Conference Grid

Small and Integrated Energy Solutions allow communities, small businesses, individuals and students shape their own future by creating local jobs, reducing energy and water costs, cutting emissions which harm human health (and health of our planet), and provide for greater financial, economic and national security. A large portfolio of commercial technologies, financial instruments, and experiences exist to draw upon to step out in front of governments, political naysayers, and backward focused development. Assembled experts from different facets involved in this explosive investment and development growth of locally-driven businesses, projects, high-impact investments, and job creation will share tactics and approaches.

The Small & Integrated Energy Solutions program is hosted by the Biomass Coordinating Council (BCC) of ACORE. This program will have three sections:

Existing and deployable small-scale RE/EE technologies, models and projects that work

Opportunities and challenges for small-scale RE/EE technologies, models and projects

Integrated Solutions: using small-scale energy solutions to advance our economy, create jobs, strengthen communities and provide realistic solutions to the energy crisis.

Co-Chairs:

Scott Sklar, The Stella Group

Bill Holmberg, Biomass Coordinating Council, ACORE

Jim Hurd, GreenScience Exchange

Speakers:

Dr. Terry Sankar, Aeolun Wind Turbine

Ashley Shrader, Solar Electric

Zach Lyman, Zerobase Energy

Joe Clayton, Mamtech

Sam Roy, Micro-Ethanol Technology

Dave Blume, Blume Distillations

Hezy Ram, Ram Energy Inc.

Tracey Miedema, National Organic Standards Board

Pablo Reyes, CEELAT

Mike Kennedy, Green Savings Coop

Mark Grobmyer, SEAF Cleantech Deployment Fund

Pamela Peeters, Environmental Economist

This program, organized by ACORE’s Higher Education Committee (HEC) will present three panels addressing key issues and areas of interest for those involved in project development and sustainability planning on campuses across the U.S.

• 1:00-2:10 – Session 1
  Session I - Panel on integrating renewable energy into the environmental sustainability, business and political science curriculum by engaging the student body, using the campus as a learning laboratory for renewable energy.
  • Moderator: William Leahy
    • Dr. Angela Halfacre, Furman University’s Center for Sustainability
    • Jaime Van Mourik, US GBC Center for Green Schools
    • Dr. David Riley, Penn State University’s Center for Sustainability and the Northern Mid-Atlantic Solar Education and Resource Center
• 2:10-2:20 PM - Break
  
• 2:20-3:30 – Session 2
  Session 2 - Panel on research opportunities in renewable energy technology, undergraduate research in RE applications, and partnering with ACORE and the RE industry for developing the next generation of RE technology.
  • Moderator: Lowell Rasmussen
    • Anthony Giacomoni, Graduate Research Assistant - Electrical & Computer Engineering Department, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
    • Michael Seliger
• 3:30-3:40 PM - Break
  
• 3:40-4:50 – Session 3
  Session 3 - Panel and workshop on "Achieving Zero-Carbon Campuses by 2050" through renewable energy applications, on-campus opportunities for RE, and off-campus opportunities for RE. Plus, an ACORE Higher Education Committee (HEC) event for university staff and faculty and industry representatives who are interested in meeting with and working with universities on the above topic.
  • Moderator: Ray DuBose
    • Blaine Collison, EPA Green Power Partnership
      • Ashwini Srinivasamohan, Resource Center Assistant, AASHE
      • Doug Maust, HGA

The U.S.-China Private Sector Collaboration workshop will highlight partnerships between Chinese and U.S. firms that are driving renewable energy development in the U.S. and Chinese markets. Participants will be presented with market information, learn about existing partnerships, and engage in interactive sessions to explore potential collaboration.

• 1:00-1:15 – Opening Remarks
  • Deputy DG Liang, CREIA*
  • Cathy Boone, Sr. Dir. of Energy Policy/Market Devp., Applied Materials
• 1:10-2:00 – Collaborating with U.S. Developers & Financiers
  • Moderator: Neil Auerbach, Managing Partner, Hudson CEP
    • Tim Rosenzweig, CEO, Goldwind USA
    • Robert Petrina,Managing Director, Yingli Americas
    • Paolo Pietrogrande
• 2:00-2:10 PM – Coffee Break
  
