BIO, PHOTOS and ABSTRACTS – May 26, 2011

PAULA MINTS – NAVIGANT CONSULTING

BIO:  Paula Mints is a director in Navigant's energy practice and the principal analyst for the Solar Service Market Research Program. She has been providing research products to the solar industry for 14 years.

ABSTRACT:  How PV, CSP and CPV Compete on the Utility Scale Battleground

Competitors and allies, all solar technologies must support each other while competing for the prize -- which is, ironically, to sell commodity electricity at the lowest price. This presentation will detail how each technology (thin film flat plate, crystalline flat plate, CSP and CPV) approach the battlefield.

BART KRISHNAMOORTHY – SOLAR ELECTRIC POWER ASSOCIATION

BIO:  Bart Krishnamoorthy is a Research Associate with the Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA), where he focuses on tracking and analyzing existing and future centralized solar projects and providing research support to SEPA’s staff and over 800 utility and solar industry members. Prior to joining SEPA in 2010, Bart received his Masters Degree in Energy and Earth Resources from the University of Texas at Austin, completed his thesis on assessing the potential of concentrating solar power in the Middle East and interned at Meridian Solar, a photovoltaic design and installation company in Austin.

ABSTRACT:  Status and Technology of Solar Power Generation -

will look at current solar technology and market trends, including types of solar technologies, current and future deployment patterns, and declining price points, with a particular focus on analyzing the data within an electric utility context. In addition, the presentation will look briefly at utility solar procurement strategies and evolution, as well as an overview of current utility strategies in solar integration.

JOSEPH BESSLER – SILVERWOOD ENERGY, INC.

BIO:  Mr. Bessler is the CEO of Silverwood Energy, Inc. He has an MBA from San Diego State University and has installed solar (photovoltaic) systems for the three major investor owned utilities in the state of California.

ABSTRACT:  The Status of the California Utility Market - Utility Owned Programs versus Third Party Provider Programs

A snapshot of the California utility solar market as it stands today.

DR. PETER JOHNSTON – BURNS & McDONNELL ENGINEERING CO.

BIO:  Peter Johnston was born and educated in England. He received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Electronic Engineering at Leeds University and his Master’s and Doctorate degrees in Plasma Physics at Sheffield University.

His job as a vacuum tube engineer with the English Electric Valve Company brought Peter and his family to the U.S. in 1982 where he joined Richardson Electronics, a U.S. vacuum tube manufacturer in Illinois.

An opportunity in 1993 took Peter and his family to Phoenix, AZ where he took over the management of the Research and Development Department of Arizona Public Service Company (APS), the largest electric utility in Arizona. At APS Peter’s department was responsible for the development and deployment of renewable energy technologies including biomass, wind, geothermal, and the installation of over 6 MW of solar PV and solar thermal generating systems. Peter also managed the internationally recognized Solar Test and Research (STAR) facility and was a joint creator of the “Road to Renewable Energy” education program aimed at fourth to seventh grade school students. Additionally, Peter’s department installed the country’s third hydrogen vehicle refueling station in downtown Phoenix and took a leadership position in the development of “future fuels” such as bio-diesel derived from algae grown from power plant emissions.

In 2008, Peter joined Burns and McDonnell Engineering Company as a Project Manager focused on the development of clean and renewable energy projects.

ABSTRACT: 

The presentation will focus on the reasons photovoltaic solar systems are enjoying multiple installations even into the 100's of MW and solar thermal systems are not so prolific. Also, how solar thermal systems can be integrated into fossil fueled power plants to reduce fossil fuel consumption and potentially generate some of the cheapest solar MWh for utilities.

MATHEW BRINKMAN – BURNS & McDONNELL ENGINEERING CO.

BIO:  Mr. Brinkman is the Solar Business Unit Manager for Burns & McDonnell's Energy Global Practice. Mr. Brinkman served as the Owner's Engineering Project Manager for the El Dorado Solar Energy project, a 10 MW solar PV installation, which was listed as one of Power Magazine's "Top Plant" in December 2009. Mr. Brinkman served as the Owner's Engineering Project Manager for Copper Mountain Solar I, a 48 MW solar PV installation, which was listed as one of Renewable Energy World.com's "2011 Solar Project of the Year."

JOHN KING – COMBINED POWER COOPERATIVE

BIO:  Mr. King is Founder, President & CEO of Combined Power Cooperative, a provider of disruptively low cost Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) technology. Prior to founding Combined Power, Mr. King worked extensively in program, policy and technology analysis for multiple large, California investor-owned utility clients and was one of the architects of the $3.2 billion California Solar Initiative (CSI) online rebate system. Mr. King has been deeply involved in CSP technology development and will provide a survey of the current state-of-the-art and incipient developments in reflector systems, receivers, and thermal energy storage. Mr. King holds five issued, and five pending patents. He has a B.S. from Caltech, an M.S. from UC Irvine and an M.B.A. from the Anderson School at UCLA.