August 16th, 2010 at 10:33 pm by admin
Grid Parity for Solar Energy?
An interesting report on where solar energy costs are going (see below link).
Since my entry into the world of solar energy I have witnessed a 50% drop in the cost per watt to install a utility sized solar energy system. This drop has occurred over a period of 5 years. With the growing demand for clean energy I expect that we will continue to see the basic principles of supply and demand continue to force down the cost to install a solar energy system. Many industry experts are predicting “Grid Parity” in the coming decade. I tend to agree and will have more on this in a future blog.
Full story featured on:
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August 11th, 2010 at 8:43 pm by admin
Ontario is quickly becoming the new hub for green energy manufacturers and power producers. See article from Toronto Star:
http://www.thestar.com/business/article/846743–guelph-gets-new-solar-panel-plant
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August 3rd, 2010 at 9:19 pm by admin
Interesting article on the marriage of solar pv power system and the Tesla Roadster.
The idea of using solar panels to power our automobiles sounds like science fiction to most but the article found via the link below will provide some hard data on why this is not the case.
http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/pvev-we%E2%80%99re-getting-72-miles-day-sunlight-or-72-mps
July 15th, 2010 at 8:21 pm by admin
Ontario poised to be the world’s next leading solar market
Recent announcement of FIT Contracts issued by the OPA are pointing to a very robust solar market in Ontario. Hundreds of contracts have been awarded and the FIT program is off to a great start.
More information can be found at: http://www.powerauthority.on.ca/
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September 14th, 2009 at 7:58 pm by admin
I was recently interviewed by financial advisor John Klotz. John Klotz is the founder of Toronto Talks Radio presents “Money Talks Media”, a bi-weekly series dedicated to hearing from the experts in and around the GTA. Hosted by John Klotz, chair of the popular Toronto Talks speaking series (www.TorontoTalks.org)
Paul Ghezzi and Solar Income Fund Interview (click to listen)
This is a one-half hour interview and provides an overview of the Solar Income Fund LP.
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September 9th, 2009 at 4:27 pm by admin
The Globe and Mail ran an introduction of the Solar Income Fund LP today. The article gives a good overall picture of the Fund.
Here is a link to the full article: http://tinyurl.com/globeandmail-solarfund
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September 3rd, 2009 at 2:44 pm by admin
After 18 months in the making I am pleased to announce that the Solar Income Fund LP will be launching in September, 2009 across Canada. It’s been a long journey to get to this point but very rewarding on many levels. Investing in green energy infrastructure, backed by generous government incentives, will provide an opportunity for investors to further diversify their portfolios and to participate in one of the major investment trends of the coming decade.
The Solar Income Fund LP (the “Fund”) provides Canadian Accredited Investors with a unique opportunity to own secure and stable income generating investments in the Solar Photovoltaic (“solar PV”) energy power generation sector. The Fund seeks to take advantage of the long term government-backed incentives, in the form of guaranteed energy Feed-in-Tariffs and 20 year Power Purchase Agreements. Investors will have the opportunity to generate both Green Income and Green Tax Deductions. The Solar Income Fund LP also presents investors with a Socially Responsible & Green Investment alternative to traditional energy and mining flow-through shares.
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August 30th, 2009 at 4:52 pm by admin
I will be speaking at the next WIN&NIM conference on September 30th on the topic of the “Green Energy Boom”. I dont speak as much as I would like to these days (too much time travelling and in the office) so any chance I get to share the green energy message with an audience is exciting.
Public markets remain full of uncertainty when it comes to green investing but the private infrastructure opportunity is just getting started in North America. For the past decade Europe has been leading the way, but this is about to change. While we can debate the economics and true cost of moving to green versus keeping with status quo, it is clear that government policy is moving towards green energy. If you would like to join us, in Toronto, for an evening of green energy discussion visit:
WIN & NIM
http://winandnim.ca/index.htm
The Faculty Club, University of Toronto
41 Willcocks Street
Toronto, ON M5S 1C7
Wednesday – September 30, 2009
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August 9th, 2009 at 5:39 pm by admin
German solar PV Market leading the way: one of five householders are thinking about solar PV
Germany has been leading the way towards a healthy solar energy market for some years now. Despite the global economic crisis and a decreasing feed-in tariff, the German market has been reporting growth figures of around 20 to 30 % per year, and solar energy companies in Germany are reasonably optimistic about the near future, SolarPlaza.com, an independent global marketplace for photovoltaic solar energy reports in a press release.
