A key announcement out of this week's Advanced Clean Transportation Expo in Long Beach, the Boost Charger 200 touts a high powered, flexible charging solution with impressive fleet implications
LONG BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, FreeWire Technologies Inc. launched its newest ultrafast and flexible DC fast charging offering, the Boost Charger™ 200. The announcement occurred alongside industry leaders in clean tech transportation at this week’s Advanced Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo in Long Beach, CA — North America’s Largest Advanced Transportation Technology & Clean Fleet Event.
The Boost Charger 200 offers impressive performance and a battery-integrated design that allows seamless connection to existing infrastructure without burdensome construction costs and permitting restraints. FreeWire's next-generation charger features the highest output power in a battery integrated charging station providing 200 miles of range in 15 minutes and reaching peak power levels of 200kW. In addition, the Boost Charger 200 has a 160 kWh battery capacity and only needs one-eighth of the input power required of conventional charging equipment, and can charge all electric vehicle (EV) models by providing up to 950-volt power. As a result, the Boost Charger is ideal for commercial, retail, utility, and fleets of all vehicle classes — light, medium, and heavy-duty — to deploy ultrafast EV charging at a lower cost and with lesser grid impact.
“The global movement towards electrified transportation is accelerating. We must continue to make EV charging faster, more convenient, and more affordable than ever without sacrificing performance,” said FreeWire CEO and Founder Arcady Sosinov. “The Boost Charger 200 is our most powerful and flexible charging solution yet, and we are particularly excited about its use case for cost-effective fleet electrification.”
As charging demand rapidly increases, upgrading the electrical grid and individual site power infrastructure remains costly and time-intensive. Each installation often requires several months for completion, slowing efforts to advance urgent infrastructure and environmental goals. As a result, America’s aging, disaster-prone electric grids will come under increased strain, potentially threatening to short-circuit our country’s progress toward decarbonization. To offset the challenges brought on by increased demand, FreeWire’s Boost Charger 200 touts a compelling list of benefits in comparison to current legacy charging options:
FreeWire continues to disrupt the EV charging market with its Boost Charger, recently showcased as a finalist in Fast Company’s 2022 World Changing Ideas Awards’ Transportation Category.
“The world is watching, and as governments continue to set ambitious and necessary electrification goals, FreeWire and our technology stand ready to meet this moment with the urgency and innovation it demands,” continued Sosinov.
As FreeWire leads the way in battery-integrated EV charging, investors have taken note. Last month, FreeWire raised an additional $125 million in new capital from investors, including asset manager BlackRock Inc.
See more detail on the Boost Charger 200 here.
About FreeWire Technologies
Founded in 2014, FreeWire Technologies is the leading manufacturer of battery-integrated EV charging stations and power solutions in the U.S. The Company’s fully-integrated Boost Charger™ plugs into existing and ubiquitous low-voltage utility service and delivers high-power charging in areas that typically require extensive grid upgrades. The Boost Charger’s combination of proprietary battery and power conversion technology enables ultrafast EV charging at all locations, freeing customers from the costs of providing fast charging using power directly from the electric grid. FreeWire has deployed battery-integrated chargers with Fortune 100 companies, commercial customers, fleets, retail locations, and gas stations across the U.S. and has partnered with bp pulse to deploy Boost Charger in its operations across the UK.
For additional information, please visit: https://freewiretech.com/
Daniel Zotos
Director of Communications
(617) 448-7497
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SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--#climateresilience--Advancing climate resilience solutions through social entrepreneurship is the primary goal of a three-year initiative announced today by Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship and Chevron. The project aims to further climate-smart agriculture, safe water, and reliable low-carbon energy to vulnerable communities in Asia Pacific through customized support to high potential social enterprises.
Chevron is supporting the initiative through a $900,000 gift, which will also enable research and the creation of training methods for overcoming biases that women and minorities face in raising capital.
“As a company of problem solvers, Chevron looks to the future of energy with optimism,” said Kurt Glaubitz, General Manager Corporate Affairs, Chevron Asia Pacific. “The Miller Center – Chevron climate resilience initiative strives to help reduce poverty, drive economic and social opportunity, and develop the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Asia Pacific region.”
Global climate resilience a main focus for both organizations
The 2021 and 2022 reports from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change underscore the urgent need to address the detrimental effects of climate disruption, especially on the world’s underserved population.
“Social entrepreneurs are gamechangers when it comes to climate resilience and the impacts of climate poverty,” said Brigit Helms executive director, Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship. “Miller Center has accelerated more than 1,300 social enterprises globally and we know firsthand that providing social entrepreneurs the tools and support they need to scale have a direct correlation to lifting people out of poverty.”
As part of the Chevron-funded project, Miller Center will build a portfolio of 30-45 social enterprises selected for their potential to grow and scale their social and economic impact. The initiative will provide a suite of customized services ranging from capacity and leadership development to mentoring and investment readiness and facilitation. This focused support will help position social enterprises to break through the obstacles to scale, improve financial sustainability, and secure the capital necessary to grow their impact.
The project is launched in conjunction with the release of a Miller Center paper entitled, “Amplifying Impact: How Accelerating Social Entrepreneurship Boosts Climate Resilience.” The paper makes the case that social entrepreneurship can help prevent more people being pushed into poverty by climate-fueled events such as droughts, floods, and increasingly frequent and strong storms.
Overcoming entrenched biases in the startup ecosystem
Promoting diversity and inclusion is a key priority for Chevron both internally across its own global operations, and externally as well. Some of the Chevron funding will be devoted to “Breaking the Bias” research and training methodologies aimed at helping support women and people of color in overcoming entrenched biases in the startup ecosystem.
According to Maya Ackerman, assistant professor at Santa Clara University and the researcher heading the “Breaking the Bias” work, "Gender diversity contributes to an organization’s success, with mixed-gender teams raising more capital on average per team, than all other founding team gender compositions. However, this only holds for startups led by male CEOs. Female CEOs continue to be systemically underfunded, for both all-female and mixed-gender teams."
Miller Center and Chevron began their relationship in 2019, when they launched the Mini-Grid Accelerator Program in Myanmar, providing business and investment readiness training to energy service companies in rural areas. In 2021, the Asia Pacific Climate Resilience Accelerator supported entrepreneurs across six target countries with a focus on scaling innovation solutions in energy, water, and climate-smart agriculture.
About Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship
Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship is the foremost university-based social enterprise accelerator in the world. With an emphasis on climate resilience and women’s economic empowerment, Miller Center accelerates social entrepreneurship to eliminate global poverty. Located at Santa Clara University (SCU), Miller Center has served more than 1,300 social entrepreneurs, engaged 162 SCU students in field research, and currently work with more than 300 business leaders from around the world who participate as mentors in the center’s programs.
About Chevron
Chevron is one of the world’s leading integrated energy companies. As a company of problem solvers, we look to the future of energy with optimism. We provide affordable, reliable, and ever-cleaner energy to people in the Asia-Pacific region that is essential to achieving a more prosperous and sustainable world. We invest in community programs that help advance the UN’s sustainable development goals and strive to empower people to meet their full potential.
Rhonda Brauer for Miller Center, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (310) 508-0426
Cam Van Ast, Chevron, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. +61 9216 4462
Company leadership to join Avangrid, New Hampshire Electric Cooperative and Portland General Electric in a series of live sessions
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Bidgely will join fellow energy industry thought leaders on stage at the upcoming annual DistribuTECH International conference in Dallas, Texas, held this May 23-25. Bidgely CEO Abhay Gupta will discuss the cost-effective, scalable and intuitive ways utilities can leverage Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) data to inform new business decisions, reduce cost-to-serve and create stronger customer experiences. Bidgely’s head of innovation, Maria Kretzing, will explore how utilities can design intelligent, analytics-driven strategies for addressing today’s most pressing priorities, including electric vehicle (EV) adoption, demand-side management and customer engagement.
“Growing ubiquity of smart meters has unlocked a powerful ability to access previously unavailable insights, equipping utilities to make smarter business decisions, improve grid management and better serve customers,” said Abhay Gupta, CEO of Bidgely. “DistribuTECH 2022 promises to be an inspiring exploration of how AI and data-driven analytics are not only propelling utilities toward new levels of sophistication, but also driving meaningful change in energy consumption nationwide.”
Attendees at the event can hear from Bidgely and fellow industry leaders during the following sessions:
AI-Powered Customer Segmentation: Leveraging Data in Every Customer Interaction
Monday, May 23, 1:00-1:30pm CT
Bidgely’s Maria Kretzing and New Hampshire Electric Cooperative’s director of access and distributed resources, Dave Erickson, will explain the role of AI in creating sophisticated, customer-centric solutions that accommodate today’s demand for personalized consumer services. The session will also cover how data-driven business models can address customer segmentation and demand-side management challenges prevalent in the energy sector.
The Untapped Multi-Million Dollar Value of AMI Analytics: Why AI Matters Up, Down and Across the Utility
Tuesday, May 24, 10:00-10:30am CT
Bidgely CEO Abhay Gupta and Portland General Electric’s senior vice president of advanced energy delivery, Larry Bekkedahl, will discuss the trends, best practices and proof points that illustrate the value of deriving appliance-specific insights from smart meter data. The session will also explore the compounding benefits of these AMI insights across multiple utility verticals, including marketing, customer service, grid management, distributed energy resources and more.
What to Expect When Expecting EVs: Designing an Intelligent, Analytics-Driven Strategy to Achieve Long Term Success
Tuesday, May 24, 2:30-3:00pm CT
Kretzing will re-take the stage, this time with Avangrid’s customer programs & products manager, Charles Spence, to address how utilities can best scale programs and services to align with the accelerated adoption of EVs in ways that maximize grid benefits, customer satisfaction and revenue. They will also discuss how utilities planning EV programs, infrastructure investments and customer offerings like rates and rebates can apply behind-the-meter intelligence to design a cost effective, flexible and scalable EV strategy.
To schedule a meeting with Bidgely at DistribuTECH 2022, visit bidgely.com/events/dtech. To explore more thought leadership content powered by Bidgely, visit bidgely.com/engage.
About Bidgely
Bidgely is an AI-powered SaaS Company accelerating a clean energy future by enabling energy companies and consumers to make data-driven energy-related decisions. Powered by our unique patented technology, Bidgely's UtilityAI™ Platform transforms multiple dimensions of customer data - such as energy consumption, demographic, and interactions - into deeply accurate and actionable consumer energy insights. We leverage these insights to empower each customer with personalized recommendations, tailored to their individual personality and lifestyle, usage attributes, behavioral patterns, purchase propensity, and beyond. From a Distributed Energy Resources (DER) and Grid Edge perspective, whether it is smart thermostats to EV chargers, solar PVs to TOU rate designs and tariffs; UtilityAI™ energy analytics provides deep visibility into generation, consumption for better peak load shaping and grid planning, and delivers targeted recommendations for new value-added products and services. With roots in Silicon Valley, Bidgely has over 17 energy patents, $75M+ in funding, retains 30+ data scientists, and brings a passion for AI to utilities serving residential and commercial customers around the world. For more information, please visit www.bidgely.com or the Bidgely blog at bidgely.com/blog.
