CleanTech.Org

From industry publications to national press, the Government’s decision to reduce subsidies for solar panels on homes has generated wide coverage and condemnation over the government’s rushed attempt to stem the increasing number of solar installations. The industry has pointed to a resulting risk to thousands of jobs, damage to the whole industry, and “huge economic uncertainty”. The recent challenge by Friends of the Earth and two solar companies, Solarcentury and HomeSun, has culminated in the High Court ruling that the decision was ruled “legally flawed”.

While we have heard many arguments against the Government’s action, some in the industry have put forward a different point of view, suggesting that, while the Government’s handling was clumsy, the funding could indeed be better used to achieve more widespread energy saving measures for householders with no subsidies required.

In his blog for HVR Magazine, consultant Mike Malina writes: “The problem with this [solar PV funding] is it’s not equal and those at the poorer end of society see few of the benefits...

“Gimmicks to provide a bit more ‘green bling’ have negatively impacted on areas where the money could have been spent, for example, providing more targeted lower carbon and energy saving measures like insulation, controls and making sure householders’ heating systems were set up correctly and re-commissioned for optimal performance.”

HVR Magazine editor Ian Vallely, commenting on the Feed-in Tariff, blogs: “The starting point should be reducing the demand for energy in the first place by fitting effective insulation (the Green Deal has an important part to play in this respect); next, use energy more efficiently; thirdly, supply energy from renewable sources; and finally, ensure that any continuing use of fossil fuels employs clean technologies and is as efficient as possible.”

This is reinforced by Mark Northcott, MD of Remeha Commercial, who argues in an article on Future Technologies in H&V News 14 December that “We live in a frugal economy where, despite our social and political responsibility to provide affordable food and fuel, in Europe the cost of fuel continues to spiral ever higher… In my view, it is essential that any low carbon and low NOx technology we use from now on is both affordable and replicable. It’s important too that when developing or producing new technology, we examine our fuel resources and use the fuel as cleanly as possible. Gas is still the cleanest fuel available, offering the shortest payback and cheapest installation costs, allowing us to fulfill our responsibility to provide affordable energy...

“Renewables are an important part of the mix, but it is important that this technology should be truly sustainable both environmentally and financially. Technology that relies on Government grants is almost certainly doomed to failure.”

All these industry experts argue for improved energy efficiency, for technologies that offer significant energy savings to householders and businesses to achieve our carbon reduction targets - and all this with a short financial payback.

The great news for householders is that what might sound like a future technology is in fact here already.

The GasSaver is a patented energy saving device that sits on top of your boiler and captures the heat otherwise lost from even high efficiency A-rated condensing boilers up the flue. It then uses this captured energy to help heat hot water for your home.

In real terms, it gives you a typical annual saving of 37% of the energy otherwise required to deliver hot water. Or, to put it another way, the GasSaver delivers more usable hot water than a typical solar hot water system, just by extracting all the energy from the gas that you have already paid for.

Over the next 4 years it could save customers £1 billion in gas bills, reduce carbon emissions by 1 ¼ billion tonnes, reduce poverty, and save water as hot water arrives at the tap sooner.

The GasSaver is manufactured in the UK, recommended by the Energy Saving Trust, approved under the Water Regulations Advisory Scheme (WRAS), recognised under the Government’s SAP scheme and can be used to count towards the energy rating of a dwelling.

A fitting New Year’s resolution would be to make this existing British technology standard in new boilers. It’s win win all round, after all.

The Al Gore Sustainable Technology Venture Competition™ is held annually since 2008 in honour of Vice President and Nobel Laureate Al Gore, for Planet Earth & Future Generations. Asia's first and most prestigious sustainable/cleantech venture competition is being held 22 - 25 September, 2011 at India's flagship institute: IIT Madras, Chennai, India. The competition is conducted with the authorization of the office of H. E. The Honorable Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States. Read Carnegie Mellon University's story on Oopali Operajita and the history and origin of the competition, which she founded in February 2007, here: http://tinyurl.com/4462kno. View the competition galleries for 2010: http://tinyurl.com/35dh48d; and 2009 :http://tinyurl.com/2br2k2z

The competition is for MBAs, Science & Technology undergraduate (final year) and graduate students who create new, sustainable and clean technologies and bring them to market through innovation and entrepreneurship.

