Venture Capitalists and Start-Ups Land in Austin for Upcoming Clean Energy Venture Summit

AUSTIN, Texas--The national cleantech venture community descends on Austin May 14, 2007 through 16 for the Clean Energy Venture Summit, hosted by the Clean Energy Incubator and Austin Energy. Twenty emerging cleantech companies will present their technologies for the opportunity to woo investors and collaborate with Austin Energy.

“Austin Energy’s support of this conference represents its drive to find solutions for Austin’s carbon footprint reduction goals. These technologies, however, will have global applicability and are of high interest to leading venture capitalists and utilities alike,” said Joel Serface, Director of the Clean Energy Incubator and conference organizer.

Representatives from venture firms including CMEA Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Sevin Rosen, Venrock Associates, and others will be attending the Clean Energy Venture Summit to evaluate potential investment opportunities and discuss trends in cleantech venture investing.

According to the Cleantech Venture Network, cleantech has become one of the top three venture capital investment categories in the United States with $2.9 billion invested in clean technologies last year. Texas companies received approximately $211 million of those dollars.

Other speakers at the summit include James Woolsey, former director of the CIA, and Gary Cowger, group VP of General Motors, both discussing clean transportation solutions such as plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. In addition, speakers will discuss solutions focused on building the “utility of the future.”

Experts believe the role of electricity providers in the “utility of the future” will shift from power generation and to buying and selling energy from multiple, diverse and independent sources including distributed energy sources generated “beyond the meter” at residential and commercial sites. The conference highlights green building, clean transportation, smart grid technologies through keynote addresses and panel discussions.

Early this year, SustainLane, a green media company, named Austin as the number one U.S. city in incubating and clustering clean technology companies. The report ranked 50 cities and credits Austin with creating a robust test facility that is an innovative and economic step forward for the clean energy market.

Sample of Speakers Presenting at the Clean Energy Venture Summit

James Woolsey - Former CIA Director
Dick Gephardt - CEO of Gephardt Group
Gary Cowger - Group VP of General Motors
Jerry Patterson - Texas General Land Office
Will Wynn - Mayor of Austin
Paul Dickerson - Department of Energy
Andres Carvallo - Austin Energy
Robert Howard - Pacific Gas & Electric
Humayun Tai - McKinsey & Company
Kevin Klein - Freescale
Paul Thomas - Green Mountain Energy
Annette Finsterbusch - Applied Materials
Felix Kramer - CalCars.org
Terry Mohn - Sempra Energy
Joe Lopez - HEB Green Building Program
Alison Silverstein - ACEEE
Matthew Nordan - Lux Research
Maurice Gunderson - CMEA Ventures
Roger Duncan - Austin Energy
David Allen - University of Texas Energy Institute
Turk Pipkin - Nobelity Project
Brad Gammons - IBM
Marc Kohler - Valence
Howard Berke - Konarka / ACORE
Steve Papermaster - PCAST
Clint Wilder - CleanEdge
Iga Hallberg - Heliovolt
Hal LaFlash - Pacific Gas & Electric

About the Clean Energy Incubator

CEI provides tomorrow’s Clean Energy innovators with the resources needed to compete in the real world. The Incubator helps emerging companies leverage a rich network of industry experts and investors, fill knowledge gaps, build stronger business propositions and accelerate time to market. These factors improve venture success rates, which ultimately provide environmentally conscious energy alternatives for future generations.

For more information, please visit: www.CleanEnergyIncubator.org.

About Austin Energy

Austin Energy is the nation’s 10th largest community-owned electric utility. Austin Energy powers the capital city of Texas through a diverse generation mix including nuclear, coal, natural gas and renewable energy sources. Located in Austin, TX, Austin Energy created the top performing renewable energy program in the nation and is committed to helping Austin become the Clean Energy Capital of the World. The company owns the nation’s first and largest green building program and is home to one of the nation’s most comprehensive residential and commercial energy efficiency programs.

For further information, please visit: www.AustinEnergy.com.