Christine Bennett
Bidgely
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DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Altira Group LLC, (“Altira”) an energy technology-focused venture capital firm headquartered in Denver, today announced the sale of its Houston-based portfolio company ThoughtTrace, Inc. (“ThoughtTrace”) to Thomson Reuters (NYSE: TRI), a leader in business information services and content-driven technology. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
ThoughtTrace’s proprietary AI-based software platform, originally developed to interpret complex oil and gas contracts, uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to read thousands of words at once and extract valuable insight from unstructured data buried in large volumes of complex contractual documents. ThoughtTrace can take thousands of document pages, automatically read them, and accurately interpret paragraph-level meaning at a fraction of the time and with higher accuracy than a human. The ThoughtTrace platform allows users to pinpoint specific obligations and considerations across thousands of documents in minutes.
“I want to congratulate ThoughtTrace CEO Nick Vandivere and his talented team for elevating their innovative AI software into an extremely valuable multi-industry platform that provides indispensable business intelligence to users across the economy,” said Sean Ebert, partner at Altira and a member of the ThoughtTrace board of directors.
“Our oil and gas limited partners played a key role in ThoughtTrace’s lifecycle, from due diligence support, rapid adoption of the company’s AI solutions, to providing unique customer input during product development cycles,” Ebert said. “In exchange, our oil and gas partners gained competitive advantage and tangible value capture from being ahead of broader market technology adoption as well as an above market return on capital deployed.”
“Altira continues to seek innovators with advantaged technologies and business models that are proven to provide a sustainable competitive advantage to companies in the energy and industrial sectors,” said Altira Principal J.P. Bauman. “Our model enables our portfolio companies to have unique customer access to our oil and gas operating partners, which de-risks and accelerates the entire technology company lifecycle.”
Cooley and Kastner Gravelle served as legal counsel for Altira Group and ThoughtTrace, respectively, for this transaction.
About Altira Group
Altira is a Denver-based tenured venture capital firm that has been investing in next generation technology companies in the energy space since 1996. We partner with a select group of super-independent U.S oil and gas companies who invest in our fund and compress our portfolio companies’ adoption cycles. For further information please visit altiragroup.com.
About ThoughtTrace
Originally released in 2017 to help energy companies and legal professionals uncover decision-critical information within complex land and lease contracts, ThoughtTrace, Inc. has evolved its proprietary software into a multi-discipline platform which is pre-built for specific industries and use cases, including financial services, technology, healthcare, energy and law. Leveraging AI as a complement to human expertise, ThoughtTrace identifies critical information in seconds, saving the time and resources previously required to manually search through vast quantities of data. Prior to its sale to Thomson Reuters, ThoughtTrace, Inc. was backed by the Altira Group. For additional information please visit ThoughtTrace.com.
Media contact:
Bevo Beaven
TEN|10 Group, LLC
720.666.5064 m
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50 high-quality RNG development projects added to backlog through acquisition of INGENCO and formation of joint venture with Republic Services
Increasing estimated long-term annual earnings power by ~50% to ~$600 million
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Archaea Energy Inc. (“Archaea,” “the Company,” or “we”) (NYSE: LFG), an industry-leading renewable natural gas (“RNG”) company, today announced preliminary1 financial and operating results for the first quarter 2022.
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
RECENT STRATEGIC ACCOMPLISHMENTS
CEO COMMENTARY
“The financial and operating results we released today, coupled with the recent announcements of our new joint venture with Republic and acquisition of INGENCO, represent an important inflection point for Archaea,” said Nick Stork, Archaea’s Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer. “We have now cemented our runway to dramatically increase our estimated long-term annual RNG production sold and earnings power. As we have said from the beginning, we are committed to building a company that can generate meaningful, predictable, and sustainable cash flows. We are proud to be afforded the opportunity to do so while also providing critical decarbonization solutions and driving positive environmental change.”
“We are focused on executing on all prongs of our growth strategy: optimizing the performance of our current operating facilities, successfully and safely constructing facilities in our current backlog, and expanding our backlog of high-quality development projects. First, we are focused on ensuring our current facilities perform to their maximum potential. We recently achieved a significant increase in methane recovery at our Seneca RNG facility after a membrane upgrade and NRU tuning. We are excited for the second phase of optimization at Seneca later this year. Additionally, we performed an electric overhaul and various facility optimizations at our Assai RNG facility during the first quarter. Although we experienced a brief outage while completing our work, which impacted total RNG production sold for the quarter, we believe this downtime has already proven worthwhile and will continue to do so, as Assai has subsequently been operating at over 99% uptime and above target methane recovery levels. Our optimization projects highlight our ability to enhance project returns organically through durable engineering advances that help not just Archaea, but our landfill partners as well.”
“We are continuing to build our backlog of high-quality development projects to help meet the growing demand for RNG from customers with decarbonization targets in a market that remains incredibly supply-constrained. We have more than doubled the number of projects in our backlog to 88 projects with the additions of the Lightning Renewables JV with Republic and the pending acquisition of INGENCO. These recent transactions underscore our commitment to accomplishing our growth goals while upholding our commitment to investing in projects that can generate strong cash-on-cash returns even in a downside case. The INGENCO acquisition highlights our ability to acquire existing electricity generation assets, along with long-term gas rights, at scale and at attractive multiples, while giving ourselves potential operating efficiencies and economic upside from generating our own power on these sites after RNG facilities are constructed. Meanwhile, Lightning Renewables provides us an unprecedented opportunity to meaningfully extend our greenfield RNG development runway, with the addition of 39 projects to our backlog. Together, the incremental projects from these two transactions materially increase our estimated long-term annual earnings power.”
“I am excited about the future of Archaea given our exceptional landfill and commercial partnerships, unparalleled gas processing and operational expertise, standardized approach to project development, and stability of cash flows. I am confident that we have superior competitive advantages to successfully execute on our development plans and further establish ourselves as an industry-leading RNG producer. We have no intention of stopping here, as we will continue to evaluate additional acquisition opportunities while matching portfolio additions with long-term, fixed-price contracts at favorable prices. Ultimately, we are committed to positioning Archaea as a profitable, multi-decade provider of decarbonization solutions that delivers value to our shareholders, partners, and communities.”
FORMATION OF LIGHTNING RENEWABLES JOINT VENTURE WITH REPUBLIC
In May 2022, the Company formed Lightning Renewables with Republic, one of the largest providers of environmental services in the United States, to jointly invest approximately $1.1 billion to develop 39 RNG facilities at landfill locations owned or operated by Republic across the United States, including approximately $780 million to be invested by Archaea. Lightning Renewables has signed a long-term master gas sale and development agreement with Republic to develop the RNG facilities and is the largest landfill gas to RNG development venture to date. Archaea will hold a 60% ownership interest in Lightning Renewables and expects to receive distributions made with respect to its ownership interest in Lightning Renewables.
Archaea will develop, engineer, construct, and operate the RNG facilities within the JV. Archaea will receive fees for engineering, procurement, and construction management services during development and construction and fees for operation and maintenance services after completion. Development and construction of certain projects within Lightning Renewables are expected to begin in 2022, with completion and commissioning of the projects planned through 2027. The development projects within Lightning Renewables are located at high-quality landfill sites with strong growth potential and current cumulative gross flows of approximately 13 million MMBtu per year7.
Archaea expects potential for the addition of incremental projects into Lightning Renewables over time, as well as additional potential upside through initiatives including wellfield optimization, carbon intensity reduction initiatives, and low-carbon hydrogen projects.
ACQUISITION OF INGENCO
In April 2022, Archaea announced that it entered into a definitive purchase and sale agreement with Riverview Investment Holdings LLC, an affiliate of Castleton Commodities International LLC, to purchase INGENCO for $215 million in cash, subject to customary adjustments at closing. The acquisition will add 14 LFGTE plants to the Company’s asset platform and approximately 70 employees who will add valuable expertise to the Company’s highly skilled and experienced team. The acquisition also includes gas rights for the LFGTE sites, which have a number of long-term agreements in place. The asset base is located on landfills with strong growth potential and permitted waste acceptance for over 40 years on average across sites.
Archaea expects to build RNG facilities on 11 sites which currently have gross cumulative flows of over 5 million MMBtu per year7. The acquisition has an estimated multiple of approximately 6X total capital expenditures, including acquisition and RNG development costs, to the estimated long-term annual earnings power associated with the INGENCO assets. The acquisition of INGENCO is expected to close on or after July 1, 2022.
SUMMARY AND REVIEW OF FINANCIAL RESULTS
The following results for the three months ended March 31, 2022 are presented on a consolidated basis.
($ in thousands) |
Three Months Ended
|
|||
Revenue |
$ |
56,900 |
|
|
Equity Investment Income, Net |
$ |
1,429 |
|
|
Net Income (Loss)2 |
$ |
(33,172 |
) |
|
Adjusted EBITDA3 |
$ |
20,579 |
|
|
|
|
|||
RNG Production Sold (MMBtu) |
|
1,540,371 |
|
|
Electricity Production Sold (MWh) |
|
165,613 |
|
|
RNG production sold for the three months ended March 31, 2022 was positively impacted by incremental production from the Assai and Soares RNG facilities which were completed in December 2021 and January 2022, respectively, and negatively impacted by downtime at certain facilities related to winter weather during the first quarter and downtime at the Assai facility related to maintenance activities. Electricity production sold for the three months ended March 31, 2022 was positively impacted by efficiency improvements across the asset portfolio and incremental production from our PEI power facility and negatively impacted by winter seasonality.
Revenues for the three months ended March 31, 2022 were positively impacted by strong market pricing of Environmental Attributes8, natural gas, and electricity and negatively impacted by the timing of monetization of Environmental Attributes, which are typically sold and recognized in income in months subsequent to the months in which RNG production occurs, related to production from the Assai RNG facility. Net equity investment income for the three months ended March 31, 2022 was negatively impacted by income tax payments and by the timing of certain Low Carbon Fuel Standard (“LCFS”) elections, partially offset by lower expenses.
Net loss for the three months ended March 31, 2022 was primarily driven by losses from changes in fair value of warrant derivatives as well as increased general and administrative expenses primarily related to increased headcount and other growth-oriented overhead, together with acquisition and other transaction costs and severance costs, partially offset by strong market pricing of Environmental Attributes, natural gas, and electricity. Items included in general and administrative expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2022 which impact financial comparability included acquisition and other transaction costs and severance costs, which totaled approximately $8.3 million.
Adjusted EBITDA for the three months ended March 31, 2022 was positively impacted by strong market pricing of Environmental Attributes, natural gas, and electricity and, to a lesser extent, negatively impacted by increased general and administrative expenses as described above.
CAPITAL STRUCTURE AND LIQUIDITY
As of March 31, 2022, Archaea’s liquidity position was $269.8 million, consisting of cash and cash equivalents of $30.8 million, restricted cash of $8.9 million, and $230.1 million of available borrowing capacity under the revolving credit facility after taking into consideration outstanding letters of credit.
As a result of significantly expanding and accelerating the pace of developing its project backlog, Archaea expects to enter into one or more capital markets or private financing transactions to fund the acquisition of INGENCO, certain additional capital expenditures related to incremental RNG development projects, and potentially to fund a portion of its base development plan, to provide additional capital for acquisitions or incremental development projects, or for general corporate purposes.
Capital Investments
Total cash used in investing activities was $66.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022. Archaea spent $61.4 million on development activities and $7.0 million, net of cash acquired, primarily related to the acquisition of landfill gas right assets. Development activities in the three months ended March 31, 2022 related to construction and optimization across the Company’s various plants and projects in development. The Company also made contributions to equity method investments totaling $4.0 million and received return of investment in equity method investments of $4.1 million.
