CIC Energy is a catalyst for community solar expansion—an agent of impactful change in marginalized communities. Community solar relieves the financial burden placed on low- and medium-income households, provides local grid resilience, and stimulates economic activity in economically and racially underserved communities.

CIC Energy, in collaboration with its partner organizations and sponsored by the Department of Energy (DOE), is leading the charge to advance adoption of solar PV and storage , training a critical infrastructure workforce to meet the supply gaps in human resources (trades skills), and meeting the explosive demand for new energy within communities in need of energy justice.

Community Power Accelerator Hubs: A Framework for “Resilience Hub and Critical Infrastructure Training Center” Build on Experience and Collective Enhancement Across the Nation, the Globe.

CIC Energy was an inaugural member as both a registered developer and financial sponsor of the National Community Solar Partnership (NCSP), an initiative led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technologies Office.  At the end of 2021, through 2022 and currently Team Impact’s energy and environmentally focused coalition continues to expand.  On May 5^th, CIC Energy was announced the American Made Prize Phase I award, and notably the lone winner in Texas.

Community Leader and Environmental Advocate Hilton Kelley notes, ” The time for Port Arthur, TX and rural disadvantage communities the like are open to receive all available benefits to the community through our Power Accelerators, with the Alpha site soon to be a showcase to give hands on demonstrations within the heart of the community.” Through DOE, SEIN, SETO and HARC, our energy coalition has cerainly gained momentum as noted the 13th of June with a visit from the Secretary of Energy, https://twitter.com/SecGranholm

A Texas Size Challenge for Community Solar

Texas is not exactly fertile ground for planning a community solar opportunity.  Granted, Texas is a renewable energy leader in wind and has been since T Boone Pickens and Skelly days.  Aside from wind, the Lone Star State ranked #2 national in 2022[i] powered, powers almost 2M homes, however, the state only generates less than 5% from solar PV in the TX grid.  This is a TEXAS SIZE OPPORTUNITY! The state further boasts 617 companies with 99 manufacturers, 243 installers/developers, and almost 300 outliers performing various energy efficient and related services.

As of 2022, Texas claimed $20B in solar investments, meanwhile the price has fallen 53% over the past decade.  Hold on folks, modest projections place Texas as #1 in solar power generation and forecast an increase to 34GW over next five years.  Solar PV is a Texas Size Opportunity indeed, but will the Texas legislature address the opportunity or continue to subsidize dinosaurs?

Today is the day to realize the national goal of 30% solar PV generation in the United States by 2030.  While this will never happen, let’s enable communities that need it most to capitalize and save given they bear the biggest burden, and in Port Arthur, their health continues to suffer.

Team Impact Continues to Exceed Milestones Towards Equitable Energy

Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that all 10 teams participating in the inaugural American-Made Community Clean Energy Coalition (CCEC) Prize successfully completing Phase Two and will each be awarded $150,000 in cash prizes. Team Impact pioneer member Garry’s team ReBuildATL Coalition headquartered in Atlanta, GA, but with community solar projects in Virginia and other Eastern States we applaud the Team’s continued success across the nation – especially as we collaborate and coordinate to bring the best practices to Texas

In service of this initiative, the DOE is sponsoring the upcoming Energy Justice to the People Roadshow that will make a stop in Port Arthur on June 13, 2023. Register TODAY and be a part of the  solution, be a Change Agent! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/energy-justice-to-the-people-roadshow-port-arthur-tx-tickets-634947213207

This day-long event will kick-off with a speech by the United States Secretary of Energy. The first half of the day will focus on a series of DOE-led presentations on topics including Energy Justice, BIL & IRA funding, clean energy workforce development, community voice in infrastructure projects, and available home and neighborhood investments.

The second half of the day will bring together experts and leaders from across the Federal Government and local community—including the White House, elected officials, community leaders, and the DOE.

Team Impact is a Coalition of Energy Advocates Aligned by a Shared Mission, Dedicated to Advancing the US Energy Transition

CIC Energy, along with the Houston Advanced Resource Center (HARC), Community In-Power and Development Association, Inc. (CIDA), Mills Agriculture & Renewable Energy, LLC (MARE), and the Center for Sustainable Communities (CSC), make up Team Impact. Our Impact aims to modernize community grids and increase solar workforce capacity within historically underserved communities by developing a community solar portfolio in Port Arthur, TX.