Collaborators this year are the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CEI), at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, The Indus Entrepreneurs, (TiE) the world’s largest network of entrepreneurs, the CII-ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), India's largest industry body; and The Indo-German Centre for Sustainability at IIT Madras.

Bamboo is a tropical plant species that grow at tremendous speeds. Incidentally the utilization of available species for Engineered products and Bio based materials would be an appropriate CLEANTECH manufacturing. Here is a new interesting Development of Bamboo Mat based Composite for Boat construction:


Bambo Mat system being Woven around a Template for Dinghy


Fully Shaped Bamboo Mat Woven Dinghy Design


The bamboo Mat Woven Dinghy being hybridized with Glass-Composite Skin


The Fully Hybridized "SKIN-COMPOSITE" Bamboo-Mat System Dinghy


Checking Buoyancy and Balance


The Finished "Ready-for-SEAWORTHY" Trial Bamboo-Mat Molded Dinghy


The Bamboo-Mat Hybrid Molded Dinghy Taking a First SEA RIDE

The material system was seen to be excellent for MONOCOQUE body Constructions ... and it is being planned to design and fabricate Automobile Body as well as Lightweight Aircraft.

Please visit the following sites for more details:

1. http://agrobiogenicscleantechpvtltd.com/new-technology/

2. http://agrobiogenicscleantechpvtltd.com/lightweight-aircraft/

3. http://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/70223/Optimized-Engineering-Materials-Through-Cleantech

4. http://agrobiogenicscleantechpvtltd.com/technology/

Certain Technical Details on material property comparisons are available here:

http://zerowastezerocarbon.wordpress.com/2011/08/07/environmentally-neutral-engineering-composites-for-boats-and-aircrafts/

......

Dear all,

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There are two don't miss conferences in cleantech each year, one put on by IBF & Clean Edge, and the other in both Spring and Fall by the Cleantech Group. We brought you a members discount to the CleanTech Investor Summit by Clean Edge last month.

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Chairman
Cleantech.org

The Hidden Cleantech Revolution: Five Priorities for Securing America's Energy Future -- without Breaking the Bank
By John Moore and Toby Shute 

 

Free full-text download available at http://hiddencleantech.com/

The most difficult aspect of our society's energy challenge for most people to grasp is the sheer scale of energy demand, the massive investment sunk into existing infrastructure, and the timeframe required for substantive change.  In thinking about the evolution of energy technology, most of us are thus subject to the classic error articulated by futurologist Paul Saffo: confusing a clear view of the future with a short distance.

Seeking to avoid that trap, The Hidden Cleantech Revolution: Five Priorities for Securing America's Energy Future -- without Breaking the Bank, a slim volume written by Acorn Energy CEO John Moore and Motley Fool energy analyst Toby Shute, focuses not on long-term breakthrough technologies or future regulatory changes, but rather on immediate opportunities for modest improvements.  By changing the inflection of the energy productivity curve right now, the authors argue, we can reap large cumulative impacts over time.  It's the miracle of compound interest translated from financial to energy planning.

That's why Moore and Shute talk about a "hidden cleantech revolution" --  some of the innovations they highlight are hidden in plain sight, overlooked because individually they are not game-changers, not exciting new technology, not disruptive.  But from the perspective of entrepreneurs and investors, energy and utility executives, or regulators and environmental policy-makers, these innovations in the aggregate have the potential to make a huge difference within the next decade.

