Golden Horseshoe Venture Forum (GHVF): Going Green Is Good

golden horseshoe venture forum

June 1st was the last Golden Horseshoe Venture Forum before the summer break (next one is October 5th) and it was excellent in terms of speakers and content. This session was entirely dedicated to going green. As many of you know, the environmental space is one we at VA Partners are very passionate about and believe that there are significant opportunities for developing more sustainable economic growth models.

It was very timely as well especially in light of the Japanese nuclear disaster, Germany’s announcement to move to a non-nuclear future, the latest sets of stats that indicated that the Arctic ice caps are melting much faster than anticipated and that our carbon output levels are at record highs; of course locally, that Tim Hudak, leader of the Ontario Provincial Conservatives, indicated that he would make some major changes to the Green Energy Act in Ontario.

For this latest event, we had the pleasure of having Jeff Jenner, President of Sprott Power deliver the keynote. Sprott Power Corp. (“SPC”) is a Canadian company dedicated and committed to the development, owning and operating of renewable energy projects by utilizing the best available wind, water and solar technologies.

Jeff spoke to us about economics of going and being green and provided some insight into the significant myths about renewable energy in Canada and globally. It was encouraging to see that in Canada, the amount of CAPEX put into wind projects in 2011 equals the amount of investment that was put in automotive sector for the same time period. One stat that I found amazing was the amount of investment in renewable energy projects globally – over $240 Billion while the oil sands was approximately $23 Billion. What this means is that renewable energy is not a cottage industry and when all factors are taken into account, it is getting more and more competitive every day with the traditional mix (oil, gas, coal, nuclear). As a firm that has clients in this space, we can attest to the growth aspects and interest levels being expressed in these green” technologies.

The three featured firms at the event included:Featured Firms at the event included:

Greentelligence

A provider of carbon tracking and management software.

What was great about all three firms is their commitment to the renewables space and that they each had distinct core value propositions that they were able to articulate. Greentelligence helps small to mid sized firms understand, track and manage their carbon footprint going forward. The key to reducing your carbon footprint is to first understand what comprises it and then undertake measures to help reduce it.

Inovus Solar

A provider of solar street light solutions.

Inovus has developed a very unique on grid or off-grid replacement to the conventional street light. Their solution has the light post wrapped with a solar film. This removes the top hat normally seen with other solar street lights and also delivers a very good ROI of between five and seven years.

AGRIS Solar

An independent, agricultural co-operative focused on direct participation in small solar energy generation for farm and rural Ontario.

AGRIS Solar has zeroed in on the agricultural solar PV market in Ontario and is a developer and manager of farm based, small solar PV systems following a co-operative model. They enable farmers to get involved in the green energy space in a low risk and cost way and also benefit by securing a new and fixed income stream for the next 20 years.

This session emphasized that there is a considerable amount of activity and investment being put into renewables both here and abroad. It also highlighted that we are in the process of a shift with respect to energy policy – and a good shift it is. This shift will lead to a more sustainable environment and create jobs at the same time.

Golden Horseshoe Venture Forum (GHVF): Going Green Is Good