Carbon Counting 2009 is coming up on May 13-14 in Houston. I will be speaking at this conference as part of a panel including representatives from Calpine, El Paso Corp, and the Association of Climate Change Officers. The panel will focus on emerging organizational structures and processes in the advent of national, regional and state mandatory legislation.
 
For many companies now engaging in aspects of carbon management, reporting processes are often resource intensive and spreadsheet driven. I will be commenting specifically on Carbon Management Solutions, an emerging class of business software solutions for helping companies automate the analysis, tracking and management of their carbon emissions. This is a very dynamic marketplace with many solution providers – from recently funded start-ups to established enterprise software companies. 

In this talk, I will describe the basic classes of business capabilities these solutions address, key players in the industry, market trends, and some high-level recommendations for how to evaluate these solutions – whether your organization is in an emissions-intensive industry subject to regulatory requirements, or a lower-carbon business looking to reduce value chain emissions and publicly report under a voluntary program.

To find out more about attending Carbon Counting 2009, and about receiving the special AltaTerra discount, please see the full event listing at www.altaterra.net/event/carboncounting2009.

By Don Bray

On Tuesday, March 31st, AltaTerra Research hosted the web conference "Putting Sustainability Strategy to Work: An Operating Discipline for Business and Market Leadership", with featured presenter Pat Tiernan, Executive Director of the Climate Savers Computing Initiative and former Vice President of Sustainability at Hewlett-Packard.

"We are entering a new era of constraints defined by increasingly volatile energy costs, growing regulatory, stakeholder and customer pressures for environmentally sustainable business practices, and rising awareness among executives that sustainability is core to the business," said Tiernan. "For corporations, it has become imperative to address the risks and potential opportunities around sustainability. Likely, there are already leverageable assets existing within corporations that provide a place to start from and build upon.”

AltaTerra Research President and Co-founder Don Bray commented, "In business practice, the notion of sustainability has clearly gained traction. While early efforts were often exploratory or isolated in different parts of the business, companies are now looking to impact their operations and markets in a strategic way, requiring distinctive business practices and disciplines for success over the long haul."

Presented in the hour-long web conference were a comprehensive framework for successfully incorporating environmental sustainability into business strategy, and tools for facilitation.

As diagrammed below, there are three business dimensions along which corporations must address the opportunities and risks of environmental sustainability – and the investment horizons vary. Action within internal operations, the first dimension, is focused in the near-term on saving money and leading by example. The focus within the products and services dimension is on improving competitive performance. And over time, new business creation is the aim in addressing changing customer needs and a rapidly developing ‘sustainable economy’.



Internal operations is the typical launch point for corporate sustainability initiatives, as this dimension is typically the easiest to control and quantify, offers the shortest time to ROI, and builds confidence and credibility. Examples and facilitation tools were focused on this dimension.

This session was designed for corporate strategy executives, sustainable business professionals, and business function and product line managers.

A sampling of questions asked and addressed during the web conference:
• What is the value of reporting between EPA, TCR, CCAR, CCX, etc?
• If a company is looking for free or low-cost guidance, advice, tools, benchmarks, etc. to plan and launch a sustainability initiative, where should they turn? Who are the best NGOs/Non-profits for this?
• How do companies engage external stakeholders to be a part of the development of sustainability initiatives?
• What do you see as one of the best things for large companies to do in 2009?

If you missed this web conference and are interested in purchasing an online recording and the presentation slides, please click here.


By Don Bray and Anneke Mueller

The upcoming Green Building Finance & Investment Forum West comes at an interesting nexus of two developments trending, at least for the moment, in opposite directions.  High awareness (if not full implementation) of green building practices and energy efficiency is now mainstream among sophisticated commercial property portfolio owners, managers, and tenants.  LEED projects proliferate (conference organizers claim that $464m of new construction is starting the LEED process every day), and the convergence of new technologies opens opportunities for an abundance of creative solutions.  New regulations, incentives, and stimulus support make sustainability strategies less a question of “if” than “how”:  How to implement?  How much? How fast?  At the same time, the Bay Area’s commercial real estate market is in a deep slump expected to last at least through 2010.  Vacancy rates are up, rents are falling, and commercial defaults are rising.  In a time like this, when all investments are analyzed with heightened diligence, we can get a clearer sense of how investors, developers, and tenants perceive the value of sustainably designed and operated properties, and the strategies they are deploying to realize that value.  The abundance of builders, developers, and portfolio managers at the Forum should lend insights into whether they all share the same concepts of current “best practices” and value creation.

