Industry Program

The Industry Panels are organized by Brad Bradshaw, founder and president of the Massachusetts Hydrogen Coalition (MHC), co-host of the Conference since its inception in 2005.

Panels

• Backup Power
• BioEnergy
• Combined Heat & Power
• Efficiency & Energy Services
• Energy Storage
• Motive Power & Fork Lifts
• Portable Power
• Smart Grid
• Solar Energy
• Wind Power

Backup Power

The global backup power market represents an important market for newer, more efficient and cleaner energy technologies with lower life cycle costs. Across the world, many developing economies are deploying advanced wireless communications networks in the midst of unreliable or non-existent power grids. This panel will review the technologies and business models associated with backup power, including the fast growing fuel cell market for backup power for cell tower sites. 

Panelists

• Ollila, Tom
  
• Utzschneider, John
  
• Bradshaw, Brad
  
• Olsen, Martin
  

BioEnergy

Biofuels are being used in transportation and heating applications, with significant technical efforts being applied to lower the cost of producing cellulosic ethanol, among other fuels. The convergence of advanced biotech capabilities with bioenergy development is creating a new field within the clean energy cluster. This panel will explore the technical advances underpinning the development of advanced biofuel development.

Panelists

• Felix, Curtis S.
  
• Gebolys, Gene
  
• Reich, Jesse
  
• Coleman, R. Brooke
  

 

Combined Heat & Power

Combined heat and power remains a largely untapped market opportunity in the United States and around the world, with opportunities in both residential and commercial/industrial markets. With overall efficiencies reaching 90%, CHP systems are compelling from both an economic and environmental perspective, although overall system costs remain relatively high compared to standard available solutions. This panel will review the status of markets and technologies associated with both residential CHP and larger commercial./industrial CHP systems.

Panelists

• Haber, Stu
  
• Myers, Charlie
  
• Mitchell, Clay
  

Efficiency and Energy Services

Efficiency and energy services have been growing significantly in recent years, with the potential remaining vast and largely untapped. Advances in energy management, energy efficiency and demand response technologies and business models, coupled with advanced time-of-use and other innovative rate structures, are creating whole new markets for innovative clean energy entrepreneurs. This panel will explore the expanded business models being pursued by energy services and efficiency companies to take advantage of this vast untapped market.

Panelists

• Fairman, Helen
  
• Kopans, David
  
• Chapin, Geoff
  
• Diehl, Daniel
  
  

  Energy Storage

  Significant investments on a global scale are pouring into advanced development of energy storage systems, targeting market opportunities in electric and hybrid vehicles as well as the electricity grid. A variety of technologies are being developed to address these challenges, ranging from flow batteries for megawatt scale applications, flywheels for transmission voltage management, lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, and ultra-capacitors for quick energy bursts in transportation and backup power. This panel will review key markets and the status of critical technologies enabling clean energy through advanced energy storage.

  Panelists

  • Baxter, Richard
    
  • Faris, M. "Scott"
    
  • Kepshire, Dax
    
    

    Motive Power & Fork Lifts

    Significant investments have been made to develop hydrogen and fuel cell solutions for transportation, focused principally on fuel cell-based automobiles. Critical challenges include developing competitive priced vehicles, on board hydrogen storage, and the associated hydrogen distribution infrastructure. This panel will review the status of the market and technologies of fuel cell systems used in the fast growing fork lift market as well as other motive power applications.
    

    Panelists

    • Block, Gus
      
    • Brower, Warren
      
    • Moreland, Greg
      
    

    Portable Power

    Portable power applications are creating significant market demand for micro fuel cells and related technologies. With higher power densities and longer run times, fuel cell systems offer significant performance advantages over battery-based energy storage solutions. The consumer markets and applications being pursued include laptops, cell phones and personal digital assistance devices for micro-fuel cells, and portable power electric generators for recreational vehicle and marine applications. In military markets, applications range from radio power, mine sweeping robots, unmanned aerial vehicles, and auxiliary power units for trucks and tanks.

    Panelists

    • Bentley, Jeff
      
    • Merlino, John
      
    • Pearson, Scott A.
      
    • Pomianek, Mike
      
    

    Smart Grid

    Advances in communications and control technologies are being applied to advance the management and effectiveness of the electric grid. Advance in metering technologies are creating opportunities for customers to more effectively manage and lower their electric power costs through automated controls and information systems. This panel will present a number of technologies being applied in advanced metering systems to accelerate the realization of the smart grid from a customer perspective.
    

    Panelists

    • Joyce, John
      
    • Sadan, Nachum
      
    • Gustin, Carl
      
    • Bochman, Andy
      
    

    Solar Energy

    The photovoltaic industry continues to race ahead, with an expanded array of market incentives at both the state and federal levels, driving demand for economic solutions. The investment community sees grid parity approaching, with huge growth potential remaining. Manufacturers and developers have been challenged in recent years, earlier by constrained access to silicon feed stock, limited supply of panels driving up costs, while more recently, a freeze on capital markets stopped good projects dead in their tracks and panel costs dropping precipitously with foreign competitors and a glut of unsold systems on the market. This panel will review the status of markets and technologies that continue to create unheralded business opportunities for manufacturers, developers and investors.
    

    Panelists

    • Dunn, Jim
      
    • Hobson, Chris
      
    • Lund, Craig
      
    • Worden, James
      
    

    Wind Power

    Although there are ample wind resources throughout the United States, and the economics of wind power are generally compelling from an investment perspective, the realization of this potential has been stymied by extensive siting issues and access to cost effective transmission capacity. Near the population centers in the East and the West, the off shore wind resource is extensive, yet no projects have been completed in the United States. This panel will review the business opportunity, technology and development challenges associated with wind, with a special focus on off shore wind.

    Panelists

    • King, Angus
      
    • Rodgers, Mark
      
    • Volpe, Toni
      
    • Watson, Greg