• 2:10-3:00 – Case Studies: Partnering in the U.S. Solar Market
  • Moderator: Tom Glascock, Partner, Orrick
    • Yumin Liu, President, GCL Solar Energy
    • Jing Su, VP, ENN Group North America
    • Tom Georgis, Sr. VP of Devp., Solar Reserve
    • Roger Efird, Managing Director, Suntech America
• 3:00-3:20 – Roundtable Discussions: Potential for Collaboration
  • Dr. Stanley Merritt, Global Business Development Manager, DuPont
    Attendees—seated at round tables—will be presented with 2-3 questions to discuss. Following approximately 10 minutes of dialogue, the moderator will solicit key takeaways.
• 3:20-3:40 PM – Networking Break
• 3:40-4:30 – Panel: Project Devp. in China
  • Moderator: Joanna Lewis, Assistant Professor, Georgetown University
    • Alfred Shengkang Fei, Director of Global Project Development/Management, JA Solar USA
    • Sally Wright, GL Garrad Hassen America
    • Victoria Vestal, Marketing Mgr., Trina*
    • Lisa Frantzis, Managing Dir., Navigant Consulting
• 4:30-4:50 – Closing Presentation: Economics of the U.S.-China RE Relationship
  • Ethan Zindler, Bloomberg New Energy Finance
• 4:50-5:00 – Closing Remarks
  • Guoshun Sun, First Secretary, Chinese Embassy*
  • Neil Auerbach, Managing Partner, Hudson CEP

Electric Power Generation has always been a mix of sources including both fossil and renewable fuels. This mix has changed based on both regulatory and pricing opportunities with dramatic changes and swings the past few years in both directions. Current events such as the change in congressional balance of power, the nuclear challenges in Japan, and the turmoil in the Middle East and its effect on global energy markets make the business of operating a power generation company challenging.

Today electric utilities face a complex landscape of both federal and state regulations, meeting the energy demands of their customers while worrying about fuel price volatility. They are constantly striving to meet energy demand while working with aging power plants and a shifting landscape for fuel costs, regulatory hurdles and public opinion. With competing priorities of facing state or federal mandates to meet emission regulations and answering to shareholders and customers creates a challenging vision of what is the best path forward.

Global and U.S. renewable energy generation continues to grow at an impressive rate. The EIA is predicting that the percentage of US electricity produced by non-hydro renewable energy sources will increase from 4% in 2009 to 12.3% in 2030, according to the "Annual Energy Outlook 2010”. This panel will discuss the energy outlook from a global and US energy context focusing on power and transportation markets.

This session will feature briefings by senior officials from federal agencies who have been key players in working in the Obama Administration to assist in the development, financing and scale up of renewable energy. The session will also feature an industry response from a senior market player.

Concentrated Solar Power (CSP), also known as Solar Thermal Energy (STE), is a technology for harnessing solar energy for thermal energy (heat). While only 600 megawatts of solar thermal power is up and running worldwide in October 2009, another 400 megawatts is under construction and there are 14,000 megawatts of serious Concentrating Solar Thermal (CST) projects being developed. Development is constrained by siting issues, transmission requirements, and questions on financing with and without federal loan guarantees. This panel, composed of leading CSP executives, will discuss the outlook for CSP/STE in the US and the challenges and opportunities awaiting them in 2011-12.

The biofuels industry continues to undergo a period of record growth, and at the same time faces significant challenges. With state and federal governments drastically cutting back on tax incentives, how will biofuels continue to expand? Ethanol now comprises 10% of the US Motor fuel pool, meaning it has hit the so called blend wall in terms of how much can be used in conventional automobiles. In addition, high commodity prices due to global demand have been blamed on US Ethanol production. These market challenges, combined with limits on the amount of corn based ethanol and the requirements for cellulosic biofuels suggests we are facing a new era in biofuel development in terms of both production and use. This session will cover the status and outlook for the conventional ethanol and biodiesel sectors in the US and abroad, touching on political, technical, health, and utilization issues driving the industry.

Transmission constraints exist throughout the U.S. as utilities and communities grapple with moving power from renewable sources from points of production, often in rural areas, to urban load growth centers. The continued growth and variability of renewable power sources creates additional challenges for effective grid integration and transmission. This panel will address how industry is addressing these challenges and will focus on ways to help advance renewable energy and accelerate its integration into the nation’s electric grid.

Discussion of existing clean energy policies: what is working and not working; any new policies under consideration; what would encourage investment and facilitate financing; government incentives and guarantees.

This session will explore how policy and attitudes can create new opportunities for industry and can foster effectiveness and competitiveness in the global market.

The market and opportunity for renewable energy is global. Nations around the world are investing and competition is increasing. . This session will give a global overview and address key factors influencing the direction of the global market, the renewable energy business environment, sustainability of policy and grid integration.

State leadership and policies led the development and acceleration of the U.S. renewable energy market. Going forward, state policies, complemented by important federal policies and incentives, remain vitally important to scale up of the U.S. renewable energy market. This panel of experts will explore a host of cross-cutting issues influencing the scale and pace of U.S. market growth.

