Breakfast Briefing: Unleashing Finance so the Microgrid Sector Can Scale

Wednesday, September 6, 2017 | 08:00 - 09:00

Project developers spend significant amounts of time chasing funding. Financiers spend significant amounts of time trying to source deals that are investable. The process is complex, opaque, and costly. And it is clear that microgrid project economics must continue to improve to make this easier.

This session will discuss an online platform designed to help developers hone the economics of their projects with state-of-the-art software planning tools; implement streamlined, competitive hardware procurement; and identify and interact with investors interested in what they have to offer. The speakers will demonstrate the platform for microgrid project developers, vendors, and financiers, and then engage in a discussion about how the Odyssey tool can continue to be helpful to the sector.

    microgrids expert
    Cathy Zoi
    Co-Founder and President
    ODYSSEY

    Cathy Zoi is co-founder and President of ODYSSEY, a start-up business helping to bring distributed, renewable electricity to communities and businesses in emerging economies. Previously, Cathy served in the Obama Administration as Assistant Secretary and Acting Under Secretary of Energy where she oversaw more than $30 billion in energy investments. She was the founding CEO of Frontier Power (a subsidiary of SunEdison), the Alliance for Climate Protection (established by U.S. Vice President Al Gore), and the Sustainable Energy Development Authority (a $50m fund to commercialize clean energy technologies in Australia). Cathy has been an investor at Silver Lake and Bayard Capital, a board member for SES and Pacific Solar, and a management consultant at ICF and Next Energy. She was Chief of Staff for Environmental Policy in the Clinton White House and she pioneered the Energy Star program at the US EPA.

    Cathy co-founded Stanford University's Energy Transformation Collaborative (ETC), and remains an adjunct professor and Precourt Energy Scholar, teaching courses and researching energy technology commercialization and policy. Cathy is currently on the boards of Sunco, Ice Energy, Stanford's Precourt Institute of Energy, and Columbia's Center on Global Energy Policy. Cathy has a B.S. in Geology (Hons) from Duke University and a M.S. in Engineering from Dartmouth.