The conference keynote speaker is Sam Adams, Mayor of Portland, a city long in the forefront of sustainable development.  Among the panel discussions are the role of sustainability in real estate investment portfolios, green strategies for developers and property managers, financing green retrofits, green leasing, and the impact of the overall growth of socially responsible investment (SRI) on the real estate world. 

What I like about the conference is how the agenda tries to tie sustainable building into the two larger, overlapping contexts of real estate development and SRI.  Is green building shifting away from a socially responsible hedging strategy and into a core portfolio element?  Of special interest is which green strategies (if any) are viewed as differentiators.  Are the practices which are seen to be generating revenue in the short run the same as those adding value over the long haul?  Or put another way, what opportunities does the green real estate and investment community see in the current competitive market and new political climate?  The forum promises to be an excellent place to find out.

By Reuben Schwartz

Editor’s Note: Last month IntertechPira held the 3rd Annual Plastic & Thin Film Photovoltaics Summit in Barcelona. I was not able to attend, but I have since had the opportunity to review the presentations that were made. Below are a few comments on one.

Market Analysis of Thin Film Photovoltaics

In this presentation, one of the take-home messages from Jonathan Digby, Associate Consultant for Pira Internatonal, is that the thin film industry is raising money and scaling up production—in a big way.

Digby sees a thin film industry (which includes a-Si, CdTe, CIGS and other technologies) that is vibrant and dynamic with about 110 companies worldwide. According to Digby, slightly more than half of these companies are currently manufacturing, while the others have production plans targeted to come online between now and 2010. By 2010 Digby forecasts production capacity to reach 8500 MW, up from an estimated 2800 MW in 2008.

The most interesting points in Digby’s presentation are his perspectives on where the production ramp up will take place and what technologies will come out on top. These points are interesting because they are contentious – with different people floating a number of different perspectives – and among the most talked about issues in the PV industry from what I’ve heard at events I’ve attended and read about coming out of others. From Digby’s perspective, the US stands to lose thin film production capacity to Asia, as Taiwan emerges and China grows to produce one-fourth or more of production capacity by 2010, while Japan and Europe maintain current capacities.

With regard to the technology that will come out on top, Digby is betting on a-Si, at least in the short-term. By 2010, he expects a-Si to strengthen its position beyond the one-half of the thin film PV market it currently claims (as measured by % MW).

Furthermore, he sees CdTe losing some ground despite (or perhaps because of) First Solar’s presence. I’ve actually heard a couple analysts now say that they don’t expect much more action on the CdTe front, at least as far as new entrants are concerned. CIGS is among the technologies that Digby believes will gain market share (although he doesn’t highlight it to the extent that some other analysts have).

Editor's Note: Below are interviews with three experts who will be speaking at the upcoming Solar Power Generation USA conference on January 21-22, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The three speakers interviewed are: Stuart Hemphill, VP-Renewable & Alternative Power at Southern California Edison, Senator Ralph Townsend of the Nevada State Senate, and Dan Kabel, CEO at Acciona Solar Power. These "60 Second Interviews" were conducted by the conference organizer, Green Power Conferences. AltaTerra Research Network collaborates with Green Power Conferences on event content and promotion. Check back with the Conference Coffee Break blog for future interviews. You can also register for a number of Green Power Conference events at a 20% discount on the AltaTerra website. To register for Solar Power Generation USA, click here. For other events, please see our events calendar.

Stuart Hemphill
Vice President - Renewable and Alternative Power
Southern California Edison

1.What does your company do in the solar sector?

Southern California Edison purchases over 80 percent of the nation's solar and we are seeking to increase this amount.  SCE has also proposed a 250 MW solar rooftop project to the California Public Utilities Commission to help drive down the cost of rooftop solar for customers in Southern California.

2.How important is large scale solar power generation in the US?

Large scale solar power holds a lot of promise for the nation, but is especially beneficial to the southwest region.  Most other renewable technologies have been fully explored and the renewable potential has been tapped or will be tapped in the next decade.  Solar has significant untapped potential that can help to move the U.S. away from fossil fuels.

3.What do you think are the most exciting innovations in this area at the moment?