And that's the driving energy behind this refreshingly brief, clear, and focused volume -- the authors want to make sure that potential near-term improvements and economic gains are not left in the shadows, while unwarranted attention is lavished on unproven or uneconomic technologies that might have an impact in the future.  As the authors stress, "Hope is not a strategy."

Moore and Shute leverage their deep experience with the real world of energy innovation to highlight a range of opportunities that can improve our existing energy infrastructure, production and distribution processes, largely through the application of information technology.  IT has already driven revolutionary change in industry after industry, but as yet has had little penetration in energy.  I especially like the references to Kevin Kelly's ideas about the "internet of things," that is, creating more effective and responsive systems by interconnecting and adding intelligence to the existing world of isolated 'dumb' devices like those making up our electrical grid or oil and gas pipelines.

The focus on wringing near-term improvements out of our existing infrastructure is clearly reflected in the structure of the book, which is organized around five strategic 'national priorities': 

• Getting more from the Grid
• Getting more from Oil and Gas
• Getting more from Coal
• Getting more from Nuclear
• Safety, Security, and Resilience

Notably missing is the usual discussion of such high-profile topics as bioenergy, solar, wind, or electric vehicles.  Not that the authors don't think these topics are important for the future, just that unresolved technical, economic, and regulatory issues drive higher risk and longer lead times for deployment at scale.  On the other hand, as their fifth National Priority indicates, they pay more attention than usual to opportunities associated with extending the life of our aging and vulnerable infrastructure.

Their focus on realistic short-term opportunities puts the authors on the same wavelength as Stuart Brand in his recent Whole Earth Discipline,  which emphasizes "ecopragmatist" solutions, or Robert Bryce in Power Hungry, with his 'N2N' (or natural gas to nuclear) policy.  The emerging consensus, as I see it, is that we need to become tougher and more hard-nosed in thinking about how to make immediate progress on every front possible, at the same time that we encourage visionary long-term approaches to changing the status quo.

One of the best features of the book is its simple rating system for the near-term potential of the various opportunities examined.  For each technology, the authors examine its potential to improve how clean, safe, reliable, and affordable our energy production and distribution systems are.  They then weight the result both by the extent to which the technology is already proven, and how widespread its deployment within the next 10 years could be.  A small table makes these ratings explicit at the head of each relevant chapter.

Though the precision of these energy impact ratings is low, the trade-off is that they are clear and transparent, suitable for comparative discussion and debate.  And they work well enough to highlight some counter-intuitive results, such as:

• Some 'killer apps' that have garnered attention for their long-term potential, such as smart-meter deployment and grid-scale batteries, get extremely low scores for near-term value due to their current economics or technical maturity.
• Some 'hidden' opportunities that most people have never heard about, such as computer modeling for vegetation management in electrical transmission right-of-ways, or mega-project management software for nuclear plant construction, get very high marks due to the potential for widespread and economic implementation right now.

My favorite example was what the authors called 'the seeing bit.'  By using high-speed down-hole communications in concert with real-time seismic modeling, drilling accuracy can be improved enough to drive an estimated 15% improvement in oil recovery from existing fields.  A classic transformation of capabilities arising from the synergy of many small innovations, enabled by improved IT to tie them all together.

As the authors point out, knowledge is power -- literally!  Our current energy infrastructure is so enormous and so inefficient, that knowledge, in the form of improved IT and near-term cleantech developments, can provide us with more new usable power than any comparable brute force investment in basic capacity.  And collectively, these near-term improvements can start changing our energy productivity trend line now.

Greening My Life: A Green Building Pioneer Takes On His Most Challenging Project
By David Gottfried

It takes courage for a public person to open up their personal lives and share what really motivates and gives them satisfaction.  David Gottfried, is the founder and guiding spirit of the US Green Building Council, the LEED building rating system, and the World Green Building Council.  Gottfried's first book, 'Greed to Green: The Transformation of an Industry and a Life,' goes into detail on these achievements, and talks about how his involvement with the green building movement changed his professional life.

