CalCEF Innovations5 Third St. Suite 1125
San Francisco, CA 94103
P: 415 957 0167 F: 415 957 0177
general info: info@calcef.org
Entrepreneurs-in-Residence
On a roughly quarterly basis, CalCEF Innovations selects and invites a person of extraordinary vision, capacity and experience to contribute to the industry’s knowledge base by focusing on a topic of critical importance to the advancement of the clean energy economy. In addition to progressing important solutions, the EIR program identifies, develops and networks current and future industry leaders. The range of EIR topics pertains to barriers plaguing a specific aspect of clean energy finance, technology, policy, or market behavior.
Along with the results of their research, EIRs are expected to publish actionable recommendations for solving market or policy failures. Their work will typically provide the substantive foundation for a Convening Series associated with the same set of issues. Optimally, a business plan, financial product, or policy will also be born by the end of their term that can be piloted as a solution for the given problem.
The following are examples of issues that we are addressing:
From Innovation To Infrastructure: Financing First Commercial Clean Energy Projects – First megawatt installations that prove technical feasibility and enable project development for emerging technologies, typically in the gap between equity and debt financing.
The absence of this kind of financial support is a significant impediment to the maturation of new generation technologies, and is consistently identified by thought leaders as a major gap in the financial architecture of clean energy. The absence is not surprising, however – risk is high, and success is likely to mean the creation of upside for the next investor, such as a traditional project finance lenders. However, a structure that leverages public funds nominally dedicated to efforts such as this – perhaps into a convertible debt instrument, for example – could be potentially attractive financially. Technologies emerging from the many California centers of innovation are potential candidates for public-private partnerships such as this.
New Business Models for Energy Efficiency – Novel financial and industry partnerships to achieve unrealized efficiency gains in under-served markets.
Along with the UC Davis EEC, CalCEF is exploring how to play a catalytic role in bringing together efficiency service providers with scale financing (e.g. via partnerships with commercial banks, project financiers and others) and a deep knowledge of the regulatory and utility landscape influencing efficiency improvements. Customer acquisition costs are a major hurdle to achieving cost-effectiveness, and new partnerships between utilities and efficiency providers might achieve economies of scale. Partnerships with solar PV installers – a combination increasingly emphasized by state policy – could be additive to achieving efficiency goals, and increased attention to workforce development might enable more effective outreach and service delivery.Transmission Reform for Renewable Generation – Reforms to regional and national grid planning, and competitive opportunities in infrastructure finance and development.
Continued transmission development is a critical component of the renewable generation agenda and is consistently underemphasized, for a variety of policy, environmental and societal reasons. While challenging to execute, the proper mix of competitive pressure on this segment of the clean energy industry and innovative policy reforms to the planning process could prompt rapid and highly beneficial changes to the currently constrained transmission environment.
