Clean Energy FunderÊÊ Issue #1Ê /
September 22, 2000
The Newsletter of the Clean Energy Funds Network
The Newsletter of the Clean Energy Funds Network
INAUGURAL ISSUE
Welcome
to the first issue of the Clean Energy
Funder, the free newsletter of
the Clean Energy Funds Network (ãCEFNä).Ê We plan to issue this newsletter on a
monthly schedule.Ê Our goal for the
newsletter is to help readers keep abreast of the activities of the other clean
energy funds throughout the country and with the activities of the CEFN.
Roger
Clark is the editor.Ê If you have any
announcements or stories that should be part of future issues, please forward
them to him at clarkr@trfund.com.
KICKOFF OF THE CLEAN ENERGY FUNDS NETWORK
The Clean Energy
Funds Network is up and running.Ê In late
June, the Energy Foundation board of directors approved a grant request from
the Clean Energy Group to expand CEFN.Ê
Additional funding was approved in September by the board of the Surdna
Foundation and a CEFN request will be considered at the October board meeting
of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.Ê We
thank all of them for their support.
A series of
memos describing the new set of services and activities were distributed to the
listserve by Lew Milford on July 31, 2000.Ê
A brief summary follows on the next page.
2000-2001 CEFN Activities
The
CEFN Website:
http://www.cleanenergyfunds.org
Our website is
being reworked to make basic data and documents more accessible and to place
more emphasis on current events relevant to clean energy funds.Ê An improved search function is being added
too.Ê The new site should be up in
October.
The
Project Database
The CEFN staff is developing a project
database dedicated exclusively to tracking every clean energy project funded by
the state funds.Ê Data is being
collected now from a few states to test the design.Ê We hope this tool will provide a valuable inventory of project
information for making program and investment decisions.Ê It will help us keep track of what types of
projects are being funded, what types of financing mechanisms are being used,
the range of financing amounts and other issues.Ê In this way, all of us can get the big picture of what the funds
are doing and how the projects are progressing.
Ê
The Brown-Bag Lunch Series
This continuing
series of technical conference calls will be scheduled every third week or so
and will last approximately one hour. We will make the speakerâs handouts
available prior to the call, along with instructions on how you can
participate.
The first call
will be on Tuesday, September 26, 2000
at 2:00 p.m. EDT (11:00 a.m. PDT) on the topic of developing wind projects.Ê
Theo de Wolf of Atlantic Renewables and Bill Moore of International
Windpower will be the speakers.Ê
Proposed Research and Case Studies
CEFN staff are
discussing three initiatives to develop deeper analysis for use by clean energy
funds:
(1) A joint report on "best
practices" for clean power projects with NREL's Blair Swezey (buildilng on
his Green Power Marketing in the United
States report cited in the Noteworthy box).
(2)
An original
analysis of the options for promoting and investing in wind energy, covering
grants for predevelopment costs, production incentives (¢ per kWh),
subordinated debt financing, and green power price insurance, among
others.Ê The paper will aim to assist
funds deciding how to get the most bang for their buck.
(3)
A joint
paper with Ryan Wiser of the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab reflecting upon
early "lessons learned" from the states and recommending processes
and issues for further analysis.
CEFN encourages
state funders to contribute to the analysis and discussion of these papers and
to suggest future topics for review.
Building on the
UPVG and ASEERTI meetings, CEFN is exploring joint initiatives with industry
and other organizations. The communication activities that we are expanding are
certainly important, but the true potential for our network of state energy
funds can be realized only if we act in a coordinated fashion in the
marketplace.Ê Joint activity is where
the CEFN can have its greatest value. The core goal for us all is to ensure a
reliable and increasing flow of high-quality deals (both projects and company
investments) for the state clean energy funds.
Some of the
possible joint initiatives include:
(1) Building Investor Opportunities (forums,
project and program design, project due diligence and project co-investment);
(2) Encouraging New Markets For Clean Energy
Technologies (premium power, green buildings, remote applications, export
markets and green power exchanges);
(3) Sharing Market Intelligence (survey
research needs, propose a research agenda, solicit funding, commission studies
and publish results); and,
(4) Ensuring Robust Competitive Markets
(model legislation and model rules, conferences for legislators and public
utility commission officials and networking with other interest groups).
SPOTLIGHT ON:Ê PENNSYLVANIA
Pennsylvania
received its sustainable energy funds through separate settlement agreements in
the restructuring proceedings of four major electric utilities (PECO Energy,
PPL, GPU and West Penn/Allegheny Power).Ê
Including the funding that was recently added to the Sustainable
Development Fund (SDF) by the PECO Energy/Unicom merger settlement, the total
funding for these four funds is approximately $75 million over the next five
years.
