do supersized solar projects. Southern California Edison last year placed the company's modules on a 600,000-square-foot Fontana warehouse, the first of 150 commercial buildings the Rosemead utility hopes to cover with photovoltaics. If approved by state regulators, that project would total 250 megawatts.
California law requires the state's investor-owned utilities to generate 20% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2010, a figure that's set to increase to 33% by 2020. The state also has committed to cutting its greenhouse gases dramatically. Those mandates are creating opportunities for all manner of clean-energy companies, including First Solar.
For the first nine months of 2008, First Solar posted revenue of $812.7 million and net income of $215.6 million. Those figures were more than double the results of the same period a year earlier.
Some energy wonks are likely to dispute Bachman's conclusion that the El Dorado project has achieved grid parity. Most focus on the per-watt installation cost of such systems.
What's clear is that the costs of solar power are dropping dramatically across the industry as the technology is more widely adopted and producers become more efficient. First Solar Chief Executive Michael J. Ahearn said his company had cut the cost of manufacturing its modules by 67% over the last four years.
"The photovoltaic industry," Ahearn said, "is much closer to generating affordable solar power than most people realize."
marla.dickerson@latimes.com
And here's a not-so-encouraging word from one of the first movers in the electric car field:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/112982-environmentalism-may-face-major-setback-in-2009?source=email
Environmentalism May Face Major Setback in 2009
by: Greentech Media January 02, 2009
By Darryl Siry
In the last two years or so, I have witnessed what I believed to be a sea change in society’s views about the environment, and particularly the acceptance of global warming by the mainstream as a critical challenge of our era.
When faced with the questions of whether this surge of popularity of “green” issues was just a fad, I confidently answered that no, this time things were different. Progressive thinking about environmental issues had penetrated the mainstream. Even President Bush acknowledged the issue in his 2007 State of the Union. A new generation of children would grow up with sustainability as the norm just as my generation grew up with computers as the norm.
But today, I fear that we may see a major setback in 2009. The combination of recession and populist notions will gain momentum, stoked by fear and hardship. These forces may be strong enough to stop the progress of environmentalism dead in its tracks.
The essential problem is the tragedy of the commons. Global warming and concern about CO2 emissions is a global, social problem that has extraordinary long term impacts, but when you look at it on an individual level, the marginal returns that a selfish individual can gain by ignoring the greater good far exceeds the marginal cost to that individual in the short run. In the long run, though, everyone pays more.
For those not familiar with this concept of Economics, an example that everyone has experienced is the group dinner where everyone agrees to split the bill. Relieved of their individual accountability to pay for only what they use, each person orders more than what they would normally order, knowing that the additional costs will be borne by the group. The individual also reasons that if they alone behave responsibly, they will not be rewarded with a lower bill but rather will still have to bear the higher cost of the average bill.
The predictable result is that the average bill is much higher than if each paid their own way. A nasty side effect is paranoia and suspicion, as people watch what each other is ordering and get angry at the irresponsibility of each other.
With recession upon us and fear of long-term depression, powerful populist notions will challenge the “greater good” notions of environmentalism. Put simply, if people are out of a job and can’t afford to pay their heating bill, they could give a rat’s ass about global warming and will be infuriated by billions in government spending for environmental causes including electric car subsidies and investments in solar power or biofuels.
The media loves to play the populist line, as it is a sure winner for readership. Politicians are highly susceptible to populist trends, and will be quick to change directions. You will hear a lot of politicians saying “I support these environmental causes and issues in the long run, but the people can’t afford them today.”
What first triggered this thought for me was the not-so-friendly response that I received to my blog on the need for a gasoline tax. One commenter even went so far as to call for my hanging! Then this morning I read in the NY Times that cheap coal is making a resurgence for home heating.
Watch this play out in 2009. The media will stoke the fires of populism and environmentalism will come under fierce attack. In the absence of private capital to fund major investments in advanced technologies to reduce CO2 emissions, the government will come under intense political pressure if it tries to step into the breach. Great courage will be needed to stay the course of tackling long-term global challenges while also addressing the short-term economic hardships.
Daryl Siry is the former chief marketing officer for Tesla Motors. He now consults on marketing and the automotive industry. You can read more here: http://darrylsiry.blogspot.com.
It takes a village to sell an electric car
December 16, 2008 4:00 AM PST
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10122072-54.html?tag=nl.e703
Posted by Martin LaMonica
It turns out that weaning the auto industry off gasoline isn't as simple as turning out electric cars from a factory.
Auto industry executives say they will couple their first mass-market electric cars with a big dose of community outreach, with the hope of making the new generation of vehicles more desirable and convenient to consumers.
Car companies intend to target places where governments are willing to provide incentives to purchase plug-in electric cars and install charging stations. Utilities, too, need to be involved so that the grid doesn't become stressed by a rush of cars.
General Motors is already coordinating with industry partners, community leaders, and utilities to ensure that the apparent strong demand for the Chevy Volt--due in November 2010--will have the infrastructure to back it up, said Tony Posawatz, vehicle line director of the Chevy Volt.
"We are looking at communities that exist that are willing to put all the pieces together," Posawatz said at the Electric Drive Transportation Association's Conference & Exposition earlier this month. "To me, the Volt is a remarkable product. But, if the other stuff--the communities, etc.--isn't there, then we run the risk of failing."
Private-public partnerships
The financial industry bailout bill (separate from the auto industry aid package that failed to pass Congress) helps clear the cost hurdle for plug-in electric cars. Depending on the size of the battery, consumers and businesses can get up to a $7,500 tax credit starting next year.
But that financial incentive isn't quite enough to rapidly spur mass adoption, say auto companies.
Municipalities or states could create incentives to install charging "pedestals" in urban neighborhoods or other public spaces. Similarly, businesses or parking lot owners could install charging ports.
With a good charging infrastructure in place, auto makers hope that mainstream consumers--rather than only adventurous bleeding-edge buyers--will have a positive experience with plug-in electric cars.
Nissan, for example, is readying what it considers a mainstream sedan, with the usual amenities of modern cars like on-board navigation and heated seats. That's a break from electric cars that are already available, such as the pricey, $109,000 Tesla Roadster or existing neighborhood electric cars that can't go highway speed.
Because it is a mainstream product, Nissan will stage the car's initial introduction in the fall of 2010 in region's that have the right infrastructure in place, said Mark Perry, director of product planning for Nissan Americas. That will help it prepare for "mass market" availability in 2012, he said.
It is establishing "public-private partnerships" with governments and utilities in an effort to ensure things like favorable permitting and available inspectors for charging stations, Perry said. So far, it has agreements with Tennessee, Oregon, and Sonoma County, Calif., to set up a network of charging stations in public places.
"As we think about the individual consumer, you don't want it to be an open question--Ok, I want an electric vehicle, what do I do? We want to have those answers," said Perry. "It's not a technical hurdle. It's more a coordination and logistics hurdle."
Nissan is considering a battery swapping program, something that start-up Better Place plans to set up in a number of countries, Hawaii, and the San Francisco Bay Area. The idea is to avoid the problem of a car's limited battery range by having a network of spots--they would resemble car washes--where drivers can swap fresh batteries in for depleted ones.
Other auto makers are taking a similar region-by-region approach. Mitshubishi's electric subcompact, the iMiev, has been testing a fast charging infrastructure with seven Japanese utilities capable of replenishing battery charge to 80 percent in 30 minutes, said David Patterson, senior manager for research and development at Mitsubishi Motors in North America.
The cars will be available commercially in Japan next summer. Mitsubishi also plans to run tests as fleet vehicles with California utilities Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison.
Smart charging
Utilities, meanwhile, need to be involved in electric car roll-outs to hammer out technical standards and ensure that the grid won't be over-taxed by the added load of electric vehicles.
The Electric Power Research Institute said in a study that the the U.S. power grid could accommodate many electric cars, all while improving air quality and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. A spike to 60 percent market share in 2050 of plug-in electric vehicles would use between seven and eight percent of grid-supplied electricity, it found.
However, an analysis from the Oak Ridge National Laboratories found that rapid penetration of plug-in vehicles could require construction of dozens of more power plants if utilities can't control when vehicles are charged. If millions of consumers recharge their cars during peak times, such as early evening, utilities might not be able to meet demand with existing power plants.
The technical solution to this problem is so-called smart charging software which will allow utilities to remotely control when vehicles are charged and at what pace.
During the Electric Drive Transportation Association's Conference & Exposition, General Motors and smart grid start-up GridPoint remotely dialed into GM's Warren, Mich., testing labs and altered the charge rate on a Volt. GridPoint earlier this year bought V2Green, which developed software specifically for utilities to deal with electric cars.
"The last thing you want to do is charge on peak," said GridPoint chief strategy officer Karl Lewis, who warned that on-peak charging could lead to higher electricity prices. "We envision a compact between the utility and the consumer to incentivize consumers to do off-peak charging."
A utility could, for example, offer what's called time-of-day pricing, where consumers would get cheaper rates to charge a vehicle after midnight when demand is low.
On a technical level, the protocols and standards for charging electric cars en masse still aren't settled. For example, auto makers are waiting for guidelines from the Society of Automotive Engineers International on fast-charging methods, which can make a significant difference in charge time.