Secondary Offering of Class A Common Stock
In March 2022, the Company supported an underwritten public offering in which Aria Renewable Energy Systems LLC sold approximately 14.9 million shares of the Company’s Class A common stock at a price to the public of $17.75 per share (the “Ares secondary offering”). The transaction resulted in no proceeds to the Company and a decrease of 14.9 million shares of the Company’s Class B common stock and a corresponding increase of 14.9 million shares of the Company’s Class A common stock.
2022 FULL YEAR GUIDANCE
Archaea is reaffirming RNG and electricity production sold and Adjusted EBITDA guidance for full year 2022. All guidance is current as of the published date and is subject to change.
($ millions, except production data) |
Full Year 2022 |
|||||
RNG Production Sold4 (million MMBtu) |
11.1 |
– |
11.7 |
|||
Electricity Production Sold4 (thousand MWh) |
850 |
– |
950 |
|||
Adjusted EBITDA5 |
$125 |
– |
$145 |
|||
Within the 2022 Adjusted EBITDA guidance range, the Company continues to expect to sell approximately 5.5 million MMBtu, or approximately 50% of expected 2022 RNG production sold, under its existing long-term, fixed-price contracts. Taking into account volumes expected to be sold under its existing long-term, fixed-price contracts and fixed-price agreements to sell RINs expected to be generated and monetized in 2022, the Company continues to estimate that approximately 5 million MMBtu of its expected 2022 RNG production sold will be subject to market pricing. The Company continues to assume D3 RIN prices of $2.00 to $2.50 per gallon ($23.45 to $29.32 per MMBtu) for volumes expected to be subject to market pricing. The Company has increased expected general and administrative expenses to approximately $55 million as a result of further scaling for growth, as well as expected headcount additions related to the acquisition of INGENCO.
Archaea continues to plan to complete 20 projects in 2022, including 10 optimizations of existing RNG facilities and 10 new build projects expected to be placed into service. The Company expects capital investments of approximately $130 million during 2022 for projects expected to be placed into service in 2022. Once all projects in its 2022 development plan are completed and ramped to full flows, the Company expects its operating assets to have estimated long-term annual earnings power of approximately $200 million, which does not include any estimated impact from projects in its development backlog which are expected to be completed in subsequent years.
The Company is in the process of optimizing the pace and timing of its long-term project development backlog as a result of recent additions to its backlog related to Lightning Renewables and the acquisition of INGENCO. The Company also expects incremental near-term capital expenditures as a result of these transactions, including both acquisition and development capital and as a result, prior guidance provided regarding 2022 capital expenditures should no longer be relied upon. The Company expects to provide guidance for expected capital expenditures at a later date.
INCREASED ESTIMATED LONG-TERM ANNUAL EARNINGS POWER
“Estimated long-term annual earnings power” refers to estimated long-term annual Adjusted EBITDA after specified projects within the Company’s RNG development backlog, for which gas rights agreements are currently in place or are expected to be in place after closing pending transactions, are completed and ramped up to full flows. Associated metrics, including estimated long-term annual RNG production sold and estimated build multiples, also reflect estimates after completion and ramp-up of specified projects in the Company’s backlog.
Archaea is increasing estimated long-term annual earnings power and related metrics to reflect the impact of additions to the Company’s development backlog. The following corporate-level information reflects estimated long-term annual earnings power and related metrics after all 88 projects in the Company’s RNG development backlog, for which gas rights agreements are currently in place or are expected to be in place after closing the INGENCO acquisition, are completed and ramped up to full flows. All guidance is current as of the published date and is subject to change.
Estimated long-term annual earnings power ($ millions) |
~$600 |
|
Estimated long-term annual RNG production sold (million MMBtu) |
~50 |
|
Estimated build multiples* |
~4X |
|
* Calculated as estimated development capital divided by estimated long-term annual earnings power |
||
The Company expects to scale its project design, development, and construction capabilities such that it can complete all projects in its current backlog in approximately 6 to 8 years. Timing will be subject to change depending upon the pace of scaling the Company’s project development capabilities.
Within the estimated long-term annual earnings power and related metrics included in this release, Archaea assumes fixed-price volumes are sold only under its existing long-term contracts and assumes $1.50 per gallon D3 RINs, $140 per metric ton LCFS credits, and $3.00 per MMBtu brown gas pricing for volumes subject to market pricing. In addition, operating costs reflect management’s expectations based on experience operating existing assets and with adjustments for plant size, location, and royalty provisions under gas rights agreements. Estimated long-term annual earnings power does not include any impact from carbon capture and sequestration or carbon intensity reduction initiatives. Additionally, electricity production facilities are assumed to remain in operation following construction of RNG plants on LFG to electricity sites, with a natural gas fuel cost of $3.00 per MMBtu.
FIRST QUARTER 2022 CONFERENCE CALL AND WEBCAST
Archaea will host a conference call to discuss financial and operating results for first quarter 2022 and to provide an update on strategic priorities and estimated long-term annual earnings power on Tuesday, May 10, 2022 at 11 a.
ARCHAEA
Megan Light
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346-439-7589
Blake Schreiber
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346-440-1627
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--DXP Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ: DXPE) today announced financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2022. The following are results for the three months ended March 31, 2022, compared to the three months ended March 31, 2021 and sequentially for the three months ended December 31, 2021, where appropriate. A reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial measures can be found in the back of this press release.
First Quarter 2022 financial highlights:
David R. Little, Chairman and CEO commented, "Our first quarter results reflect what we see as momentum building in our business. We are pleased with DXP's first quarter results which included sequential sales and operating income growth across all three business segments. Total DXP Adjusted EBITDA also increased sequentially and resulted in strong margin improvement. We are encouraged by the organic and acquisition growth, increased earnings driven by the operating leverage we are accustom to seeing within our industry despite the current macro backdrop which includes supply chain challenges, impacts from inflation and the abating COVID crisis. Our improved momentum continued in the first quarter as our DXPeople worked together to manage through supply chain challenges and get in front of rising product costs.
"DXP’s first quarter 2021 sales were $319.4 million, or a 30.1 percent increase year-over-year and a 9.0 percent increase over the fourth quarter. During the first quarter, sales were $218.8 million for Service Centers, $53.1 million for Innovative Pumping Solutions and $47.6 million for Supply Chain Services. Most of our customers and the markets we serve continue to show improvement which began in the third and fourth quarter of last year. We have added three acquisitions since the beginning of the year and we expect to close more moving further into fiscal year 2022. While the near-term environment remains dynamic with product inflation, supply chain and labor challenges, and broader economic uncertainty, we remain confident that the underlying demand trends, our robust acquisition pipeline, and our strategic initiatives will allow us to achieve excellent performance and growth in 2022 and beyond. Thank you to all our customers and DXPeople."
Kent Yee, CFO, added, "Our first quarter year-over-year sales growth of 30.1 percent and gross margin improvement were great to see. We turned this into a 91 percent sequential increase in Adjusted EBITDA during a period where DXP has seasonally higher expenses. Our financial results reflect our continued focus on our customers and improving market conditions. As of March 31, 2022, we had $36.7 million in cash. We turned DXP’s sales growth into $0.65 in earnings per diluted share for the first quarter. Total debt outstanding as of March 31, 2022 was $325.9 million with senior leverage of 3.2:1, well under our covenant of 5.25:1. We remain excited by our sales team’s focus on organic sales growth as well as the contributions from recent acquisitions. The DXP effort to be customer driven experts and moving into new markets like water and wastewater is moving DXP in the right direction and we look forward to continuing the momentum into fiscal 2022."
Financial Strength and Liquidity
Net debt, calculated as total long-term debt, net of cash, on our balance sheet as of March 31, 2022, was $289.3 million compared to $277.7 million at December 31, 2021. As of March 31, 2022, DXP has approximately $168.8 million in liquidity, consisting of $36.6 million in cash on hand and approximately $132.2 million in availability under our ABL facility.
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
DXP supplements reporting of net income with non-GAAP measurements, including EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, free cash flow, non-GAAP net income and net debt. This supplemental information should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the unaudited GAAP measurements. Additional information regarding EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, free cash flow and non-GAAP net income referred to in this press release are included below under "Unaudited Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Information."
The Company believes EBITDA provides additional information about: (i) operating performance, because it assists in comparing the operating performance of the business, as it removes the impact of non-cash depreciation and amortization expense as well as items not directly resulting from core operations such as interest expense and income taxes and (ii) the performance and the effectiveness of operational strategies. Additionally, EBITDA performance is a component of a measure of the Company’s financial covenants under its credit facility. Furthermore, some investors use EBITDA as a supplemental measure to evaluate the overall operating performance of companies in the industry. Management believes that some investors’ understanding of performance is enhanced by including this non-GAAP financial measure as a reasonable basis for comparing ongoing results of operations. By providing this non-GAAP financial measure, together with a reconciliation from net income, the Company believes it is enhancing investors’ understanding of the business and results of operations, as well as assisting investors in evaluating how well the Company is executing strategic initiatives. Free Cash Flow reconciles to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure of cash flows from operations as provided below. We believe Free Cash Flow is an important liquidity metric because it measures, during a given period, the amount of cash generated that is available to fund acquisitions, make investments, repay debt obligations, repurchase company shares, and for certain other activities.
About DXP Enterprises, Inc.
DXP Enterprises, Inc. is a leading products and service distributor that adds value and total cost savings solutions to industrial customers throughout the United States, Canada and Dubai. DXP provides innovative pumping solutions, supply chain services and maintenance, repair, operating and production ("MROP") services that emphasize and utilize DXP’s vast product knowledge and technical expertise in rotating equipment, bearings, power transmission, metal working, industrial supplies and safety products and services. DXP's breadth of MROP products and service solutions allows DXP to be flexible and customer-driven, creating competitive advantages for our customers. DXP’s business segments include Service Centers, Innovative Pumping Solutions and Supply Chain Services. For more information, go to www.dxpe.com.
The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a "safe-harbor" for forward-looking statements. Certain information included in this press release (as well as information included in oral statements or other written statements made by or to be made by the Company) contains statements that are forward-looking. These forward-looking statements include without limitation those about the Company’s expectations regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of low commodity prices of oil and gas; the Company's expectations regarding the filing of the Form 10-Q; the description of the anticipated changes in the Company's consolidated balance sheet and the results of operations and the Company's assessment of the impact of such anticipated changes; the Company’s business, the Company’s future profitability, cash flow, liquidity, and growth. Such forward-looking information involves important risks and uncertainties that could significantly affect anticipated results in the future; and accordingly, such results may differ from those expressed in any forward-looking statement made by or on behalf of the Company. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to; decreases in oil and natural gas prices; decreases in oil and natural gas industry expenditure levels, which may result from decreased oil and natural gas prices or other factors; inability of the Company or its independent auditors to complete the work necessary in order to file the Form 10-Q, in the expected time frame; unanticipated changes to the Company's operating results in the Form 10-Q as filed or in relation to prior periods, including as compared to the anticipated changes stated here; unanticipated impact of such changes and its materiality; ability to obtain needed capital, dependence on existing management, leverage and debt service, domestic or global economic conditions, economic risks related to the impact of COVID-19, ability to manage changes and the continued health or availability of management personnel and changes in customer preferences and attitudes. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as, but not limited to, "may," "will," "should," "intend," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," "goal," or "continue" or the negative of such terms or other comparable terminology. For more information, review the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. More information on these risks and other potential factors that could affect the Company’s business and financial results is included in the Company’s filings with the SEC, including in the "Risk Factors" and "Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" sections of the Company’s most recently filed periodic reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q and subsequent filings. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements or information, which speak as of their respective dates.