German installers certainly have sufficient reason to be optimistic with lower prices for solar energy systems sparking new consumer interest. According to the results of the the solar industry association BSW-Solar’s recent business climate index, solar companies’ commercial expectations are at their highest level since measurement began back in 2005.
More information can be found at: http://www.globaldemandconference.com
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April 24th, 2009 at 3:09 pm by admin
Welcome to the “Green Wealth Blog”.
Creating wealth for the individual in a way that also benefits society is no longer a fringe concept. I believe that the trend of aligning our core values with our investments is just getting started. Socially Responsible Investing and Green Investing will become part of our collective investment consciousness in the decade to come (and this is a good thing).
Socially Responsible Investing is a broad definition for an investment strategy which seeks to maximize both financial returns and the impact on the social good. Green Investing is considered a subset of socially responsible investing and is focused on improving the environment, reducing C02 emissions or developing clean, renewable energy sources.
When you make a socially responsible or green investment, you act with both your principles and wealth in mind. Recent studies show that the majority of investors would like to growth their wealth in a manner congruent with creating a sustainable future.
If you are one of those individuals, choose to stay informed by subscribing to our RSS feed above…
May 28th, 2009 at 6:20 pm by admin
Photovoltaic (“PV”) is a marriage of two words: ‘photo’, from Greek roots, meaning light, and ‘voltaic’, from ‘volt’, which is the unit used to measure electric potential at a given point.
Solar PV is emerging as a major power source due to its numerous environmental and economic benefits. Germany is one of the world’s leaders in installed Solar PV energy systems.
This image is a picture I took of a commercial rooftop Solar PV installation in Germany. I believe that Germany is approximately 5 years ahead of North America in its deployment of Solar PV technology (for a number of reasons which I will explain in future posts).
For a more detailed description of Solar Energy technology click on the link below:
What is Solar PV?
June 1st, 2009 at 9:38 pm by admin
The way to a ‘Greener’ planet is through the capital system, not around it. While this may be a bitter pill for our colleagues on the left of this argument to swallow, this is the reality of our current economic system. Capital follows returns (it always has and it always will) and is attracted to clarity. Aligning personal gain with societal benefit is made possible when individuals are allowed to profit from their risk taking and governments make clear the rules of the game. While capitalism is not always efficient it is, in the long run, the most effective economic system.
Take for example the green energy industry in Germany versus Italy:
While Germany has made it very clear on how investors can participate in the ownership of energy production assets, Italy remains a murky zone for new investment dollars. In my European travels it is abundantly clear that Germany will attract investment dollars at the expense of other EU countries who do not provide a clear and transparent platform for investors. Germany is capital friendly while Italy remains mired somewhere between local and state politics. While financial returns can be easily modelled in Germany, returns generated by investing in Italian green energy assets is difficult to model because of multiple uncertainties.
One of the questions I am most often asked is, “Why don’t you create solar farms in Ontario or Canada?”. My answer is always the same, “The rules of the game have not been clarified and I don’t know what kind of returns we could potentially generate for investors. If I can’t speak to both of these issues what investor would ever committ to parting with their capital?”
We are in the very early innings of the green energy boom and perhaps those countries leading the charge will be models for those lagging behind. Capital seeking returns will likely ensure that this happens.
June 10th, 2009 at 2:48 pm by admin
While many sectors of the economy struggle to find their footing in a very challenging recession, green energy power production continues to shine brightly (pardon the pun). That’s because many governments around the world are supporting green energy power production (wind, solar, other) with various forms of subsidises. The primary reason is to meet global carbon reduction standards and to spur enough investment in the short term to create ‘grid-parity’ for renewable energies in the long term. The Obama administration has recently floated the figures of up to $150 Billion in incentives for green energy power producers. This follows the lead of many European nations such as Germany, France and Spain. Canada may soon be joining the rest of the world with a clear renewable energy policy (we hope).