Using a car charging device at 240 volts will fill the Chevy Volt's batteries in three hours, versus eight hours if out of a standard 120-volt U.S. household socket.
Building a "geek squad" to install 240-volt charging boxes at people's homes is one example of the services that will smooth the way for electric cars, said GM's Posawatz. "There are a lot of opportunities and possibilities for different people in the value chain," he said.
Andy Grove Likes Batteries
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10121940-54.html?tag=nl.e433
Former Intel CEO Andy Grove has joined other Silicon Valley elites who are advocating for an industry shift into energy technology.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal published Friday, Grove said he is urging Intel to invest in battery manufacturing as a way to diversify from its core chip business.
Grove told the Journal that Intel's "strategic objective is tackling big problems and turning them into big businesses." He said Intel, with its cash resources, can invest in battery technology and manufacturing to bring down the cost of car batteries, which would drive adoption of plug-in electric cars.
Batteries are the most expensive component in plug-in electric vehicles, a market being pursued by a few U.S. companies.
General Motor's 2011 Volt is testing batteries from lithium-ion maker A123 Systems. Other U.S. companies include Ener1 and Valence Technology. Notebook battery maker Boston Power also intends to enter the auto market.
But battery makers and analysts say that U.S. manufacturers lack the financial means to meet the anticipated demand of electric cars.
"The technology exists today to put (electric drives) into an automobile," said Ener1 CEO Charles Gassenheimer at last week's Electric Drive Transportation Association's Conference & Exposition. "But it is not doable without the ability to drive down the cost of manufacturing."
Intel has invested in battery technology through its venture capital arm and other energy-related firms. Earlier this year, Intel also spun out SpectraWatt, which intends to lower the cost of manufacturing solar cells.
Grove has become an advocate for government policies that promote plug-in hybrid cars. This summer, he published a manifesto, called "Our Electric Future," in The American magazine, where he called for transitioning the American auto fleet to electricity for national security reasons.
"Because electricity is the stickiest form of energy, and because it is multi-sourced, it will give us the greatest degree of energy resilience. Our nation will be best served if we dedicate ourselves to increasing the amount of our energy that we use in the form of electricity," he wrote.
In a speech at the Plug-in 2008 conference in August, he called for a goal of putting 10 million plug-in vehicles on the road in 10 years.
Martin LaMonica is a senior writer for CNET's Green Tech blog. He started at CNET News in 2002, covering IT and Web development. Before that,he was executive editor at IT publication InfoWorld. E-mail Martin.
Peter Fusaro on The Shape of Green in 2009
http://www.utilipoint.com/issuealert/article.asp?ID=3085
December 10, 2008
The Shape of Green Things to Come in 2009
By Peter C. Fusaro
Chairman, Global Change Associates
and UtiliPoint Affiliated Consultant
It's the end of another year, an appropriate time for a forward look at energy and environmental issues. Many ideas are buzzing around Washington D.C. policy circles now. What policies will be implemented, when will they be implemented and how will they be implemented? These are important questions.
The billions of Federal dollars targeted for a “jobs program” appears to be another boondoggle, although notably well-intentioned. A “green jobs training program,” created for people to work in the private sector in energy service companies, makes more sense. These folks would weatherize homes, deploy smart meters, work on infrastructure and mass transit. Unfortunately, the government does not have the skill set of an EPC contractor. Why waste time and money reinventing the wheel? Why recreate the SynFuels fiasco of the 1970s which wasted $3 billion and did not produce any fuel? Government can't deliver results and can't get the job done if there is no infrastructure and no accountability in place.
Linking the carbon auction to revenues for energy efficiency must be done in a dedicated fund. It must not exist for the use of general revenues. Does anyone remember what happened to all the Social Security Trust funds? Growing budget gaps will make it difficult to keep the revenues flowing long term for energy efficiency, as the temptation will be too great to use these funds for other Federal budget shortfalls. On the other hand, if green jobs are funded by general revenues, then we grow the deficit. The better solution: Incent the private sector, including renewable energy tax refunds.
The Holy Grail Still Remains a Price for Carbon
While there is superfluous discussion about carbon taxes, the fact is that politicians and the U.S. public do not like higher taxes. Taxes cannot be guised as anything else but what they are: taxes! It seems to me that the carbon tax argument is a love affair of economists who don't know political reality. President Jimmy Carter could not get a modest five cent per gallon gasoline tax increase through Congress over a 10 year period. President Bill Clinton couldn't get his BTU tax proposal through Congress in his first administration. You only have to look at the political pandering on energy to remember last spring's proposals for a gasoline tax holiday for the summer that would have sent the wrong signal to consumers.
That leaves us with U.S. carbon cap and trade legislation. It will be cap and trade, invented by the United Sates in the Acid Rain program in 1995, and proposed by the U.S. delegation at the Rio Climate meetings in 1992. The United States invented cap and trade (not the European Union!), as well as most of the body of environmental law. Today we have 38 compliance-driven environmental financial markets in America. Cap and trade will be another compliance driven market with transparency, registries, price discovery and financial sanctions for noncompliance.
The regulatory regime for that solution will come when Congress and the Obama Administration understand that markets have volatility, need no price caps and must feature financial pain for noncompliance. The nonsense that it won't work begs the questions that 184 countries are part of the Kyoto Protocol and they follow market-based solutions. However flawed Kyoto Protocol is, the fact is that it exists and that emissions trading was invented in the United States and accepted by the 184 Kyoto signatory nations.
Congress Has to Get Market Design Right
I have just returned from Washington D.C. and continue to be concerned about flawed market design for cap and trade. The thinking in D.C. policy circles is still very flawed. Politicians understand cap not but don't understand trade, which means the temptation to cater to every K Street lobbyist and campaign contributor is pervasive.
The most troubling perspective is the price cap on carbon called “the safety valve” which still has broad bipartisan support. This distorts markets and will not provide the necessary incentives needed to stimulate more next-generation cleantech investment. Setting the bar too low with $12 or $20 price caps means that industry can buy its way out of environmental problems. For example, last summer in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme Phase 2, RWE, the big German coal burning utility, burned more coal when oil hit $147 per barrel and compensated by just buying more emissions allowances. That is not the intent of cap and trade. The concept was to switch to more clean burning fuels. Safety valves will bring price distortion to that market. Another example is the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) which has proven to create a very modest price for carbon ($3.07 per ton) because of over allocation of emissions allowances. Setting the bar too low doesn't incent the desired business behavior which is to invest substantially in cleaner energy.
The real economic incentive behind carbon cap and trade is to provide enough financial pain to change behavior and not to continue in a business-as-usual way. That also creates the proper economic initiatives for smaller cleantech companies to provide solutions. Innovation cannot be predicted, but must be encouraged.
Hit the Ground Running on Green
The Green Agenda appears to be taking a bold and multifaceted shape. The agenda includes Smart Grid, clean coal with carbon capture and storage, and a national RPS to build out more solar arrays and wind farms. Raising CAFÉ standards and increasing building and appliance efficiency standards are also said to on the table from the Obama folks. I am still concerned about biofuels mania which adds little value, outside of converting agricultural waste and municipal solid waste to ethanol. I shudder every time President-elect Obama talks about biodiesel as if that is a panacea for a 250 million vehicle fleet that runs on oil products not soybeans, coal, compressed natural gas, hydrogen, electricity, etc. A 60 billion gallon biofuels mandate would be a financial and food debacle. Advanced biofuels, currently hyped-up, are not commercial yet. And, of course, there are wonderful people working in the weeds on algae fuels (at last count 22 start ups).
Big Impacts are Needed on Energy and Environment
Incrementalism is the way of Congress and all bureaucracies. It is comfortable for them to maintain the status quo and make small changes. That policy has failed the United States on energy issues for the past 30 years. The metrics of energy are not only tech, as the venture capital community knows well. Energy is capital intensive with long lead times. The energy industry will not produce the technology for its future to any great degree, but will buy that technology, taking a page out of the Big Pharma model in biotech. That leaves us with the conundrum of how to get small companies to scale in a capital market signaling scarce capital.
The next two to three years of lower oil prices are a window for the United States to commit massively to energy and environmental infrastructure and to begin a period of lessening dependence on oil. That means massive deployment of plug and play hybrids that use power from the grid off peak and gasoline and diesel from the existing oil infrastructure. That will clip oil demand by four million b/d by 2020. The scale needs to be tens of millions of vehicles, a tax on gas guzzlers, and a retirement of older, inefficient cars and trucks. This means a patriotic imperative to commit to a cleaner and greener energy and environmental future. Are we up to the task?
In times of great economic upheaval, civilizations must respond to the crisis. They either rise to the occasion or collapse. The United States is on the precipice. The financial black hole may be $11 to $12 trillion. The banks are lying. Their financial losses will continue to be revealed through next summer. A crisis demands vision, boldness and action, not more economic studies, committees and commissions. The climate change law in California was only13 pages long. It got the job done. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 was 1,700 pages long, creating a field day for lobbyists and lawyers. We need clear long-term rules on climate change, renewable portfolio standards, tailpipe emissions and long term renewable tax credits from day one. By setting up the policy framework, aka the “rules of the game,” the capital markets will respond.