Wind power markets continue to grow around the world including Europe, China, India and the U.S. The industry is spreading globally. China is the new dominant manufacturing center. This session will review the state of wind power technology, markets, industry, finance, and policy. Hear from the CEOs of the leading global wind companies as they discuss future growth projection, the impact of government programs on their industry, national security and environment. Specific topics to be addressed include, the Production Tax Credit (PTC), Renewable Electricity Standard (RES), federal agency support for siting wind power projects and transmission lines, and their views on transmission and storage. They will also discuss their manufacturing strategies and whether the US can become a hub for wind turbine manufacturing that could result in the creation of hundreds of thousands of jobs.

There are massive investments in cellulosic ethanol technology by the government and private sector, and high expectations for this sector to meet or exceed the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) goals. Likewise, huge amounts of investment are being placed in algae production for biodiesels. These future biofuels technologies are the key to a true scale-up. This session will include presentations on the status and direction of the advanced biofuels sector.

People are realizing that there is tremendous waste in the old practice of a simple grid with excess capacity, and also an inability to accommodate intermittent sources like wind and solar. A key to addressing this is energy storage. This session will highlight the situation today and forecast how rapidly these technologies will i improve efficiency and reliability. Specific technologies to be explored include batteries; fuel cells and hydrogen and caves and pumped storage. Cost recovery and investment values for each of these will also be explored.

Small scale, distributed energy and energy efficiency projects have faced challenges to attaining financing. This session discusses both tried and tested models and structures and innovative financing options.

The panel highlights incentives and programs offered by US regions and states to attract foreign businesses in renewable energy and related fields.

The opportunity to deploy renewable energy in developing countries, to help people in them electrify and bring modern energy services to all, and address climate change is well understood. Many models for delivery have been explored and tested. This session will explore the state of renewable energy deployment around the world with emphasis on Asia, Europe and the Americas.

Renewable energy policy champions and innovative programs at the state level have paved the way for U.S. market growth. This session will feature presentations by renewable energy champions on the best of U.S. state programs including key features of effective renewable energy standards, incentives and other measures driving investment, energy diversity and economic development.

Photovolatic (PV ) markets are increasing around the world, but production capacity is increasing even faster, causing a price war and tremendous changes in the state of competition. The prospect of reaching grid parity is here today in many locations and is spreading rapidly. The market has turned to 50 MW to 2 GW scale projects. This is becoming a multi-billion dollar global industry. This session will review the state of PV technology, markets, industry, finance, and policy.

Exploring market readiness and how advancements and innovation in materials, fuels, operations and business models can lead to a clean, efficient transportation future. Topics to be covered include status of the adoption by different market segments, fuel technologies, operations, business models, and materials as well as existing gaps.

In this session, utilities and lobbyist will share their perspectives and experiences with integration of renewable energy. What challenges have utilities experienced in their efforts to meet renewable energy mandates while dealing with delivery? What policies or regulations lay ahead as barriers or incentives to increase the use of renewables in the generation plants? This session will explore these questions and more through panel discussion.

This session will review the state of project financing in renewable energy and discuss identifying, attracting and structuring debt for your projects; the evolution of debt financing; the tax equity markets; and the status of Federal incentive programs.

In light of the domestic economic downturn various companies are seeking new and emerging markets. In this panel foreign experts and trade officials present incentives and opportunities to attract various companies to overseas markets.

The combination of renewable energy and natural gas holds great promise for a more diverse power supply, grid reliability and the potential to reduce the environmental impact of energy use. Natural gas addresses intermittency and variability and renewables address price volatility. This session will review the ways a strategic collaboration can benefit the growth of the use of renewable energy and gas as part of the U.S. energy mix.

The U.S. Department of Energy continues to play a central role in the development of the U.S. renewable energy industry and market. This support runs the gamut from innovative and near-commercial R&D, assistance to state markets, important finance programs to grid integration of renewable energy and enabling technologies. This panel will feature an update on these important programs and initiatives.

Leading companies will present the status and outlook for geothermal power generation, including technology developments and key barriers.

Providing an overview of the uses of advanced materials and chemicals in the renewable energy sector, as manufacturers explore next generation materials to deliver the newest generation products. Topics to be covered include bio based chemicals, synthetic fuels, new composite materials, rare earth materials, and nanotechnology.

The siting of renewable energy projects can present a variety of challenges ranging from a sometimes remote location to a sensitive environment to public opposition. Facility developers, property owners and their teams often also face navigating a battleground between federal, state and sometimes local authorities to obtain siting and permitting approval. This panel will examine and offer insights regarding the factors involved in selecting a facility site, appropriate siting and permitting bodies, and environmental issues impacting permits for renewable energy facilities. Specific topics to be addressed include state and federal regulatory processes; example of best management practices; unexpected roadblocks; environmental impact assessments; and impact mitigation strategies such as Habitat Banking.