Port Arthur, TX

Port Arthur, is a an ideal showcase, with 25% of Port Arthur’s  residents below the poverty line. The community is primarily African American, followed by Hispanic communities with unemployment rate historically 2x below the state average. As a refinery mecca, Port Arthur is plagued by environmental pollution that has largely been ignored by authorities and corporations that caused it Team Impact focuses on Port Arthur’s communities in the most need and the most affected by socioeconomic, as well as racial disparities and environmental contamination.  The time is now to counter this history of environmental, climate, and racial injustice and deliver residents new economic opportunities. Join us on June 13, 2023 and let our collective voices resonate loudly! Onward and Upward!!!

From ISD CTE Training to Community Led Solar Camps in West Port Arthur, TX – Education of Direct Benefits is Key

From Texas two-step to homegrown Innovation in Austin, TX, we are prepared to stabilize the TX Grid.  At the lead of this energy transition are companies like Yotta Energy.  Their product suite is sweet and rich with service-centric solutions and a range of distributed energy technologies to convert buildings into their own solar power plants.

Yotta Energy specializes in the commercial, industrial, and multifamily spaces; bringing the most affordable, advanced, and safest solar + storage + EV charging solutions to the market

[i] SEIA – https://www.seia.org/states-map

IREC Solar Career Map https://www.irecsolarcareermap.org

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Climate Impact Capital spun out Climate Impact Capital Energy Holdings, LLC (CIC Energy) in 2021 to address significant gaps in U.S. energy workforce and critical infrastructure development. CIC Energy serves two segments by addressing the I. demand for energy (e.g. cost-effective electricity, equitable energy, demand response programs, backup power) and lack of supply of human resources with technical and trade skills.

CIC Energy will deploy Phase 1 winnings and fuel Team Impact with funding and technical support provided by the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Community Power Accelerator (CPA) Prize. With almost 200 teams, judges at SETO and NREL were challenged to pick the Top 25 amongst a critical mass of competitors. The $10 million prize competition is a three-phase process to increase the number of equitable community solar projects by providing funding and resources for developers and co-developers throughout the project lifecycle. By the end of the prize, competitors will be ready to engage with the Community Power Accelerator online platform, which provides a place for competitors to showcase their credit-ready projects to verified project developers, investors, and philanthropic organizations.

CIC Energy is excited to cultivate community solar designed to support equitable energy jobs and accelerate critical infrastructure workforce development. Through CPA’s online portal and CIC Energy’s Learning and Earning in Energy Platform (LEEP), prosumers are enabled with democratized, decentralized and digital disruptors to monetize savings, enhance human behavior and offer credit-ready solar to stabilize power grids and add resilience to communities—with a priority placed on projects that benefit underserved communities—and connect them with mission-aligned investors and philanthropic organizations to get funding in Port Arthur, Central and East TX in 2023.

Community Solar Benefits

In Phase 2, CIC Energy will further develop community grids, equitable and distributed energy models, and deploy a series of up to 1MW DC projects within communities, offering a range of meaningful impacts in Port Arthur, Northwest Houston, Central and East Texas. Community solar offers direct benefits to the community by reducing energy costs, expanding renewable energy consumption, and providing solar industry workforce development opportunities. Project Renew has prioritized disadvantaged communities since launching its first Solar Apprenticeship Program at Del Valle Opportunity Center in Fall 2021. Team Impact will catalyze change in households, creating home energy systems for community solar subscribers, bolstering community grid resilience, facilitating community ownership of project assets, and supporting equitable workforce development by providing high-wage opportunities that reduce income disparities across demographic groups.

Team Impact

CIC Energy, along with the Houston Advanced Resource Center (HARC), Community In-Power and Development Association, Inc. (CIDA), Mills Agriculture & Renewable Energy, LLC (MARE), and the Center for Sustainable Communities (CSC), make up Team Impact. Our Impact aims to modernize community grids and increase solar workforce capacity within historically underserved communities by developing a community solar portfolio in Port Arthur, Texas.

