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Instead of reviewing the market's activity this week (I think we all know that most equities are struggling right now), I'm going to give a summary of the opening speech from a conference I attended this week in New York.
It's called the Euromoney Renewable Energy Finance Forum - Wall Street, and though I've mentioned it twice already (here and here), the content was so good that I'll be bringing you snippets of what I learned over the next few weeks.
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The opening speech was delivered by Michael Eckhart, President of the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE), which has hosted the conference for the past seven years.
ACORE has more than 600 members comprised of all the key players in the U.S. renewable energy market. From trade associations and labor unions to cleantech companies, utilities, banks, and law firms, ACORE has emerged as the strongest renewable energy lobbyist, policy activist, and industry organizer in the world.
His talk centered on the available resources in the United States — the status of the nation's development and what policy is necessary to bring our cleantech progress up to snuff with the rest of the world.
U.S. renewable energy resources
I don't need many words here; his slides can do the talking...
U.S. Wind Resources
U.S. Solar Resources
U.S. Biomass Resources
U.S. Renewable Energy Resources
Despite our vast resources, you can see why it's so difficult for the Senate to pass a uniform renewable energy standard... Our states have very different resources available to them, and every Senator wants to ensure the best deal for their constituents.
Status of U.S. renewable energy markets
Wind Power
Note: The yellow and green represent best- and worst-case scenarios.
Key issues for wind:
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Slowdown of development
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Financial constraints
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End of certain stimulus provisions
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Utter lack of adequate transmission
Solar Photovoltaics
Note: The green is an overly optimistic estimate of utility scale projects.
Key issues for solar PV:
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Costs are falling rapidly
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Need more U.S. production
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12 GW utility potential
Concentrating Solar Power
No charts for this one, but the opportunity is huge.
We have only 418 MW operating right now, but there are numerous pilot projects underway and utilities have already contracted 5,000 MW to be built, with another 10,000 MW planned.
The technology and costs are great, with siting and transmission emerging as the main concerns.
Geothermal
Right now there are 3,153 MW in operation with 456 MW added in 2009.
Currently 6,443 MW are in development made up of 144 projects in 13 states, though 50% of total capacity will be in California and Nevada.
In the west, geothermal has the potential to eventually replace coal because of its baseload nature.
The stimulus gives a 30% investment tax credit and $400 million for research, development, and deployment.
Biomass
Biomass is a sleeping giant in the U.S., and once the South gets on board, the industry could explode.
We have 196 biomass plants already cranking out 115,459 MW, mostly in the pulp-and-paper industry.
Twenty new plants of have been proposed, including — note: this is an important detail hinting at the future — 8 from a Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) / Areva (SYMBOL) partnership called ADAGE.
The stimulus provides a 30% investment tax credit and $800 million for research, development, and deployment.
There's potential to add another 100,000 MW by 2025 that would break down like this:
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Industrial Combined Heat and Power (CHP): 57,000 MW
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Utility Projects: 37,000 MW
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Solid Waste: 10,000 MW
U.S. technology solution set
Here's what Eckhart thinks we need to for the cleantech industry to have the greatest benefit to the nation:
And finally...
U.S. cleantech policy priorities
I'll give it to you verbatim:
Stimulus extensions:
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Section 1603 Cash Grants in lieu of tax credits
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Section 48C manufacturing tax credits
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Loan guarantees — extension and funding
New Legislation:
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Energy: National RES, financing, transmission
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Climate: cap and trade or other climate path
• Scale-up RE Project Financing to $32 billion/year
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Renewable Energy Standard Offer (RESO) Contracts
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Make opening for utility ownership
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Bring U.S. lenders into the market
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Resolve Long-term government role
Now, this information came just from the opening talk...
In the following weeks, I'll get into the finance and investment side, including numerous ideas on how properly position yourself for this coming renewable energy transition.
Call it like you see it,
Nick
P.S. The best of the week's investment ideas — from Green Chip Stocks and our sister publications, Energy and Capital and Wealth Daily — can be found below.
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Green Chip's Weekend Edition originally appeared in Green Chip Stocks. Green Chip Review is a free 2x-per-week newsletter, is the first advisory to focus exclusively on investments in alternative and renewable energies.
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