MP2 Capital LLC, a leading renewable energy firm that develops, finances and invests in projects worldwide, today announced that CEO Mark Lerdal will give a plenary address at Solar Energy Investment and Finance Summit on November 12-13 in San Francisco.

The conference, sponsored by New Solar Today, features panel discussions by key stakeholders in the global solar investment and finance community. Among those presenting will be representatives from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), BrightSource Energy, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan Capital Corporation. Lerdal’s address will take place on the afternoon of November 13.

“This is a key conference for anyone interested in securing investment and financing for utility-scale solar projects in the current economic climate,” said Lerdal. “It will be attended by major players in the renewable energy investment community, and will be a great opportunity to network and connect with senior level decision makers in solar development.”

Lerdal’s presentation is entitled “Utility-Scale Projects from the Investor’s Perspective,” and will include a case study of one of MP2 Capital’s recent solar projects. Lerdal will present an overview of the process of developing, financing and operating a solar project in partnership with a utility, including discussion of the regulatory policy, land use and other local issues associated with large-scale solar project development. Attendees will gain an understanding of the process, challenges, best practices and financing parameters associated with utility-partnered projects in order to make the best decisions going forward.

Lerdal is an industry veteran with more than 20 years experience in the renewable energy sector as a developer, investor, executive and attorney. He became CEO and a managing director at MP2 Capital earlier this year at a time when the firm’s project portfolio has seen notable growth. Founded in 2006, the firm has developed, and also operates, multiple renewable energy projects across the United States. Recent projects in development include the construction of a 1.6 megawatt solar array at the Denver International Airport and a 2.3 megawatt solar array to provide power for Progress Energy customers in North Carolina.

“We live in a time where renewable energy development is critical to our survival, and we need to work together and share insights to develop the best solutions,” said Lerdal. “There are known challenges to securing investment and financing for large-scale solar projects. We have had great success partnering with utilities to meet their desires to promote renewable energy. We’re pleased to draw from our experiences at MP2 Capital and present our perspective on what a successful project requires.”

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/renewable_energy/solar_conference/prweb2994954.htm

The recession may not be over, but the green economy is moving forward—now may be the time to trade your pink, white or blue collar for a new green collar job! Thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better

known as the Obama stimulus, Minnesota is gearing up to increase green jobs. Workers will be needed to weatherize homes, retrofit buildings, install solar panels, and build wind turbines. The stimulus includes funds to train dislocated workers in green skills and incentives to create new green businesses.
Minnesota will spend about 7 percent of its stimulus funds on green energy. So far, only a fraction of the money has been used. “We have not seen the beginning of the impact of the stimulus yet,” said Joshua Low with the Blue Green Alliance, a Minneapolis-based national organization launched in 2006 by the United Steelworkers and the Sierra Club.

The Alliance is working with Mayors Rybak and Coleman to attract green jobs to the Twin Cities. If the stimulus helps Minnesota reach its goal of 25
percent renewable energy by 2025, we could see a yearly increase in green jobs. This growth would then stimulate other sectors of the economy, creating a vast supply chain to service and support green industries. Wind turbine production is a good example of this growth potential. There are 20 separate component parts in a wind turbine, and each component has multiple subcomponents.

The manufacture of a single wind turbine involves dozens of businesses and many types of workers, including environmental engineers, iron and steel workers, millwrights, sheet metal workers, machinists, salespersons and truck drivers.
Overall, an estimated two to five additional jobs are created for every green job, according to the MN Green Jobs Task Force. “The stimulus,” Low believes, “offers incredible potential to increase employment and make sure the jobs are good jobs.” Low’s opinion is supported by a recent study of green job potential in Minnesota. The Renewable Energy Policy Project identified 280 manufacturing companies in Hennepin County alone that could make the transition to green and supply the components needed for the wind, solar, geothermal and biomass industries. They would add almost 7,000 green jobs to the economy and reduce carbon emissions by 15 percent.

Read full story: http://www.southsidepride.com/2009/10/articles/Green_jobs.html

RENEWABLE ENERGY GENERATION. INITIATIVE STATUTE.

• Requires utilities, including government-owned utilities, to generate 20% of their power from renewable energy by 2010, a standard currently applicable only to private electrical corporations.
• Raises requirement for utilities to 40% by 2020 and 50% by 2025.
• Imposes penalties, subject to waiver, for noncompliance.
• Transfers some jurisdiction of regulatory matters from Public Utilities Commission to Energy Commission.
• Fast-tracks approval for new renewable energy plants.
• Requires utilities to sign longer contracts (20 year minimum) to procure renewable energy.
• Creates account to purchase rights-of-way and facilities for the transmission of renewable energy.

Summary of Legislative Analyst’s Estimate of Net State and Local Government Fiscal Impact:

• Increased state administrative costs of up to $3.4 million annually for the regulatory activities of the California Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission and the California Public Utilities Commission, paid for by fee revenues.

• Unknown impact on state and local government costs and revenues due to the measure’s uncertain impact on retail electricity rates. In the short term, the prospects for higher rates—and therefore higher costs, lower sales and income tax revenues, and higher local utility tax revenues—are more likely. In the long term, the impact on electricity rates, and therefore state and local government costs and revenues, is unknown.

Source: PROP 7

Latest News: South African says it will shift energy policy from coal to combat climate change

The South African government said Monday it would move away from cheap coal — long the engine of its economic growth — and embrace nuclear and renewable energy in a bid to combat climate change.

South Africa relies on its coal mines for 90 percent of its energy and has sought to attract electricity guzzling industries such as aluminum smelters as a key plank of its foreign investment policy.

But Environment Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said that would now change under a newly agreed Cabinet policy.

“We are saying to business and society at large that we have to move away from dirty coal as a dominant energy source,” he said. Instead, the government would promote greater use of renewable energy and nuclear fuel.

“The longer we wait the more expensive it will become,” he told a news conference.

Africa is the continent expected to be hardest hit by global warming. According to U.N. climate projections, the western part of South Africa faces increasing drought and declining crop yields, while the eastern part risks more torrential rain and flood-related devastation.

Read more at Hearld Tribune

• The global warming issue became the world biggest problem and will be in the next 30 years.
• The increasing prices of traditional energy markets such as oil and coal and it pertopolitics issue.
• The renewable energy market as innovative and creative.

Ecovesta is your gate to financial opportunity that involved social and ethical behavior. By letting you, the investor view financial information about major projects in renewable energy, Ecovesta hope to increase global usage of green energy and reduce global warming

• The global warming issue became the world biggest problem and will be in the next 30 years.
• The increasing prices of traditional energy markets such as oil and coal and it pertopolitics issue.
• The renewable energy market as innovative and creative.

Ecovesta is your gate to financial opportunity that involved social and ethical behavior. By letting you, the investor view financial information about major projects in renewable energy, Ecovesta hope to increase global usage of green energy and reduce global warming