Pre-Conference Workshops

#101 – BUSINESS FINANCE FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES



Monday February 18, 2008
Time: 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Room: Miranda 7
Registration Fee: $625.00, includes workshop materials, certificate of completion, coffee breaks and lunch
Instructor
John M. Hynes, Partner, Excidian, LLC
Intended Audience: This course is recommended for all positions in corporate management, engineering, operations, distribution, transmission and generation whose functions / tasks require financial knowledge to either understand or contribute to decision making. Also, professionals in finance, investing or entrepreneurial start-ups in renewable energy & fuels will benefit from this course.
Education level: Participants attending should have a four-year college degree or at least five years experience in the industry. They should have some business and financial acumen gleaned from academic courses or on-the-job experience.
Course Overview:
This one-day course has four content areas:

I. Financial Statements - Participants learn basic concepts of the three major financial statements — Balance Sheet, Income Statement and Cash Flow Statement.

II. Financial Analysis and Ratios - Participants learn key financial ratios and how to interpret those ratios to analyze the status of a company’s financial health.

III. Break-Even Analysis - Participants learn the differences between financial and managerial income statements so that they can correctly categorize costs as either variable or fixed costs. This allows participants to build a managerial income statement, calculate contribution margin and perform a simple break-even analysis.
IV. Capital Investment Decision Analysis - Participants learn three capital investment decision analysis methods --- Net Present Value (NPV), Benefit-to-Cost Ratio and Internal Rate of Return (IRR). Short demonstrations of models to value renewable resource projects, assets and companies are included in this section.
Course Objective:
The primary purpose of this course is to provide participants with financial knowledge to help them make good business and investment decisions.
Course Highlights:
• Activities and case studies are customized for industry professionals.
• Hands-on learning.
• Much of the two-day course is spent working in small groups.
• Relevance to current events. Course facilitator relates teaching points to current industry news.
Workshop Instructor Biography
John M. Hynes, MSEE, MBA, Partner, Excidian, LLC
John began his career in the energy industry in 1983. He developed and facilitated technical training programs for nuclear operators, telecommunications technicians, relay protection technicians and high voltage equipment maintenance technicians before moving on to senior positions in sales, marketing and strategic planning.
John used his financial skills to design production optimization model s for heavy manufacturing clients, analyze the profitability of business and marketing plans, perform due diligence on targeted acquisitions and determine the value of businesses selected for investment.
Drawing on perspectives gained from his wide-ranging background and real-world management experience, John develops and facilitates Excidian’s Business Finance and Energy Industry Knowledge programs.

John’s experience with strategic, political, financial and organizational issues facing the energy industry, along with his extensive knowledge of finance, accounting and Wall Street have established him as an engaging and well-respected facilitator.

#102 – FROM RESOURCE ASSESSMENT TO CLIMATE CHANGE: WEATHER AND CLIMATE EFFECTS ON RENEWABLE ENERGY PROJECTS



Monday, February 18, 2008
Time: 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Room: Miranda 8
Registration Fee: $625.00, includes workshop materials, certificate of completion, coffee breaks and lunch

Instructors
Pascal Storck, Ph.D., President, 3TIER North America; Bart Nijssen, Ph.D., Chief Technology Officer, 3TIER; Scott Eichelberger, Ph.D., Resource Assessment Scientist, 3TIER North America; Bernard Walter, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, 3TIER

Course Target Audience
This course is structured for senior and junior level executives, project managers, financiers, lawyers and engineers involved in large-scale renewable energy projects from a due diligence, strategic planning, tactical operations and system integration perspective. The course will be taught so that anyone with a basic understanding of science should gain appreciably from this course. This course should be considered fundamental and relevant for anyone working in renewable energy.

Overview & Objectives
Wind, hydro and solar renewable energy projects completely depend on the weather for their fuel. While these sources of renewable energy can liberate us from our dependence on fossil fuels, they introduce another complicating dependency on energy production: weather. This dependency affects all aspects of these projects: from proper placement to ongoing operation and integration and underscores the need for a comprehensive understanding of the resource at a site before the project is built. This initial assessment is critical: a 4 percent underestimation in the yield of a wind project can result in a $50 million revenue loss over the lifetime of a 100MW wind project.

After a renewable energy project becomes operational, the intermittency in the power production affects all aspects of operations, from load following (minutes to hours ahead) to asset allocation and financial hedging (days to months ahead). In addition, climate change can significantly affect the long-term generation characteristics of a project. We are already beginning to see this impact at locations around the world and it will become more of an issue in the future.

This course will help attendees become familiar with how weather and climate affect site selection and ongoing operations for weather-driven renewable energy projects. An emphasis on the resource’s inherent weather related risk, and a quantification of that risk, will be a core theme of the workshop.