Regulatory certainty provides financial certainty. Goldman Sachs and private equity funds in New York are now hiring in Green. I think they see through the tea leaves. To create a robust, long-term sustainable green economic strategy requires boldness, vision and direct action from both the Obama Administration and Congress. This also means “hard ball” politics to get the job done. Is complacent, rich and scared America up to this challenge? I truly hope so or economic collapse and decline will be the road more traveled.
I wish all IssueAlert readers a very happy holiday season!
Peter C. Fusaro is a long time advocate of long term energy and environmental policies that are market driven. He is holding his first 2009 “Introduction to Carbon Trading” in New York on January 14, 2009 (www.pgsenergy.com).
Some see deep water as fertile field for wind power
About 78% of the nation's electricity is consumed by people in places with enormous wind resources.
Associated Press
From the Los Angeles Times
December 9, 2008
Reporting from Orono, Maine — Some call the waters off the nation's northeast coast the Saudi Arabia of wind for their potential to provide massive amounts of energy to the region.
Yet even talk of placing huge turbines in shallow waters off scenic shores can raise an enormous public outcry.
Behind the scenes in the U.S. and in Europe, the race is on to build the world's first deep-water wind farms, which would operate on floating platforms in waters hundreds of feet deep, like oil rigs found in the North Sea and Gulf of Mexico.
There are gargantuan technical hurdles involved, but there is also the potential for a huge payoff, said Habib Dagher, who is working on a deep-water wind turbine at the University of Maine.
"We can open up the largest renewable resource that the U.S. has," he said.
About 78% of the nation's electricity is consumed by people on the East and West coasts and along the Great Lakes, all places with enormous wind resources.
The potential in the U.S. and elsewhere has drawn a number of players into the race.
Boston-based Blue H USA is seeking permission to put a demonstration floating turbine in federal waters 23 miles off the coast of Massachusetts' Martha's Vineyard.
Blue H's affiliate, Blue H Technologies in Denmark, has a 2/3 -scale demonstration turbine operating off southern Italy and has proposed a full-scale prototype off France. It is also part of a consortium of companies that has proposed building a wind farm on floating platforms in the North Sea, with the first turbines being built as soon as 2013.
Elsewhere, the Norwegian company Statoil-Hydro is building a pilot wind turbine to be installed off Norway next year and tested over a two-year period. Statoil-Hydro says the windmill will be able to be tethered in depths from 350 feet to more than 2,000 feet.
Another Norwegian company, Sway, has designed a turbine for offshore use that has no platform and would be tethered to the ocean floor.
Texas oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens has brought attention to wind power with a plan for large-scale projects in the Midwest. Land-based wind turbines this year will supply 48 billion kilowatt-hours of power in the U.S., enough to meet the electricity needs of 4.5 million homes, according to the American Wind Energy Assn.
But it makes more sense to look out to sea, where the nation's best winds and greatest population densities are found, said Raymond Dackerman, general manager of Blue H USA.
"With all due respect to North Dakota and South Dakota, which have also been labeled the Saudi Arabia of wind, people live along our coastlines," Dackerman said. "It's relatively easier to cable back in from offshore locations into demand centers as opposed to creating projects in locations that are far from population centers."
Europe already has shallow-water wind farms, mostly off Denmark and Britain. And the United States' first ocean-based wind farms are expected to begin operating in shallow waters off Atlantic coast states in the coming years.
Erecting wind turbines in shallow-water sites is relatively simple. Huge steel stakes are driven into the ocean bottom to ground turbines.
But that's not feasible farther offshore, where winds are stronger.
Putting turbines far out to sea is a long-range goal, but the most recent energy shock has sparked more interest, said Walt Musial, one of the nation's top wind power experts.
"All we have now are computer models, so we need more testing in the ocean," said Musial, an engineer with the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo. "We don't know yet what the detailed requirements are for a deep-water offshore site."
Dagher testified with Pickens about wind power before the Senate Homeland Security Committee in July.
Winds in the Gulf of Maine blow at 20 to 22 mph on average, compared with wind speeds of 15 1/2 to 18 1/2 mph in the Midwest, Dagher said. Though the difference may not seem great, those offshore winds can produce 2 1/2 times the electricity of land-based turbines.
Placing turbines far offshore also eliminates the eyesore factor for people who might object to large towers in their view, he said.
In addition to the technical challenge of building 300-foot towers 10 to 20 miles offshore, developers must find out how best to route power back to land through cables buried under the ocean floor.
Shipping lanes, marine mammals, fishing boats, sea birds and airplanes, and even how radar would be affected by ocean towers have to be considered. There are also the financial costs and regulatory obstacles, not to mention hurricanes.
Dagher, who has been working with several companies on his prototype turbine, envisions wind farms 20 to 30 miles out in the Gulf of Maine -- but not for at least 10 years.
Statoil-Hydro spokesman Oistein Johannessen said offshore wind power was evolving the same way offshore oil drilling did. The early oil rigs were in shallow waters on concrete platforms and eventually went deeper and deeper until they became floating platforms far out at sea.
"I think it's important when we think about this that we keep in mind this is a long-term perspective," Johannessen said. "We're talking about 10 years plus, or 20 years maybe, before the technology is available on commercial terms."
Although the technology isn't perfected yet, Musial said, the interest is there. And, he added, one thing is for sure: "The wind is there."
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-waterwind9-2008dec09,0,4231108.story
Some pix of electric cars from the Electric Drive Transportation Association Conference & Exposition this week in Washington, D.C. --
http://news.cnet.com/2300-13833_3-6248179-1.html?tag=mncol
Solar Car Circumnavigates the World -
Car completes first solar-powered circumnavigation
Dec. 4, 2008
The first solar-powered car to travel around the world ended its journey at the U.N. climate talks Thursday, arriving with the message that clean technologies are available now to stop global warming.
The small two-seater, hauling a trailer of solar cells and carrying chief U.N. climate official Yvo de Boer, glided up to a building in Poznan, Poland, where delegates from some 190 nations are working toward a new treaty to control climate change.
"This is the first time in history that a solar-powered car has traveled all the way around the world without using a single drop of petrol," said Louis Palmer, the 36-year-old Swiss schoolteacher and adventurer who made the trip.
"These new technologies are ready," he said. "It's ecological, it's economical, it is absolutely reliable. We can stop global warning."
Palmer's appearance at the conference marked the end of a 32,000-mile (52,000-kilometer) journey that began 17 months ago in Lucerne, Switzerland and took him through 38 countries.
The car, which runs noiselessly, can travel up to 55 mph (90 kph) and covers 185 miles (300 kilometers) on a fully charged battery.
Palmer said he lost only two days to breakdowns during the journey.
"This car runs like a Swiss clock," he said.
He calls his vehicle, which was developed by scientists at Swiss universities, a "solar taxi" because he has given rides to about 1,000 people—officials and regular folk alike—to convince them of the technology's viability.
Passengers have included New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Delegates in Poznan are seeking an ambitious new climate treaty that would replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012 and has required that 37 countries slash emissions of heat-trapping gases by an average 5% from 1990 levels.
The goal is for the new treaty to be finalized at the next U.N. climate meeting in December 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
"Here at the conference, we are talking about reducing emissions by 10 or 20%," Palmer said. "I want to show that we can reduce emissions by 100%—and that's what we need for the future."
Solar car website, http://www.solartaxi.com/
SOURCE: Associated Press
One to watch in Thin-film batteries (12/3/08) --
PRESS RELEASE - Infinite Power Solutions Inc receives a $13 million investment
Infinite Power Solutions, Inc. (IPS), a leader in the development and commercialization of solid-state, rechargeable thin-film batteries, today announced the completion of its Series B round of financing — raising $13 million in new capital to fund the ramp to volume production of its new THINERGY(TM) micro-energy cell (MEC(TM)) product family. This recent financing augments the $35.7 million IPS raised in 2006 during its Series A round, which was used for the construction and build-out of the world’s first facility for volume manufacturing of solid-state, rechargeable thin-film batteries. Completed this year, this new facility will begin initial production shipments to customers this month.
Existing financial investors D. E. Shaw Ventures and Polaris Venture Partners led the Series B round, and were joined by the company’s other existing investors Core Capital Partners, Applied Ventures LLC (the venture capital arm of Applied Materials) and In-Q-Tel, along with a new, unnamed strategic investor. Based on the strength of its innovative technology and products, IPS has earned the distinction of being the recipient of the largest private equity investment for any new thin-film micro-battery technology over the past decade.
IPS’ THINERGY MECs represent a new class of electronic components that are ultra-thin and flexible — providing nearly lossless energy storage along with unrivaled rechargeability, cycle life and power performance. IPS’ MECs are ideal for harvesting and storing all forms of ambient energy such as solar, thermal, RF, magnetic and vibration energy — providing a safe, reusable and clean energy source that can deliver a lifetime of power to electronic devices and systems.
“It is a testament to our compelling value proposition that even in today’s very difficult financing environment, we were able to raise all the capital we require for the global launch and ramp to volume production of our THINERGY micro-energy cell product family,” commented Ray Johnson, IPS president and CEO. “The Series A funding two years ago allowed us to build out our production facility in Colorado, while this latest round allows us to expand our sales channels and increase our applications engineering resources to further support our customers and strategic partners. This will accelerate the widespread industry adoption of our technology and product solutions.”