In 'Greening My Life' he follows up by providing a very personal and candid picture of what it took for him to launch these groundbreaking organizations.   This was an effort that left him feeling exhausted and alone, completely at odds with the spirit of the green revolution he was trying to drive.

'Greening My Life' is organized around Gottfried's 'Six Steps to a Green Life,' a personal rating system he developed to help him achieve a more balanced and satisfying personal life.  As we follow him through the process of restructuring and greening his own life, we are challenged to think about what living well might mean for each of us, both on a personal scale, and in terms of making a contribution to saving the planet. 

Gottfried's example is worth following ... I hope more high-impact figures will find the courage to share their own personal motivations, difficulties, and triumphs!

Would love to hear members thoughts on their top prediction for cleantech in 2011

Who IPOs?
What happens with climate change policy after Cancun?
Where do oil prices go?
What's the next big thing in cleantech?
Etc.


My 5 cleantech wishes for 2011

It is noted that each ton of Biomass (based on vegetation systems + non-toxic animal organic matter) could generate about 100 Kg of Bio-petrochemicals. Please see illustrations below:

The estimated non-forest and non-oceanic Biomass (Renewable) resources in the world are about 500 billion T. These are annually renewable “green weight” that include about 77% moisture. Nearly 75% of these biomass are generated in the Tropics. Thus, the Tropics account for a total of not less than 375 billion Tons (“green weight”) of non-forest (non-oceanic) biomass generation. If we were to convert just 33% of all of these Tropical biomass into Bio-petrochemicals, the total Bio-petrochemicals produced in the Tropics alone would be a whopping 3 billion T. This is about 70% of the entire world productions/ consumptions, at present! Of the total 4.2 billion T petrochemicals used up in the world the United States alone consumes nearly 24% (= 1 billion T). A country like India would be able to produce not less than 250 million tons of bio-petrochemicals (when India now consumes about 45 million T of fossil based petrochemicals, which is about 18% of the Bio-petrochemicals potentials!)

What do we infer from the analyses above? Essentially, we arrive at the fact that Biomass based Bio-petrochemicals are the answer to the world's petrochemicals needs.

TABLE OF BIO-PETROCHEMICAL POTENTIALS OF NATIONS
@ 1/10th OF THE AVAILABLE RENEWABLE VEGETATION RESOURCES

Country	Climate Zone	Population	Area (sq km)	1/10th CVRR (T)	Bio-petrochemicals	Rank
China	Temperate	1, 341, 000, 000	9, 561, 000	2, 390, 250, 000	239, 025, 000 T	3
India	Tropical	1, 191, 050, 000	3, 287, 260	1, 972, 356, 000	197, 235, 600 T	5
US	Temperate	310, 851, 000	9, 372, 000	2, 343, 000, 000	234, 300, 000 T	4
Indonesia	Equatorial	237, 556, 360	1, 904, 000	1, 428, 000, 000	142, 800, 000 T	7
Brazil	Equatorial	190, 732, 700	8, 511, 000	6, 383, 250, 000	638, 325, 000 T	1
Pakistan	Semi-tropical	171, 229, 000	796, 000	238, 800, 000	23, 880, 000 T	14
Nigeria	Tropical	158, 259, 000	924, 000	554, 400, 000	55, 440, 000 T	9
Bangladesh	Tropical	149, 626, 000	148, 000	88, 800, 000	8, 880, 000 T	18
Russia	Semi-Torrid	141, 927, 297	17, 075, 000	2, 561, 250, 000	256, 125, 000 T	2
Japan	Temperate	127, 390, 000	378, 000	94, 500, 000	9450, 000 T	19
Mexico	Tropical	112, 322, 757	1, 972, 000	1, 183, 200, 000	118, 320, 000 T	8
Philippines	Tropical	94, 013, 200	299, 000	179, 400, 000	17, 940, 000 T	17
Vietnam	Tropical	85, 846, 997	329, 000	197, 400, 000	19, 740, 000 T	15
Germany	Temperate	81, 802, 000	357, 000	89, 250, 000	8, 925, 000 T	20
Ethiopia	Tropical (dry)	79, 455, 630	1, 221, 000	366, 300, 000	36, 630, 000 T	11
Egypt	Tropical (dry)	79, 415, 000	998, 000	299, 400, 000	29, 940, 000 T	13
Iran	Semi-tropical (dry)	74, 826, 000	1, 648, 000	412, 000, 000	41, 200, 000 T	10
Turkey	Semi-Tropical	72, 561, 312	779, 000	194, 750, 000	19, 475, 000 T	16
Congo/ Zaire	Equatorial	67, 827, 000	2, 345, 000	1, 758, 750, 000	175, 875, 000 T	6
Thailand	Tropical	67, 070, 000	513, 000	307, 800, 000	30, 780, 000 T	12