DXP ENTERPRISES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES |
|||||||||
UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS |
|||||||||
($ thousands, except for share and per share amounts) |
|||||||||
|
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
Three Months Ended March 31, |
|
||||||
|
|
2022 |
|
2021 |
|
||||
Sales |
|
$ |
319,411 |
|
|
$ |
245,587 |
|
|
Cost of sales |
|
|
224,527 |
|
|
|
173,957 |
|
|
Gross profit |
|
|
94,884 |
|
|
|
71,630 |
|
|
Selling, general and administrative expenses |
|
|
73,325 |
|
|
|
65,397 |
|
|
Operating income |
|
|
21,559 |
|
|
|
6,233 |
|
|
Other (income) loss |
|
|
536 |
|
|
|
(430 |
) |
|
Interest expense |
|
|
5,162 |
|
|
|
5,243 |
|
|
Income before income taxes |
|
|
15,861 |
|
|
|
1,420 |
|
|
Provision for income taxes |
|
|
3,332 |
|
|
|
1,261 |
|
|
Net income |
|
|
12,529 |
|
|
|
159 |
|
|
Net loss attributable to NCI* |
|
|
(113 |
) |
|
|
(212 |
) |
|
Net income attributable to DXP Enterprises, Inc. |
|
|
12,642 |
|
|
|
371 |
|
|
Preferred stock dividend |
|
|
23 |
|
|
|
23 |
|
|
Net income attributable to common shareholders |
|
$ |
12,619 |
|
|
$ |
348 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
Diluted earnings per share attributable to DXP Enterprises, Inc. |
|
$ |
0.65 |
|
|
$ |
0.02 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
Weighted average common shares and common equivalent shares outstanding |
|
|
19,374 |
|
|
|
20,026 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
*NCI represents non-controlling interest |
|
||||||||
Business segment financial highlights:
SEGMENT DATA |
|||||||||
($ thousands, unaudited) |
|||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
Three Months Ended March 31, |
|
|||||||
Sales |
2022 |
|
2021 |
|
|||||
Service Centers |
$ |
218,797 |
|
$ |
186,369 |
|
|||
Innovative Pumping Solutions |
|
53,058 |
|
|
23,245 |
|
|||
Supply Chain Services |
|
47,556 |
|
|
35,973 |
|
|||
Total DXP Sales |
$ |
319,411 |
|
$ |
245,587 |
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
Three Months Ended March 31, |
|
|||||||
Operating Income |
2022 |
|
2021 |
|
|||||
Service Centers |
$ |
27,351 |
|
$ |
22,137 |
|
|||
Innovative Pumping Solutions |
|
7,069 |
|
|
947 |
|
|||
Supply Chain Services |
|
4,020 |
|
|
2,323 |
|
|||
Total segments operating income |
$ |
38,440 |
|
$ |
25,407 |
|
|||
Reconciliation of Operating Income for Reportable Segments |
|||||||||
($ thousands, unaudited) |
|||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
Three Months Ended March 31, |
|
|||||||
|
2022 |
|
2021 |
|
|||||
Operating income for reportable segments |
$ |
38,440 |
|
$ |
25,407 |
|
|
||
Adjustment for: |
|
|
|
|
|||||
Amortization of intangibles |
|
4,235 |
|
|
4,146 |
|
|
||
Corporate expenses |
|
12,646 |
|
|
15,028 |
|
|
||
Total operating income |
$ |
21,559 |
|
$ |
6,233 |
|
|
||
Interest expense |
|
5,162 |
|
|
5,243 |
|
|
||
Other (income) loss |
|
536 |
|
|
(430 |
) |
|
||
Income before income taxes |
$ |
15,861 |
|
$ |
1,420 |
|
|
||
Unaudited Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Information |
|||||||||
($ thousands) |
|||||||||
The following table is a reconciliation of EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP financial measure, to income before taxes, calculated and reported in accordance with U.S. GAAP. |
|||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
Three Months Ended March 31, |
|
|||||||
|
2022 |
|
2021 |
|
|||||
Income before income taxes |
|
15,861 |
|
|
1,420 |
|
|||
Plus: interest expense |
|
5,162 |
|
|
5,243 |
|
|||
Plus: depreciation and amortization |
|
6,752 |
|
|
6,626 |
|
|||
EBITDA |
$ |
27,775 |
|
$ |
13,289 |
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
Plus: NCI loss income before tax* |
|
113 |
|
|
283 |
|
|||
Plus: stock compensation expense |
|
370 |
|
|
380 |
|
|||
Adjusted EBITDA |
$ |
28,258 |
|
$ |
13,952 |
|
|||
* NCI represents non-controlling interest |
|
|
|
|
|||||
DXP ENTERPRISES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES |
|||||||||
UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS |
|||||||||
($ thousands) |
|||||||||
|
|
|
|
||||||
|
March 31, 2022 |
|
December 31, 2021 |
||||||
ASSETS |
|
|
|
||||||
Current assets: |
|
|
|
||||||
Cash |
$ |
36,559 |
|
|
$ |
48,989 |
|||
Restricted cash |
|
91 |
|
|
|
91 |
|||
Accounts receivable, net of allowances for doubtful accounts |
|
228,213 |
|
|
|
218,137 |
|||
Inventories |
|
111,862 |
|
|
|
100,894 |
|||
Costs and estimated profits in excess of billings |
|
20,504 |
|
|
|
17,193 |
|||
Prepaid expenses and other current assets |
|
14,317 |
|
|
|
9,522 |
|||
Federal income taxes receivable |
|
1,019 |
|
|
|
9,748 |
|||
Total current assets |
$ |
412,565 |
|
|
$ |
404,574 |
|||
Property and equipment, net |
|
50,269 |
|
|
|
51,880 |
|||
Goodwill |
|
301,563 |
|
|
|
296,541 |
|||
Other intangible assets, net of accumulated amortization |
|
77,005 |
|
|
|
79,205 |
|||
Operating lease right-of-use assets |
|
56,267 |
|
|
|
57,221 |
|||
Other long-term assets |
|
4,646 |
|
|
|
4,806 |
|||
Total assets |
$ |
902,315 |
|
|
$ |
894,227 |
|||
|
|
|
|
||||||
LIABILITIES AND EQUITY |
|
|
|
||||||
Current liabilities: |
|
|
|
||||||
Current maturities of long-term debt |
$ |
3,300 |
|
|
$ |
3,300 |
|||
Trade accounts payable |
|
81,450 |
|
|
|
77,842 |
|||
Accrued wages and benefits |
|
23,515 |
|
|
|
23,006 |
|||
Customer advances |
|
13,498 |
|
|
|
12,924 |
|||
Billings in excess of costs and estimated profits |
|
5,328 |
|
|
|
3,581 |
|||
Federal income taxes payable |
|
104 |
|
|
|
0 |
|||
Current-portion operating lease liabilities |
|
18,093 |
|
|
|
18,203 |
|||
Other current liabilities |
|
32,692 |
|
|
|
42,206 |
|||
Total current liabilities |
$ |
177,980 |
|
|
$ |
181,062 |
|||
Long-term debt, less unamortized debt issuance costs |
|
315,030 |
|
|
|
315,397 |
|||
Long-term operating lease liabilities |
|
39,045 |
|
|
|
39,922 |
|||
Other long-term liabilities |
|
2,206 |
|
|
|
3,603 |
|||
Deferred income taxes |
|
7,927 |
|
|
|
7,516 |
|||
Total long-term liabilities |
$ |
364,208 |
|
|
$ |
366,438 |
|||
Total Liabilities |
$ |
542,188 |
|
|
$ |
547,500 |
|||
Equity: |
|
|
|
||||||
Total DXP Enterprises, Inc. equity |
|
360,187 |
|
|
|
346,674 |
|||
Non-controlling interest |
|
(60 |
) |
|
|
53 |
|||
Total Equity |
$ |
360,127 |
|
|
$ |
346,727 |
|||
Total liabilities and equity |
$ |
902,315 |
|
|
$ |
894,227 |
|||
Unaudited Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Information |
|||||||||
($ thousands) |
|||||||||
The following table is a reconciliation of free cash flow, a non-GAAP financial measure, to cash flow from operating activities, calculated and reported in accordance with U.S. GAAP. |
|||||||||
|
|
|
|
||||||
|
Three Months Ended March 31, |
||||||||
|
2022 |
|
2021 |
||||||
|
|
|
|
||||||
Net cash from operating activities |
$ |
2,680 |
|
|
$ |
8,577 |
|
||
Less: purchases of property and equipment |
|
(740 |
) |
|
|
(680 |
) |
||
Plus: proceeds from sales of property and equipment |
|
— |
|
|
|
1,297 |
|
||
Free cash flow |
$ |
1,940 |
|
|
$ |
9,194 |
|
||
|
|
|
|
||||||
Note: Supplemental non-cash items include share repurchases which have been excluded. |
|||||||||
Kent Yee 713-996-4700
Senior Vice President, CFO
www.dxpe.com
New Allianz report cites Ukraine war, large vessels, shipping boom and sustainability as growing challenges
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--#allianz--The international shipping industry is responsible for the carriage of about 90% of world trade, so vessel safety is critical. The sector continued its long-term positive safety trend over the past year, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the growing number of costly issues involving larger vessels, crew and port congestion challenges resulting from the shipping boom, as well as managing challenging decarbonization targets, means there is no room for complacency, according to marine insurer Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty SE’s (AGCS) Safety & Shipping Review 2022.
“The shipping sector has demonstrated tremendous resilience through stormy seas in recent years, as evidenced by the boom we see in several parts of the industry today,” says Captain Rahul Khanna, Global Head of Marine Risk Consulting at AGCS. “Total losses are at record lows – around 50 to 75 a year over the last four years compared with 200+ annually in the 1990s. However, the tragic situation in Ukraine has caused widespread disruption in the Black Sea and elsewhere, exacerbating ongoing supply chain, port congestion, and crew crisis issues caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. At the same time, some of the industry’s responses to the shipping boom, such as changing the use of, or extending the working life of, vessels also raise warning flags. Meanwhile, the increasing number of problems posed by large vessels, such as fires, groundings and complex salvage operations, continue to challenge ship owners and their crews.”
The annual AGCS study analyzes reported shipping losses and casualties (incidents) over 100 gross tons. During 2021, 54 total losses of vessels were reported globally, compared with 65 a year earlier. This represents a 57% decline over 10 years (127 in 2012), while during the early 1990s the global fleet was losing 200+ vessels a year. The 2021 loss total is made more impressive by the fact that there are an estimated 130,000 ships in the global fleet today, compared with some 80,000 30 years ago. Such progress reflects the increased focus on safety measures over time through training and safety programs, improved ship design, technology and regulation.
According to the report, there have been almost 900 total losses over the past decade (892). The South China, Indochina, Indonesia, and the Philippines maritime region is the main global loss hotspot, accounting for one-in-five losses in 2021 (12) and one-in-four-losses over the past decade (225), driven by factors, including high levels of trade, congested ports, older fleets, and extreme weather. Globally, cargo ships (27) account for half of vessels lost in the past year and 40% over the past decade. Foundered (sunk/submerged) was the main cause of total losses over the past year, accounting for 60% (32).
While total losses declined over the past year, the number of reported shipping casualties or incidents rose. The British Isles saw the highest number (668 out of 3,000). Machinery damage accounted for over one-in-three incidents globally (1,311), followed by collision (222) and fires (178), with the number of fires increasing by almost 10%.