Course Highlights
• Mechanisms responsible for the fuel of weather driven renewable energy: wind, sun and precipitation.
• Spatial variability of weather and climate phenomena and the effect on generation.
• Interaction of weather and climate variability among wind, solar and hydro projects.
• Wind energy forecasting and assessment: 10 ways to maximize project revenue by understanding weather and climate.
• Solar energy assessment: Where should you build your solar project?
• Hydropower forecasting for operational optimization and strategic planning.
• Climate change, separating facts from fiction and identifying implications on renewable energy projects.
Workshop Instructors’ Biographies
Pascal Storck, PhD, President, 3TIER North America
Dr. Storck has more than 15 years experience in surface water hydrology, flood forecasting, distributed hydrologic modeling and climate change assessment on hydrologic resources. Dr. Storck is currently president of 3TIER North America. Prior to joining 3TIER, Dr. Storck spent two years as a research scientist at the University of Washington, Seattle, where he was an integral part of the research on flood forecasting and climate change effects in the Pacific Northwest. Dr. Storck received a BS degree in agricultural and biological engineering from Cornell University, an MS degree in civil and environmental engineering from the University of Illinois, and a PhD in civil and environmental engineering from the University of Washington.

Bart Nijssen, Ph.D. Chief Technology Officer, 3TIER
Dr. Nijssen joined 3TIER in fall 2005 to oversee the development of new technologies. From 2001 through 2005 he was assistant professor at the University of Arizona, where he held a joint appointment in the Departments of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics and the Department of Hydrology and Water Resources. Prior to joining the University of Arizona, he was a research scientist and research assistant at the University of Washington. Dr. Nijssen received an engineers (MS) degree in tropical land and water management from Wageningen Agricultural University, The Netherlands, and a PhD in civil and environmental engineering from the University of Washington. Scott Eichelberger, PhD, Wind Resource Scientist, 3TIER North America

Dr. Eichelberger joined 3TIER in 2006 as a research meteorologist. From 1998 through 2005, he was a research assistant at the University of Washington in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences. At the University of Washington, Dr. Eichelberger conducted research on the large-scale variability of the atmosphere using numerical models. This research focused on understanding the dynamics of the Northern Annular Mode (Arctic Oscillation) and the Brewer-Dobson circulation. Dr. Eichelberger received a BS degree in meteorology and mathematics from Texas A&M University and an MS degree and PhD in atmospheric sciences from the University of Washington.

Bernard Walter, PhD, Senior Scientist, 3TIER
Dr. Walter joined 3TIER in 2007 as a senior scientist responsible for the development of solar energy products and services using remote sensing technology. Prior to joining 3TIER, Dr. Walter was a senior atmospheric scientist at NorthWest Research Associates (NWRA), Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), and various NOAA laboratories. Dr. Walter is an internationally recognized expert in the use of various satellite based remote sensing technologies to determine the properties of the earth surface, weather, and climate. Dr. Walter received a BS degree in physics from Carneige-Mellon University, a MS degree in atmospheric sciences from Colorado State University and a Ph.D. in atmospheric sciences from the University of Washington.

#203 – WIND RESOURCE ASSESSMENT TECHNIQUES FOR SUCCESSFUL WIND ENERGY PLANNING AND PROJECT DEVELOPMENT



Tuesday February 19, 2008
Time: 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Room: Miranda 7
Registration Fee: $325.00, includes workshop materials, certificate of completion, coffee break and lunch

Instructors
Grant Brohm, Sales Director, WindLogics Inc.; Mark Ahlstrom, CEO, WindLogics Inc.; Larry Sinesio, Vice President Sales and Marketing

Target Audience
This course is designed for project managers and wind energy planners/developers concerned with utility-scale, commercial distributed or community-based wind energy generation projects. Although a basic understanding of meteorology would be helpful, it is not a prerequisite for this course.

Course Description
This four-hour course will focus on techniques for accurate wind resource assessment, from regional studies for general wind integration to specific detailed site studies for wind plant development. Instructors will discuss tools for evaluating a site’s wind energy potential, determining wind speeds at proposed turbine heights, and estimating energy output for a project based upon long-term wind resources. The discussion will also include examining wind data from a meteorological point of view, and integrating data from multiple sources to achieve the best available study results.

Course Highlights
The course will specifically provide participants with knowledge on the following topics:
• Challenges in predicting the wind
• Traditional methods for analysis
• Data collection and review
• New sources of wind data
• Considerations in determining long-term variability
• Tools available for early stages and advanced stages of project development

Workshop Instructors’ Biographies
Larry Sinesio, Vice President Sales and Marketing, WindLogics Inc.
Larry leads a sales and marketing team committed to providing accurate and reliable wind resource services to the industry. He joined WindLogics in 2003 and is responsible for defining and directing the organization through strategic account management, internal support processes, and exploration of new solutions for the marketplace. Larry holds a B.A. in Mathematics from the University of Michigan.

