Renewables Investment Strategy Reports

Erb Institute Report No. 122

Renewable Energy Research and Innovation at the Erb Institute Renewables Investment Strategy Reports Scenario Planning for Southern Company

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ick Abstoss and Alanya Schofield, both Erb ’11, and Chris Hicks, Michelle Quibell and Jennifer Ritchey, all Erb ’12, developed renewable energy investment timelines and strategies for Southern Company over the next 20 years using multiple federal energy and climate legislation scenarios. Their Master’s project: “Renewable Energy Investment Strategies: A Scenario Planning Analysis” is available at: http://bit.ly/JpnRCW

Recommending Renewables for Renova

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ine Erb Institute students (Michael Elchinger, Sara Mills, Michael Ott, Erb ’12; Michael Wohl, Erb ’13; Wes Allred, Daniel Gerding, Hongda Jiang, Emilia Sibley and Sam Stevenson, Erb ’14) worked on a special project this winter for the private equity firms of Renova Capital Partners and Energy Capital Partners (ECP). The Renova-ECP partnership operates under Centennial Renewable Power, an ECP subsidiary. Centennial asked the students to: • Create a dynamic decision-making model to identify prospective assets • Develop an acquisition strategy • Identify asset targets in wind, biomass, geothermal, landfill gas & hydropower.

Regenerate Sweeps Biz Competitions ReGenerate has won multiple business-plan competitions with its patent-pending Compact Organic Waste System, which combines anaerobic digestion and aerobic composting to transform institutional food waste into hot water and compost.

Recent prizes include: • Erb Award for Sustainability • Dare to Dream grant • Ann Arbor SPARK Bootcamp scholarship • Michigan Business Challenge runner-up • Top place Michigan Clean Energy Prize competition • Waste Management’s “Think Green” prize at the Rice University Business Plan Competition.

In 2011, ReGenerate was: • Wal-Mart Better Living Business Plan Challenge semi-finalist • Dow Sustainability Innovation Student Challenge winner.

The student team worked closely with Renova’s John Rice, Erb ’09, who said, “The senior management at Renova was impressed with the level of insight and strength of the team’s recommendations. We are now looking to capitalize on the information.”

ReGenerate Founders Hunt Briggs and Paul Davis, both Erb ’11, are currently launching their venture as a business. Visit ReGenerate at: http://

Erb Alum Co-Authors Smart Grid Study

www.regenerate-usa.com/

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avid Fribush, Erb ’10, co-authored a discussion paper titled Electric Evolution: Issues Posed and Opportunities Presented by the Emergence of the Smart Grid for Vermont Energy Investment Corporation. Written for electric utilities, legislators, regulators and consumers, the publication provides an overview of the driving forces in the evolution of the U.S. electric grid and a contextual foundation from which relevant questions about technology and policy can be explored. Read the report: http://bit.ly/JkV02a

Teaching Case Studies • “Google Energy’s Shift into Renewables” by Andy Hoffman. Global Lens Case Study # 1-429-226.

• “Equilibrium Capital Group: Investing in Energy Efficiency” by Thomas Lyon and Michael “Kipp” Baratoff. Global LensCase Study #1-429-106.

Ecological Impact Studies Assessing the Impact Of Corn Ethanol

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orn Ethanol and Wildlife: How Are Policy- and Market-driven Increases in Corn Plantings Affecting Habitat and Wildlife?” for the National Wildlife Federation. Elizabeth Griffin and Becca Brooke, both Erb ‘10, were members of a team that investigated how changes in land use, agricultural practices and wildlife habitat due to corn ethanol production are affecting the Pothole Region of the Northern Great Plains, an ecosystem already facing pressure from agriculture expansion. The team focused on mitigating the impact of corn ethanol production on wildlife and described how federal and state ethanol incentives and conservation programs can be changed or strengthened.

Read more: http://bit.ly/I2hSAX

Solar Development on Public Lands

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enewable Energy in the California Desert: Mechanisms for Evaluating Solar Development on Public Lands” for The Wilderness Society. Takahiro Isshiki, Sean Killian, and Laura Palombi, all Erb ‘11, and other graduate students analyzed the political, economic and technological drivers for utility-scale solar development on public lands. The team developed qualitative and quantitative analyses of the potential impacts and recommendations for the Bureau of Land Management permitting process. Read more: http://bit.ly/I6FQh1

Erb Grads And Interns Apply Leadership Skills, Knowledge Jeff Bernicke (Erb ‘97) is President and Chief Operating Officer of NativeEnergy, a leading carbon management and offset provider. Its customers include Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Ben & Jerry’s and Stonyfield Farm.

Kathleen Judd (Erb ‘00) is a Senior Research Scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, operated by Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy where she works on technology strategy development and assessment in public and private research organizations, with a focus on the energy and environmental sectors.

Emilia Sibley (Erb ‘14) will work on solar photovoltaics for commercial rooftops as part of her summer internship with SoCore Energy. The project includes modeling various ownership structures for solar projects.

Wind Vs. Gas Power Assessment

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he Case for New Transmission in the U.S.: Meeting the Need for LargeScale Renewable Energy” analyzes data from transmission planning efforts to create a simplified model for policy makers to identify potential inflection points at which remote wind power plus transmission becomes cost competitive with natural gas plants. Laura Bruce, David Cieminis, Siobhan Doherty, and Theodore Ludwick, all Erb ‘10, produced this Master’s Project for the American Wind Association. Read more: http://bit.ly/JkWObl

Renewable Energy Scholars Recognized

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inners of this year’s Renewable Energy Scholar Awards are working on venture capital funding, solar power and energy usage trends. The US Renewables Group (USRG) and Jon Koch, Erb ‘96, USRG Managing Director and a member of the Erb External Advisory Board, support the award.

The merit-based grant recognizes entrepreneurial Erb students who want to pursue a business idea or write an essay suitable for publication. This year’s winners and their topics are: Lawrence Han, Erb ’14, Predicting the change in energy usage due to trends in information technology; Adam Byrnes, Erb ’14, Crowdsourcing Renewables—A New Approach to Solar Power through Community Solar; and Chris Hicks, Erb ’12, Status of the Smart Grid industry and Best Opportunities for Venture Capital Funding.

Academic Research Publications • “Biofuels and Carbon Management” by John M. DeCicco. Climatic Change, Vol. 111, Numbers 3-4 (2012): 627-640.

• “Global Lithium Availability: A Constraint for Electric Vehicles?” by Paul W. Gruber, Pablo A. Medina, Gregory A. Keoleian, Stephen E. Kesler, Mark P. Everson, and Timothy J. Wallington. Journal of Industrial Ecology, Vol. 15, Issue 5, (October 2011): 760–775.

• “Why Do States Adopt Renewable Portfolio Standards? An Empirical Investigation” by Thomas P. Lyon. The Energy Journal 31 (2010): 131-155.

More research: http://erb.umich.edu/research-initiatives/ Renewable Energy Research and Innovation at the Erb Institute © 2012, the Erb Institute / erb.umich.edu This report is printed on 100% post-consumer, FSC certified conservation paper using vegetable-based inks. Please recycle.