CalTech Enterprise Forum | Renewable Energy & The Smarter Grid
The CalTech Enterprise Forum presents Renewable Energy & The Smarter Grid: Opportunities for the Entrepreneur this Saturday May 7th.
The creation of a smarter and greener grid is driven by the opportunity to create significant efficiencies while balancing a new urgency to integrate and accommodate new sources of renewable generation.
As aggressive policies and vigorous investments take hold, newer and smarter technology is rolling out. In California, newly elected Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation requiring state utilities to generate 33 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2020. In 2010, investors poured $3.7 billion into cleantech, an increase of 76% over the previous year. Federal stimulus money is playing a major role both nationally and regionally, funding major smart grid efforts in our own backyard. Given all this activity, what are the remaining challenges and opportunities? Why can’t we just add an endless amount of distributed renewable generation onto the grid? Why are the costs so high? Why is the intermittency of renewable generation such a problem and what are the potential solutions?
As utilities roll out new meters and smarter equipment on the grid, there are hundreds of companies looking to integrate exciting new technologies and platforms that promise monetary and environmental savings for both consumers and utilities. They will examine opportunities and strategies being pursued by early stage start-ups to Fortune 500 companies, and discuss remaining gaps and challenges to achieve the full vision of the smarter grid.
Register:
Online: http://entforum.caltech.edu/
$40 on-line registration fee; $50 at-the-door; $10 for students with full-time student ID and free for Caltech students (must show ID at door). Caltech students can now register online. On-line Registration closes at 5:00 PM on Thursday, May 5, 2011.
The Deets:
Keynote Speaker
Jim Kelly
Senior Vice President, Regulatory & Environmental Policy
Southern California Edison Co.
www.sce.com
Venture Capital Outlook on Cleantech
Randy Churchill
Director, Emerging Company Services
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
www.socaltech.com/pwc
Panelists
Joseph Perry
Chief Executive Officer
FlexEnergy
www.flexenergy.com
Neel Master
Vice President, Strategic Development
Petra Solar
www.petrasolar.com
Shahin Farshchi
Senior Associate, Advanced Technology
Lux Capital
www.luxcapital.com
Aaron Fyke
Founder and President
Energy Cache Inc.
www.idealab.com
Moderator
Andre Ramirez
Project Manager, Regulatory Policy & Affairs
Southern California Edison Co.
www.sce.com