“IPS delivers a new energy storage solution enabling devices to power themselves autonomously with energy harvested from the surrounding environment,” said Alexander Wong, a managing director of D. E. Shaw & Co., L.P., head of D. E. Shaw Ventures and an IPS director. “Because IPS’ products have a small and highly adaptable form factor, they provide a unique solution to powering devices ranging from wireless sensors to active RFIDs and real- time location systems.”
Bob Metcalfe, general partner at Polaris Venture Partners and IPS director, added, “IPS’ thin-film micro-batteries, or as we like to call them, micro-energy cells, offer important new capabilities to the 10 billion embedded controllers shipped every year. With our robust rechargeable MECs, microcontrollers can be equipped with energy harvesting and wireless networking to find wide application in environmental sensing and energy management.”
About Infinite Power Solutions, Inc.
Infinite Power Solutions, Inc. (IPS), a U.S. based clean-technology company, is the global leader in developing, marketing and manufacturing solid-state, rechargeable thin-film micro-energy storage devices for a variety of micro-electronic applications. Founded in 2001, IPS is privately held with corporate headquarters and manufacturing facilities in the western suburbs of Denver, CO. The company has completed the build-out of the world’s first volume manufacturing facility dedicated to the production of its revolutionary thin-film micro-energy cell (MEC(TM)) products (often referred to as thin-film batteries). IPS has recently commenced pre-production activities at this state-of-the-art facility to address growing demand among customers in the wireless sensor, active RFID, powered smart card, medical device, consumer electronics, automotive and civil/military/aerospace markets. Additional information about IPS is available at http://www.InfinitePowerSolutions.com.
About Applied Ventures
Applied Ventures, LLC, (http://www.appliedventures.com) a subsidiary of Applied Materials, Inc., invests in early stage technology companies with high growth potential that provide a window on technologies that advance or complement Applied Materials’ core expertise. Applied Ventures’ investments help develop technologies and markets that provide natural extensions of Applied Materials’ businesses and can stimulate the growth of applications for its products and services. Applied Materials, Inc. is the global leader in Nanomanufacturing Technology(TM) solutions with a broad portfolio of innovative equipment, service and software products for the fabrication of semiconductor chips, flat panel displays, solar photovoltaic cells, flexible electronics and energy efficient glass. For more information, visit http://www.appliedmaterials.com.
About Core Capital
Core Capital is a venture capital firm headquartered in Washington, DC. The firm currently manages $350 million and provides capital to high-growth technology companies. Core Capital focuses on the kinds of disruptive, “core” technologies that enable or enhance data and communication, financing emerging opportunities in wireless, security, video, internet media, and software. To date, the firm has backed over 40 companies, with successful investments in a wide range of information technologies and business services. To learn more, please visit our website, http://www.core-capital.com.
About D. E. Shaw Ventures
D. E. Shaw Ventures is the venture capital unit of the D. E. Shaw group. The D. E. Shaw group is a global investment and technology development firm with more than 1,600 employees; approximately $36 billion in investment and committed capital as of October 1, 2008; and offices in North America, Europe, and Asia. Since its organization in 1988, the firm has earned an international reputation for financial innovation, technological leadership, and an extraordinarily distinguished staff.
About In-Q-Tel
In-Q-Tel is the strategic, not-for-profit investment firm that works to identify, adapt, and deliver innovative technology solutions to support the mission of the U.S. Intelligence Community. Launched by the CIA in 1999 as a private, independent organization, In-Q-Tel’s mission is to identify and partner with companies developing cutting-edge technologies that serve the national security interests of the United States. Working from an evolving strategic blueprint defining the Intelligence Community’s critical technology needs, In-Q-Tel engages with entrepreneurs, growth companies, researchers, and investors to deliver technologies that provide superior capabilities for the CIA and the larger Intelligence Community. In-Q-Tel concentrates on five broad commercial technology areas, including application software and analytics; bio, nano, and chemical technologies; communications and infrastructure; digital identity and security; and embedded systems and power. To date, In-Q-Tel has engaged with more than 125 companies and delivered more than 140 technology solutions to the Intelligence Community. To learn more about In-Q-Tel, visit http://www.iqt.org
Solat Thermal Heats Up in CA --
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fi-bigsolar3-2008dec03,0,6978041.story
From the Los Angeles Times
Solar thermal projects gather steam -- and opposition
Scores of grand-scale facilities are proposed for California. Their possible effect worries environmentalists and others.
By Marla Dickerson
December 3, 2008
Reporting from Bakersfield — Just up the road, past pump jacks bobbing in California's storied oil patch, look sharp and you'll catch a glimpse of the state's energy future.
Rows of gigantic mirrors covering an area bigger than two football fields have sprouted alongside almond groves near California 99. This is a power plant that uses the sun's heat to produce electricity for thousands of homes.
Owned by Palo Alto-based Ausra Inc., it's the first so-called solar thermal facility to open in California in nearly two decades. It's part of a drive to build clean electricity generation using the sun, wind and other renewable sources with an urgency not seen since the days of environmentalist Gov. Jerry Brown. Add President-elect Barack Obama's stated intention to push for more renewable power and you've got the equivalent of a green land rush.
At least 80 large solar projects are on the drawing board in California, more than in any other place in the country. The scale of some is unrivaled on the planet. One facility planned for the Mojave Desert is projected to take up a land mass the size of Inglewood.
"The expectation is that renewables will transform California's electricity system," said Terry O'Brien, who helps vet sites for new facilities for the California Energy Commission.
It's a daunting challenge for the world's eighth-largest economy. Despite the nation's toughest mandates for boosting green energy and reducing greenhouse gases, California remains addicted to burning fossil fuels to keep the lights on.
Excluding large hydroelectric operations, less than 12% of the state's electricity came from renewable sources in 2007, according to the energy commission. Solar ranked last, supplying just 0.2% of California's needs. Rooftop photovoltaic panels are unaffordable or impractical for most Californians even with generous state incentives.
Enter Big Solar.
Proponents say utility-scale solar is a way to get lots of clean megawatts online quickly, efficiently and at lower costs. Solar thermal plants such as Ausra's are essentially giant boilers made of glass and steel. They use the sun's heat to create steam to power turbines that generate electricity.
Costing about 18 cents a kilowatt-hour at present, solar thermal power is roughly 40% cheaper than that generated by the silicon-based panels that sit on the roofs of homes and businesses, according to a June report by Clean Edge Inc. and the Co-op American Foundation. Analysts say improved technology and economies of scale should help lower the cost of solar thermal to about 5 cents a kilowatt-hour by 2025. That would put it on par with coal, the cheap but carbon-spewing fuel that generates about half the nation's electricity.
Size matters, said Sun Microsystems Inc. co-founder-turned-venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, whose Khosla Ventures has invested more than $30 million in Ausra. A square patch of desert about 92 miles long on each side blanketed with Ausra's technology could generate enough electricity to meet the entire nation's demand, company executives say.
"Utility-scale solar is probably the only way to achieve real scale . . . and reduce our carbon emissions" significantly, Khosla said.
Critics fear that massive solar farms would create as many environmental problems as they purport to solve. This new-age electricity still requires old-fashioned power towers and high-voltage lines to get it to people's homes. A proposed 150-mile transmission line known as the Sunrise Powerlink that would carry renewable power from Imperial County to San Diego has run into stiff resistance from grass-roots groups and environmentalists.
Solar plants require staggering amounts of land, which could threaten fragile ecosystems and mar the stark beauty of America's deserts. And in contrast to rooftop panels, which enable homeowners to pursue energy independence, these centralized facilities keep consumers tethered to utility companies.
"They are trying to perpetuate the old Big Energy paradigm into the renewable-energy era," said Sheila Bowers, a Santa Monica attorney and environmental activist. "They have a monopoly agenda."
California already has the largest operating collection of solar thermal facilities in the world: nine plants totaling just over 350 megawatts in San Bernardino County. Built in the 1980s, they were part of a drive toward energy self-sufficiency stemming from the '70s oil shocks. The boom ended when California dropped requirements forcing utilities to buy renewable power.
The push is back. The 2000-01 energy crisis exposed California's dependence on outsiders -- more than 30% of its electricity still comes from out of state. Renewable forms of energy are once again central to efforts to shore up supply and fight global warming.
State lawmakers have told investor-owned utilities that they must procure 20% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2010; Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is pushing for a minimum of 33% by 2020. A landmark 2006 state law forcing California to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels within 12 years also is boosting green generation.
Most of the proposed utility-scale solar plants are slated for San Bernardino and Riverside counties, where vast deserts offer abundant sunshine and plenty of open space for the behemoths. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is juggling so many requests from companies looking to build on federal land -- 79 at last count, covering more than 690,000 acres -- that it had to stop accepting applications for a few weeks last summer.
Many of these facilities may never get built. Environmentalists are mobilizing. U.S. credit markets are in a deep freeze. Oil and natural gas prices are falling, reducing some of the urgency to go green.
Still, the obstacles haven't clouded the ambitions of solar start-ups such as Ausra.
"Our investors perceive there is a huge opportunity here," said Bob Fishman, Ausra's president and chief executive.
A group of dignitaries that included Schwarzenegger gathered near Bakersfield in October to get a close-up look at the 5-megawatt operation Ausra opened.
