Think of an industry dominated by huge, established firms reliant on distribution models that have been in place for more than a century. Or one where customers pay a premium for the reliability assured by known brands despite little difference in delivered product. Or one where financing huge upfront costs depends on both that premium… Keep reading →
In the presence of recently nominated new Obama Administration energy secretary Dr. Ernest Moniz, MIT Professor of Physics and Engineering Systems, former Governor Bill Richardson stated that science should play an important role in politics.
The country needs scientists to be more involved in politics and find ways to collaborate in the policy making and review process. Richardson also recognized the path started by Obama in this direction by appointing Dr. Steven Chu to energy secretary during his first term, but he said more initiatives need to be taken to facilitate scientist involvement. Keep reading →
On Friday, March 1st, 2013, NRG Energy President & CEO David Crane took the stage at the MIT Energy Conference to offer the Friday Keynote Address to a packed theater.
MIT Energy Initiative Executive Director Melanie Kenderdine moderated the Friday Keynote in a one-on-one Davos-style conversational interview. In it, she asked Crane to offer his advice to the yet-to-be-named incoming Department of Energy nominee. The question timed nicely with the White House announcement on the following Monday, which put forward MIT Professor and MIT Energy Initiative Director Dr. Ernest J. Moniz as the nominee for Secretary of the DOE. Keep reading →
One of the primary concerns about electric cars among vehicle buyers remains the question of where they can plug it in. IBM, which has made a specialty in recent years of using its experience with data platforms to enable shifts in energy usage and monitoring, is now working in a slate of European countries to “allow energy providers, car manufacturers and charging point owners to share integrate services on one common IT platform.”
IBM says the concept is similar to mobile phone roaming, with drivers able to charge and pay in any location across borders. The demonstration project, launching this week in Europe and called B2B Marketplace, builds on efforts to improve EV production and distribution in a number of European countries, including Ireland, Spain, Germany and Denmark among others. Keep reading →
Solar power reduces electricity prices. As more solar is added to deregulated power grids, power prices fall lower. The secret sauce is the markets.
Deregulated power markets are invisible to many Americans, yet every few minutes they set the price for much of their electric power. There are ten separate power markets currently operating in the North America. According to the ISO/RTO Council, they serve approximately two-thirds of electricity consumers in the United States and more than half of all consumers in Canada. Keep reading →
Energy venture capital is a challenging business in the best of times, but greater competition from large non-traditional players and lingering economic weakness in many of the world’s largest economies mean that, more than ever, finding and doing successful deals requires a disciplined, yet open minded approach.
The entrance of large companies into the energy venture capital space, the US elections’ impact on investment cycles, identifying opportunities and dominant sector trends were just a few of the topics Breaking Energy recently discussed with Dr. Wal Van Lierop, CEO of Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital. Keep reading →
With 30% coal generation in NRG Energy’s fleet, chief executive David Crane cannot exactly be hailed the Sun King. But the photovoltaic roof over the top tier of the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey is a crowning solar achievement for what may become the largest independent electricity generator in the US after its pending merger with GenOn is approved.
“Not all renewables are created equal and solar has versatility lacking in other technologies such as wind,” said Crane. “To NRG, solar is the gamechanger.” Keep reading →
NRG Energy said Sunday that it plans to acquire rival GenOn Energy in a $1.7 billion all-stock deal that would create the largest competitive power company in the U.S.
The combined company would have about 47,000 megawatts of power plants across the U.S. and have an enterprise value of $18 billion, the companies said. NRG President and Chief Executive David Crane will maintain his current positions at the combined company. GenOn Chairman and CEO Edward R. Muller will join the NRG board as vice chairman. Both companies had considered merger opportunities over the last few years as a way to cut costs and expand their footprints to better compete. Then, Mr. Muller said he contacted Mr. Crane this past spring to discuss a potential deal.
An 11th hour withdrawal from a long-anticipated initial public offering could be a potentially damaging blow for a cleantech startup trying to raise additional capital from the public markets.
But BrightSource, the concentrating solar power startup with 9 GW of projects in the pipeline, has not ruled out another attempt at a public launch. Keep reading →
Information technology is the most powerful tool to accelerate cleantech adoption, but is being blocked by energy regulation developed during the industrial revolution, a leading investor told a Silicon Valley conference last week.
Sunil Paul, founding partner of Spring Ventures, which has invested in social networking
company LinkedIn and biofuels startup Solazyme, said: “Our entire regulatory regime is built for the industrial revolution and we have a different way of working today that requires a different code.” Keep reading →