NOTE: Australia has a population of 22, 548, 000 (50^th on the above scale), and has a total land area (in Tropical region, with large desert tracts) of 7, 682, 000 sq km. The volumes of Cellulosic Vegetation Renewable Resources (CVRR) at 1/10^th level would be 1, 920, 500, 000 T. The corresponding Bio-petrochemicals potentials are 192, 050, 000 T. This would put Australia at 6^th Rank, after India (but above Congo). Canada has a total population of 34, 337, 000 (36^th on the above scale) and it has a land area of 9, 970, 000 sq km. It lies in Temperate/ Semi-Torrid region, and has a total Biomass (at 1/10^th level) of 1, 495, 500, 000 T. The corresponding Bio-petrochemicals potentials would be 149, 550, 000 T. This would put Canada above Indonesia.

What are the implications of the results seen in the Table here?

1. On the basis of Renewable Vegetation Resources, Brazil (an equatorial nation) has the largest energy potentials in the world, and Russia (though in the semi-torrid region) is second in view of the largest area covered (over 17 million sq km)

2. Of the twenty nations presented on the basis of largest population, thirteen are Tropical/ Semi-Tropical, and Three are Equatorial (forming eighty percent in these nations tabulated)

3. A presently considered under-developed nation such as Congo/ Zaire has the sixth largest energy potential in the world ahead of all Developed (Western) nations barring the US

4. Bangladesh, an extremely “poor” nation is ahead of all European nations, including Germany, UK and France

5. Ethiopia, which is considered to be disastrously poor and drought prone stands eleventh in the entire world, ahead of all developed European nations

6. The United States is fourth in ranking, followed by India

The question arises: If the above data were to be considered “facts” why is it that no developments are being carried on toward practically implementing those? The answer is complicated on various counts:

1. The entire world is working on the idea that the technologies and developments that catapulted the Western world are the most appropriate for all nations. In the process, we all tend to believe that all tropical nations, which have no resemblance in any aspect of Resources and climatic conditions with respect to the developed Western Temperate zone nations … should also adopt those technologies and methods

2. In spite of all Tropical nations having enough Renewable Resources, the aforementioned “copying” takes each such tropical nation away from following ones own development path, using ones own huge Renewable Resources (RR)

3. A totally unimaginative economics development paradigm is being uniformly followed by all tropical nations … that of wrongly considering that “Export” to the developed Western nations is important for their growth. And almost 100% of those exports are unconnected with their own available local RR. For example, Coffee, Tea, Rubber, Vanilla, Flowers, Sugar … and many more. All these are produced by resorting to intensive (chemicals driven) cultivation, relegating their own natural resources such as Coconuts, Jack Fruits, Local Bananas, Palm varieties, Local vegetables and all other such vegetation systems that grow without any intensive cultivation practices

The following statement of an erstwhile Economist, expressed about Fifty years ago, is a telling remark on these aspects:

“Advanced western technology … is by no means ideally suited to the typical under-developed country … Ideally, the under-developed countries would employ neither the western technology of a century ago (which is defective) nor the most modern western technology (which is adopted to a different economics context), but a THIRD technology which consists of an adaptation of modern methods to the special conditions of the under-developed world … but, such a technology does not exist …” Dr. Richard T. Gill: “ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT – Past and Present” © 1963, Prentice Hall Inc. USA.