Community Solar Builds Alliances, Creates Greener and More Resilient Grids in Port Arthur

Team Impact’s community solar projects in Port Arthur will target schools, churches, and small businesses within disadvantaged residential communities, delivering power grid resilience during energy emergencies and showcasing the cost benefits of distributed energy systems. The end goal is the expansion of community solar benefits to household subscribers. Local community members will have ownership of these projects, democratizing energy production in the city.

Increasing Energy Security and Mission Critical Communications

Community solar electricity rates will be lower than rates available via existing power distribution grids, which reduces the financial burden of electricity usage and increases energy security by improving grid resilience. Residents previously forced to ration energy usage due to economic hardship (e.g. by not using their air conditioners or setting thermostats to dangerously high temperatures) will be able to reduce energy rationing with more affordable electricity rates provided by community solar projects. Such benefits will improve the quality of life for residents of disadvantaged communities in Port Arthur.

Gearing up for Phase 2

Winning Phase 1 of the Community Power Accelerator Prize is an exciting opportunity for CIC Energy to bring alternative energy to Texas residents facing high energy burdens and frequent power outages. In decreasing energy costs and enhancing grid resilience in the community, CIC Energy will deliver energy equity and create more lucrative employment opportunities for this underserved community. As we begin Phase 2 of the prize, we look forward to realizing our plan and are committed to providing clean energy access to the disadvantaged neighborhoods of Port Arthur, Texas.

Accelerating Equitable Energy Through Federal Funding and Team Impact

The American-Made Solar Prize is directed and administered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office. CIC Energy applauds the efforts of our government to prioritize energy equality.

CIC Energy: An Impact Driven Change Agent to fuel Renewable Microgrid Deployment, Disruptive Grid Service Models and Activate a Critical Infrastructure Workforce

Climate Impact Capital Energy Holdings, LLC (CIC Energy) develops and manages alternative energy and power generation for commercial, municipal, and government solar power and energy storage facilities.

As an integrated service provider, we identify the most effective set of asset solutions for our clients considering cost and resiliency goals.  In addition to deploying solar and storage, our services and solutions include electric vehicle charging, building energy management services, and grid services.

CIC Energy also manages the development and implementation of an integrated training, certification, and continued education platform to provide Registered Apprentices for our government/corporate partners and enable our planned integrated solar, storage, EV, and microgrid projects.  Stay tuned for details regarding our Learning and Earning in Energy Platform (LEEP).

The post Climate Impact Capital Portfolio Company Wins Phase 1 of Department of Energy Prize totally $10M to accelerate community microgrids appeared first on Climate Impact Capital.

Do you believe today’s high school graduates are prepared to secure America’s energy future?

A continued lack of vision for an integrated energy network has left us with a sizable gap, most notably in human resources.  America’s power grid needs an overhaul and renewables offer a sustainable solution to lower energy costs, improve resiliency through decentralization, and create equitable energy distribution. However, the US has been slow to implement the changes needed. To achieve this we will need a skilled and diverse workforce in every US county that will both build and maintain assets.

A Solution So Simple, Yet Challenging

Europe provides a fine example for retraining established trades or catering to fresh recruits. The region has taken an integrated approach to apprentice programs in renewables and EVs, building pathways for applied learning towards a university degree.  Innovative utilities and power electronics companies, with support from the government, are driving both education and deployment, with natural pathways to employment. There is a clear understanding that workforce development and sustainable corporate growth go hand in hand.

In contrast, in the USA, blue collar jobs in coal and O&G, have typically been sourced from unskilled labor forces which are taught in the field and in the mine after being hired.  Coincidentally, these skills were not transferable to other jobs and sectors. This was sustainable when these industries were growing and before the new generation of workers realized there are better and more importantly greener career paths. In 2022 these sectors continue to see reductions in their workforce as automation and digitalization are rapidly deployed to reduce costs.

Since solar has become cheaper than natural gas and coal, trade skills demand has outpaced workforce availability.  With multiple career pathways in a disruptive and emerging industry, the US has an opportunity to quickly incorporate lessons to build our own skilled workforce.