The company uses a technology known as a compact linear Fresnel reflector. Acres of mirrors are anchored to metal frames and held roughly 6 feet off the ground in parallel rows. Controlled by computers, these panels make hundreds of barely perceptible movements throughout the day, tracking the sun's path across the sky.
The mirrors catch the sun's rays and reflect them onto a cluster of water pipes overhead. The intense heat -- it can reach 750 degrees -- generates pressurized steam inside the pipes. That steam is then fed into a turbine whose spinning generates electricity.
"It's like when you were a kid and you used a magnifying glass to fry a bug," said Dave DeGraaf, vice president of product development. "We're focusing all that energy."
Despite its mammoth size, this pilot plant generates a modest amount of electricity, enough to power just 3,500 homes when the sun is shining. Ausra is thinking much bigger.
It has set up a manufacturing facility in Nevada that will supply a 177-megawatt solar plant planned for a site near Carrizo Plain National Monument in eastern San Luis Obispo County. The facility's mirrors will occupy a full square mile of terrain. The project is still in the permitting process. Ausra has never tried something on this scale. But Pacific Gas & Electric is confident enough that it has agreed to buy the power from Carrizo to help it meet its green energy needs.
Other companies looking to shine in California with utility-scale plants include Solel Inc., whose proposed 553-megawatt project in the Mojave Desert would span nine square miles; BrightSource Energy Inc. of Oakland; SunPower Corp. of San Jose; OptiSolar Inc. of Hayward, Calif.; Stirling Energy Systems Inc. of Phoenix; and FPL Energy of Juno Beach, Fla.
"Climate change is the greatest challenge that mankind has ever faced," said Peter Darbee, president and chief executive of Pacific Gas & Electric and head of its parent, San Francisco-based PG&E Corp. "It's imperative to seek out the most cost-effective solutions."
Dickerson is a Times staff writer.
marla.dickerson@latimes.com
Edison's rooftop solar project powers up
http://www.latimes.com:/business/la-fi-sunroof2-2008dec02,0,3036433.story
From the Los Angeles Times
ENERGY
Edison's rooftop solar project powers up
The utility's ratepayer-financed plan to outfit 150 buildings with the panels is cheered by business owners but criticized by consumer activists.
By Marla Dickerson
December 2, 2008
Southern California Edison on Monday unveiled its newest power plant: 33,700 solar panels atop a warehouse in Fontana that will feed green energy directly into the grid.
It's the first piece of what the utility says could become the largest rooftop solar installation in the world, a swath of photovoltaic panels spanning two square miles.
The 600,000-square-foot warehouse rooftop, owned by logistics firm ProLogis Inc., is the first of 150 commercial buildings that Edison is looking to outfit with solar panels over the next five years. Collectively, solar panels on all those roofs would provide 250 megawatts of electricity, enough by Edison's reckoning to power more than 160,000 homes when the sun is shining.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was on hand to flip a mock switch on the 2-megawatt Fontana system, which cost $10 million and can light about 1,300 homes.
"I am a fanatic about renewable energy, and I have been trying to push the power companies . . . to create more," said Schwarzenegger, who urged Edison to move even faster on its proposed plan.
If approved by state regulators, Edison's photovoltaic project would be the largest ever attempted by a U.S. utility; 250 megawatts roughly equals the capacity of all the solar panels manufactured in the United States last year.
The massive size reflects the pressure California's investor-owned power companies are under to meet state mandates requiring them to boost the use of clean energy. It also underscores an evolution in solar financing. Rather than pay for their own panels, companies such as ProLogis are increasingly leasing out their roofs to utilities or striking long-term power contracts with third parties, which own, install and maintain the panels.
The approach is a hit with business owners who are finding their roofs to be unexpectedly valuable real estate. Urban solar is also popular with environmentalists because it can be linked to existing transmission lines and it transforms barren industrial space into platforms for clean power.
"This is exactly what all the energy companies should be doing," said Terry Weiner, conservation coordinator for the San Diego-based Desert Protective Council. She said the solution to global warming "is right there on the roof."
But not everyone is enamored of Edison's plan. The Rosemead-based utility, a subsidiary of Edison International, wants its customers to pick up the nearly $1-billion tab for the proposed 150-roof project.
Consumer activists object. They say Edison should be looking to cheaper sources of renewable power, such as large solar and wind farms and geothermal plants. They contend that Edison International shareholders, not utility ratepayers, should finance the company's huge bet on photovoltaic rooftop solar, one of the most expensive forms of clean energy.
Edison used so-called thin-film panels on its first rooftop project. Supplied by Tempe, Ariz.-based First Solar Inc., that technology is significantly cheaper than traditional silicon-based solar cells. Still, Edison estimates that electricity from the Fontana facility costs about 27 cents a kilowatt hour, compared with an average of 8 cents a kilowatt hour from conventional generation.
"This is not the most cost-effective renewable they could invest in," said Sepideh Khosrowjah, policy advisor for the Division of Ratepayer Advocates of the California Public Utilities Commission. The independent advocacy operation has asked the commission to reject the ratepayer-financed plan. Others fear that Edison would drive up the cost of solar panels by gobbling a limited supply and that the utility would have an unfair advantage over private-sector solar providers, which don't have a captive group of ratepayers to fund their operations.
"This is a solar monopoly that will eliminate its competition," said Michael Boyd, president of the nonprofit Californians for Renewable Energy Inc., in a filing with utility regulators.
Edison executives said their entry into the market would help to lower solar panel prices for everyone because of economies of scale. The company's big orders would help manufacturers improve designs, increase efficiency and ultimately cut prices, said Ted Craver, chief executive of Edison International.
Edison is complementing, not competing, he said, with the private-sector firms that are thriving under California's existing Million Solar Roofs Initiative. That program provides hefty state incentives to homeowners and businesses that install systems less than 1 megawatt in size.
Craver said Edison's photovoltaic project aimed to install systems ranging from 1 megawatt to 2 megawatts on commercial rooftops.
"It fills a gap," Craver said.
California law requires Edison, PG&E Corp.'s Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and Sempra Energy's San Diego Gas & Electric Co. to procure at least 20% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2010. Schwarzenegger wants to boost that minimum to 33% by 2020. Edison is currently at 16%.
Edison already is the nation's largest purchaser of solar power with 354 megawatts under contract. Much of that comes from large-scale solar projects located in remote desert areas, which take years to permit and build.
Craver said Edison wanted to add urban rooftop solar to the mix because it can be rolled out rapidly, getting more clean megawatts online sooner. The Fontana project was completed in a few months.
Edison on Monday announced its second rooftop project atop a 458,000-square-foot industrial building in Chino that is slated for completion in early 2009. Craver said it would probably be Edison's last if the state Public Utilities Commission didn't approve its proposal.
Dickerson is a Times staff writer.
marla.dickerson@latimes.com
Carbon2Green Developments Ltd. Go Public by Way of Reverse Take Over With Laurent Venture Capital Corporation
Last update: 7:56 p.m. EST Nov. 24, 2008
MONTREAL, QUEBEC, Nov 24, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) -- Carbon2Green Developments Ltd. ("Carbon2Green"), a growing company in the field of sustainable development, located in Laval, and Laurent Venture Capital Corporation ("Laurent" or the "Corporation") (CA:LAU.P: news, chart, profile) are pleased to announce that Carbon2Green intends to become a public corporation by way of a Qualifying Transaction. Carbon2Green develops CDM certified projects, that translate into a reduction green house gas emissions, which in turn translates into carbon credits.
On November 19, 2008, the shareholders of Carbon2Green signed a letter of intent for a Qualifying Transaction with Laurent, a Capital Pool Corporation with no asset other than about $ 400 000 of cash-on-hand. Laurent's securities are traded on the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange").
THE PROPOSED QUALIFYING TRANSACTION
The reverse take over transaction between the shareholders of Carbon2Green and Laurent (the "Transaction") shall constitute a non arm's length Qualifying Transaction for the Corporation within the meaning of Policy 2.4 of the Exchange's Corporate Finance Manual (the "Manual") and is subject to a number of conditions precedent, including a due diligence of Carbon2Green, a private financing described hereafter and the receipt of all requisite regulatory and corporate approvals, including that of the Exchange.
Pursuant to the Transaction, the Corporation shall purchase all of the issued and outstanding common shares in the share capital of Carbon2Green for a total consideration of $5.25 million, payable through the issuance of 15,000,000 class "A" shares in the share capital of the Corporation (the "Common Shares"), for a price of $0.35 per Common Share.
ABOUT CARBON2GREEN
Carbon2Green is a Canadian corporation, constituted in March 2007 by Louis Tourillon whose headquartered in the metropolitan region of Montreal. Carbon2Green's short term mission is to set up in developing countries CDM certified projects, that translate into a reduction in green house gas emissions, which in turn translates into the issuance of carbon credits by the appropriate authorities.
All projects should be self-financing and generate profit for the company through the sale of a significant number of carbon credits on the carbon market.
Although several categories of projects may qualify as certified activities, Carbon2Green intends to focus initially on projects that involve CO2 sequestration, forest conservation, biofuel production in forestry and agricultural circles, the recovery and promotion of methane, and hydro-electric projects.
