The Grass is "Greener"

Israel Cleantech Tour to Silicon Valley + Water Industry Business Models Panel

Today the CICC has announced their selection of the 10 Israeli companies that will present at the upcoming Cleantech tour in the valley later this month. Its a great list, and I'm looking forward to see how these players have progressed in the market. 

Also, during this event (on the 27th April) I'll be moderating a panel on the topic of: "Water Industry Business Models – Creating Platforms for Growth in the Industry ".

The panelist will include:

• Peter Williams, Chief Technology Officer, Big Green Innovations, IBM
• Christopher Spain, Chairman & Chief Strategy Officer, HydroPoint Data Systems, and
• Ken Epstein, Principal at NewCap Partners, Inc., Advisor to Mobius Water (China/Middle East) and former Dow Executive in Corporate Ventures 

This should be a great discussion.

Israel Cleantech Tour 2010

I'm currently helping the California Israel Chamber of Commerce finalize this year's "Israel Cleantech Tour Event".

On the 27th of April there will be a day long showcase of Israeli companies involved with clean energy / water, along with some very interesting speakers from the industry.

If you're interested in the sector, its a great opportunity to learn more about the industry and activities, and meet with people in the industry. Registration is possible here. 

That afternoon, I'll be moderating a panel titled "Water Industry Business Models – Creating Platforms for Growth in the Industry". We've got some great speakers lined up, and I'm looking forward to a very interesting discussion.

Energy Giant

I really liked this one...

 

It rings true in many parts of the (renewable) energy industry, where size is one of the key competitive differentiations (providing companies the ability to lock in supply agreements, receive significant financing (debt and equity), win large contracts from utilities, etc.). These are all key to building a successful business in the space, and areas entrepreneurs of new ventures must consider carefully when thinking about which markets they plan to address...

When underdogs break the rules

Here's a really great piece from the New Yorker written by Malcolm Gladwell, that is (as always) worth taking the time to read through:

How David Beats Goliath

In the familiar Gladwell approach (Similar to Outliers, which is a great read) - He proves that success does not have to come only to those who are advantaged or naturally talented - but can be achieved by adopting a different approach, and more importantly having the will to take on the more difficult option, and put in much more effort.

As Gladwell mentions "Effort can trump ability...  because relentless effort is in fact something rarer than the ability to engage in some finely tuned act of motor coordination"

 

 

Technorati Tags: Malcolm Gladwell,Vivek Ranadivé,Coaches,Basketball,David and Goliath,Underdogs

Tesla Model S

Tesla just announced its (planned to be) world’s first mass-produced, highway-capable fully electric family Sedan.

The design is great.

And the specs even more so:

• 300 Mile range
• Only 45min for full charge (which BTW costs only $4 for a full tank)
• 0-60mph in 5.6 seconds
• 17 Inch, Touch screen TV, with in-car 3G connectivity (so you can use apps such as Pandora, Google Maps, etc)

 

Does any one need any more convincing?!

You can place an order on their website here.

 

But just before you do... take note of two caveats:  

1. $50,000 base price. I guess that with the minimal options it would come closer to $60,000 or more...

2. Deliveries start in 2011. So unless you work on Sand Hill Road and have invested in the company, prepare to wait. (consider that Tesla has delivered 300 of its Roadsters to date with nearly 1,000 more customers still on the waiting list)

 

So...

I decided to pass on the car, and just buy the T-Shirt.

But they are out of stock...

 

 

 

 

Technorati Tags: Tesla,Model S,electric Car

Green Kites

Here's one of the more awe inspiring developments in renewable energy that I've seen - Super Kites for harnessing wind energy:

Its exciting because this is a totally new way of thinking about wind energy production. It even seems a bit science fiction. If successful in scaling and achieving performance, it would present a real paradigm shift.

In many ways this reminds me of the shift from sails into steam engines for propelling ships (a case in which the further addition of sales did not provide sufficient power gains). Ironically, here the shift is moving in the opposite direction: Back from a rotating blade design and into a sail / wing design.

 

But back to reality... Achieving such solution will take many years, and significant funding to get to commercial scale.

As with many of the early stage, disruptive innovations in the energy space, this is a good example of the many hurdles a project must overcome, as it moves from the drawing board, to a pilot system, and through to a commercial grade system. These include proving the technology works, its performance, the full system reliability (across various conditions and time periods), the lifetime system costs (including ongoing operations and maintenance which seem high in this case), etc...  Even once all these are achieved, there is still the challenge of finding appropriate locations, permitting, accessing grid transmission (a huge problem, which I'll try to touch on separately), air space permits (beware low flying planes), and so on.

Not an easy task - but if you're going to change a paradigm - I guess that's what it takes. 

And there's one great thing in going after the wind energy space - The potential is so great that there's room for any successful and economic solution.

 

Technorati Tags: Saul Griffith,super-kite,Wind Energy,TED,Paradigm Shift

Overtaking the US Auto Industry - Automobile 2.0

A very interesting column in the NYT today by Tom Friedman on how a venture like Project Better Place out of Tel Aviv can overtake the US Auto industry.