It is this THIRD Technology that we at AGRO-BIOGENICS (Clean-Tech) Private Limited (Please see: http://zerowastezerocarbon.wordpress.com/) are aiming to develop and commercialize so that the resultant developments could be spread across the entire Tropical nations, almost all of which are the most under developed nations in the world … Paradoxically, they have the greatest volumes of RR!

CLEAN-TECH DEFINED

We would not be off-track if we state that there is an energy centered “consumption” bias in almost all present day Definitions of the concept of CLEAN-TECH. And there is also a “tilt” in the thinking, based on Temperate Zone experiences alone. Further, not even one of these current definitions seems to strictly consider Clean-Tech in tune with Laws of physical Science … particularly the most important SECOND LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS. Without going into the details and explanation of this Scientific law, let us observe that the essence of this Law is that it is impossible for us to “revert back” to an “original state” in space-time-entropy system. For example: people grow old; iron rusts; rocks weather and crumble; water flows from a higher level to a lower level. Not one of these could be expected to work “reverse”. For example, an old man would never “travel” back in time and ultimately enter back into his mother's womb!

In spite of the Thermodynamics truth and the effects of Time-Entropy, we may note that humans could either accelerate or slightly decelerate the inevitable “heat death” of the universe. The last four hundred years, starting from the period of the “Great Voyages” and Explorations (from around 1600 AD), we had seen how every action leads to a cascading environmental and human disasters, apparently accelerating this dreaded end! Today, these are being defined as Carbon Footprint increases in the atmosphere. However, this writer wishes to opine that these have NO MEANING FOR THE NON-TEMPERATE Zone regions … the TROPICS, where the Renewable Resources growth is phenomenal. It is therefore opined that the Tropics, which is constituted by about 160 nations  (with over 4 billion population) and are totally different in every respect from the Temperate zone regions, should follow independent Development paradigm. We shall, thus, define CLEAN-TECH aimed at this new Philosophy.

The concept of CLEAN-TECH may, thus, be defined as:

Technology, Economics, Management and Business that look at the world not as being resource-starved but on the basis of the possibilities of utilizing available Renewable Resources such as Sunlight, Rainwater, Vegetation matter, Animal matter, Wind and Soil. The said utilization would be based on conservation, recycling and a new “Zero-Waste” paradigm

CONCEPTUALIZING CLEAN-TECH

We shall note that the greatest volume of terrestrial resources are the Renewable Resources (RR) in the form of Vegetation/ Plants/ Trees/ Shrubs. Although animal and other “living” organisms may not fall within these vegetation systems, we shall also include those resources within this RR ambit. It is estimated that the rate at which CO2 is “fixed” in plant life is about 45 Kg Cellulose per day, per each individual on earth. This does not include the vegetation matter in the sea/ oceans! Thus, the land based annual vegetation growth on earth could be of the order of 1,000 Billion tons (having average 27% solids; the balance being water) … approximately 150 T per annum per individual on earth (estimated population of 6.6 billion)

The illustration here briefly explains (in a nutshell) the Concept of AGRO-POLYMER INDUSTRY COMPLEX-SUSTAINABILTY ENGINEERED PROJECTS (APIX-SEP). It may be noted that every gram of ALL Available RR would be utilized and Recycled in a Self Regenerative Recycling (SRR) process, resulting in a CLOSED-LOOP ZERO-WASTE ZERO-CARBON BUSINESS-MODEL (ZW-ZC-BM). These resultant integrated and inter-related processes would have the following End products/ Value added productions:

