Cathy Zoi – CEO, SunEdison Frontier Power
Joshua Pierce – Co-founder & CTO, Off Grid Electric
Sandhya Hegde – General Partner, Khosla Impact Fund
Brian Warshawsky – COO, Fenix International
Moderator: Lisa Ann Pinkerton – Technica Communications
April 12,2016
Dinner & Networking 6:30-7:30pm; Program 7:30-9:30pm
Sunrun
595 Market Street, Suite 2900, San Francisco, CA 94105
$30 Members; $45 non-members
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What is the current state of the industry?
What are they key customer needs?
What adjacent trends are driving adoption?
What technologies and innovative business models are being implemented?
What are challenges and the key ingredients for a company to capitalize on the opportunity?
What is the current financing environment and what are the sources of capital?
What role can the government play to enable smoother and faster adoption of new solutions?
According to IFC, 1.6 billion on the planet have limited or no access to electricity. They spend almost $37 billion annually on traditional energy sources, primarily kerosene. This is almost 10% of a household’s monthly cash outlays. In addition, indoor air pollution from traditional lighting and cooking fuel results in 800,000 premature deaths and 300 million metric tons of CO2 emissions.
Several innovative technology solutions - e.g. solar and rechargeable lanterns, solar kits, solar and battery nano- and micro-grids are increasingly being adopted as a preferred alternative. In addition to lighting, these solutions are also enabling mobile phone charging and appliances like fans, TVs and water pumps, transforming their lives. Not only they provide a more sustainable alternative, but the opportunity is estimated to be $31 billion. In 2015 alone, this sector attracted $112 million in venture funding.
Please join us for a lively panel discussion with energy access leaders and policy makers as they describe the challenges and opportunities for providing clean and sustainable energy to more than a billion people in developing countries.