Ukraine impact: safety and insurance
The shipping industry has been affected on multiple fronts by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with the loss of life and vessels in the Black Sea, disruption to trade, and the growing burden of sanctions. It also faces challenges to day-to-day operations, with knock-on effects for crew, the cost and availability of bunker fuel, and the potential for growing cyber risk.
The invasion has further ramifications for a global maritime industry already facing shortages. Russian seafarers account for just over 10% of the world’s 1.89 million workforce, while around 4% come from Ukraine. These seafarers may struggle to return home or rejoin ships at the end of contracts. Meanwhile, a prolonged conflict is likely to have deeper consequences, potentially reshaping global trade in energy and other commodities. An expanded ban on Russian oil could contribute to pushing up the cost of bunker fuel and impacting availability, potentially pushing ship owners to use alternative fuels. If such fuels are of substandard quality, this may result in machinery breakdown claims in future. At the same time, security agencies continue to warn of a heightened prospect of cyber risks for the shipping sector such as GPS jamming, Automatic Identification System (AIS) spoofing and electronic interference.
The evolving range of sanctions against Russian interests presents a sizeable challenge. Violating sanctions can result in severe enforcement action, yet compliance can be a considerable burden. It can be difficult to establish the ultimate owner of a vessel, cargo or counterparty. Sanctions also apply to various parts of the transport supply chain, including banking and insurance, as well as maritime support services, which makes compliance even more complex.
A burning issue: fires on board
During the past year, fires on board the roll-on roll-off (ro-ro) car carrier Felicity Ace and the container ship X-Press Pearl both resulted in total losses. Cargo fires are indeed a priority concern. There have been over 70 reported fires on container ships alone in the past five years, the report notes. Fires often start in containers, which can be the result of non-/mis-declaration of hazardous cargo, such as chemicals and batteries – around 5% of containers shipped may consist of undeclared dangerous goods. Fires on large vessels can spread quickly and be difficult to control, often resulting in the crew abandoning ship, which can significantly increase the final cost of an incident.
Fires have also become a major loss driver for car carriers. Among other causes, they can start in cargo holds, caused by malfunctions or electrical short circuits in vehicles, while the open decks can allow them to spread quickly. The growing numbers of electric vehicles (EVs) transported by sea brings further challenges, given existing counter-measure systems may not respond effectively in the event of an EV blaze. Losses can be expensive, given the value of the car cargo and the cost of wreck removal and pollution mitigation.
When large vessels get into trouble, emergency response and finding a port of refuge can be challenging as well. Specialist salvage equipment, tugs, cranes, barges and port infrastructure are required, which add time and cost to a response. The X-Press Pearl, which sank after it was refused refuge by two ports following a fire, is one of several incidents where container ships have had difficulty finding a safe haven. Meanwhile, the salvage operation for the car carrier Golden Ray, which capsized in the US in 2019, took almost two years and cost in excess of $800mn.
“Too often, what should be a manageable incident on a large vessel can end in a total loss. Salvage is a growing concern. Environmental concerns are contributing to rising salvage and wreck removal costs as ship owners and insurers are expected to go the extra mile to protect the environment and local economies,” says Khanna. “Previously, a wreck might have been left in-situ if it posed no danger to navigation. Now, authorities want wrecks removed and the marine environment restored, irrespective of cost.”
Post-pandemic world brings new risk challenges
While the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in few direct claims for the marine insurance sector, the subsequent impact on crew welfare and the boom in shipping and port congestion raise potential safety concerns. Demand for crew is high, yet many skilled and experienced seafarers are leaving the industry. A serious shortfall of officers is predicted within five years. For those who remain, morale is low as commercial pressures, compliance duties and workloads are running high. Such a work situation is prone to mistakes – 75% of shipping incidents involve human error, AGCS analysis shows.
The economic rebound from Covid-19 lockdowns has created a boom time for shipping, with record increases in charter and freight rates. While this is a positive for shipping companies, higher freight rates and a shortage of container ship capacity are tempting some operators to use bulk carriers, or consider converting tankers, to transport containers. The use of non-container vessels to carry containers raises questions around stability, firefighting capabilities, and securing cargo. Bulk carriers are not designed to carry containers, which could impact their maneuvering characteristics in bad weather, and crew may not be able to respond appropriately in an incident.
Shipping bottlenecks and port congestion
Covid-19 measures in China, a surge in consumer demand, and the Ukraine invasion have all been factors in ongoing unprecedented port congestion, which puts crews, port handlers and facilities under additional pressure. “Loading and unloading vessels is a particularly risky operation, where small mistakes can have big consequences. Busy container ports have little space, while the experienced labor required to handle the containers properly is in short supply. Add in fast turnaround times and this may result in a heightened risk environment,” explains Khanna.
Climate change: transition problems
With momentum gathering behind international efforts to tackle climate change, the shipping industry is coming under increasing pressure to accelerate its sustainability efforts, the report notes, given its greenhouse gas emissions grew by around 10% between 2012 and 2018.
Decarbonization will require big investments in green technology and alternative fuels. A growing number of vessels are already switching to liquefied natural gas (LNG), while other alternative fuels are under development, including ammonia, hydrogen and methanol, as well as electric-powered ships. The transition to alternative fuels will likely bring heightened risk of machinery breakdown claims, among other risks, as new technology beds down and as crews adapt to new procedures.
About Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty
Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) is a leading global corporate insurance carrier and a key business unit of Allianz Group. We provide risk consultancy, Property-Casualty insurance solutions and alternative risk transfer for a wide spectrum of commercial, corporate and specialty risks across nine dedicated lines of business and six regional hubs.
Our customers are as diverse as business can be, ranging from Fortune Global 500 companies to small businesses. Among them are not only the world’s largest consumer brands, tech companies and the global aviation and shipping industry, but also satellite operators or Hollywood film productions. They all look to AGCS for smart solutions and global programs to their largest and most complex risks in a dynamic, multinational business environment and trust us to deliver an outstanding claims experience.
Worldwide, AGCS operates with its own teams in more than 30 countries and through the Allianz Group network and partners in over 200 countries and territories, employing around 4,250 people. As one of the largest Property-Casualty units of Allianz Group, we are backed by strong and stable financial ratings. In 2021, AGCS generated a total of €9.5 billion gross premium globally.
For more information please visit http://www.agcs.allianz.com/ or follow us on Twitter @AGCS_Insurance and LinkedIn.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Press
Sabrina Glavan
Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty
973-876-3902
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Erin Burke
Stanton
631-681-8770
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The company continues expansion with strategic addition to its executive team
DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Project Canary, the Denver-based climate tech and environmental assessment company, announced a key addition to its executive team today. Tanya Hendricks has been named the Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) for Project Canary. She will lead all commercial operations and manage the company’s expansion overseeing corporate objectives and implementing strategic growth strategies.
The world is at a pivotal point – and immediate action is required to alter the course of climate change. The US has an abundance of natural gas, which has already helped lower US greenhouse gas emissions on a national scale. Project Canary is focused on enabling natural gas to be produced and transported in a manner that controls emissions, land use, water, and community concerns. This unlocks the opportunity for responsibly-sourced US natural gas to stand for the highest quality differentiated gas in the world, helping to reduce emissions on a global scale.
The company is at a critical point in its business initiatives as it grows from a startup to a scale-up after achieving its Series B. Now, the company is looking to make an even more significant impact on a global scale to help drive accountable, measurement-based ESG reporting. Hendricks is uniquely positioned to help Project Canary at this critical juncture. Based in Austin, Texas, she will be readily accessible to customers and will bolster Project Canary’s presence in Texas, an important market as the company expands its presence in basins across the US.
Project Canary prides itself on rigorous certifications and advanced continuous monitoring so that natural gas can be certified and verified as responsibly produced, helping to unlock new market opportunities for LNG to reduce global emissions and alter the course of climate change. Hendricks will help steer the company on a clear path to success by utilizing its market position to drive new opportunities.
“The focus on ESG has been broad, with little definition around what standards should be or how we should meet them,” said Tanya Hendricks, CCO, Project Canary. “With granular measurement of emissions and reliable ESG scoring, Project Canary is working to add much-needed rigor to the ESG reporting process so that we can manage environmental concerns, rather than simply report on them.”
Over her career, Hendricks has held several notable positions, including acting COO with Enverus, the world’s largest energy-focused Saas company. She also was a lecturer at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin and was associate director of the McCombs Energy Center. Before working at McCombs, she was a director at Duff and Phelps, an international advisory firm.
“We are proud to have a talented, mission-driven leader join our team,” said Chris Romer, CEO of Project Canary. “Tanya has the combination of impressive leadership, energy sector experience, and a true passion for utilizing data and technology to improve energy operations and accelerate innovation.”
About Project Canary:
Project Canary is a SaaS-based data analytics company focused on accurate corporate climate ESG data for emission-intensive industrial companies. We are the leaders in holistic environmental assessments (air, water, land, and community). Project Canary scores responsible operations, delivering independent emission profiles via high-fidelity continuous monitoring technology to provide actionable environmental performance data. Our sensor portfolio includes high-fidelity spectroscopy-based methane detection and emissions quantification for the oil and gas sectors, plus Aeris Technologies’ laser-based gas analyzers covering other emissions, including ethane, nitrous oxide, formaldehyde, ethylene oxide, benzene, and more. Formed as a Public Benefit Corporation, Project Canary’s Denver-based team of scientists, engineers, and seasoned industry operators identify and quantify areas to reduce emissions. www.projectcanary.com
Rachael Shayne
Chief Marketing Officer
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SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation bolsters its executive ranks with the addition of Dan Stout as Chief Nuclear Officer. In this role, Dan will oversee and support all nuclear operations at Ultra Safe Nuclear, including licensing and regulatory compliance efforts, reactor and powerplant manufacturing planning, and management of client support operations and fleet services.
With more than three decades of experience in the nuclear energy sector, Dan is uniquely qualified to manage critical programs and projects at Ultra Safe Nuclear. His unparalleled experience in planning, budgeting, navigating licensing processes, and developing nuclear reactors and associated infrastructure will be invaluable to the company.
“Recruiting Dan to Ultra Safe Nuclear has been a priority of mine for some time,” said Francesco Venneri, CEO of Ultra Safe Nuclear. “Over the past 30-plus years, Dan has seen and been involved with many of the nuclear industry’s major milestones, giving him unique insight into the strategies Ultra Safe Nuclear needs to employ to realize its full potential.”
His rich experience includes serving as Director of Nuclear Technology and Innovation at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), managing the organization’s Small Modular Reactor project. Dan was also employed at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as Director of Nuclear Fuel Recycling, overseeing planning and policy development. At the DOE, he also interfaced with industry leaders in support of the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, and was the primary liaison with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
“I’ve watched the evolution of Ultra Safe Nuclear for many years and look forward to contributing to the company’s success,” said Stout. “Ultra Safe Nuclear’s innovative technologies and strategic approach to the business are exactly what is needed at this moment as entities around the globe search for fiscally viable, zero-carbon energy solutions.”
Dan served in the U.S. Navy as a nuclear submarine officer, as well as in the Naval Reserves in the Naval Special Warfare community, retiring as a Commander. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and received his Masters Degree in Engineering Management from the National Technological University. He was recently elected to the Board of the American Nuclear Society and will represent Ultra Safe Nuclear with various industry organizations.