These projects will be carried out mainly in Africa, mainly due to the ratio of profitability vis-a-vis the number of carbon credits that can be obtained and in line with the claearly stated desire of UN authorities to see such projects implemented in Africa. The Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Mr. Yvo de Boer, wrote in a recent UN-issued press release: (translation) "There are 850 CDM projects in 49 developing countries, but only 23 of these projects are in Africa. It is time that the benefits of this important mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol reach Africa."
The fact that these words have been echoed by several speakers at the "CarbonExpo" held in Cologne in May 2008 has encouraged the management of Carbon2Green that a large number of government agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) will be interested in working with Carbon2Green to realize its projects, thereby, stimulating economic activities in Africa while improving the environment and living conditions of the local populations. The challenge that Africa faces in attracting investors interested in CDM arise from its limited financial and economic resources. Adding to the challenge is the shortage of qualified personnel in various technical fields, the shortage of qualified management teams that meet the CDM standards,necessary to develop these projects, and the weakness of Africa's economic institutions.
To this day, Carbon2Green is working actively on the 3 following CDM projects:
1- Rural electrification project in the western part of the Democratic Republic of Congo ("DRC"):
Starting in 2009, Carbon2Green together with its partners will develop plantations of Jatropha to supply electricity to certain rural populations that have already been identified. The plantation areas will cover up to 14,000 hectares.
This project has the potential to generate carbon credits from two sources: (i) the temporary sequestration of CO2 through the cultivation of Jatropha and (ii) the substitution of high carbon content fuels, such as coal and oil, by a fuel of lower carbon content such as Jatropha oil.
2- Production of bio-diesel in DRC:
The second Carbon2Green CDM project involves the planting of 40,000 hectares of Jatropha Curcas, in the western part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. This cultivation will take pace on land where the soil is degraded and is not suitable for crop production, and who is in proximity to existing power plants. Commencement on this project is foreseen for the first trimester of 2010, the first carbon credits are planned for 2011, with tCERs and CERs projected for 2012.
3- Rural electrification project in Mali:
In July of 2008, Carbon2Green signed a Letter of Agreement with a local partner in Mali, to initiate a CDM project. Carbon2Green will develop plantations of Jatropha in a way similar to the project in DRC. Our objective is to achieve 14,000 hectares. This project allows us to geographically diversify our activities. The foreseen date of commencement on this project is the first trimester of 2009.
The vendors in relation to the Transaction are the 29 shareholders of Carbon2Green holding collectively 100 % of the capital stock of the target Carbon2Green. The principal shareholders in relation to the Transaction, those holding more than 10 % of the shares, are Mr. Louis Tourillon, resident of the Province of Quebec holder of 27.84% of the shares of Carbon2Green and the two Canadian family trusts related thereto, being: (i) Lazarus Trust, a trust constituted in the Province of Quebec, holder of 13.92% of the shares of Carbon2Green (the beneficiaries thereof being the born and the yet to be born children of Mr. Louis Tourillon); and (ii) Remus Trust, a trust, constituted in the Province of Quebec, holder of 12.18% of the shares of Carbon2Green (the beneficiaries thereof being, notably, the mother and father of Louis Tourillon).
Upon completion of the Transaction and pursuant to the reverse takeover, the following persons shall constitute insiders of the resulting issuer , within the meaning of policy 2.4 of the Manual, namely Mr. Patrice Trudel, who shall be Chief Financial officer, Mr. Robert Dube who shall be part of senior management and a Director of the resulting issuer, Mr. Christian Lambert who shall be a Director, Mr. Jean-Francois Lalonde who shall be part of senior management, Mr. Pierre-Hubert Seguin who shall be a Director, and Mr. Louis Tourillon who shall be President.
PROPOSED FINANCING
Concurrently with the closing of the Transaction, the Corporation intends to complete a financing in the form of subordinate debt and equity, being a private placement financing for an aggregate gross proceed situated between $2.25 million and $1.25 million (the "Financing"). Pursuant to the Financing, the resulting issuer intends to issue between 2.5 million and 4.5 million Units at a price of $0.50 per unit ("Unit"). Each Unit will consist of one common share ("Common Share") at the price of $0.499 and one common share purchase warrant ("Warrant") at a the price of $0.001 each. Each Warrant entitles its holder to acquire one additional common share of the Corporation at a price of $0.75, for a period of two years.
The proceeds of the Financing as well as the current cash-on-hand of Laurent of approximately $400 000 shall be used to finance CDM projects and increase the working capital of the resulting issuer.
PRO FORMA CAPITALIZATION
Once the Transaction and the Financing situated between $2.25 million and $1.25 million are completed, a maximum aggregate of 27,000,000 Common Shares shall be issued and outstanding. The current shareholders of Laurent shall hold an aggregate of 7,500,000 Common Shares (27.77% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares), the shareholders of Carbon2Green shall hold an aggregate of 15,000,000 Common Shares (55.55% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares), the investors subscribing under the Financing shall own a maximum of 4,500,000 Common Shares (16.66% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares). The existing stock option plan of Laurent , whereby 1,200,000 options have been granted to certain officers and Directors of the Corporation, will remain in force. In addition, the resulting issuer intends to reserve 1,500,000 Common Shares within the scope of its stock option plan at an average cost of $0.50 per option as part of the Transaction. The distribution of the 1,500,000 options is subject to the approval of the proper authorities.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND SENIOR MANAGEMENT OF THE CORPORATION
The Board of Directors of the resulting issuer shall be composed of six (6) directors, namely, Mssrs. Robert Dube, Christian Lambert, Pierre-Hubert Seguin and Louis Tourillon, two others to be nominated upon closing of the Transaction. Management of the Corporation will be composed of the following persons: Louis Tourillon as President and Chief Executive Officer, Patrice Trudel as Chief Financial Officer, and J. Francois Lalonde Vice-President development.
Mr. Robert Dube holds a bachelor degree in biology, law and a MBA from Sherbrooke University. He was awarded a diploma in advanced management from McGill University's Centre for International Management Studies. He is member of the Quebec Bar since 1989. From 1979 until 1989, he was General Manager of "Corporation de Gestion CHARMES", Sherbrooke's paramunicipal body responsible for the environment. From 1989 until 1991, he practised law at McCarthy Tetrault in the field of environmental law. From 1991 until 1997, he occupied several offices in the public and para public administration. He also acted as main Adviser to the Office of the Minister of the Environment (Canada), Director of the Services of Environmental Protection and Executive Director of Environment Canada's Biosphere in Montreal. From 1997 until 1998, he realized the financial recovery of the public company TEKNOR industrial computers and became its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. From 2000 until 2002, he started, as president and shareholder, the commercial activities of Bioflo Inc., a biotechnological company specialized in water treatment. From 2002 until 2006, he acted as co-founder and main partner of Crea Group, a Montreal consulting firm specialized in biotechnology and life sciences. From 2006 until 2007, he was the General Manager of Laval's Technopole, an agency devoted to the economic development of the city of Laval. He is a member of Canada's National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy since October, 2007 and of ECO Canada's Board of directors since April, 2008. Mr. Christian Lambert graduated from the University of Sherbrooke in 1989 with a degree in accounting. He obtained the designation of chartered accountant and became member of The Order of Chartered Accountants of the Province of Quebec in 1993. From 1989 to 1994, he worked for the accounting firms of Samson Belair Deloitte & Touche and Bedard Magnan in the audit department. Since 1994, he is the controller for William E. Burrowes Inc., an insurance broker which has 2 offices in Quebec and 2 in Ontario and counts 75 employees. From October 1997 to June 1999, he acted as Secretary-treasurer and Director of Wild Grizzly Venture Capital Inc., a private Canadian investment company which later became Garda World Security Corporation.
Maitre Pierre-Hubert Seguin, member of the Barreau du Quebec since 1995, is the principal partner of a law firm specialized in transactional business law and in securities law. His practice has led him to act as corporate secretary or advisor to dozens of public companies and venture capital firms, in particular in the scope of more than fifty reverse take-over bids, stock market listings or initial public offerings. Mr. Seguin is currently the Corporate Secretary of Garda World Security Corporation and an appointed director for each of its subsidiaries. Furthermore, Mr. Seguin is currently a director of Nevado Venture Capital Corporation, a public company.
Mr. Louis Tourillon, President, Chief Operating Officer and co-founder of Carbon2Green Developments. Born in 1957, Louis Tourillon has worked in the family cannery business from 1984 to 1993. He assumed the presidency in 1988 and eventually negotiated the sale of the company to Nabisco Brands Canada in 1993. From 1993 to 2000, Mr. Tourillon acted as a consultant in strategic business orientation, optimizing productivity and financing. In 2000, he became CEO of Rutel, a provider of Internet services in Africa until 2006. In 2007, he started Carbon2Green which operates in the carbon markets.
Mr. Jean-Francois Lalonde, Eng. (BSc. Civil Engineering), International Relations consultant. Mr. Lalonde has been a member of the Quebec Order of Engineers since 1985. He gained international experience by working on behalf of multinational engineering and construction firms such as SNC-Lavalin (Canadian firm based in Montreal) and Bouygues Travaux Publics (French firm based in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines). Mr. Lalonde also participated in the commercial development of the Quebec-based firm POMERLEAU Construction on the international scene. He was involved at several levels in many construction projects, such as high-tension electric transmission lines in Africa and James Bay, the first motorway concession on the African continent as well as various types of commercial and residential buildings. For the past several years, he has worked mainly on the African continent as well as in the Middle East.
