Berkeley Open Innovation Forum

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Copyright 2010 Sungevity, Inc.

Copyright 2010, Sungevity

Barriers to change and innovation

each of which is real, but surmountable

The lights must stay on US economy depends on reliable electricity Individual capability to generate energy has dwindled over past 100 years Current/legacy systems deeply entrenched

Mission Critical Service

Dangerous & Complex

Risks of errors or unskilled participation are severe Death Property destruction Blackouts & grid damage Standards have a critical safety and stability role

Large up-front capital costs in traditional model

Massive outdated grid infrastructure Americas original network largely built between 1930 and 1960 Centralized power stations are incredibly expensive to build (up to billions each) Highly regulated, fragmented, and inefficient

Copyright 2010, Sungevity

Software of the past CLOSED NETWORK Expensive mainframe hardware Closed networks, proprietary interfaces

Software Today- OPEN NETWORK Ubiquitous computing (cloud/grid along with server farms) Internet, HTTP, TCP/IP, web APIs, Java

Energy Grid Today CLOSED NETWORK Centralized generation, antiquated network Utilities own highly regulated and tightly controlled grid

Energy Grid of the future OPEN NETWORK? Balance centralized and distributed generation Open up the grid (interconnection, net metering, feed-in tariffs)

Expensive and complex to participate

Open source, Legacy subsidies, Grid parity, PCs & blade capital intensity, system financing, servers, millions of regulatory energy created developers complexity, slow everywhere coding processes

Copyright 2010, Sungevity

 The US energy grid is back in the ARPANET/300 BPS modem days (at best) Multiple companies and public-private partnerships working on upgrading the grid and generation sources hardware and software
Open innovation is fast, flexible, massively parallel Multiple smaller projects and technologies surface the best technologies less expensively and quicker than massive centralized projects Technology challenge to tackle real-time control and data systems for a fault-intolerant, mission critical service

Net Metering, interconnection agreement simplification, Renewable Energy Certificate markets, integration with LEED buildings, Renewable Portfolio Standards spur utilities to increase clean energy capacity

Copyright 2010, Sungevity

 Renewable energy equipment prices falling rapidly as industry scales up (due in large part to Europe, Japan and China) Constant software and hardware innovation grid control systems, smart meters, inverters, microturbines, intelligent solar arrays, etc. Innovation of private financing of residential & commercial systems with government support (rebates, investment tax credits)
Leasing PPAs Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs

Starting to level the playing field with traditional centralized carbonbased energy generation Disruptive technologies on the horizon
Safe and efficient local energy storage Replacing transportation fuels with electric-powered vehicles

Expect resistance from entrenched incumbents

What if the music industry had seen it coming? Proposition 23 as an example (driven by 2 Texas oil companies)
Copyright 2010, Sungevity