About Ultra Safe Nuclear
Ultra Safe Nuclear is the Seattle-based global leader in the deployment of micro reactors, and a strong vertical integrator of nuclear power technologies, entirely committed to bringing safe, commercially competitive, clean and reliable nuclear energy to markets throughout the world. The company adheres to strict inherent and intrinsic safety principles through technological innovation in fuels, materials and design: Ultra Safe Nuclear is reliable Zero-Carbon Energy. Anywhere.
Ultra Safe Nuclear
Ray Vincenzo
1-206-290-4431
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https://usnc.com/
Companies of all sizes will have the opportunity to invest in the first two solar ranches in Panola County, MS, as Tallahatchie Valley Electric Power Association partners with Clearloop to expand access to clean energy
NASHVILLE, Tenn. & BATESVILLE, Miss.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Clearloop, the cleantech startup acquired by Silicon Ranch, announced today that companies of all sizes will now have the opportunity to offset their carbon footprint by investing in the first two solar ranches in Panola County, Mississippi. Clearloop is partnering with Tallahatchie Valley Electric Power Association (TVEPA) to help expand access to clean energy by focusing corporate offset investments on the construction of nearly 10 million watts of new solar.
“Panola County, Mississippi is a friendly, diverse, 35,000-strong community. It is equally divided by Interstate 55 with the Mississippi Delta to the east and the Appalachian Foothills to the west. We consistently pull talent from Ole Miss, only 15-minutes away. Due to an aggressive and comprehensive PreK-12 Workforce Plan, we’ve experienced exciting economic trends. We keep our arms around our existing businesses and industry, and together, we focus on the future,” said Joe Azar, Director of Economic Development for Panola County. “This partnership with Clearloop is going to benefit Panola County and its residents for years to come in a plethora of ways that I can't wait to watch unfold. It will not only create new opportunities for our skilled workforce and entrepreneurial pipeline, but having this local source of renewable energy will shine a light on our community’s passion for innovation and excitement for future growth."
TVEPA’s partnership with Clearloop expands access to locally generated renewable energy across the county for the first time ever while maintaining a cost-effective, stable price that TVEPA’s members have come to expect. The goal for these projects is to fund nearly 10 million watts by the end of this year in order to break ground in 2023 and have a brand-new live project by 2024. These projects are expected to help power approximately 2,000 homes in the Appalachian Foothills and the Mississippi Delta community.
“We've been providing electricity to our community for more than eighty-three years. Everything we do comes down to providing TVEPA members with safe, reliable, competitively-priced electricity. These solar ranches in Panola County will help us do that well into the future by diversifying our energy mix while supporting investment in the local economy,” said Brad Robison, CEO of TVEPA. "Normally, when we think of solar, we think of it in terms of energy production, but through this process, we have come to better appreciate the environmental and health impacts this project will have on the place that we call home. The economic development opportunities this will open up for our community and us is exciting, and we can't wait to get started."
These two solar ranches will not only reclaim 565 million pounds of carbon but also help more effectively balance the grid across the U.S. with renewable power, generate clean energy construction jobs, and create an investment in infrastructure, resulting in meaningful tax infusion in the community. By seeking outside investment from companies with a shared commitment to help decarbonize the grid while supporting local communities, Clearloop is pioneering a novel path for funding new projects in a mutually beneficial way for investors and communities.
“We created Clearloop for companies of all sizes to tackle their carbon footprint by expanding access to clean energy right here at home,” said Clearloop co-founder and CEO Laura Zapata. “This work would not be possible without the partnership of communities where the dollar invested in clean infrastructure can go further as an economic development tool. That’s why we’re so grateful to Brad Robison and his team at TVEPA, as well as Joe Azar and his economic development team at the Panola Partnership, for helping us usher in this investment. We’re excited for companies to reach their ESG goals by investing in this welcoming Mississippi community.”
Clearloop’s emissionality-based approach helps direct corporate investments to the most carbon-intense grids while also identifying communities where the dollar invested in new infrastructure serves as the catalyst for economic development and growth.
Given the increasing onus on both public and private companies to measure and report on carbon impact, Clearloop’s novel approach to funding domestic solar projects in areas most in need of clean energy and economic growth gives organizations with ambitious ESG commitments the added confidence in the impact of their investment.
Organizations interested in meeting their ESG and net-zero goals can learn more about purchasing carbon offsets from the Mississippi Delta solar ranches at https://clearloop.us/ms-panola/.
About Clearloop
Clearloop, a Silicon Ranch company, partners with companies of all sizes to meet ambitious ESG goals by reclaiming their carbon footprint, expanding access to clean energy, and decarbonizing the grid through the construction of new solar projects in American communities otherwise getting left behind. The two Panola County solar ranches demonstrate Clearloop’s rapid growth, taking the renewables pioneer from 1MW in solar investments to more than 10MW in just under a year. The company broke ground on its first carbon-offset funded solar ranch, a 1MW project in Jackson, TN, last fall; and recently announced a 1MW project in Paris, TN, funded by EV maker Rivian in exchange for renewable energy credits. Clearloop plans to announce a new project in the Appalachian region before the end of the year. To learn more, visit clearloop.us and follow on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
About Tallahatchie Valley Electric Power Association
Tallahatchie Valley Electric Power Association is an electric cooperative that serves over 28,000 residential, commercial, and industrial customers in nine north Mississippi Counties. As a not-for-profit distributor of electricity generated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, TVEPA serves our member-owners, not profits. As a result, our rates are among the lowest in the Southeast and in the nation. Visit https://tvepa.com/ for more information.
Media Contact:
Katie Jacobs
Quarter Horse PR for Silicon Ranch
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Funding will support Common Energy’s rapid growth, enabling the business to bring local, clean energy to more consumers and support more distributed energy projects across the country
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Common Energy, one of the country’s leading community solar providers, today announced a $16.5 million investment by S2G Ventures, the direct investment team of Builders Vision, an impact platform dedicated to building a humane and healthy planet.
The new round of capital will be used to expand consumer access to local, community solar projects across the country, scale Common Energy’s industry-leading energy management platform, and grow the company’s management and operating teams.
“Renewable energy is the foundation for solving global climate change because abundant clean electricity enables all other decarbonization solutions,” said Richard Keiser, CEO and Founder of Common Energy. “This investment will enable Common Energy to accelerate our efforts to bring clean energy to more households and communities across the country, and to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
Community solar projects are local clean energy projects that connect to the electrical grid. Clean electricity from the projects replaces energy from fossil fuels, lowering carbon emissions and pollution for the entire community. Households and businesses in the area can sign up to support a project for free with their existing utility account and receive energy credits that lower their bill each month. Because there is no on-site installation, community solar expands renewable energy access to all strata of society, including renters and lower income families.
For project owners, Common Energy’s platform is a sophisticated, cloud-based SAAS that enables them to manage and monetize complex, multi-tenant distributed generation projects. Common Energy’s software platform provides industry-leading financial and collections visibility, resulting in higher project ROI for its clients, and can be customized to facilitate reporting and accounting.
“Community solar is an important option for broadening access to clean and cost-effective renewable energy across the US, and we are excited to be supporting the Common Energy team as they deploy their sophisticated platform to accelerate adoption of this resource,” said Dr. Francis O’Sullivan, Managing Director, S2G Ventures.
“Community solar plays a valuable part in the United States' national energy strategy because it advances clean energy deployment in a way that allows many households to promote solar energy while reducing energy costs,” said Dr. Ernest Moniz, U.S. Secretary of Energy under President Obama and Common Energy advisor.
The U.S. community solar market is expected to continue to grow rapidly. In 2021, U.S. Energy Secretary Granholm announced a national goal of installing enough community solar capacity to power 5 million American homes by 2025, implying over 600% market growth.
To learn more about Common Energy’s goals and vision, see Richard’s blog post here.
To join Common Energy’s mission, see our careers page here.
About Common Energy
Common Energy is a leading community solar provider that services distributed energy projects across the country. Common Energy’s programs enable homeowners, renters, and businesses to support clean energy, lower emissions in their communities and save money on their electricity for free, with their existing utility account. To join a community solar project, enroll at www.commonenergy.us. Developers with community solar portfolios please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
About S2G Ventures
S2G Ventures, the direct investment team of Builders Vision, partners with entrepreneurs who are working on solutions to some of the world’s greatest challenges across the food, agriculture, oceans, and clean energy markets. We provide capital, mentorship, and value-added resources to companies pursuing innovative market-based solutions that generate positive social, environmental, and financial returns. We provide our partners with flexible capital solutions that can range from seed and venture funding through growth equity to debt and infrastructure financing. For more information about S2G, visit s2gventures.com, tune-in to our podcast, or connect with us on LinkedIn.
Josh Garrett, Redwood Climate Communications for Common Energy
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Stable’s software will support Enel X Way’s charging network expansion across North America by helping customers take a data-driven approach to infrastructure deployment
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Stable, which analyzes electric vehicle charging usage for prospective charging site locations using proprietary prediction software, has been selected by Enel X Way, the Enel Group's global smart e-mobility platform, to provide deep insights on where charging stations are needed most. Using Stable’s Software, Enel X will expand its network of EV charging stations across North America by arming businesses and municipalities with data-driven predictions and helping them to make the most informed decisions on charging site viability at any given location.
Stable’s Machine Learning models analyze millions of real-life charging sessions from thousands of EV chargers to understand how factors such as traffic, EV sales, income, and nearby attractions impact site utilization. Stable’s software builds all of that knowledge into a straightforward interface so that anyone can quickly understand how new sites will perform, as well as detailed analysis of demand for EV charging.
“As EV sales continue to skyrocket, the number of new EV drivers is outpacing the number of new EV charging stations,” says Elise Benoit, Head of Marketing and Commercial Communications of Enel X Way North America. “Improving access to EV charging infrastructure is critical to accelerating transportation electrification. As Enel X Way expands its EV charging station network across North America, the insights Stable’s software provides are key to identifying where charging stations are most needed, helping our customers make more informed decisions and better support larger decarbonization efforts.”
“We’re honored to help Enel X Way and its customers solve the highly complex profitability puzzle of where to prioritize charging station deployments across large portfolios, before millions of dollars are spent to install them,” says Stable co-founder and CEO Rohan Puri. “By providing access to up-to-date EV penetration rates, charging competition nearby, and even our overall predicted charger usage, we’re collectively setting up the next generation of charging stations for success.”
For more information, visit http://stable.auto.
About Enel X Way North America
Enel X Way is a global leader in smart electric vehicle charging solutions with over 320,000 charging ports worldwide, including roaming agreements. As a subsidiary of Fortune 200 renewable energy leader, the Enel Group, Enel X Way is committed to providing smart mobility solutions for drivers, businesses and partners to make driving electric simple. Enel X Way's flagship home charging station, the JuiceBox, has been named the "best EV charger overall" in 2022 by CNET Roadshow. For more information, please visit our Enel X Way North American website here and follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
About Stable Auto
Stable accelerates investments in EV infrastructure by making them predictable and effective, paving the way for EV adoption in every corner of the globe. Stable’s enterprise software platform–powered by comprehensive datasets from thousands of EV chargers across the United States and precision machine learning–solved a major roadblock to widespread EV adoption, demonstrating for the first time that not only can EV charging be predicted, it can be improved by carefully optimizing energy rates, equipment size, and location. Now, anyone can make informed decisions about EV infrastructure before chargers are even installed, to make multi-million dollar investments profitable and improve the chances of a more sustainable future for transportation. Stable is currently working with major utilities, charging networks, banks, and infrastructure developers across the U.S. http://stable.auto.