Mr. Trudel holds an MBA in International Management from the American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird) and a B.A in Industrial Relations from Universite Laval. From 1989 to 1994, he was a consultant with KPMG within its Financial Advisory Services unit. He was involved as a founder, Director and Secretary-Treasurer of Taos Capital, a capital pool company that went public in 2005. He was Business Operations Manager for Metasolv Software, a US-based and NASDAQ listed software vendor. He was a Director within the Risk Management Department of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC). He was also involved as a founder, Director and CFO of Cyclonic Investments Corporation, a junior capital company that went public in 1997 and that now operates as Imaflex.
SPECIFIC RELATIVE TO THECLOSING
The specific conditions that must be met in relation to the closing of the Qualifying Transaction are: (i) the resulting issuer must meet the minimum listing requirements of a Tier 2 issuer according to the TSX policies up to and including the date on which the TSX will issue its final approval; (ii) any and all loans, bonus (presently due and unpaid) or goods from former or current officers, directors or shareholders of Carbon2Green, must be converted or reimbursed before closing the Transaction; (iii) completion of the Private Placement upon terms satisfactory to the parties; (iv) the execution of a share purchase agreement, of all the issued and outstanding shares of the capital stock of Carbon2Green; (v) the Transaction contemplated must be eligible as a Qualifying Transaction and must be accepted as such by the TSX; (vi) no material change must occur in the business and operations of Carbon2Green and of Laurent.
SPONSORSHIP
Desjardins Securities, subject to completion of a satisfactory due diligence, has agreed to act as sponsor in connection with the Transaction. An agreement to sponsor should not be construed as assurance with respect to the merits of the Transaction or the likelihood of completion.
Laurent, Carbon2Green and Desjardin Securities have agreed to the fact that the trading in the shares of Laurent will resume following a second press release that will be issued subsequently.
Completion of the Transaction (Qualifying Transaction) is subject to a number of conditions, in particular, Exchange acceptance and if applicable pursuant to Exchange requirements, majority of the minority shareholder approval. There can be no assurance that the Qualifying Transaction will be completed as proposed or at all.
Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the management proxy circular or filing statement to be prepared in connection with the Qualifying Transaction, any information released or received with respect to the Qualifying Transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of a capital pool company should be considered highly speculative.
The TSX Venture Exchange Inc. has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed Transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.
Contacts:
Laurent Venture Capital Corporation
Andre Goguen
President
450-681-7744
Carbon2Green Developments Ltd.
Louis Tourillon
President
450-786-8990
SOURCE: Laurent Venture Capital Corporation and Carbon2Green Developments Ltd.
Copyright 2008 Market Wire, All rights reserved.
Are Solar stocks near a Bottom? Mr. Schulle thinks so.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/108497-follow-the-mutual-funds-solar-is-bottoming?source=email
A View from an Old Soldier in the Solar Trenches --
http://seekingalpha.com/article/108276-the-long-and-winding-solar-road?source=email
Q&A With SunPower's Dick Swanson
By Ucilia Wang
Solar CEOs like to complain these days about the lack of capital and the difficulty of getting their companies off the ground.
They should talk to Richard Swanson. As a professor of electrical engineering at Stanford in the 70s and 80s, he emerged as a leader in solar research. He co-founded SunPower back in 1985 to capitalize on the growing interest in alternative energy. Still, the company lived from project to project until Cypress Semiconductor invested $150 million into the company in 2002.
Now, of course, SunPower is one of the leaders of the industry. It makes the most efficient solar cells (22 percent) on the market. The company (NDSQ: SPWRA) also develops solar power plants and signed a 250-megawatt deal with Pacific Gas and Electric earlier this year (see PG&E to Buy 800MW From OptiSolar, SunPower).
Greentech Media caught up with Swanson during an event to dedicate a 185-kilowatt system at the Technology Museum of Innovation in San Jose last week. SunPower developed and oversaw the installation of the project, which features 803 rooftop panels.
Q: What was a big break for SunPower during its early years?
A: Our first big customer was Honda [in 1996] to develop a solar powered racecar. They came to us and say we know you make the most efficient solar cells, can you make them enough to cover a car. It was a tear-shaped car with cells integrated into the body. Very high tech. Very aerodynamic. It could go 90 miles an hour on solar power. They went on to win the race across Australia. In fact they beat the second-place winner by a day.
That put us on the map. Too bad the race was only once every three years. It wasn't very much of a supporting business for SunPower.
Q: But it took many more years to finally find a believer in Cypress?
A: The mainstream solar companies like BP and Shell (RDS.A) kind of ignored or dismissed us. They didn't think that SunPower would be anything other than a manufacturer of specialty products. It was expensive when we made them in a small factory in Sunnyvale. It wasn't until we brought the manufacturing know-how of the chip industry that we drove down the cost.
Q: Do you think how BP and Shell thought of SunPower is how most people in the solar industry view thin-film solar technologies, which are largely in the early stages of commercialization?
A: Thin-film hasn't quite happened yet. Maybe it can demonstrate that soon. We of course have lots of friends in the thin-film industry, and we watch them closely and root them on.
Q: Is SunPower interested in developing its own thin-film technology or buy a thin-film company?
A: We are interesting in everything. SunPower also is a larger purchaser of solar panels. We buy panels from other companies for developing power plants because we have more demand than supply. We could purchase thin-films for our plants.
Q: What were some technical hurdles to overcome when SunPower first entered the solar market?
A: Back then the market was very much smaller, so the people who were doing this were pioneers. They tried to figure out how to mount panels on the roof, for example. We merged with a company called PowerLight that made a breakthrough in that area. They realized that for a flat commercial roof, you didn't need to bolt panels to the roof. This array here [at the Tech Museum] was installed in three days. It would've taken weeks and weeks to install with the old method.
There have been breakthroughs all across the value chain, starting with refining silicon. The more we do it, the more the price comes down.
Q: The solar industry has taken off quickly in recent years - did you anticipate that?
A: The industry has been growing steadily, so it's not like something happened suddenly. Most people, especially in California, now know about solar power roof. But even five years ago, we were still getting the question: where does the hot water come out? People didn't realize it makes electricity.
What we learned from old timers at Cypress is that the solar industry feels just like the chip industry in the 70s. It's growing and anything and happen and it's exciting. But the word "chip" didn't enter the public lexicon until the IBM PC came out. Our IBM PC moment is right upon us for our industry.
Q: A lot of public education is still needed for solar, no?
A: A lot of people who aren't watching the industry have outdated ideas. I've even come across people who said with a straight face that, well, it makes no sense to do this because it takes more energy to make a panel than what the panel will ever produce. That actually came from a Scientific American article in 1970. It was probably true then. But it's not even close today.
Q: Is there a solar industry equivalent of Moore's Law in the chip industry that drives technology advancement while reducing production costs?
A: There is nothing like Moore's Law, which is really about shrinking geometries and getting more transistors onto a wafer. But there is a parallel thing that we are driving costs down on a predicable curve. It's not quite explosive as Moore's Law. The expensive crystalline silicon has been the biggest cost in the panel, and we have been steadily making wafers thinner and thinner to use less silicon.
We use half of the amount of silicon to produce a watt of power than we did five years ago. That's a tremendous progress.
Q: Speaking of silicon, there is a big debate about whether its shortage is over. What do you think?
A: Most observers think they see early signs of the easing of silicon availability. It's still more of drumbeats with your ears to the ground than the actual stampede that is in your face. As more silicon plants come online to drive the prices down, the panel prices also go down. But with the global recession, how much demand will there be for the panels? It's something that's unfolding, so next year will be an interesting time for our industry.
Q: Will the recession slow down solar market growth?
A: We don't know. We haven't seen it in any degree yet. But of course everybody is worried by what you read in the newspapers. We are still at the very early stage and attracting a lot of early adopters. There is a lot of pent up interest in solar.
But, on the other hand, here's a Solar bull --
http://seekingalpha.com/article/108303-why-i-m-bullish-on-the-solar-sector?source=email
A few weeks ago in preparation for Suntech Power’s (STP) third quarter earnings call on November 20th, I presented three points to consider as a framework for analysis.
Since that article on November 9th, Suntech is down about 40% with six downgrades. Investors responded negatively to third quarter results that missed earnings and reduced guidance on production in 2008 and 2009 owing to a depreciating Euro and the credit crunch.
Now that the analyst community has weighed in, let’s take a second look at some non-financial milestones that may have been overlooked in prior commentary. Review the transcript here on Seeking Alpha.
Increased conversion efficiency
Conversion efficiency, a key industry metric, is the percentage of sunlight converted into power. Improved conversion efficiency leads to reduced costs and, eventually, grid parity. Suntech is making progress on this front since the second quarter. According to the earnings call, their Pluto technology is achieving efficiencies of 18.5% to 19% compared to 18% in the second quarter. Compare that with the industry average of around 15%.
In a strange twist, the credit crisis might even be good for Suntech in its bid to become the lowest cost per watt provider. Capital expenditures will be reduced from $300 million in 2008 to $80 million in 2009 with most of that going toward upgrading existing production capacity rather than building new capacity. CapEx to fund improving Suntech’s Pluto technology will lead to further efficiency improvements and lowered costs.
