SMUD 2030 Board Meeting

SMUD 2030 Board Meeting

SMUD voted to approve their 2030 plan.

Make sure you read the Full Plan and Connect with SMUD.

Here is the full board meeting Presentation


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Thomas is the Executive Director of CleanStart. Thomas has a strong background in supporting small businesses, leadership, financial management and is proficient in working with nonprofits. He has a BS in Finance and a BA in Economics from California State University, Chico. Thomas has a passion for sustainability and a commitment to supporting non-profits in the region.

CleanStart Sponsors

Weintraub | Tobin, Moss Adams, River City Bank, GreenbergTraurig

BlueTech Valley, PowerSoft.biz, Revrnt, Synbyo, Califronia Mobility Center

GM Backs a Third Entrant in Battery Race

GM Backs a Third Entrant in Battery Race

GM recently led a $139 million Series D investment round for Singapore-based SES (formerly Solid Energy Systems) to advance its thin lithium metal anode battery.  It joins the race to get to 500+ Wh/kg with an ability to charge to 80% in 15 minutes, go for 1000+ cycles, and cost under $80/kWh.   GM is the third major automaker to back a battery technology company in order to get a proprietary edge in the convenience and safety of a menu of new EVs.  Ford along with Hyundai and others has invested $26 million in Colorado-based Solid Power which uses a lithium-metal anode and a solid-state electrolyte.  VW has invested a fresh $100 million into San Jose-based QuantumScape with its lithium-free, ceramic separator-based technology.   And of course, Tesla has made a major bet based on its new technology from a Canadian research group.  SES captures the competitive landscape in an interesting graphic below.  

You can read more on the SES announcement here.  

Personal Note:  Fifteen years ago, at all the energy storage conferences, the consensus was that batteries were never going to do better than 180 Wh/kg.  It was almost a given.  That spurred a great deal of interest in fuel cells as an alternate and higher energy-dense way to create a rechargeable power pack.  How things have changed. 

Thomas Hall

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gary Simon is the Chair of CleanStarts Board. A seasoned energy executive and entrepreneur with 45 years of experience in business, government, and non-profits.

CleanStart Sponsors

Weintraub | TobinBlueTech Valley, Revrnt, 

Moss AdamsPowerSoft.biz, Greenberg Traurig, Momentum,

College of Engineering & Computer Science at Sacramento State

Podcaster Lloyed Lobo Makes Learning Entrepreneurship Fun and Free

Podcaster Lloyed Lobo Makes Learning Entrepreneurship Fun and Free

Somehow Lloyed started bombarding my inbox with offers to join his many podcasts on how to be a better entrepreneur—and I am glad he did.  You may want to get on board, too.

Lloyed is a software guy in the Bay Area with significant accomplishments in building SaaS companies.  In 2012 he launched Boast.ai focused on helping startups get R&D tax credits and other tax incentives.  Now he has gone far beyond that and become the impresario for a huge bench of speakers that provide insights on starting, building, and funding a business.  I have been watching these podcasts for a while now and I find them engaging, informal, funny and useful.

These are not focused on cleantech, but on the basics for all startups.  They each run for an hour or less.  His guests are engaging, easy to understand, and informative.  If you are looking for advice on topics that apply to all startups, tune into Lloyed’s YouTube archive and browse through the topics offered there.

He also runs a small fund, mostly to invest in other SaaS companies.  Here is a link to his most recent promo if you think you might be a fit or could use some of his financial tools noted on this site.   

Thomas Hall

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gary Simon is the Chair of CleanStarts Board. A seasoned energy executive and entrepreneur with 45 years of experience in business, government, and non-profits.

CleanStart Sponsors

Weintraub | TobinBlueTech Valley, Revrnt, 

Moss AdamsPowerSoft.biz, Greenberg Traurig, Momentum,

College of Engineering & Computer Science at Sacramento State

Importance of Security in Cleantech

Importance of Security in Cleantech

Cleantech is part of the Energy Industry, a critical part of the US infrastructure, and keeping it current is a central part of upcoming legislation. Legislation that most likely will give preference to cleantech. Because of this, there are significant institutions and rules concerned with the Security of the industry.  Security regarding attacks, espionage, and personal data. If you are building a solution or product to work with this growing area, you need to take steps now to ensure your product complies.  It will keep opportunities to work with Utilities like SMUD, System operators, and behind-the-meter residential open to you. 