Some key quotes:

"Someone in the mobility business in Denmark and Tel Aviv is already developing a real-world alternative to Detroit’s business model...

...our bailout of Detroit will be remembered as the equivalent of pouring billions of dollars of taxpayer money into the mail-order-catalogue business on the eve of the birth of eBay. It will be remembered as pouring billions of dollars into the CD music business on the eve of the birth of the iPod and iTunes...

...What I find exciting about Better Place is that it is building a car company off the new industrial platform of the 21st century, not the one from the 20th — the exact same way that Steve Jobs did to overturn the music business."

Technorati Tags: Project Better Place,Shai Agassi,Detroit,Bailout

Making Australia a (Project) Better Place

After Israel, Denmark, and talks with Portugal and San Francisco, it now seems that Shai Agassi's Better Place is looking to take the electric fuelling infrastructure to Australia "an island that is the sixth largest country on Earth"

The company announced today a deal to set up a $660 million network in Australia, through partnership with two key groups - AGL Energy and Macquarie

This is a significant move, that will help prove the company's ability to scale its business well beyond small markets, and create one of the largest companies to ever come out of Israel. Good to see one person that's not slowing down at all in the current markets

 

 

Technorati Tags: Project Better Place,Shai Agassi,Australia,Launch,AGL Energy,Macquarie

Thoughts following the Solar Power 2008 Conference

Last week I spent some time at the Solar Power International Conference in San Diego.

I thought to share some thoughts I walked away from the conference with:

• This conference had 15,000 to 20,000 attendees - almost double the amount of people from last year. So definitely a high level of interest in what is happening in the space.

This is biggest event for the industry in the US. But being there I realized its still very small relative to semiconductor /communications industry events (for example, there was only one hall for exhibitors). This speaks to the fact that the solar industry is still very small (specifically in the US), with most companies still “behind the scenes” or in  private rooms. Will they come out bigger next year (given ITC boost) or disappear altogether (given current economy)? I think we'll see a bit of both.

 

• This is not a time to raise money. Seems to me that many of the companies walking the halls have not fully grasped this yet.

If you need to raise money now – its going to hurt a lot (both in terms of effort that will be required, as well as valuation you will eventually get that will be much lower than expected). Companies should think about how they make it through 2009 with no external equity raised.

Although this is general advice for any company these days, it seems solar companies might have the biggest "wake up call" in terms of the variance between expectations they had just a few months ago (valuations, round size) to reality today and in the coming several months.

 

• Any project dependent on solar tax equity, project financing, or debt will see tough days ahead. With higher rates, and less suppliers of funding, competition for sources will intensify and project costs will be higher driving lower value / returns for developers. Today GE also noted they will be dropping out of the tax equity financing for the time being: As mentioned by Timothy Howell, head of origination for renewable energy at GE: "Right now we can't price a deal... We can't go out and borrow. So we can't commit to a deal today."

The amount of new projects will also be scaled back, as business (and consumers) look to cut costs ("If your business isn't growing at all, are you going to sign a contract for energy from your rooftop?")

This will affect the whole industry, although some claim module makers may take the large share of the cut (being the largest cost component, with the highest margins)

 

• Notwithstanding, some new and exciting disruptive technologies are being developed behind the scenes, and already making some traction with potential to become significant in the market.

A couple of examples I liked - Enphase presented their new solar inverter design, and drew a lot of excitement to their booth (showing the big need for such solutions from industry players). There are a number of stealth mode startups going after the same space (A couple of Israeli players with interesting approaches);

In thin film solar - Solyndra recently came out of stealth mode with a radically new design for thin film panels, and high market interest - over $1.2Bn of orders (A company my fund is invested in)

 

• Finally, it was my first time in San Diego, and the weather was great. The city has great beaches... but it seems mainly a good place if you're looking to retire (something like the Miami of the west coast). One concept worth considering for other cities (especially these days) is "Taco Tuesday" - in order to entice people to go out on Tuesday's (mainly students), all food and drinks in the city are half price all night...

Technorati Tags: Solar Power international,San Diego,2008

On VC Investing and Greentech

The NY Times had a long expose this weekend on Kleiner Perkins, and their push into Green Technology investments.

If you're in the world of venture investing or green investing its definitely worth reading.

Provides a great view into one of the worlds top venture capital firms, their vision, and ability to identify the next big trend. A few notes I highlighted:

• Vision: Kleiner's “map of grand challenges” - Lists of “things that ought to be possible,” in Doerr’s words — ideas, that might produce huge changes and, with an investment stake, huge profits
• Guts: "When you have a great opportunity, push all the chips, all the resources that you can, to the center of the table"
• The Green Opportunity: “I’m so dead certain that we’re solving the next huge problem for the planet.”  “I’m not very good at hitting the bull’s-eye. I need a big target. And this is the biggest target I’ve ever seen in my life

Technorati Tags: Kleiner Perkins,KPCB,Greentech,NY Times