Expansion in the U.S. market
Counting the United States as one of its key markets in 2009 along with Germany and Italy, Suntech plans to hit its U.S. sales target of 120 megawatts by ramping up both its residential and utility-scale segments.
Suntech will increase its 25 company dealer network for the residential rooftop market. The increase should be facilitated by the eight year extension of the 30% Investment Tax Credit to residential solar property.
At the opposite end on large utility scale projects, Suntech has established a 50/50 joint venture with MMA Renewable Ventures to develop projects greater than 10 megawatts.
Production capacity ramp up at Shanghai thin film plant
Fending off competitive threats by thin-film solar module manufacturers like First Solar (FSLR), Suntech is on track to complete its own 50 megawatt thin-film production facility by year end 2008 and expects to ship product by the second half of 2009. Suntech’s Chief Technology Officer weighs in: “(Suntech’s) strategy is to use thin-film to complement (its) panel based products as part of the diversified solar offering.”
What’s the call?
While some Seeking Alpha bloggers are bearish on STP and the solar sector, I’m bullish and I’m not alone. Trading around $8 before Thanksgiving with a forward P/E of six, it looks cheap relative to an average forward P/E of eight for a five peer group - Evergreen Solar (ESLR), Canadian Solar (CSIQ), JA Solar (JASO), SunPower (SPWRA) and First Solar.
While the Wall St. analyst community is gloomy on solar over the next few quarters, Merrill Lynch, even in the midst of downgrades, is more upbeat on the future.
So, for the long-term investor who can weather the storm, Suntech’s no turkey.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Disclosure: Contributor Chris Cather owns shares in the Claymore/MAC Global Solar Energy Index ETF (TAN), which has holdings in FSLR, STP, and SPWRA.
Not a pretty picture for Solar in the near term --
http://seekingalpha.com/article/108356-expect-continued-drops-in-solar?source=email
The Third China International New Energy Summit was held in Beijing on Nov. 27 2008. This two day summit attracted many industry leaders in renewable energy sectors, including solar, geothermal, and wind. According to China’s QQ news report, Suntech Power (STP) CEO Shi Zhengrong attended the summit, and told reporters that the company is expecting 0% gross margin in Q4, compared to 21.6% gross margin in Q3. The gross margin drop is mainly due to the dramatic drop of PV module ASP and the weakening Euro. It is reported that nearly half of the company’s factory has been shut down due to weakening demand.
According to Shi, he will not be surprised to see 0% gross margin in Q4, and the worst is yet to come. In recent developments, most solar companies slashed Q4 and 2009 outlook. Sunpower (SPWRA) lowered profit in Q4, citing the weakening Euro and weak demand. Solar PV makers Trina Solar (TSL), China Sunenergy (CSUN), Yingli Green (YGE), Canadian Solar (CSIQ), and JA Solar (JASO) all reported a dramatic sales drop in Q3 and presented gloomy pictures going forward. In the US, companies like First Solar (FSLR) and Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) are also hit hard by the financial crisis. This confirmed Shi’s concern that “The worst is yet to come in the solar sector”.
Investors who were covering short in solar stocks for the last couple of days will likely come back to short the sector again as the fundamentals are deteriorating.
Thanks, I'll check it out.
ASYS is a PROFITABLE Solar equipment maufacturer trading at 60% of cash was $10 in September. Highlights:
$4 per share cash
$6 per share working capital
NO debt.
$100 MM Solar Backlog
3.6 Forward PE
This is the buy of a lifetime IMO.
Thanks, Crude. Good info for trading and investing going forward. I've already got FSLR and ENER on my Cleantech watch list. I'll add the other 3 as well and do some DD.
Snow, I found this from J. Peter Lynch:
With a new industry like solar the longer term leaders are generally the companies with some form of competitive advantage or product differentiation. Remember these companies may have innovative products, but they must also pass the first two hurdles (cash and relative strength) in order to warrant further consideration as an investment. Five examples of this (not necessarily “official” recommendations) are listed below with their respective “differentiator” to give you a better idea of what I am referring to:
First Solar (FSLR) – low cost market leader in the thin film sector
SunPower (SPWRA) - highest efficiency product, therefore potential leader in the space constrained residential market segment.
Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) – unique product, with high margins in the flexible PV market segment.
SunTech (STP) – low cost producer in the crystalline PV market segment.
Emcore (EMKR) – one of only two producers of very high efficiency PV cells for the Concentrating PV (CPV) market segment.
Remember that even though this MAY BE a generational buying opportunity in the general market and the solar sector you should always consider this as higher risk money and money that you can afford to potential lose and also be money that you can be patient with and allow the situation to work itself out over time.
Mr. Lynch has worked, for 31 years as an independent analyst and investor in small emerging technology companies. He has been actively involved in following developments in the renewable energy sector since 1977 and is regarded as an expert in this field. He was the contributing editor for the past 17 years to the Photovoltaic Insider Report, the leading publication in Photovoltaics industry that was directed at industrial subscribers, such as major energy companies, utilities and governments around the world. He can be reached via e-mail at: solarjpl@aol.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or at his new website: www.sunseries.net.
This board is dedicated to all things related to cleantech and renewable energy, two emerging sectors with significant potential for transforming the American economy and society. Both sectors also hold considerable promise as lucrative fields for traders and investors.
Last Update: 4/2/2009
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20081031 - Are there lithium shortages in our future? Maybe... - news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10077965-54.html
20081028 - Renewable Tax-Credit Investment Heading Up or Down? - www.greentechmedia.com/articles/renewable-tax-credit-investment-heading-up-or-down-5066.html
20081023 - CPUC Denies Finavera/PG&E Application for Wave Energy Project - biz.yahoo.com/ccn/081023/200810230493284001.html
20081023 - Arnold Praises CA's new Thermal Solar Plant - www.gov.ca.gov/index.php
20081006 - Solar in The O.C. - www.ocregister.com/articles/solar-system-power-2182818-nguyen-energy
20081005 - Q3 2008 VC-backed clean/green/renewable ventures up - seekingalpha.com/article/98556-on-the-paulson-plan-and-greentech
20080715 - Smart Meter Pilot Program in Washington, D.C. (video) - www.myfoxdc.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail
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Technologies:
A Killer App for Electric Vehicles? - investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx
Batteries are key for electric car rollout - investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx
Big, big batteries for the power grid - news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-9977209-54.html
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) - investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx
Solar Thermal Electric: The Technology and Politics of CSP - www.salon.com:80/news/feature/2008/04/14/solar_electric_thermal/print.html
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The Big Boys play clean, green, and renewable:
ConocoPhillips - seekingalpha.com/article/98506-conocophillips-cto-stephen-brand-discusses-r-d-efforts-in-cleantech-energy-technology
GE - news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10075889-54.html
Google - seekingalpha.com/article/119910-google-gets-into-home-energy-management
GM - www.chevrolet.com/electriccar/
IBM - www-01.ibm.com/software/solutions/soa/green/
IBM/EDF - seekingalpha.com/article/107333-ibm-to-research-smart-grid-tech
Intel - www.greentechmedia.com/articles/chip-giants-delve-deeper-into-solar-1015.html
Samsung - www.eweek.com/c/a/Data-Storage/Samsung-Unveils-New-HighCapacity-Green-Enterprise-SSD/
UPS - biz.yahoo.com/ap/081027/ups_alternative_vehicles.html
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Resources:
Advanced Metering: California Dreaming is Becoming a Reality - 1-hour webinar with reps from 2 of the Big 3 IOUs discussing the smartgrid/smarthome of the (near) future: uaelp.pennnet.com/webcast/display_webcast.cfm
Better Place - "...working to build an electric car network, using technology available today.": www.betterplace.com/
Carbon-free Prosperity 2025 - a plan for the Pacific Northwest: www.cleanedge.com/reports/pdf/CarbonFreeProsperity2025.pdf
Cleantech Blog - commentary on technologies, news, and issues relating to cleantech, next generation energy and the environment: www.cleantechblog.com/
Florida: Building a Foundation for Excellence in Clean Energy: www.eflorida.com/IntelligenceCenter/Reports/Clean_Energy_MB.pdf
EcoGeek - a somewhat cheeky look at the eco scene: www.ecogeek.org:80/
greentechmedia, a comprehensive and incisive compendium on the cleantech market: www.greentechmedia.com/
Hot , Flat , and Crowded, Thomas Friedman's impassioned call to Code Green: www.thomaslfriedman.com/bookshelf/hot-flat-and-crowded
National Renewable Energy Laboratory - www.nrel.gov/
Seeking Alpha/alternative-energy - trader-centric views on the cleantech market: seekingalpha.com/tag/alternative-energy
Smartgrid Primer, Xcel Energy's excellent 7-minute video introduction to the future of the electrical grid: birdcam.xcelenergy.com/sgc/index.html
Smart Meter Primer, video and flash animations from Itron on how their OpenWay meter works: www.itron.com/pages/products_detail.asp
Thin-Film Solar Webinar: 1-hour presentation on all things thin-film: www.greentechmedia.com/events/webinars/thin-film-technologies.html
World Energy Outlook: energy analysis and projections from the International Energy Agency: www.worldenergyoutlook.org/
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