We have talked about it before with SMUD’s Director of Cybersecurity and Chief Information Security Officer, Antoin Jacobs.  We want to highlight that, like legal and accounting, Security is critical to winning growth opportunities. We talked with GridSME’s CEO John Frazino about what companies need to consider. Frazino highlighted that it is not just security of passwords but also security in the procurement, networking devices, and controllers.  If you are looking at hardware and just go with the cheapest vendor, you risk not complying with security audits.  Cheap solutions from countries designated as foreign adversaries will exclude your company from competing for proposals from pretty much anyone.

Knowing your vendor’s security efforts, documenting yours, and being vigilant is just the start of wise precautions to take. SMUD addresses security proactively with authority given to teams enabling them to force requirements.  With SMUD looking behind the meter, with their “Bring your own device” proposal (See SMUD Zero Emissions Proposal), I can pretty much guarantee there will be additional security rules protecting ratepayers’ information.  Meaning when building any solution, companies will be scrutinized to prove they are taking proper security steps.

All of these security measures are directly impacted by federal rules and regulations.  It is essential to have a team with current knowledge of them.  CleanStart supporter MossAdams has experience in Energy, Accounting, AND Security.  We are also putting on a CleanStart Perspectives, April 8th, with GridSME, who consult heavily on everything related to the Electric Grid, including Security.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Thomas is the Executive Director of CleanStart. Thomas has a strong background in supporting small businesses, leadership, financial management and is proficient in working with nonprofits. He has a BS in Finance and a BA in Economics from California State University, Chico. Thomas has a passion for sustainability and a commitment to supporting non-profits in the region.

CleanStart Sponsors

Weintraub | Tobin, Moss Adams, River City Bank, GreenbergTraurig

BlueTech Valley, PowerSoft.biz, Revrnt, Synbyo, Califronia Mobility Center

CR Flight for the Long Haul

CR Flight for the Long Haul

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (“drones”) have become very popular, not just with hobbyists but also with businesses and government agencies.  P&GE is looking at drones to inspect aging power infrastructure.  Communities use them for surveying land.  There are more and more applications for drones every day.  But one of the things holding back more development is the durability of the motors and the duration of the flights.  We have seen increases in flying time through motor efficiency, but operators still struggle with the durability required for a constantly operating motor. 

The free spining Armatur and rotor from CR Flight

So they took on the challenge and solved it by creating a Rotary Transformer which can basically double the output power, or increase thrust or load efficiency by 30% of any motor, generator, wind turbine, HVAC, etc. The durability of the rotary transformer even surprised them.  The counter-rotating parts produce several benefits.  Two blades on one motor mean the blades and bearing can spin slower, also, the bearings are not stationary enabling them to be cooled better. With the rotor and armature freely spinning creating a much cooler motor and there is no torque going into the motor’s mount. All of these combine to increase durability (longer motor life) and reduce weight significantly as you can use a much smaller motor to do the job.

Enter Start-Up CR Flight, which has developed a Rotary Transformer® creating smaller, more durable motors (1000 hrs), that will enable longer flights, using a clever design for powering counter-rotating props.  Founders Dr. James Richey, Jonathan Emigh, and Randy Wishart came together to work on Wishart’s idea of the motor where both the rotor and the stator rotated (making the stator into an armature). One prop is fixed to each, eliminating the need for a second motor to achieve the added lift with a second prop.  Emigh saw that it would not only produce more lift but also be more durable.  They validated the design with a crude prototype but realized they needed to be able to deliver power to the moving rotor, more than current slip ring manufacturers had solutions for.

The free spining Armatur and rotor from CR Flight

CR’s biggest challenge has been in increasing the understanding of what their Rotary Transformer Technology can do with any motor. The tests for standard motors show their max power, even though they can only run at 40-50% power without burning up. With their CR Flight Rotary Transformer design, they can pull much more power from the same motor and stay cool. They rate their motors on what they can run all day long, not what their max power is.  They need to demonstrate to customers directly to showcase well what they have achieved. 

CR flight has developed and tested 3 motors in conjunction with the Rotary Transformer in this setup and is looking to go bigger.  Once more customers understand the gains CR Flight has made in thrust efficiency, flight time, and durability, sales hopefully will soar. 

Check out more from CR flight.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Thomas is the Executive Director of CleanStart. Thomas has a strong background in supporting small businesses, leadership, financial management and is proficient in working with nonprofits. He has a BS in Finance and a BA in Economics from California State University, Chico. Thomas has a passion for sustainability and a commitment to supporting non-profits in the region.

CleanStart Sponsors

Weintraub | Tobin, Moss Adams, River City Bank, GreenbergTraurig

BlueTech Valley, PowerSoft.biz, Revrnt, Synbyo, Califronia Mobility Center