on for the Clim mati ate C for han In g ic e I g nd te u a s r t t r S y CLIMATE CHANGE BUSINESS JOURNAL® Volume V, No. 11/12 November/December 2012 Climate Change Business Journal 2012 Business 2012 Executive Review & CCBJ Awards Achievement Awards CCBJ’s 2012 Business Achievement Awards recognize more than 30 high achievers in the climate change industry. Senior executives and top experts in the Business Achievement: Growth industry share their perspectives in Q&A sessions and bylined guest articles. Gold Q&As & Articles Inside this Issue: rightSource Energy (Oakland, 11: Top 12 CCBJ quotes from 2012 30: Greenhouse Gas Management Institute focuses on professional development and Calif.) for becoming the clear 12: Then & Now: Skeptics who changed education. leader in the U.S. concentrat- their minds about climate change ing solar power (CSP) segment. At a 34: Powerit offers automated solutions to B 18: AECOM on risk management and time when most CSP projects proposed industrial demand response market. over the last four years in the United climate change adaptation. 37: WSP finds mitigation and adaptation States have been delayed, canceled or 21: Jane Capital offers perspective on smart figuring large in the in supply chain. reconfigured as solar PV projects, Bright- grid investments. Source has pushed ahead with its 377 40: WESTON describes how sustainability 24: Pike Research addresses distributed MW Ivanpah Solar Energy Generating unites a diverse practice. generation and microgrids. System (86% owned by NRG Energy 43: CH2M HILL engages with climate risk and Google) in the southwest California 26: Real estate services firm CBRE looks at worldwide. desert. The Ivanpah CSP project, which trends in energy efficiency. was more than 75% complete at the end 46: Sustainable infrastructure gains 28: What Cost for Green in California? of 2012, uses BrightSource’s proprietary momentum with new rating body, Envision Guest commentary by Fereidoon P. power tower technology. Sioshansi of EEnergy Informer and Menlo 49: Performance Systems Development Thirty years ago, BrightSource’s Energy Economics explains software tools for energy efficiency. technical team pioneered the now-ma- ture parabolic trough CSP technology as With some of the world’s largest long- project at Chevron’s Coalinga oilfield in Luz International and built the world’s term (20 to 25 years) power purchase California. In SEC reports filed before first commercially viable CSP projects in agreements (PPAs) with Southern Cali- BrightSource decided to cancel its 2011 California’s Mojave Desert. After deter- fornia Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric, IPO, the firm reported revenues—derived mining about 15 years ago that trough BrightSource has several larger projects from sales of steam to Chevron project technology would not survive as the lead- in development which are designed to and from sales of equipment and services ing edge in the United States due to water produce twice the electrical output as to its equity partners at Ivanpah, based on requirements in the desert environment, Ivanpah with only 50 percent more mir- the percentage-of-completion method of the BrightSource principals developed the rors and towers almost twice as tall as accounting—of $159.1 million for 2011, air-cooled power tower technology which Ivanpah’s three 459-foot towers. up more than 1,000% from 2010. they estimate requires only 5% of the wa- ter of competing wet-cooled CSP plants. BrightSource also operates one of the According to Jim Ivany, president, It also boasts better thermal efficiency and first CSP projects supplying steam for renewable power, for Bechtel, Bright- is expected to be more scalable. enhanced oil recovery, a 29 MW thermal Source’s EPC contractor, future projects 2 Climate Change Business Journal Strategic Information for the Climate Change Industry November-December 2012 ® CLIMATE CHANGE BUSINESS JOURNAL About the CCBJ Business Achievement Awards Vol.5, No. 11-12 ISSN 1940--8781 In October-December 2012, Climate Change Business Journal solicited the November-December 2012 climate change industry and the environmental industry via email, website and word-of-mouth for nominations for the fourth annual CCBJ Business Achieve- Editor- in-Chief ment Awards. Nominations were accepted in 200-word essays in both specific or Grant Ferrier unspecified categories. Final awards were determined by a committee of CCBJ Senior Editors staff and CCBJ editorial advisory board members, and CCBJ staff nominated -ad Jim Hight ditional firms and organizations. George Stubbs The 2012 CCBJ Business Achievement Awards will be presented to recipients Managing Editor in attendance at a special ceremony at Environmental Industry Summit XI at the Lynette Thwaites Hotel del Corondo in