Grant Brohm, Sales Director, WindLogics Inc.
As Sales Director for WindLogics, Grant works extensively with utilities, wind developers, and landowners, assisting them with wind resource assessment, due diligence and operations support services. He joined WindLogics in 2004 and has over 15 years of experience, including on-air meteorology, weather forecasting technology and business development. Grant holds an M.S. in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science from the University of Wisconsin and a B.S. in Business Finance from the University of Minnesota.

Mark Ahlstrom, CEO, WindLogics Inc.
Mark has been the CEO of WindLogics since December of 2000. Under his leadership, the company has become a leader in applied meteorology, wind energy analysis and wind forecasting. WindLogics is now a subsidiary of FPL Energy and continues to expand its advanced services to the wind energy marketplace. Prior to joining WindLogics, Mark was founder of two software technology companies. He holds degrees in Biochemistry and Biomedical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

#204 - UNCOVERING THE FULL RENEWABLE ENERGY POTENTIAL



Time: 8:00 AM – 3:00 PM

Room: Miranda 8
Registration Fee: $550.00, includes workshop materials, certificate of completion, coffee break and lunch

Instructors
Lisa Frantzis, Managing Director, Navigant Consulting; Ryan Katofsky, Associate Director, Navigant Consulting

Course Overview and Objectives
Renewable energy (RE) technologies have evolved dramatically over the past few years, and are rapidly becoming competitive with traditional forms of energy. Significant improvements in performance, reduced costs and government incentives are increasing their competitiveness. This course will provide participants with a platform from which they can gauge the RE potential for their own organizations. Areas to be covered include the current state of RE technologies and markets and prospects for the next decade, remaining gaps still to be overcome, and best practices in carefully guiding a RE project through the development and implementation process.

Session 1, 8:00 AM - 11:00 AM:
Renewable Energy Technology, Economics and Markets--Bringing Renewable Energy into the Mainstream

Session 1 Overview and Objectives
Focused on power generation, this session will provide participants with a solid understanding of renewable energy (RE) technology performance, markets, costs and trends. The technologies covered will include: land-based and offshore wind power, customer-sited and central station photovoltaics (PV), solar thermal electric, landfill gas, biomass co-firing, biomass gasification, biomass direct combustion, geothermal power, small hydro, and wave and tidal power. Participants will gain experience-based insights into the current state of these technologies and markets, and their prospects for the next 10 years. Factors to be discussed include technology drivers and challenges, economic and performance trends, and the impact of incentives.

Session 2, 11:00 AM - Noon:
A Renewable Future for Transportation Energy--Biofuels Today and Tomorrow

Session 2 Overview and Objectives
This session will focus on conventional and second generation biofuels technologies: corn ethanol, cellulosic ethanol, biodiesel and other biomass to transportation fuels pathways. Biofuels markets and policy drivers will then be discussed, focusing on key regional markets and the emergence of a global marketplace. Instructors will also discuss the integration challenges of using biofuels as a petroleum extender vs. a petroleum replacement. Lastly, the session will cover the convergence of the transportation energy and power generation value chains on the same energy resources, and the impact of such convergence.
Session 3, 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM:
Renewable Energy Project Development -- Where the Steel Meets the Ground
Session 3 Overview and Objectives
The growing attractiveness of RE is focusing attention on how to develop a successful RE project. What are the challenges to getting projects designed, built and financed? Is there a proven approach that will help ensure a project is completed successfully? What are the technology, market and finance barriers that seem to impede the progress of RE development? What is the profile of a successful project? Today, these questions are relevant to project developers and investors as well as power purchasers such as utilities that may be considering options for building facilities vs. buying energy. This course will provide participants with an overview of the project development cycle. The Navigant Consulting course leaders will discuss a series of development phases.

Workshop Instructors’ Biographies
Lisa Frantzis, Managing Director, Renewable & Distributed Energy, Navigant Consulting
Ms. Frantzis has 27 years of consulting experience in technical, market and economic analyses of RE systems. She has assessed technology and market potential and cost reduction opportunities for onshore and offshore wind, photovoltaics, concentrating solar power, marine power and geothermal technologies, and the RE market broadly. Ms. Frantzis has provided renewables strategy, due diligence, development and integration assistance to utilities, private investors, manufacturers, developers and government agencies. Phone: 781.270.8314; E-mail: lfrantzis@navigantconsulting.com.

Ryan Katofsky, Associate Director, Navigant Consulting
Mr. Katofsky has nearly 15 years of consulting experience, focused on the assessment and commercialization of advanced energy technologies, such as fuel cells, gas turbines and RE systems. He has particular expertise in biomass energy. He has worked on a variety of RE projects, including partner screening and identification for strategic investment in RE businesses; RE strategies for electric utilities and energy companies; technology, emissions, economic and market assessment; and proposal and program review for Federal and State RE programs. He has also worked extensively in the field of alternative transportation fuels. Phone: 781.270.8317; E-mail: rkatofsky@navigantconsulting.com.