Clean & Cool in Silicon Valley

No, I’m not referring to the next leg of my journey – to Japan to meet with some of our battery collaborators – but to our excellent visit to electric vehicle services company Better Place in Palo Alto. We met with five of their executives, including Karen Alter (VP, Marketing) and Hugh McDermott (Global Utilities and Energy).

At the San Francisco Mayor’s Office, I’m learning more about the investment climate here in the US, and in particular the clean technologies attracting investment.  In general, venture funds continued to seek out and invest significant sums in opportunities during 2009, although the pace and scale of investment had slowed a little from previous years.

The three leading investment areas for the first quarter of 2009 were: solar, biofuels and advanced batteries, with more than 17 green investment companies operating in the SF area alone.

The US Government, in common with many others globally, is allocating historic amounts of capital to clean technologies. San Francisco is leading the way, with the largest municipal program to incentivise a switch to solar power. Residential incentives can be as high as $7000 for low income households, up to $10000 for businesses, and not-for-profit organisations have no cap on the incentives which run at $1500/kW.

Our party went to the Orrick offices at Menlo Park to meet with a group of 16 investors. Each company gave a five minute pitch on who they were, what they were doing, why it is important / different, and future funding requirements. The input we had received the day before from the master class was put into practice. I was impressed by the breadth and depth of technologies and business plans on show. I think useful contacts were made and several follow up meetings have subsequently been arranged.

Later we went to the offices of engineering consultants Arup to hear about San Francisco’s plans to redevelop the former air base known as Treasure Island. The intention is to use the opportunity to demonstrate green and sustainable technologies, infrastructure, and living. It is an ambitious project involving as many as 13,500 new residents and nearly 300 acres of parks.

Day one of our formal schedule, and it’s clear that this trip will be good value to UK plc, being partly subsidised by US companies interested in what we’re up to. First stop: the legendary HP Labs at Palo Alto, followed by a short trip south-east to Sunnyvale to meet with Serious Materials.

We start with a couple of hours of ‘master class’ briefings designed to hone our skills in communicating with potential investors, legal organizations, technology partners and so on. The sessions are fascinating and boost our confidence as we know we’re communicating in the same language as our contacts in the US. Certainly not as Churchill said: “Two nations divided by a common language”.

So we have arrived. We assembled as instructed after clearing immigration and customs and were whisked away to our small hotel close to the waterfront. After a few hours to unpack and freshen up, missionaries gathered for a briefing and welcome from our hosts. The weather is cold but the welcome was warm. Oli Barrett made the necessary introductions and we quickly got down to exchanging expectations and hopes for the week. A few glasses later and participants were discussing technical challenges, business models, the role of government and schedules for the week. Despite the fact that it was early morning UK time, everyone was pumped up and wanting to make the most of the opportunity.