Schools STEM Change

Solar education is pivotal for the US energy transition and students are eager to learn. Over the past 30 years, school districts around the country have largely phased out vocational classes in lieu of STEM only courses. More emphasis is placed on students achieving four year college degrees, while blue collar careers are not properly encouraged at the middle or high school levels. These types of jobs are needed and offer students alternative careers without student debt. The call for more vocational, alternative learning methods, is steadily growing, spurring educators to consider new options for their students to achieve career readiness in emerging industries with large growth opportunities.

Solar Pioneers of Del Valle

A case for success and scale is certainly the Solar Pioneers of Del Valle. The community-based program was led by Solar Austin quickly gained traction when Del Valle ISD partnered with community leaders, solar experts, teachers, and students to design a learning lab at their Opportunity Center.

Workforce development is not a regional issue when it comes to new energy careers. However, schools need curriculum, subject matter experts to “train the trainers,” and then liaisons between students and employers. A challenge multiplier is the fact that the Department of Labor has yet to designate an apprentice program for solar.

Del Valle illustrates an opportunity to learn by doing. Local leaders from NATiVE Solar and Solar Austin joined with community volunteers to drive success, until state or federal funding for solar jobs can formalize efforts. To scale beyond regional initiatives, state/federal funding for equipment, teacher salaries, scholarships, and administrators is urgently needed.

Ways to Engage and Educate

Schools are a gateway, but what about those that aren’t enrolled in public schools?

The Children’s Haven new solar array was installed by volunteers in the heart of East Austin and offered a one-day solar camp to educate the community. Green Careers Dallas takes on an additional challenge by offering support for the unique hurdles of criminal records while removing the cost burdens of training, certifications, and transportation.

Community engagement through town hall meetings, advocacy groups, trade organizations and solar installers offer support and access to reliable information. The recent shift towards remote and virtual workforces has created an opportunity to transition and potentially a breakthrough in delivery of dynamic content and curriculum, with all the elements of hands-on and classroom learning.

A Virtual Solution

The mission to integrate new curriculum, experimental education facility and innovative learning platform has an elegant solution. Augmented and Virtual (AR/VR) Reality are ways to engage the next generation of trainees and modernize tech training. The US Air Force illustrates a great use case for recruiting and training with a VR system coordinated by artificial intelligence. Austin also offers a few early adopters with Interplay Learning and Froliq.

Furthermore, remote access to energy assets is easily interfaced with a smartphone that instantly augments the user experience with troubleshooting tools as demonstrated by 60 Hertz Energy. Adoption of digital platforms in schools, construction and utilities will need to be abrupt, but offer immediate payback with increased energy efficiency.

Notwithstanding hands on learning labs, students can supplement learning and gain practical skills with virtual learning. Many volunteers who want to participate in the program may struggle to travel through Texas to teach the different classes across school districts. Lectures recorded by experts on emerging topics are important for students and need timely delivery methods.  Additionally, the students could use custom VR “games” to practice their skills before touching live circuits. This could save time in the classroom, promote safety, and allow students more opportunities to practice.

Leveraging AR/VR would allow for collaboration and development of streamlined sharing between stakeholders. The curriculum and technology can be devised by a group of experts and then implemented with less work from local schools. Since it would be theoretically easier to implement the program, more schools may consider providing it for their students.

The mission and goal is to accelerate solar education to place students in well-paying jobs, help them avoid the financial burdens of student loans, and create more quality jobs for energy security and resilience.

The post Solar Jobs and Energy Transition Careers appeared first on Climate Impact Capital.

Bringing Energy Equality to Renters in Texas with Virtual Power Plants

The post Virtual Power Plants Catalyze Grid Stability in Texas appeared first on Climate Impact Capital.

Grid Modernization is a critical next step in the world’s energy transition.  To accelerate this transition, CIC and Pecan Street Inc signed a strategic partnership in February 2020 to focus on shared learning, collaboration and prioritization of new products and services as we move towards a modern grid and utility model.  Our partnership embraces grid resiliency projects to accommodate rapid technological changes in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electric power.  We also take a systematic approach to assessing the impacts of climate change on grid infrastructure and resource utilization.

