Energy storage clusters driving CA clean tech sector

Publication Date
Author
Barbara Vergetis Lundin
Source
Fierce Energy

Northern California is leveraging its forward-looking policies and innovative clean tech entrepreneurs to drive clean tech innovation and build the state's clean economy, with certain regions carving out specialized niches in the global clean tech sector, according to research from nonpartisan nonprofit Next 10.

For example, the San Francisco Bay region's culture of innovation and entrepreneurship is sparking a revolution in clean transportation and energy storage, with the area leading the nation in electric vehicles and cutting-edge energy storage technologies, according to the group.

In another example, Next 10 outlines how the Sacramento region is embracing clean power, with data showing that residential solar grew sixfold between 2007 and 2013, while incubating a vibrant group of clean tech companies, including a waste-to-energy company that developed the nation's first commercial-scale closed loop anaerobic digester project. The findings also indicate per capita non-residential buildings in the region are not only more energy efficient when compared to the state overall, they're also becoming ever more efficient at a faster rate.

"The Bay Area has an established culture of innovation, along with businesses, investors and a work force that understand the opportunity clean tech presents. This helps drive the region's clean economy," said Doug Henton, chairman and CEO of Collaborative Economics, which compiled the reports for Next 10.

Bay Area companies attracted more than half of the state's clean technology venture capital in recent years and is home to leading universities and national labs that help clean technology companies access the research and development infrastructure needed to commercialize innovation -- leading to a clustering effect in clean technology.

For example, the Bay Area has one of the largest concentrations of energy storage companies in the world. The connections among these companies and the region's research universities, national labs, and clean technology community drive innovation and make the Bay Area different.

Progressive local policies as well as public-private partnerships are also drivers of the clean tech sector. For example, Bay Area municipal governments launched Bay Area Charge Ahead, a public-private project aimed at deploying 152 charge ports for electric vehicles to the region. Partnerships like this one is, in part, why the Bay Area was home to 11 percent of all the plug-in electric vehicles in the United States by the end of 2013. The region also enjoys the highest per capita adoption rate of EVs nationally.

In the Sacramento area, the Sacramento Municipal Utilities District (SMUD) is identified as a catalyst for growing the clean energy economy due to its 20 percent renewable portfolio standard, a special rate program for electric vehicle drivers, and a $300 million smart grid project.