Peter Gardett

 

Posts by Peter Gardett

Seeking Scale For Energy Innovations

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High energy prices have unleashed a wave of energy innovation around the world, says GE Energy Financial Services Managing Director of Venture Capital Kevin Skillern on this video.

Shot by GE for its Ecomagination series on people, profits and the planet, this video features a recent GE partnership with electric company NRG Energy and oil and gas giant ConocoPhillips to establish a $300 million fund that is currently investing in 30 emerging energy firms. The firm takes a heterodox approach to investing, taking positions in firms across the sector and focusing on the prospects for scaling and transforming the energy business on a global scale. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 18, 2011 at 6:00 AM

First Solar Shakeup

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In an industry as young as solar energy, all management transitions are big news and every departure is treated with seriousness.

With many of the companies working at times of inflection in the industry, key management personnel are central to leveraging still-emerging technology and balancing the short-term needs of investors and customers with the longer-term needs of government stakeholders. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 18, 2011 at 6:00 AM

Energy Savings From Below

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Investors and players in the energy business often focus on the flashiest technologies, ranging from highly visible solar and wind in the generation sector to next-generation smart meters monitoring usage on the customer level.

Geothermal is often the “forgotten renewable.” While some countries and regions are able to access large-scale geothermal power production, the use of distributed geothermal to regulate temperatures and limit the extremes of air-conditioning or heating use could promote huge efficiencies in energy use across the entire US. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 17, 2011 at 6:00 AM

Ryan Park’s Other Love

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Ryan Park is skilled at handling national fame and romantic rejection, but when it comes to the solar energy business, he’s focused on guaranteeing companies don’t reject small scale solar that can have a big impact.

Park is most famous for his role as a contestant on the reality television show The Bachelorette, but he has worked steadily since graduate school in building the business of REC Solar. REC Solar, a now-national player in solar based in southern California, puts distributed generation solar systems on roofs of Costco superstores as well as on homes and at other easily-accessed and easily-permitted sites around the country. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 14, 2011 at 8:00 AM

AOL Energy Week In Review

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All hopes have been dashed that a settlement to the debt crisis, which plagued American politics and global markets through the final weeks of July, would result in smooth sailing through August.

Prices for energy commodities were whipsawed amid wild volatility as indicators for the broader economy showed signs of weakening even as Congress finally signed a debt deal. Oil prices, so often a proxy for the broader energy sector, fell sharply on August 8. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 12, 2011 at 3:30 PM

A Sunny Outlook On Transmission

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Doom and gloom are the default settings for the electricity sector, especially when it comes to challenging transmission projects, but Jay Caspary is having none of it.

“We’re just starting to see the benefits of a robust grid,” Caspary says. As Director of Transmission Development at the Southwest Power Pool, Caspary is tasked with working on strategic and emerging transmission issues at the regional transmission organization, much of which includes working with a host of partners and neighbors. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 12, 2011 at 11:35 AM

Obama discusses role of innovative technology during yesterday whitehouse visit of EfficiencyNow battery plant

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#Obama discusses role of innovative technology during yesterday’s @whitehouse visit of @EfficiencyNow battery plant. bit.ly/qpKiQS ElectricDrive

 /  Published August 12, 2011 at 10:15 AM

Negotiating The Renewable Energy Finance Future

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Companies often seem like mitochondria; coming together and tearing apart. Each individual action can seem random, but overall, the activity makes for an ecosystem moving in concert.

The trend in firms today is to divide, to move away from the conglomerate model and the much-vaunted synergies that can be gained by owning a share of every piece of an industry. Oil companies are under pressure to split their upstream exploration and production work from their downstream refining and marketing efforts, and companies across multiple sectors are besought by investors to specialize and focus on their areas of expertise. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 12, 2011 at 6:00 AM

Beyond Subsidies And Natural Gas At First Wind

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Wind power developers can profit by moving away from subsidies and focusing on areas where robust electricity pricing makes the decision to sign a wind power purchase agreement easy.

Focusing on the “premium markets” where there are high power prices and state-level support for renewable fuels generation can be a winning strategy for power project developers, even when prices for natural gas are so low that generators are increasingly turning toward the fossil fuel, First Wind CEO Paul Gaynor told Breaking Energy. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 11, 2011 at 6:00 AM

United States Coast Guard Embarks on Milestone #Renewable #Energy Project With Schneider Electric

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United States Coast Guard Embarks on Milestone #Renewable #Energy Project with Schneider Electric: http://budurl.com/c2jq SchneiderNA

 /  Published August 10, 2011 at 12:50 PM
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