Grid Modernization can be viewed as a cost that needs to be incorporated to mitigate negative impacts to grid infrastructure, reliability, and capacity. Climate Impact Capital (CIC) views risks associated with climate change and Grid Modernization as an opportunity to accelerate the energy transition, reduce long-term costs, and improve the environment. Climate change risk and identifying new impact investing opportunities represent the world’s greatest opportunities towards resource optimization.  And with increasing needs for cooling, fresh water, and food, it is vital to identify holistic solutions that will grow the economy, improve people’s lives, and protect our natural resources as we move towards a sustainable global economy.

The Pecan Street and CIC partnership builds upon the PLATFORM program that Pecan Street recently completed in partnership with the Department of Energy, which tested over a dozen technologies to help reduce the perceived investment risk by early customers and investors.

“The ability for utilities to leverage technology and IOT innovations for more efficient energy management and decarbonization of our electric system is hampered by lack of funding for start-ups with promising innovations,” said Suzanne Russo, CEO, Pecan Street. “Pecan Street is excited to work with Climate Impact Capital on innovative financial models that de-risk investments in cleantech through independent technology performance testing, market validation, and trusted environmental impact analysis.”

As Climate Impact Capital launches its energy transition focus on new product and service innovations, Pecan Street will apply its unique capabilities to support the startups within CIC’s value proposition. “Our mission is to identify, prioritize, and invest alongside our partners into technology opportunities that enable the low carbon energy transition and the smart, distributed, and renewable power grid,” said Alex Rozenfeld, CIC Founder and Managing Director “…and together we have a mission to integrate and rapidly deploy solutions across multiple stakeholders.”

More on Pecan Street:

Pecan Street is uniquely accelerating solutions for climate resilience and drought mitigation by providing technology companies and university researchers with access to the world’s best data on consumer energy and water consumption behavior, testing and verification of technology solutions, and commercialization services to help bring breakthrough ideas to market faster and guide policy decisions.

Pecan Street’s lab is a green-built facility where companies of all sizes can develop, test and validate a wide range of products and services. The lab also houses Pecan Street’s secure data center, which powers Dataport – Pecan Street’s interactive web portal to access, visualize, analyze and discuss the organization’s unique data.

Our real-world testbed of volunteer research participants is the first of its kind on the planet and has become an international model for how to develop and conduct energy and resource research and product testing. It comprises of over 1,000 homes from across the United States, which collectively send over 750M datapoints per day to Pecan Street’s data center.  That data is then used by over 2,000 academic and policy researchers in over 60 countries.

Our commercialization lab is an affordable, world-class proving ground for major corporations and startups alike. And our database, the largest source of disaggregated customer energy data, is used by university researchers and industry-leading companies around the world.

Headquartered in Austin, Pecan Street Inc. is a 501(c)(3) research and development organization.

More on Climate Impact Capital:

Climate Impact Capital (CIC) invests in technology companies and supports our partners to target today’s relevant issues in energy and climate change. At our core, CIC creates resilience options and prepares our partners, customers and portfolio companies for a world challenged by climate variability and resource scarcity.

In investments, this is specifically to maximize alpha, based on analysis of complex and long-term (climate) issues with high variance potential. In strategy, we seek to help leadership teams identify business critical risks and find opportunities within climate change impacted systems.

The global energy and electrical infrastructure transition represent an immediate opportunity and current innovation focus. CIC’s mission-oriented approach to sustainable investing covers five sectors over time: (1) Energy and Power, (2) Agriculture and Water, (3) Transport and Logistics, (4) Manufacturing and Materials, and the (5) Carbon Cycle. The first two sectors encompass the Energy-Water-Food Nexus, which is our core focus.

We hope and expect that our insights on mitigation and adaptation, alongside our investments, will provide significant solutions and pathways for our partners and allow society to transition quickly to a low carbon economy.

The post Pecan Street and CIC develop a strategic framework for grid modernization initiatives appeared first on Climate Impact Capital.

