Renewable Energy Partnering & Investment Forum

Strategic Partnering for Early-Stage Investment

June 24, 2019

Adequate capitalization and innovative strategies are integral parts of the development of new technologies. This forum is designed for organizations interested in developing partnerships on the path to commercialization. The presentations and panel discussions will provide insight into what investors and government funding agencies look for. In addition, companies will also have a platform to present their latest data and enable them to develop partnerships in their efforts to achieve success. This is a unique opportunity to network with the complete innovation ecosystem, from principal scientists and manufacturers to public and private investors. In addition to presentations and panel discussions, the symposium is also designed to provide opportunities for one-on-one meetings that will allow for in-depth conversations and next-steps.

Final Agenda

Monday, June 24

7:00 am Partnering Forum Registration & Morning Coffee

8:15 Chairperson’s Opening Remarks

J. Norman Allen, CTO, NanoFlex Power Corporation

8:20 Achieving Breakthrough Success in the Battery Value Chain

David Jacoby, President, Boston Strategies International

Scaling a battery venture often depends on strong strategic and financial partnerships. How can you tap into value chains that maximize the value of your product or solution and successfully negotiate strategic partnerships in that channel? Explore case studies of extended value chain strategies and the associated financial events – VC, private equity, M&A, etc. – that have accelerated certain companies’ paths to success in the battery supply chain. Learn the channel strategies that can make your company attractive to partners, and the criteria that investors use to evaluate your company and your growth strategy.

8:35 Opportunity in Energy Technology Ventures

Ricardo Angel, Managing Director, GE Energy Ventures

Mr. Angel leads venture capital investing origination for the business unit and for Energy Technology Ventures, a joint venture formed by GE, NRG Energy, Inc. and ConocoPhillips focused on investing in emerging energy technology companies. GE Energy Ventures and Energy Technology Ventures seek investment opportunities across the energy value chain, including renewables, power infrastructure and oil & gas technologies. The venture capital group is one of the most active investors in energy technology markets, with a presence in San Francisco, Boston and Tel Aviv.

8:50 Approaches to Vehicle Energy Storage and Barriers to Commercialization

Aron Newman, Contractor, Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E), U.S. Department of Energy*

The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) advances high-potential, high-impact energy technologies that are too early for private-sector investment. Many of the projects making up ARPA-E’s IONICS and REFUEL programs are developing technologies for next-generation vehicle energy storage based on lithium metal batteries and carbon neutral liquid fuel (CNLF), respectively. This presentation will also discuss barriers to commercialization that includes challenges with technology development, funding, and consumer acceptance. Additional Authors: Grigorii Soloveichik, Madhav Acharya, and Mark Pouy.

9:05 Q&A

10:00 Networking Coffee Break & One on One Partnering Meetings

11:00 Charging as Fast as Refueling a Gas Car

Robert A. Rango, CEO, Enevate Corporation

Extreme fast charging batteries with high energy density can help break down barriers to higher EV adoption. Enevate develops and licenses a silicon-dominant anode cell technologies that enables 10X faster charging without compromising the EV range or energy densities, operates at low temperatures, and has increased safety. Such extreme fast charging batteries also enables lower cost EVs that fit in daily driving use.

11:15 Creating a More Efficient, Safer, Greener, and Easily Manufactured Solid-State Battery

Freidoon Rastegar, PhD, CEO, Solid State Battery, Inc.

Solid State Battery Incorporated in October 2017 in Los Angeles. The company has successfully developed a patent-pending solid-state electrolyte for lithium-ion batteries. New material lends itself to large area Battery configuration by replacing liquid electrolyte with developed Nanocomposite polymer.

11:30 The Role of Newer Higher Specific Energy Photovoltaics in Reducing Solar Packaging Weight in Vehicles, Solar Portable Battery Charging, and Energy Harvesting Microscale IoT Sensors

J. Norman Allen, CTO, NanoFlex Power Corporation

NanoFlex is developing advanced thin film GaAs solar and Organic Photovoltaics. NanoFlex has a large contract with the US Army to develop its thin film GaAs solar for soldier use. This technology can also have application on vehicles and IoT applications.

11:45 Q&A

12:30 pm One on One Partnering Meetings – Lunch on Your Own

2:10 Chairperson’s Remarks

David Deak, PhD, President, Marbex LLC, formerly of Lithium Americas Corp, and Tesla, Inc.

2:15 Ionic Materials: Opportunities in Solid State

Erik Terjesen, Senior Director, Licensing and Strategy, Ionic Materials

Ionic’s polymer electrolyte represents a major breakthrough in battery technology. By enabling the creation of batteries that are safer, cheaper, and higher performance than the current state-of-the-art, Ionic’s polymer electrolyte shatters the traditional battery design paradigm, under which safety, cost, and performance must generally be traded off against one another. We are excited to bring this technology to market with core partners in the battery industry.

2:35 Modular Energy Storage Systems in Grid and Alternative Energy Applications

Jerry Hoffman, President, Hoffman Capital and Development

This presentation will cover why energy storage makes sense in these systems, the technology changes making these systems meaningful and the roadblocks to implementing these systems. In addition, the economics and the projected time plan for implementation will be discussed.

2:55 Q&A

3:15 Refreshment Break

3:35 Future Investment Outlook Non-Passenger Electrified-Vehicle Market Expansion and Broad Penetration of High Power Charging Infrastructure Development

Joshua Posamentier, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Congruent Ventures

In this presentation, areas of future investment interest around non-passenger electrified-vehicle market expansion and broad penetration of high power charging infrastructure development will be discussed. What battery and balance-of-system technology needs do other EV segments drive in terms of performance and capability requirements? New solutions are needed that expand the capabilities of mobile energy storage while maintaining or improving durability, cost, and safety.

3:55 The Hidden Benefits of New Technological Advances in Energy Storage

Fernando Gómez-Baquero, PhD, CEO, BESSTECH, LLC

Emerging technologies are sometimes seen as too complex or outside of manufacturing norm. But changing manufacturing in some capacity is absolutely necessary to enable accelerated performance increases. In this talk I give examples of “hidden” benefits of emerging energy storage technologies, that seem difficult to adopt but once adopted could increase the effective utilization of the current slurry lines, reduce the costs of chemical processing, and even double plant output. Looking at these benefits, technological advances might seem less daunting and more like real opportunities that are readily scalable.

4:15 PANEL DISCUSSION: Partnering & Investing on the Convergence of Mobility, Artificial Intelligence, Energy Storage & Renewable Energies

Moderator: Joshua Posamentier, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Congruent Ventures

Panelists: David Jacoby, President, Boston Strategies International

Fernando Gómez-Baquero, PhD, CEO, BESSTECH LLC

Jarvis Tou, Executive Vice President, Enevate

David Deak, PhD, President, Marbex LLC, formerly of Lithium Americas Corp, and Tesla, Inc.

By 2030 it is predicted that 95 percent of US passenger miles will be served by on-demand autonomous EVs owned by fleets in a business model dubbed “transport-as-a-service” (TaaS), whose market size is expected to exceed $120 billion by 2025. Discover what VCs look for in funding companies and new business strategies in a TaaS based economy and how to ready your company to participate in the upcoming mobility disruption.

5:20 Close of Partnering Forum

* The program is subject to change without notice, due to unforeseen reason.

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