- 21
- July
2013
Prof. Eicke Weber is very optimistic about the solar industry
Ecosummit TV: Prof. Eicke Weber, Director of Fraunhofer ISE, is very optimistic about the future of the solar industry. Firstly, the PV cost curve is going down continuously. Even in Germany with Alaska-type sunshine, we can produce electricity with silicon-based PV for 10-12 cents/kWh. At this cost level, grid parity is already outperformed since 1 kWh costs 22 cents (net) in Germany if you buy it from your local utility. Making your own electricity and storing it in a solar battery is a smart economic idea. Secondly, the global solar market will grow 10 times from 30 GW/year in 2012 to 300 GW/year by 2025. At the same time, higher efficiencies and lower production costs make PV competitive with onshore wind and hydro power. The current oversupply of 60 GW/year is a temporary phenomenon that causes trouble for PV manufacturers for another 1-2 years. Afterwards, Europe should reenter the PV industry with a “multi-GW solar Airbus project” to drive the enormous PV industry again as a technology leader.
Read more- 20
- June
2012
Michael Linse of Kleiner Perkins: humanity is about to hit a wall
Ecosummit TV: Michael Linse, Partner at Kleiner Perkins, talks about his favourite greentech investing framework at Ecosummit Berlin and comes to a scary conclusion: Humanity is about to hit a wall. Cleantech is about the impact of the macro trends on huge industries that will lead to a more sustainable functioning of these industries. The demand side of the equation is changing, in fact, it will go up tremendously. From now until 2030, 3 billion people will join the global middle class. This is significant as the resource consumption pattern increases most dramatically as people move from the scope of poverty to the middle class.
Read more- 31
- March
2011
Ecosummit TV – ECO11 – Michael Linse – KPCB
It’s the cost curves, stupid! – A cool title chosen for his speech by Michael Linse, Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, at ECO11 in Berlin. The cost of production for all major green technologies including PV, Wind, Water, Batteries etc. will further go down. That’s the good news. Driving cost out of the business should be the focus of all Cleantech startups and corporates trying to scale their business and go global. According to Michael, it is also the key parameter for his investment decisions. Later stage deals mean that the technology risk has already been taken out. The next question is how to scale globally as fast as possible. Enter Michael’s KPCB Green Growth Fund.
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