“The Hedge Connection” Promotes a Solid CleanTech Concept
My quest to connect solid cleantech business plans with sources of investment capital requires that I have a reasonably good supply of both these two elements. And of the two, investors normally keep a lower profile. They tend not to carry a big sign across their chest that reads: “I’m worth $350 million; please come sell stuff to me.” For that reason, I need to show a bit of cleverness here if I’m to get an audience with the right people.
My current focus is on hedge funds and their clients; I’m trying hard to get to know as many of these folks as I possibly can. And, to that end, I’m happy to report that I’ve recently become friendly with the people at The Hedge Connection, an online platform that enables hedge fund managers and marketers to interact with potential investors, providing all parties a way to get around what was previously an awkward dance. I was delighted when the Hedge Connection founders asked me to contribute–in particular, to send them a monthly article discussing one of the more exciting cleantech business investment opportunities I’ve come across recently.
Here’s my first such submission for their blog, called “The Edge.”
Big Waste-to-Energy projects are a good thing to have in the war against global warming, but they alone are not enough. They are the equivalent to the ‘big bombers’ of World War II. What are also needed are the thousands of smaller projects, the “fighters” that flew alongside the bombers.
Increasing fossil energy imports of many poor nations that lack their own fossil fuels supplies will cost them billions of dollars in coming decades and these big projects that are designed to save millions are simply not enough to win the war without fighter support.
Is there a better way to provide power generation without increasing expensive, dirty energy imports?
Some experts believe the answer lies not in increasing the number of centralized power plants, but in creating “virtual” power plants that quickly adapt to changing energy needs and thereby can back up wind and solar resources.
Virtual power plants are destined to be one of the main components of the smart grid. They can match up numerous distributed energy systems with intelligent demand response capabilities and aggregate those resources into an asset that acts like a centralized power plant. VPPs can be deployed on a GW-scale.
“I would not be surprised if utilities put an increased focus on this concept moving ahead. Already more digitally advanced they will provide the foundation of the new paradigm.
Brilliant networking coup. I anticipate that this will be a creditable and solid alliance for facilitating project implementation. Well done! This is exactly what I am trying to do wrt Bermudas financial resource pool! They are an extremely conservative group…so finding the organization or connected individual is proving a challenge but once in hand I anticipate being able to mirror your networking template!