Date:  06/30/2009

Time:   6:00 – 9:00 p.m.

Location:   Morrison & Foerster LLP 755 Page Mill Road Palo Alto, CA 94304

Moderator:   Christopher J. Carr

Panelist:   David A. Gold

Contact:   Cheryl Calderon

Contact Phone:  (650)813-5746

Description:  

Clean, renewable sources of energy, such as wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass, have long been viewed as key to solving many of the country’s most vexing energy issues, including climate change and its dependence on foreign oil. Although renewable energy technology has existed for years, many factors have prevented renewable energy from playing a meaningful role in meeting the country and state’s energy needs. The status quo is rapidly changing, as renewable energy has recently seen a huge surge in interest from the investment community. Investors, however, need to be familiar with a complex and changing regulatory and project permitting regime, which can introduce significant delay and cost risks to otherwise attractive projects.

New legal mandates, the increased cost of oil, and recent incentives and funding sources have radically changed the outlook in renewable energy, particularly solar and wind. California’s aggressive Renewable Portfolio Standard requires that by 2010, utilities provide at least 20% of their electricity from renewable sources. This requirement is expected to climb to 33% by 2020. On the funding side, the recent stimulus bill provides more than $60 billion for renewable energy. These changes have led to a recent explosion in investment in renewable energy.

While quickly developing sources of renewable energy enjoys widespread support, the project permitting process raises delay and cost risks for investors. For example, the Department of Energy’s Loan Guarantee Program promises to infuse additional capital, but only for qualifying projects under construction by mid-2011. For renewable energy generators committed to transmitting by 2010 the challenge is even more daunting. Federal and California environmental review and protected species impact permitting and mitigation requirements can impose unpredictable delays and costs on projects. Because of this, careful planning and coordination with the key agencies is essential. Anyone investing in these exciting projects should be familiar with the regulatory regime and strategies for reaching project approval.

Please join us at Morrison & Foerster’s Palo Alto office on June 30 for a discussion that will shed light on these various issues.

For a more detailed description of this event, please visit
VC Taskforce.

Click here to register.

Registration:
$55 VC Taskforce Members
$75 Affiliate Organization Members
$95 Non-VC Taskforce Members
(If space is available, door registration is an additional $10)

Moderator:
Christopher Carr, Partner, Morrison & Foerster

Panelists:
David Gold, Partner, Morrison & Foerster
Puon Penn, Senior Vice President, Wells Fargo Commercial Banking Group
Adam Bergman, Senior Vice President, Jefferies & Company, Inc.