July 2009

M.J. Beck Consulting is please to announce its affiliation with the NYC Accelerator for a Clean and Renewable Economy (ACRE). M.J. Beck will has taken office space in the ACRE facility at 160 Varick St in New York City.

NYC ACRE helps clean technology and renewable energy companies in New York City grow, advancing the City as a role model for environmental sustainability and smart growth. NYC ACRE is seeded by a four year, $1.6M grant from the New York State Energy and Research Development Authority (NYSERDA) to NYU-Poly aimed at growing an ecosystem of entrepreneurs, international companies, and innovative local businesses that are providing solutions to climate and energy issues while growing the cleantech/renewable energy sector and creating jobs in NYC.

June 10th, 2009

Jonathan McClelland, Director in M.J. Beck's New York Office spoke on Renewable Portfolio Standards at the Deutsche Bank Alternative Energy Conference in Washington D.C. on June 10th 2009. Jonathan appeared on a panel focused on 'traditional' approaches to alternate energy with;

• Doug Arent, Director, Energy Analysis Center - National Renewable Energy Laboratory
• Donald Paul, Executive Director - USC Energy Institute
• Frank Kelly, Head of Government Affairs - Deutsche Bank
  

The panel was moderated by Adam Sieminski, Chief Energy Economist of Deutsche Bank. Jonathan gave an overview of the current State RPS programs, commenting on their diversity, complexity and relative impact on renewable energy investment. He also gave an analysis of the impact of a national standard, the size of a REC market ($ billions) and the fundamentals underlying long term REC prices.

Mike Beck, Managing Director at M.J. Beck Consulting (MJB) yesterday spoke at a gathering in Boston of the Basic Industries Group. The presentation gave MJB's analysis of trends and impacts of infrastructure investments in the electric utility sector resulting from the current financial and economic crises as well as the recently passed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

Significant investment spending in the electric utility sector currently has significant support from many constituencies. There is however a price to pay for these investments and, long-term, the electric utility business model will come under increasing pressure. The presentation provided an opportunity for attendees to hear and ask questions about the factors and forces creating these challenges and the need for re-thinking the current business model.

For a copy of the presentation, please contact us here at M.J. Beck Consulting.

The Basic Industries Group can be found at www.thebasicindustries.com

M.J. Beck Consulting is now on Twitter. As part of M.J. Beck's ongoing Social Media experiment, Jonathan McClelland is writing for the Twitter page 'EnergyThoughts' . It gives daily insights into the power industry and wider energy sector. Anyone can sign up to follow the 'tweets' by visiting:

www.twitter.com/energythoughts