San Diego, Calif. on the evening of March 6, 2013. The Environmental Industry Summit is an annual three-day event (March 6-8) hosted Contributing Editors by Environmental Business International, Inc., the publisher of CCBJ and Envi- Karen Peterson Brian Runkel ronmental Business Journal. Congratulations to the 2012 award winners. CCBJ Charles Helget encourages all interested companies to participate next year. Andrew Paterson Walter Howes (Disclaimer: Company audits were not conducted to verify information or claims Tom Aarts submitted with nominations.) Separately, CCBJ solicited senior executives to submit bylined articles or participate in Q&A interviews for this executive review issue. Opinions Research Analysts expressed in the articles and Q&As reflect those of the respondents and not CCBJ. Adrianna Blair Jenny Christopher Subscriber Services Moe Wittenborn Climate Change Business Journal® newsletter is published 8 times a year (includes 4 double issues) by ® Environmental Business International Vol. 5, No. 11/12 CLIMATE CHANGE BUSINESS JOURNAL Nov/Dec 2012 Inc., 4452 Park Blvd., Suite 306, San Diego, CA 92116. Phone: Let CCBJ Be Your Guide to the Climate Change Industry 619-295-7685 or email info@ climatechangebusiness.com Business opportunities relating to climate change operate in a dynamic and unpre- © 2013 Environmental Business dictable regulatory and economic environment. Climate Change Business Journal® International Inc. All Rights Reserved. provides the strategic information that company managers, entrepreneurs and This publication or any part may not be duplicated, reprinted or investors need to make informed decisions in the emerging climate change industry. republished without the express written permission of the publisher. What readers had to say about CCBJ How to subscribe “A great product that deserves to be widely read.” Annual subscriptions are US $995 in the U.S. and Canada, “Very comprehensive and obviously the product of a lot of research... when is $1,045 overseas; corporate the next issue coming out?” electronic subscriptions start at $2,500 (up to 5 users). To “Strategically useful information.... a great service to the industry.” order or for more information call (619) 295-7685 x15, email info@ “Your last edtion was a very comprehensive snapshot of our sector... a climatechangebusiness.com, or go valuable combination of data and industry perspective.” to www.climatechangebusiness.com, where you can also sign up for the “We value our corporate subscription very highly... even our project complimentary CCBJ Weekly News. managers are reading CCBJ.” November-December 2012 Strategic Information for the Climate Change Industry Climate Change Business Journal 3 will achieve significant economies of In 2012, RTR installed state-of-the-art issue has “some encouragingly replicable scale over Ivanpah—and thereby lower monitoring systems on its entire portfolio elements … including: the PPA with a levelized costs of electricity—since larger to better track performance down to the large, creditworthy off-taker; the guaran- steam turbines, feedwater heaters and component level. On 1.5 MW of capac- tees and cushions in the EPC contract; other key equipment will deliver twice the ity, it experimented with changing tilt the revenue backing from reputable banks output at less than twice the cost. Ad- angles, re-cabling and re-sorting. And (i.e. Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays, and ditionally, procuring for multiple projects for most of the year, it tested Tigo and Citi).” will provide price leverage with suppli- Solaredge optimizers on a cross-section “Furthermore, solar projects are report- ers. As noted in prior editions of CCBJ, of its plants, the results of which showed edly making returns of ~15% (Topaz is pairing thermal energy storage with CSP an average 10% boost in production that expected to be even higher at 16.3%), and generation facilities would allow the solar RTR expects will continue as it deploys this is starting to pique investor interest plants to follow load and deliver more the technology across its entire portfolio in solar-backed financial products. As value to utilities. According to Ivany, starting in June 2013. the renewables industry matures and as BrightSource’s next project is probably “We are also in the process of starting investors come to better understand the not going to have storage but some of its the official testing of an inverter optimizer risks and returns of this asset class, we remaining contracted capacity will have which enables all components to work at may see more capital market plays for storage. the best of their capabilities, reduce risks wind and solar projects in the future. And Silver of errors in the system governing the what better firm to