The most exciting innovations are the scales being proposed for every major form of solar technology.  Historically, 10 MW of solar would have been considered big.  Today, projects are being proposed at the 500 MW range.
The variety of technology represents nothing short of a new pilgrimage into a vast new land.  The pioneering efforts (and related engineering and
financing) mean a new solar future unlike anything we've seen before.

4.What is the biggest challenge facing the sector in the short term (1-4 years)?

The biggest challenges for large scale solar will be: 1) site control and competition for land; 2) gaining environmental permits and offsets for substantial land use; 3) having sufficient transmission from where the solar resource is located to major customer centers; 4) competing with other non-solar renewable projects that have less technology risk and more commercial maturity; and 5) obtaining interconnection facilities and agreements in congested interconnection queues.

5.What is the biggest challenge for the sector in the longer term (5-10 years)?

With so many competing technologies, solar may see a shake-out and clear leader in optimizing cost, operations, and profitability.  While many technology-based companies may have long-term contracts for delivery, some of the less sustainable technologies may be set aside to focus on a more mature technology for future expansion.

Senator Randolph Townsend
Nevada State Senate

1.What is your role in the solar sector?

I am the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor, which has jurisdiction over energy matters.  With our corresponding committee in the Assembly, the Nevada Legislature sets energy policy for the entire state.  Nevada has a long history of promoting renewable energy in general and solar in particular.  We were the third state to adopt an RPS and that first legislation included a solar set aside.

2.How important is large scale solar power generation in the Nevada?

Nevada is one of the best situated states for solar of all kinds.  We are home to the first large scale solar thermal plant in nearly 30 years, one of the largest PV arrays and now home to Ausra’s solar thermal component
manufacturing facility.  Nevada expects to continue to deploy significant amounts of large scale solar for domestic and export purposes.

3.What do you think are the most exciting innovations in this area at the moment?

Nevada is focused on new technical approaches that lower cost and improve efficiency such as NV Energy’s experimentation with adding solar thermal to conventional fossil fuel generators.  Ausra’s flat mirror system that costs less to produce and has a smaller footprint is another example. There is also great interest in technologies that store solar energy for use throughout the peak cycle and beyond.

4.What is the biggest challenge facing the sector?

Currently, adequate financing, in view of the collapse of several firms such as Lehman that were heavily committed to solar.  After that, the main obstacles are likely to be environmental concerns about siting, transmission and water.

5.How can policy makers contribute to make the US the largest solar market in the world?

Policy makers need to foster continued growth in both domestic manufacturing and research.  Government needs to provide appropriate incentives to both suppliers and customers until the industry is sufficiently mature for market forces to take over completely.  Thereafter, policy makers must see that sufficient funds are available for continuing R&D and to support educational programs that produce the skilled workforce at all levels to perpetuate dominance in all aspects of solar energy.

Dan Kabel
CEO
Acciona Solar Power

1.What does your company do in the solar sector?

Acciona Solar Power develops utility-scale solar power projects, provides operation and maintenance of large solar plants, and develops new technologies that are aimed at sustainability, customer centricity, and competitive advantage.

2.How important is large scale solar power generation in the US?

Large-scale solar projects are important because they bring the reality of clean sustainable solar power on a commercial scale. While delivering clean mega-watts, they also provide a hedge against fossil fuel pricing and delivery and they contribute to our country’s energy independence.    

3.What do you think are the most exciting innovations in this area at the moment?

Thermal energy storage is an important development for the industry because it allows for some shaping of the power production curve as well as a higher utilization of the power block investment. At the same time, innovations in the solar field have just begun. There is an opportunity to improve the constructability and  manufacturability of these plants on a large scale.

4.What is the biggest challenge facing the sector in the short term (1-4 years)?

In the short term, the turbulent capital markets have affected the return at which tax equity investors will invest.  The balance sheets of large companies (like Acciona Energia) may be required to back the performance guarantees needed by the financial community.  Higher risk technologies may have extra challenges to break ground unless they are capitalized enough to self-finance development and construction.  There are fewer large-scale investors and the technologies must be bankable.

5.What is the biggest challenge for the sector in the longer term (5-10 years)?

In the longer-run, the capital markets will settle down. There will be more CSP plants built and running. Eventually the ITC will near its present expiration. Therefore, during the next 5-10 years, solar technologists must develop the supply chain, reduce construction costs, and prove the performance needed to build projects for a lower $/kw and without the aid of an ITC.  Storage may help developers achieve capacity payments which will be a more sound structure for large-scale solar plants.