Investors have two macro choices in terms of investing in green energy production 1) Public Stock 2) Private Ownership. While public stock offers the highest form of liquidity (in most cases) it is also an asset class that can move in and out of favor very quickly in a volatile stock market. The old adage of ‘throwing the baby out with the bath water’ is true of high quality green energy stocks in relation to the entire stock market. Private ownership of green energy producing assets offers greater stability and security but is not as easily bought and sold relative to public stocks.
What should investors look for in both a public and private green energy power production investment?
1) Get paid to wait – high dividend yields or income distributions are always important
2) Choose stable and secure revenue generating or power producing investments/assets
3) Look for strong management team who can deliver on their targets
4) Avoid speculating on unproven technology
5) Select those green energy sectors supported by government policy and government subsidies
Perhaps, in the end, a combination of both public stock and private ownership will work best for most investors but this comes down to the individual. Each individual investor needs to do their own homework.
The Green Energy Boom is just beginning….Are you participating?
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June 14th, 2009 at 6:57 pm by admin
It is estimated that up to 50% of power generation is lost in transmission across aging and overwhelmed global energy infrastructure. More power production, including green power production, cannot be the sole solution to our ever increasing need for energy. We need a Smart Grid system which can better distribute, transmit and manage energy flow and use.
The basic concept of a Smart Grid is to move rapidly aging and inefficient energy infrastructure into the 21st century. Just like the move from dial-up to high speed broadband has changed the way most of us communicate, in every facet of our lives, a Smart Grid will change the way we manage and consume energy. A Smart Grid will allow utilities to move electricity around the energy system as efficiently and economically as possible. It will also allow consumers to use (consume) energy as efficiently and economically as possible.
A Smart Grid builds on many of the technologies already in place but with additional emphasis on enhanced communication, control and management systems. Which companies are making big bets for a Smarter Grid? How about Google, CISCO, IBM and GE for starters. That’s right, big tech companies get it. Just like they helped transform the Internet (and communication landscape) over the past ten years, they are betting that they are going to reap billions of dollars by changing the energy landscape over the next ten years.
My personal view is that if these leading technology companies, and others, can save the global community hundreds of billions of dollars in energy costs and help reduce CO2 emissions, they should be rewarded (along with their shareholders). Aligning corporate interests with shareholder interests and community interests is ”Green Capitalism” at its best.Smart Grid = more green jobs, more efficient energy transmission, more efficient energy usage, less Co2 and more energy savings.
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June 28th, 2009 at 2:14 pm by admin
According to the United Nations Energy Programme 2008 was a milestone year for Renewable Energy Investment. According to their most recent report $140 Billion went into renewables worldwide in 2008, while $110 Billion went into fossil fuels.
Is this the beginning of a new trend or a one year wonder?
Visit the United Nations Energy Programme website for the full report:
http://www.unep.org/publications/search/pub_details_s.asp?ID=4028
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July 13th, 2009 at 8:52 pm by admin
A very interesting report from the Fifth Estate on why Germany is the world’s leader in renewable energies and why Canada is lagging so far behind. I found the report to be both balanced and insightful. Well worth the 45 minutes.
http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/2008-2009/the_gospel_of_green/video.html
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July 27th, 2009 at 12:42 pm by admin
It appears that Ontarians are warming up to the idea of solar parks. Solar parks have been very successful in Europe, in addition to solar rooftop installations, as a solution to increasing renewable energy production.
OTTAWA July 23, 2009 – With the Green Energy and Green Economy Act and the announcement of new Feed in Tariffs pending, the Canadian Solar Industries Association and the Gandalf Group went to Ontarians to hear what they think of solar and are pleased to report that a majority support solar and solar development on farms as an option for clean energy…..See the full news release by visiting the CANSIA website:
http://www.cansia.ca/
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August 25th, 2010 at 11:35 am by admin
A link to a summary on the benfits of large scale solar energy use for the Province of Ontario.
http://www.queensu.ca/news/articles/governments-should-support-solar-power-manufacturing-study