Video available: https://youtu.be/-JKmmXRU5bo
PR for Stable Auto:
Amy Jackson
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KEARNY, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--EV Edison Inc., the premier developer and provider of high-power Electric Vehicle (EV) solutions, announced today that David M. Daly has been named president, effective April 25th. Daly most recently served as president and chief operating officer of Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G), New Jersey’s oldest and largest regulated gas and electric utility, overseeing the company’s electric, gas, renewables and energy solutions businesses. He also served as president and COO of PSEG Utilities and Clean Energy Ventures, and Chairman of the Board, President and COO of PSEG Long Island.
“We are excited to have Dave join us as he brings over 38 years of experience and leadership in the energy sector,” said Dr. Shihab Kuran, Executive Chairman of EV Edison. “Within the energy transition space, he has a successful track record of developing and executing a wide range of innovative clean and renewable energy programs. With our development of large-scale high-power EV charging technologies and hubs, Dave’s executive experience managing complex, multi-stakeholder power projects is key for the continued growth of our business,” explained Dr. Kuran.
Among his many accomplishments, Daly led the development, regulatory approval and launch of PSE&G’s landmark Clean Energy Future program. This program focused on energy efficiency, electric vehicles, grid-connected and distributed solar, energy storage, advanced grid technologies, infrastructure resiliency, and other clean energy Investments.
Daly is strongly committed to equity and inclusion in cleantech workforce development and was appointed by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy to the New Jersey Council on the Green Economy to advance economic growth, jobs diversity and environmental justice. He is former Chairman of the Board of the New Jersey Utilities Association, Co-Chair of the Sustainability Council of the New Jersey Audubon Society, and member of the Board of Directors of the American Gas Association.
“I am honored to join EV Edison’s talented and dedicated team,” said Daly. “The company is poised for tremendous growth, and I look forward to leading the team as we expand and scale our projects, capital, technologies, and people. EV Edison’s innovative solutions are advancing the electrification of the transportation sector and the clean energy revolution, with a strong focus on workforce development and environmental justice. I am thrilled to be part of this exciting journey.”
EV Edison Inc. was recently spun out of Power Edison to focus on providing and developing EV charging solutions. EV Edison’s flagship project is a 200MW super charging hub in Kearny, NJ. The project is the nation’s largest, situated on a 130-acre site strategically located in close proximity to Interstate 95, Port Newark (largest port on the East Coast), Newark Airport, and New York City. The company is leveraging its innovative mobile and stationary technologies in the rapid development of its growing pipeline of national EV charging hubs.
About EV Edison
EV Edison is a New Jersey based developer and a provider of large scale high-power EV charging solutions. The company provides a range of mobile EV charging and power solutions for quick, modular on-demand EV charging at any location. All company products and services are powered by proprietary cloud-based, utility-grade software. EV Edison’s sister company Power Edison was contracted in 2021 to supply the world’s largest mobile battery solution to a utility in the Midwest.
EV Edison
(Kevin Drolet)
(619-710-9269)
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Jim Schnieders, Iain Deay and Greg Bahora Appointed to Executive Roles
SINGAPORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Twenty20 Energy, which delivers innovative energy solutions that accelerate the transition to a cleaner energy future, today announced the appointment of Geoff Lawrence as its chief executive officer and member of the board of directors. Lawrence, previously the CEO of Asia Pacific Energy Ventures (APEV), will lead Twenty20 Energy and its pursuit of a near-term public listing.
Twenty20 Energy also confirmed the appointment of other members of the senior management team. Jim Schnieders has been appointed president and to its board of directors; Iain Deay has been appointed chief strategy and development officer and will act as interim chief financial officer; and Greg Bahora was named chief operating officer.
It was announced in February that APEV will carve out subsidiary Twenty20 Energy with plans to take it public on the Nasdaq in the second quarter of 2022. Singapore-based Twenty20 Energy was formed in 2014 as a subsidiary to APEV.
“I’m extremely pleased with the official appointments of Jim, Iain and Greg to the senior leadership team at Twenty20 Energy,” said Lawrence. “We have a seasoned management team with complementary experience that is ready to move the business forward, and I’m confident in this group’s ability to continue our track record of growth and expansion through successful power generation projects. We are all pulling in one direction: To be a leader in developing projects that deliver cleaner energy while empowering economic growth for today and beyond.”
Geoff Lawrence, Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors
With a focus on Twenty20 Energy’s upcoming initial public offering, Lawrence has primary responsibility for the company’s overall strategic direction and performance. He served as CEO for APEV since 2014. Lawrence also leads major account development and management, while maintaining international technical and strategic partnerships, which position Twenty20 with a key competitive advantage in the markets served.
Lawrence began his career in corporate sales, working with global industry leading organizations including Fuji Xerox, Ricoh and Toshiba, before moving into supply chain solutions and logistics with UPS, where he was responsible for establishing, implementing and streamlining complex logistics solutions for major corporations.
Jim Schnieders, President, and member of the Board of Directors
As president and member of the board of directors, Schnieders will be responsible for leading the management team to deliver the long-term goals in alignment with its strategies and business objectives.
Prior to joining Twenty20, Schnieders held multiple senior executive roles with global infrastructure provider Black & Veatch. In his most recent role, as executive vice president and managing director for the global floating oil and gas solutions unit, Schnieders oversaw all floating liquified natural gas projects as well as hydrogen and biofuel emerging markets. Prior to that, he served as the managing director for greater Asia and the Indonesia country manager for all business lines’ operations and project execution there.
Iain Deay, Chief Strategy and Development Officer (interim Chief Financial Officer)
As chief strategy and development officer and interim CFO, Deay will oversee Twenty20 Energy’s financial and commercial activities while ensuring the systems and processes are in place for compliance and reporting and supporting M&A activity. Working with Lawrence, he will be responsible for guiding the company through the IPO process.
Immediately prior to joining Twenty20 Energy, Deay worked as a strategic consultant to a range of clients in Singapore and Southeast Asia. Previously, Deay held several financial roles and was then business development director for Asia Pacific at a large multinational corporation with region-wide responsibilities across financial and commercial areas of the business as well as supporting M&A activity. Deay is a qualified Chartered Accountant (Fellow of ICAEW) and holds a master’s degree in engineering, economics and management from Oxford University.
Greg Bahora, Chief Operating Officer
As chief operating officer, Bahora is responsible for managing Twenty20 Energy’s business operations and performance, which includes implementing strategies and optimizing the organization’s operational capabilities to deliver consistently outstanding results. In this role, Bahora partners with all Twenty20’s business lines and professionals.
Prior to joining Twenty20, Bahora was vice president and director of power services for Black & Veatch, overseeing assets and employees across Asia. He brings more than three decades of experience in conventional and renewable power generation, water resources, floating liquified natural gas, and mining on multiple concurrent projects across greater Asia.
About Twenty20 Energy
Twenty20 Energy delivers innovative energy solutions that enable clients, partners, and stakeholders to accelerate a transition to a cleaner energy future. From concept development to operations and maintenance, Twenty20 provides engineering, project execution and asset management, coupled with the capacity to provide funding or shared ownership positions. Uniquely positioned in the energy landscape, Twenty20 has a global reach with local sensitivity, developing projects that deliver cleaner energy while empowering economic growth for today and beyond.
Bob Zeitlinger / Makovsky
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- Ventium Wind Pitch SRM, powered by Enedym, will be integrated, marketed, and sold by Smartricity within their broad network of renewable energy partners
- Collaboration will address a major weakness in wind turbines: Low Availability and Capacity Factor due to unreliable and outdated wind pitch drive systems
- Ventium increases the reliability and efficiency of wind turbines, which leads to an increase in energy production
- The Global Wind Energy Market is projected to reach $127.2 billion by 2027
HAMILTON, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Enedym Inc. (“Enedym”), a technology company that develops next generation switched reluctance motors (SRMs), electric propulsion, and electrified powertrains, today announced a strategic partnership with Smartricity Inc. (“Smartricity”), a smart industrial electric motor and software company. The partnership will help deliver next generation wind pitch motors and related technology to materially increase efficiency, performance, and cost-effectiveness.
Utilizing Enedym’s unique SRM technology, Ventium – whose name is a combination of the Latin words for wind (Ventus) and power (Imperium) – increases the reliability and efficiency of wind turbines, which leads to an increase in energy production. Over time, increased wind energy production will displace fossil fuel electricity generation, resulting in significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, increased efficiency of wind turbines reduces the cost of wind energy, making investments in clean wind energy more attractive. Enedym and consortium partner Smartricity, were recently awarded $2.4 million by Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) to commercialize and advance the Ventium wind pitch motor technology.
As part of the collaboration, Enedym and Smartricity will work to maximize the contribution that wind energy can make by addressing a major weakness in turbines: low availability and capacity factor due to unreliable and outdated wind pitch drive systems in 1.X-2.X MW models. The pitch systems in the 1.X-2.X are one of the largest contributors to turbine downtime, with studies showing over 30% of failures directly related to these systems.
Dr. Ali Emadi, Founder, President, and CEO of Enedym said, “We are pleased to announce this agreement with Smartricity and jointly reach our goal to ensure wind power infrastructure can run more efficiently, reliably, and economically. Global appetite for clean energy is projected to accelerate dramatically, both to reduce reliance on foreign fossil fuel-based power generation and to ensure geo-political risks are reduced. We are eager to partner and work with Smartricity, industry leaders, and renewable energy companies to drive the innovation that will move us towards a greener and more secure future.”
Michael Sonsogno, Co-Founder and CEO of Smartricity, said, “Smartricity has built an arsenal of revolutionary motor technologies from around the world and paired it with our team’s expert application knowledge to address major weaknesses in the Renewables, HVAC, Mining, Oil and Gas, and Industrial Manufacturing industries. In the Wind Pitch application, SRM was the clear winner when combined with our real-world field insights to produce the Ventium Wind Pitch SRM.”
About Enedym Inc.
Enedym is a technology start-up company from McMaster University. The company is headquartered at the McMaster Innovation Park in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Enedym has ownership of over 60 patents and pending patent applications and related inventions developed by the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Hybrid Powertrain Dr. Ali Emadi and his research group at the McMaster Automotive Resource Centre (MARC), McMaster University. Enedym’s vision is to significantly reduce the cost of electric motors and electrified powertrains, and power a new paradigm in electrification through novel electric motor drive technologies, controls, and digitization techniques. Enedym aspires to help save the planet, one electric motor market at a time. To learn more about Enedym, please visit www.enedym.com and our YouTube channel at Enedym YouTube.
About Smartricity Inc.
Smartricity is a smart industrial electric motor and software company. Smartricity’s motors are created using disruptive electric motor technologies, software, and data analytics; Smartricity’s highly efficient, ultra-reliable, and sustainable motors will drastically increase critical asset uptime while greatly reducing emissions, waste, and massive industrial carbon footprint. To learn more about Smartricity and the Ventium Wind Pitch SRM please visit www.Smartricity.ca.
Kent Place Communications
Melissa Sheer
917-690-2199
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Innovation uses artificial intelligence to help prioritize the deployment of zero-emissions company vehicles in communities most impacted by pollution
SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A digital tool developed by San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) to help reduce its fleet vehicle emissions in communities disproportionately impacted by pollution and climate change was named to Fast Company’s 2022 World Changing Ideas list, a program honoring technology and innovations that tackle social inequality, climate change and public health crises. The company’s Community Impact Platform, developed in conjunction with Accenture, received honorable mentions in the categories of Artificial Intelligence & Data, Climate and Large Employer, and was named a finalist in the Enduring Impact business category. It will be featured in the magazine’s May 10 issue.
