PG&E Ups In-House Demand Response — Utility Trend?
Craig Rubens - @CNN
Given that PG&E will be handling this program in house, what does this mean for third-party vendors like EnerNOC and Comverge? EnerNOC and Comverge were some of the early success stories to come out of the cleantech world — EnerNOC has some 1,643 megawatts under management, while Comverge has a total of 2,075 megawatts. If utilities start managing their own demand response programs that could in theory mean less business for these types of vendors.
PG&E tells us that it will continue to grow its demand-response portfolio with third-party contractors. And PG&E actually currently administers a dozen demand-response programs, including PeakChoice, which together are comprised of a total of some 60,000 participating customers producing 695 MW of potential load relief. Some of the programs are facilitated by third parties, including a 50-megawatt deal with Comverge and a 40-megawatt contract with EnerNOC.
EnerNOC CEO Tim Healy told us earlier this year that historically utilities tend to favor outsourcing non-core activities to third parties. For the time being, Healy seems right. Portland General Electric and Idaho Power have both recently put in requests for proposals for demand-response services from third-party vendors.
For now, PG&E appears to be ahead of the curve in terms of utilities managing their own programs. That’s in part because, according to California state mandates, PG&E’s profits are “decoupled” from electricity sales. Decoupling has changed the utility landscape; for PG&E in particular, it has encouraged the utility to move from simply selling more power to being in the business of energy efficiency. According to the California Energy Commission, the average cost of power saved from energy efficiency is much lower than the cost of base-load power generation.
PeakChoice, which has been flying under the radar since early this year, allows customers a lot of flexibility. Business participants can choose how much notice they need before an event, how long they will sustain lowered energy use, how many separate events they will participate in and even how firm the commitment is to providing that promised capacity. PeakChoice already has eight participating customers who provide a total of 4.1 megawatts of demand response.
Check out the utility’s explanatory video, and web site.
Aptera Changes Its Chief
Tony Borroz - CNN Green
Aptera, maker of the swoopy, three-wheeled Typ-1 electric car, announced this week that it’s hired Paul Wilbur as their new president and CEO, replacing founder Steve Fambro in the top slot.
Given the turmoil that prompted electric car startup Tesla to change its leadership, was this another sign of a clash of egos, of disgruntled execs? Did investors with ownership force out Fambro? The company is backed by Google, Idealab, Esenjay Investments, The Simons Family and The Beall Family Trust.
In this case, it appears to be a logical step for a small startup moving into the next stage of production. So let's take a look at Mr. Wilbur's resume:
He has 26 years of experience, ranging from product planning and finance to marketing and product development for leading car companies. These are skills that a new company, especially one with an unconventional and groundbreaking product like the Typ-1, are going to need at this point in their development. He's worked for Ford and Chrysler, and most recently he was the president and CEO of American Specialty Cars, then of Saleen, makers of some very, fast-high performance cars.
So Wilbur has lots of industry cred and real-world experience directing car companies. He also, according to the press release and media reports, has the former CEO Fambro’s full support; Fambro called his “hands-on style and wide-ranging automotive experience” “invaluable” for the transition to manufacturing and distribution. Fambro tells the LA Times that running a company of 50 employees was never his plan, and that headhunters Heidrick & Struggles were hired to start a CEO search in March.
Anybody can design and build one car, but it takes someone with real-world industry experience to oversee the successful manufacturing of a car in quantity. That's the juncture at which Aptera now finds itself. Fambro and company have made a stunning-looking, eco-friendly car, now they have to bring it to market — and they have promised to start producing before the end of the year. Wilbur had better get cracking.
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