Corporate accountability:  When corporations improve their own footprint and that of their consumers, providing better choices without passing on regressive costs

We share the world – the good, the bad, and the ugly, but can we share the blame? Global warming is here, but is any single entity responsible for rising emissions that lead to shifting ecology, extreme weather, and other larger, yet unclear, impacts? It’s easy to point the finger on greedy corporations, peddling their evil goods on the unsuspecting public, but the public isn’t blameless, driving to the protest in their gas-engine cars, idling in line at Starbucks, and returning home to their large, air-conditioned homes.

While there is enough blame to go around, society already picked the villain. It’s up to common enemy #1, Oil & Gas, to seek redemption.  Numerous call-to-actions including protests and shareholder mandates, have led to small steps, such as efficiency targets, 30-year emissions reduction goals, and HSE-performance dependent bonuses.

This, of course, is not enough. The industry realizes it, and the money realizes it, too. Blackrock and JPMorgan Chase are dictating the need for meaningful progress towards climate goals, and industry goliaths are coming around.  BP, BHP, and Repsol are just a few corporations that have “net-zero” announcements. But what does this really mean? Surely, they are not shutting down.

Net-zero operations in the core business can be achieved, albeit at a cost.  For upstream producers, the low-hanging fruit is wide deployment of lead detection and repair (LDAR) and renewable electrification. Reaching net-zero also means stopping all but emergency flaring through investment in gas infrastructure and only working with midstream partners with adequate and redundant gas processing facilities. In some cases, these improvements help the bottom line through energy efficiency and operational savings. In others, especially once emission penalties are in place, poorly operated companies will fail. This is what we call table stakes, and we expect that all O&G upstream and midstream companies will achieve this before 2030 or risk losing their license to operate.

But, let’s not forget O&G’s little brother – downstream refineries, petrochemical facilities, and transport – responsible for end-use products like gasoline, diesel and liquefied natural gas (LNG).  Low cost and (ideally) profitable carbon capture, utilization and sequestration (CCUS) – a holy-grail for the energy industry – would allow these emissions to be captured, sequestered underground for millennia, or up-cycled to new products. Even power plants could use CCUS to balance renewable intermittency while committing to carbon -free power. The path to net-zero is a lot less straightforward for this sector, but the science is compelling, and a new industry is burgeoning.

Operational improvements will define responsible corporations, and responsibility is quickly becoming the barrier to entry.  True accountability, though, can only be achieved through net-zero products, providing consumers with a reasonable choice for reduced impact at the use-phase. Regardless of how they are made, consumers are demanding cleaner products, and corporations are on the hook to deliver. First mover’s advantage is at play – who will win the accountability game? Repsol already drew a line, announcing net-zero operations AND end-use by 2050. BP followed suit, and the markets, the money, and the public are watching the rest of the industry.

Is there such thing as carbon-negative oil and gas? Maybe. Can O&G create a business around it? Probably. Will shareholders pay for it? Probably not.

So, while corporations continue to peddle their evil goods to the people lounging in their AC homes, consumers must begin take ownership of their choices. As they become more willing to make lifestyle changes, corporations can meet those needs with better choices and reduced impact. After all, climate change doesn’t discriminate; corporations, individuals, municipalities – we are all adversely impacted, and we are all accountable. So maybe next time, we walk to the protest?

The post Corporate Responsibility vs Accountability appeared first on Climate Impact Capital.

Rozenfeld left his position as president of Shell Technology Venture to form his own venture firm, Climate Impact Capital. The past several years have not been kind to venture investors in cleantech and energy, as well as food, water, and other environmentally focused segments. Still, Rozenfeld says he believes that taking a longer-term approach to cleantech investing will prove to be successful.

“We’ve been talking about this for a long time, but nothing’s happening,” he says of society. “Really there may be only a decade before all of the economic impact issues become completely irreversible.”

It’s that economic argument—the belief that pursuing innovation that can tackle climate change is good business—that Rozenfeld says is key. “This is not just about doing good, though that is important.

“The boundary has been crossed to reach the financial community,” he adds. “Portfolios are at risk and we have a fiduciary duty to talk about this.”

Rozenfeld points out that others are seeing similar opportunities. For example, he points to the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, an effort to boost energy innovation led by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, among others.