Each fund has
its own seven-member board appointed from the major constituencies in the
restructuring cases.Ê The PA PUC has now
approved bylaws for all four funds, and has also created a statewide board to
oversee and help coordinate the activities of the four funds.
Pennsylvaniaâs Sustainable Energy Funds |
||
|
GPU |
$12.2 million |
Kevin K. Murphy,
Berks County Community Foundation phone:Ê 610.685.2223 ÊÊ■ÊÊ e-mail: kevinm@bccf.org David W. Kraybill,
Community Foundation phone:Ê 814.536.7741ÊÊ ■ÊÊ e-mail:Ê CFdnBCS@aol.com |
|
PECO Energy |
$32 million |
Rob Sanders, Sustainable Development
Fund phone:Ê 215.925.1130 x252 ■Ê e-mail: sandersr@trfund.com |
|
PPL |
$20 million |
Thomas J. Tuffey, PPL Sustainable
Energy Fund phone:Ê 610.740.3182Ê x 482 ■Ê e-mail: TomTuffey@aol.com |
|
West Penn |
$11.7 million |
John Skiavo, Economic Growth
Connection of Westmoreland Co. phone:Ê 724.830.3604ÊÊ
■ÊÊ e-mail: jskiavo@charterpa.net |
|
Statewide |
|
Andrew S. Tubbs, PA Public Utility
Commission Law Bureau phone:ÊÊ 717.787.2871Ê ■ÊÊ e-mail:ÊÊ tubbs@puc.state.pa.us |
The manager of
the SDF was identified in the settlement agreement, but the other three funds
had to select their fund managers.Ê The
SDF has been making investments since December 1999 and has committed
approximately $2 million to date (see table, next page).Ê The other three funds are now getting
underway and expect to be making investments very soon.
The PUC is
working with the four regional funds and a business plan for this effort is now
being drafted.Ê The vision for the
statewide fund is that it will identify projects and funding opportunities for
the regional funds.
HEARD ON THE
STREETÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ
When
the Sustainable Development Fund in Philadelphia was putting together the
Pennsylvania Wind Development Program, they heard from a number of wind
developers and green power suppliers that wind development in Pennsylvania was
going into a holding pattern until the plans for this new $12 million program
were announced.Ê Developers and
suppliers were waiting to see what incentives would be available under the
program before they finalized their power purchase contracts.
A
similar story was told last week at a Million Solar Roof meeting in
Philadelphia.Ê A solar component manufacturer
claimed that the solar market was stopped in its tracks where there was a clean
energy fund in place but without announced plans.Ê Potential buyers were holding off, waiting to hear what support
they might receive from their clean energy fund.
This points to
the need for good communication between the state funds, the clean energy
companies and consumers to avoid or at least minimize these sorts of problems.
The
Sustainable Development Fundâs Approved Projects |
|
|
Solar
townhouse development (PV, solar water heating and passive solar design) |
$250,000
loan and a $46,759 grant for contingency costs |
|
Manufacturer
of PV emergency road signs |
$50,000
loan |
|
Green
power supplier developing a subscription business model |
$25,000
business planning grant |
|
Wind
energy developer expanding a PA wind facility |
$250,000
subordinated debt financing |
|
Nonprofit
conservation organization looking to start a solar energy business |
$15,000
business planning grant |
|
Manufacturer
installing a geothermal (ground-source heat pump) system |
$70,000
loan |
|
First
Financial / FNMA solar energy/Energy Star consumer loan program |
$500,000
financing facility |
|
Business
incubator designing a new "green building" facility |
$25,000
grant |
|
Company
developing a energy-efficient motor controller product |
$27,000
grant for test equipment and other start-up costs |
|
Philadelphia
Municipal Energy Office developing a sustainable building project manual for
Philadelphia |
$20,000
grant for development and publication of manual |
|
Energy
cooperative looking to expand its green power business |
$27,500
business planning grant |
|
Public
interest group looking to develop a green power exchange in Pennsylvania |
$25,000
business planning grant |
|
Community
development corporation building a multi-family townhouse project |
$16,488
green building design grant |
|
Company
developing a web-based energy auditing and implementation site for commercial
office spaces |
$250,000
royalty deal with $250,000 reserve |
|
The Clean Energy Funds Network Team: |
||
|
Lewis Milford Clean Energy Group phone: 802.223.2554 fax: 802.223.4967 lmilford@cleanegroup.org |
Roger Clark Project Manager phone: 215.925.1130
x227 fax:Ê 215.923.4764 clarkr@trfund.com |
Michael Stoddard Consultant phone:Ê 207.761.4566 fax:Ê 207.773.1798 |