1. Alternate (non-fossil based) Energy

2. Alternate (non-fossil based) Petrochemicals

3. Alternate Renewable Resources based Engineering materials

4. Non-Chemical, Non-Fossil Biofertilizer

5. Biowater

6. Locally driven Processed foods

In the ultimate analyses, we may note that there is the QUADRUPLE IMPACT of TECHNO-SOCIO-COMMERCIAL-ENVIRONMENTAL involvements:

• TECHNICAL: The conversion of RR materials would result in: Energy, Engineered materials, Bio-Petrochemicals, Bio-Fertilizer, Bio-water and Processed Foods

• SOCIAL: These APIX-SEP's would generate enough job-opportunities to local people in villages, reducing the gap between “rich” and “poor”

• BUSINESS: The different Projects would convert available RR into high value businesses, having value additions in the range of 20 to over 100 from the base RR values

• ENVIRONMENTAL: APIX-SEP would mitigate Global Warming and Poverty (GWP), without destroying the environment, through Zero hybridization and total recycling

COMMERCIALIZING CLEAN-TECH

In order that the REAL CLEAN-TECH systems are developed, commercialized and propagated throughout the world, a small group (AGRO-BIOGENICS) have come together, and are planning to set up an APIX_Pilot plant (to begin with in India). The long-term proposition is to set up various APIX Sustainability Engineered projects in almost every one of the 160 Tropical nations. The estimated Worldwide APIX-SEP potentials are of the order of not less than US $4 trillion

The illustration here is the gist of the First APIX_Pilot project

For more info:

Please visit: http://zerowastezerocarbon.wordpress.com/

and http://zerowastezerocarbon.wordpress.com/contact-us/

For immediate contact: hariharan.pv@agro-biogenics.com

Since the Ontario government launched North  America’s first Renewable
Energy (RE) Feed-In-Tariff (FIT) program last fall, thousands of megawatts of Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) have been awarded to private solar energy developers and integrators operating in the province. Despite the government’s generous 20 year secured contracts, many renewable energy companies in the region are still finding it difficult to secure the necessary capital to fund the construction portion of their projects, and as a result, several projects are now coming up for grabs. 

“Many companies are too focused on securing as many property leases as possible, as fast as possible, without putting enough emphasis on the projects themselves.  A lot of work needs to go into making sure that the FIT contracts you get are the ones you want. The contracts are very specific and can’t be altered. Basically you have to get all your ducks in a row before you can get your panels in a row.” stated Mr. Martin Baldwin, a former international banker and Chief Financial Officer for Atlantic Wind & Solar - A leading publicly traded, renewable energy company headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

The “ducks in a row” that Baldwin refers to is preplanning, design, and engineering plus the addressing of key issues such as equipment bankability, proven operating and maintenance platforms, and project rates of return. Although these issues vary from region to region they are the key fundamentals of the industry. “You have to find the right blend of cost, compensation for the property, return for the company, return for external investors, and other components specific to the Ontario market before you can even start a finance discussion. Financing is a key component to these projects, even for companies that plan to fund the equity portions internally” Baldwin further explained, following with “Ontario has an enormous appetite for power and the Ontario Power Authority has a strong commitment to renewables. There is a vast amount of commercial sized rooftops and even more farmer’s fields on which to produce power. We believed from the beginning that the race would not be for FIT contracts and leases but for financing. This focus has served us well”.

The seeming lack of project funding in the province is not necessarily being viewed as a bad thing by some of the larger, better funded companies. In fact, Atlantic believes this is simply a case of Darwinism at it’s finest, where only the strong survive, while the smaller companies either drop off, or simply get acquired. The company confided that through consolidation, their Ontario project pipeline has grown by almost 15% in the last few weeks alone.

In response, the company recently announced that it has launched a Wind and Solar Project Financing Division, designed to assist other solar integrators and developers in bringing their projects into full construction by providing the necessary guidance and possible funding where others would not.

While waddling to the finish line – It appears that slow and steady may be a key factor in winning the renewable energy race in Ontario.