Climate Impact Capital is still just getting started. When I spoke to Rozenfeld last week, he had just moved into his new office and said he’s looking to hire a team and is also pursuing limited partners. His plan is to raise a $30 million fund with the goal of six to eight investments over a two-year period. He expects his investors to be large foundations and family offices, perhaps with a corporate strategic group added to the mix.

Rozenfeld says he envisions a fund that takes more of a longterm approach to investing in companies, as opposed to the more shortlived timeframes in cleantech so far. “The idea is for investors to maintain shares in the company throughout [its] lifetime,” he says. “We stay with the company and keep pushing them to create great products, even when it becomes public. That’s the way to create impact.”

To find those opportunities, Rozenfeld says he will use software to provide guidance, via data and systems analyses. “One of the most valuable parts of that is the act of bringing key stakeholders together around understanding fundamental problems and mapping them out,” he says.

Rozenfeld worked in the corporate energy world for two decades, and it’s a world he knows from his childhood; his father worked in the oil business and took the family around the world. “I’ve seen the negative consequences of energy development in developing countries,” he says. “I have an appreciation for the scale of the problems and the need for solutions.”

Those experiences fueled an interest in energy policy, which he studied at Princeton University. He received degrees in public policy and engineering from that institution, and also earned an MBA from MIT.

“I certainly am not starting this firm in the hopes of becoming a mega-millionaire venture capitalist,” he says. “The way to do that is to go into late-stage investments and raise a very large fund. This is more about creating something that will make value for investors, for companies, and have a significant positive impact in terms of the world.”

See original post by Angela Shah at Xconomy 

The post Ex-Shell Venture Exec Rozenfeld Founds Firm For Energy Innovation appeared first on Climate Impact Capital.

The Road not taken?

‘Energy Strategy: The Road Not Taken’ by Amory Lovins, the founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute, explores two different electrical infrastructure paths for the coming 50 years. The first path is a continuation of present federal policy. The second involves a serious commitment to energy efficiency, renewables, and transitional fossil fuels. Lovins argued, convincingly, that the two roads are mutually exclusive; the year was 1976!

Forty-four years later– and renewables are finally being connected to the US grid at scale.

However, the grid was originally designed to distribute electricity in one direction and supply and demand were predictable. Renewable power, though, has changed the paradigm on multiple fronts. Renewable power generation can be large or small and can be connected to either the transmission or distribution grid. Electricity now flows in both directions in the distribution grid, and supply is less predictable. The most significant shift, perhaps, is with consumers.  They are no longer passive. Many now have their own generation and storage stations with intelligent monitoring systems to optimize loads in real-time across complex rate plans. Consumers are becoming prosumers.

On the Edge

The electrical infrastructure in the United States and many other countries is not equipped to handle this new power model. While needs have evolved, the electricity utility has not, and their traditional business model is under threat. Coal and nuclear plants have been closed, leaving balance sheets saddled with stranded assets.  At the same time, new market entrants have clean, sustainable (in more ways than one) balance sheets, strong customer engagement, and the intention to disrupt the undisrupted.

Can the utility survive without a major transformation? Read up on the “Steel Mini Mills” case, how Netflix beat Blockbuster, or how the Ubers and AirBNBs of the world fulfilled consumer needs. The main difference, though, is that the electricity utility cannot fail. Bailouts are used to keep the lights on, but in the end, the bill is footed by residential consumers and taxpayers. To avoid another Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, or General Motors, something has to change. The distribution grid must become smarter, anticipating supply and demand and then, sourcing and optimizing, accordingly.  The transmission grid needs new, more efficient lines – linking regions with less costly renewable power to the major load centers. Overall, the grids must become more resilient to natural disasters and cyber and physical attacks and require less hands-on maintenance.

The Utility is Dead, Long Live the Utility

Utilities are faced with changing technical requirements, and consumers are demanding cleaner power and advanced services. While government regulation should encourage utilities to adapt to a changing market and accelerate progress toward emissions targets, state regulatory systems and the jigsaw of regulated and unregulated markets have often hampered meaningful transformation of the sector. Federal rollbacks have created uncertainty and further slowed progress and investment.  Underinvestment in areas like smart distribution infrastructure is combined with write-offs of generation assets.