Venture Capital and Private Equity have played a key role in renewable energy project financing. This session will explore investment trends and sectors/technologies currently of interest to these investors; what are VC/PE investors looking for in evaluating investment opportunities in the sector; how much technology risk is “too much”; what is PE’s role in the life cycle of a company; and is there still a Valley of Death?

This panel features business leaders discussing creative business partnering to reach new markets and new formulas for private-public partnering in the renewable energy market.

As government agencies, major corporations, and venture-backed companies collaborate to accelerate growth of the renewable energy industry - creating new enterprises, expanding existing companies, spurring job growth – it is important that all players in the RETECH ecosystem not lose sight of the importance of achieving operational excellence. No matter how innovative a new product idea or how great the promise of new jobs, if companies cannot fully master their operational practices and achieve their overall business goals, their success rate will diminish. Additionally, as these firms are dedicated to solving environmental problems, it is important that they implement sustainable features throughout the full value chain. . Panel participants will examine the multiple operational challenges that renewable energy companies in the US face in a fiercely competitive global marketplace. The speakers will discuss the roles that government agencies, investment firms, and renewable energy companies and their corporate partners can play in helping companies achieve operational excellence in moving quality, game-changing renewable energy products to market as quickly as possible.

The Department of Defense historically has played a central role in technology innovation in support of its mission. Often this has led to important spin-off opportunities and civilian market development. The DOD is engaged in a host of initiatives to use or explore the role of renewable energy to achieve critical national security, operational and expeditionary objectives. This session will feature how the use of renewable energy is being applied to meet these objectives.

This session will cover the vast growth associated with America’s largest renewable resource. It will present the state of hydro, tidal and wave power and examine the technology, projects, outlook and define barriers to future development.

Panelists will discuss innovations in Energy Efficiency and Green Buildings technologies and the utilization of such technologies in the advancement toward more sustainable future. Specific topics to be covered include smart appliances, HVAC systems, LEED certification and other sustainability indices, energy management, and architecture.

Smart Meters offer a range of new opportunities for smart energy management and consumer engagement in both the residential and commercial sectors. Most of these opportunities, however, are not being realized. Research on residential feedback initiatives has shown that feedback is an effective mechanism for raising consumer awareness of energy consumption patterns, reducing electricity use, and engaging consumers in energy management decisions. Realizing feedback benefits may be accelerated through the application of new online home energy services that use home area networks and broadband services to provide consumers with feedback, information, and links to services in tandem with - or in place of -- Smart Meters. This session will explore consumer perceptions and market opportunities for home energy management.

Our panelists will examine later-stage investing in renewable energy projects. They will discuss such topics as building a renewable energy business via merger or acquisition; evaluate the state of the IPO market; examine the evolving perspectives of a financial or strategic partner for renewable energy projects; and look at “roll up” or “roll out” strategies for investors.

Sustainability is a major priority for governments, schools, and businesses concerned about the rising demand for energy, unstable fuel prices, uncertain energy security, and the threat of global climate change. Integrated strategies hold great promise for success, in many cases, on-site renewable energy facilities can be financed through cost savings from energy efficiency measures. This panel will discuss ways to “connect the dots” between sustainability strategies and solutions to deliver economic, financial and performance requirements.

The U.S Department of Defense and the military services have taken the lead within the federal government in embracing energy efficiency and renewable energy to cost effectively meet their needs in deployed areas, combat missions, and bases here in the United States. They have embraced the concept of quantifying the full range of externalities in determining the fully-loaded costs of energy in any particular use, The focus of this panel is to explore the possibility of a collaborative effort between the U.S.. Defense establishment and their military service with their counterparts in Latin America and the Caribbean, and to incorporate these efforts into the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas.

Biomass continues to grow as a viable renewable energy power source, particularly in regions rich in the resource. This session will review the state of biomass fuel supply, power projects, industry, finance, policy and air quality ramifications. The panel, made up of a range of experts in this resource, will explore the power and non-power benefits of the resource and define opportunities and challenges facing future development.

Exploring the intersection of information technology and renewable energy. Topics to be explored include smart grid, grid security, cyber security, visualization technology, tracking the supply chain of renewables into the grid, customer interface and switch technology, data management, storage and analytics

Learn how a smarter grid can significantly enhance renewable energy deployment--from grid scale geothermal, biomass, and wind, to distributed energy sources like rooftop solar and fuel cells. Smart grid technologies can measure and verify generation, balance resources and load, and enable renewable sources to achieve maximum participation in energy markets. Case studies of existing projects will be presented, along with exploration of emerging technologies, demand response, managing customer expectations, and integration.

Many countries are moving renewable energy development into the mainstream through national, sub-national, economic, political or trade mechanisms. This session will cover issues like foreign investor trends and drivers, facilitating international investment and project development and benefiting from globalization.