Even so, technology and mass production have finally achieved grid parity (or better) for renewables. Additionally, prosumers, digitalization, and changing regulation have dramatically affected the grid’s requirements and value proposition. In response, a radical pivot with thoughtful leadership and coordinated planning across multiple stakeholders is beginning to take place in the utilities’ C-suite. Utility 2.0 is coming, but its final form is still unknown.

There will be winners, and there will be losers; PG&E and JEA serve as cautionary tales. Utility 2.0 will require a much clearer value proposition for the consumers served. It will need to develop engaging services, embrace continuous digital innovation, and improve operational efficiency.

And while some utilities are struggling, external players see an opportunity. Decarbonization has forced O&G companies to reinvent themselves, viewing the utility space as the new frontier. Danish Oil & Natural Gas (DONG) was a state-owned company founded in 1972 to manage offshore O&G resources. In 2002, DONG built the world’s first large-scale offshore wind farm, and today, it is the largest power producer in Denmark (a leader in renewables deployment) and the largest offshore wind company in the world. By 2017, DONG had divested all its O&G assets and renamed itself Ørsted. The reincarnation was complete. In the last two years, Ørsted‘s share price has more than doubled, and its success has not gone unnoticed. Several O&G majors are actively building a presence in the electricity sector; most prominently, Royal Dutch Shell announced plans in 2019 to enter the power market, attempting to displace incumbents with more money, more scale, and more power.

Now for the Challenge: A Hands-on Approach, Financial Mobility, and Permitting

To remain relevant and profitable, can a utility revise its business model and embrace innovation? Let’s assume “yes,” because there is no alternative. The critical question then becomes: who pays for the transformation as the consumers’ need changes, and with captive customers, who ensures this is done effectively?

Grid (and utility) modernization will require a unique blend of public and private capital. The US must learn from and improve upon best practice examples from utilities around the world and successes in transformation in adjacent sectors. Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) funding of new toll roads, for example, provides many valuable lessons for improvement. In addition to PPPs, the bond markets have examples (e.g. Mosaic, Dividend,
and Sunnova) which leverage asset-backed securitizations and Commercial PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) to catalyze residential and commercial solar + storage growth. Nevertheless, commercial finance for SMEs (small & medium enterprises) remains a bottleneck alongside trade professional shortages.

There are, however, a surprising number of grid upgrade projects that already make techno-economic sense and for which enough funding is already available. These projects are not (yet) moving forward due to roadblocks in permitting.  For example, in New England, several independent projects are seeking to build new HVDC lines to transport cheap carbon-free Canadian hydro power to major load centers in the Northeast US. The most advanced of these is the New England Clean Energy Project (NECEC), where the permitting process has been ongoing since 2017. The permitting process was expected to be complete by Q4-2019, but as of January 2020, most of the required permits had still not been granted.

The Crossroads

State governments, policymakers, and utilities face many of the same challenges and decisions that they faced 50 years ago.  However, the consequences of apathy or indecision are becoming far too dire to do nothing; Australia and California are just two examples. There is no longer a dichotomy of paths – renewable vs. fossil, digital vs. analog, smart vs… The road to modernization is complex. We need coordination between knowledgeable stakeholders to guide state legislators towards equitable cost allocation for consumers. At the same time, the industry must encourage competition, reduce the risk of stranded costs, and promote innovation to create a comprehensive grid modernization roadmap.  We are at a crossroads. Which road will we take in 2020?

Stay tuned as we explore lessons learned and illustrate the technology an innovation pathway towards a modern grid and utility model.

About the Authors:

Andrew Bright is an expert in the changing dynamics in the grid sector. He is currently a Board Member of several start-ups in the sustainable energy space and until recently he was Group VP Head of Corporate Development at ABB Power Grids.

Paul C Watson is a Venture Partner at Climate Impact Capital (CIC) and focuses on power, utility infrastructure and new energy innovation.  CIC’s mission is to identify and invest into strategic venture opportunities with corporate venture and institutional partners.

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