Recognizing transportation is the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, the Community Impact Platform overlays advanced fleet GPS and vehicle data with socioeconomic data to model different scenarios of vehicle replacement to help reduce emissions in vulnerable communities.
“The Community Impact Platform is a perfect example of how SDG&E uses innovation and technology to reduce emissions in our communities and build a more sustainable and equitable future for all,” said SDG&E Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer and Chief Digital Officer Ben Gordon.
Using the tool, SDG&E can map the deployment of zero-emission vehicles to help offset the effects of climate change and pollution within its service territory in San Diego and southern Orange counties. To date, the Community Impact Platform has leveraged artificial intelligence to cluster over eighty million data points to help estimate and visualize the carbon emissions associated with each vehicle in SDG&E’s fleet throughout their daily trips. The team has integrated an intelligent vehicle replacement model into the Community Impact Platform to help prioritize fleet and other investments to meet SDG&E and the region’s sustainability and climate equity goals, which are detailed at sdge.com/sustainability.
World Changing Ideas award winners were chosen by a panel of judges across sectors, based on feasibility and the potential for impact. With the goals of awarding ingenuity and fostering innovation, Fast Company draws attention to ideas with great potential and helps them expand their reach to inspire more people to start working on solving the problems that affect us all.
SDG&E is an innovative San Diego-based energy company that provides clean, safe and reliable energy to better the lives of the people it serves in San Diego and southern Orange counties. The company is committed to creating a sustainable future by providing its electricity from renewable sources; modernizing natural gas pipelines; accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles; supporting numerous non-profit partners; and, investing in innovative technologies to ensure the reliable operation of the region’s infrastructure for generations to come. SDG&E is a subsidiary of Sempra (NYSE: SRE). For more information, visit SDGEnews.com or connect with SDG&E on Twitter (@SDGE), Instagram (@SDGE) and Facebook.
Krista Van Tassel
San Diego Gas & Electric
877-866-2066
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NEW YORK & BOCA RATON, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Blackstone (NYSE: BX) announced today that Blackstone Energy Partners (“Blackstone”) has agreed to make a majority investment in Geosyntec Consultants, Inc. (“Geosyntec”). Geosyntec is a leading environmental engineering and design consulting firm, focused on delivering technical solutions to a wide range of clients to address their environmental restoration, geotechnical, coastal, water quality and supply, infrastructure, and energy transition needs. With a team of more than 1,700 engineers, scientists, and other key employees, Geosyntec operates from more than 90 offices in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, and the Middle East.
Darius Sepassi, a Managing Director at Blackstone, said: “As demand for environmental engineering and consulting services continues to rise, we believe Geosyntec’s trusted reputation for quality and technical expertise makes the company exceptionally well positioned to further scale to meet this growing opportunity. We are excited to work with their experienced management team and highly accomplished engineers and scientists in the years ahead to help power their continued expansion.”
According to David Foley, Global Head of Blackstone Energy Partners: “The transition to a more environmentally sustainable future is a core investment theme for Blackstone and since 2019, the firm has committed approximately $16 billion in projects and companies that we believe are consistent with the broader energy transition. Today’s announcement builds on recent investments including Aypa, Array, Therma, Sabre and TDI.”
Peter Zeeb, President & CEO of Geosyntec commented: “Our partnership with Blackstone Energy Partners will fuel continued leadership in our core markets while accelerating our growth and success in new and emerging markets and geographies. It will also strengthen our ability to grow through strategic acquisitions and recruiting of top talent while enhancing our position as a preferred employer for innovative engineers and scientists. We foresee substantial benefits to our employees and clients as we expand our capabilities and service offerings, and as we support our clients in larger and more complex projects.”
Rudolph Bonaparte, Chairman of the Board of Geosyntec, commented: “Countries around the world face enormous technical challenges in the energy transition, infrastructure renewal and development, climate change mitigation and adaptation, disaster response, and water supply. The scale and complexity of these challenges require transformational change, technical innovation, and creative partnerships. With Blackstone Energy Partners, we are ideally positioned to help our clients respond to these urgent and complex challenges while continuing our tradition of providing vibrant and rewarding career and ownership opportunities to our employees.”
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Geosyntec was advised by AEC Advisors and Keating Muething & Klekamp PLL. Blackstone was represented by Perella Weinberg Partners and Vinson & Elkins LLP.
About Geosyntec Consultants
Geosyntec is a leading consulting and engineering firm that works with private and public sector clients to address new ventures and complex problems involving our environment, natural resources, and civil infrastructure. We are internationally known for our technical leadership, exceptional client service, and ability to deliver best-value solutions for our clients. We are a vibrant, practice-centered business with a strong desire for continuous self-improvement and ongoing reinvention to meet the evolving needs of our current clients, and to productively engage with new ones. As a practitioner-led firm, we create exceptional career opportunities for our employees through involvement in challenging projects, effective mentoring, valuable professional development and training opportunities, and broad engagement with clients.
About Blackstone Energy Partners
Blackstone Energy Partners, Blackstone’s energy-focused private equity business, is a leading energy investor with a successful long-term record, having invested over $20 billion of equity globally across a broad range of sectors within the energy industry. Our investment philosophy is based on backing exceptional management teams with flexible capital to provide solutions that help energy companies grow and improve performance, thereby delivering reliable and affordable energy to meet the needs of the global community. In the process, we build stronger, larger scale enterprises, create jobs, and generate lasting value for our investors, employees, and all stakeholders.
Kate Holderness
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Tony Fadell’s Future Shape and I Squared Capital join in new investment for Ambient’s pioneering U.S. production facility
MILL VALLEY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ambient Photonics today announced it has raised a $31 million Series A financing, led by Amazon via its Climate Pledge Fund and Ecosystem Integrity Fund (EIF), with Tony Fadell’s Future Shape and I Squared Capital participating. With this financing, Ambient will build the world’s largest U.S.-based low-light solar cell production facility. The facility’s fully automated production line and capacity for tens of millions of units per year will enable Ambient to scale its low-cost, high-power density solar cells to mass market adoption.
“The future of IoT and connected devices is energy harvesting, and that future requires massive scale,” said Ambient CEO Bates Marshall. “This financing empowers us to deliver our industry leading technology to some of the world's highest volume IoT device manufacturers with significant decarbonization impact. We’re opening up entirely new possibilities for products that are designed from the ground up from more sustainable energy sources.”
Ambient’s first-of-its-kind low-light energy harvesting photovoltaic (PV) technology generates as much as three times more power than conventional technology, harvesting energy across the entire light spectrum - including both artificial and natural light. By eliminating disposable batteries or reducing rechargeable battery mass, Ambient’s world leading IoT and smart home device partners, like Universal Electronics Inc. (UEI), are able to offer their customers significant operational and environmental benefits. This not only reduces landfill waste but also the carbon footprint of battery-powered devices by up to 80 percent.
“EIF invests in innovations that help industry leaders solve tough sustainability and business problems at scale. We believe Ambient has the potential to catalyze more sustainable systems across growing global industries, including consumer electronics, smart home and IoT. Ambient’s technology offers the first viable solution to cost-effectively power these devices with clean, renewable energy,” said Sasha Brown, partner at EIF.
In keeping with its plans to scale low-light energy harvesting production facilities, Ambient will also continue to progress its Part II application for a $162 million loan guarantee under the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Title XVII Loan Guarantee Program. The facilities are projected to generate hundreds of local U.S. jobs while contributing to transformative reductions in Scope 3 emissions. These indirect emissions within a company’s supply chain often represent the majority of organizational emissions. Reducing Scope 3 emissions provides one of the largest sustainability opportunities for the world’s connected device manufacturers, while also creating resilience against potential future regulations.
“Disposable batteries are both a consumer inconvenience and a significant environmental problem,” stated Matt Peterson, director of The Climate Pledge Fund at Amazon. “We are excited that through The Climate Pledge Fund we will invest in Ambient to help in their path toward creating innovative solutions to decrease the carbon footprint of battery-operated devices across industries.”
“IoT sensors are everywhere. And each one has a battery that gets replaced and added to toxic trash,” said Tony Fadell, Nest founder and author of Build. "Ambient Photonics’ revolutionary low light solar cells bring us within reach of the Holy Grail: a batteryless, wireless IoT network.”
To discover more about endless power for connected devices, download the Ambient Technology Brief here: ambientphotonics.com/technology.
About Ambient Photonics
Ambient Photonics was founded in 2019 in California to bring low light energy harvesting technology to mass scale. Ambient’s technology was originally developed at the Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry and funded since inception by Cthulhu Ventures LLC. The company’s low light solar PV cells deliver ground-breaking power density from a broader spectrum of ambient light, inspiring a new era in connected device form and function. Ambient works with leading global smart home and IoT device manufacturers on embedded solar cells to deliver superior design possibilities, performance, sustainability and consumer convenience. Explore endless power at: ambientphotonics.com.
Christine Bennett for Ambient Photonics
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INDIANAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Yamaha’s U.S. Marine Business Unit announced today Yamaha Marine Precision Propellers (YPPI) of Indianapolis is a certified participant in the Indiana Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (INSHARP).
YPPI is now part of a select group of employers that received INSHARP Certification by exceeding occupational safety and health expectations and demonstrating a commitment to the well-being of workers in the Hoosier state.
“Ensuring the safety of our employees is of the utmost importance and a responsibility we take very seriously,” said Bill Boehman, Vice President, Yamaha U.S. Marine Business Unit. “This special certification underscores our unwavering commitment to providing a safe work environment.”
Administered by the Indiana Department of Labor’s INSafe division, the INSHARP program is part of the federal Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program. It serves to give recognition and support to Hoosier® businesses with exemplary safety and health programs. Currently, there are 50 INSHARP sites statewide.
“It’s great to welcome YPPI into the INSHARP family,” said Joe Hoage, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Labor. “By taking the lead with safety, it shows the company is committed to not only making quality products but providing a safe work environment for its Hoosier® employees.”
YPPI designs and builds stainless steel propellers for distribution around the globe for Yamaha Outboards. YPPI and Yamaha partner together to design propellers to fit the thousands of different boat applications in the market. In total, YPPI manufacturers over 300 different propellers.
Yamaha’s U.S. Marine Business Unit, based in Kennesaw, Ga., is responsible for the sales, marketing, and distribution of Yamaha Marine products in the U.S. including Yamaha Outboards, Yamaha WaveRunners®, Yamaha Boats, G3 Boats and Skeeter Boats. Supporting 2,400 dealers and boat builders nationwide, Yamaha is the industry leader in reliability, performance, technology and customer service.
REMEMBER to always observe all applicable boating laws. Never drink and drive. Dress properly with a USCG-approved personal floatation device and protective gear.
© 2022 Yamaha Motor Corporation, U.S.A. All rights reserved.
This document contains many of Yamaha's valuable trademarks. It may also contain trademarks belonging to other companies. Any references to other companies or their products are for identification purposes only and are not intended to be an endorsement.
Nicholas Genesi
Public Relations Manager
Yamaha U.S. Marine Business Unit
Mobile: (470) 898-7278
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Neal Wheaton
Wilder+Wheaton for
Yamaha U.S. Marine Business Unit
Mobile: (404) 317-0698
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DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "Indium Global Market Review 2022 and Forecast to 2031" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
The report presents a thorough study of the indium industry, covering both global and national markets. It aims to give a proper picture of the market, its trends, perspectives and opportunities.
Comprehensive data on indium worldwide production, demand, trade statistics and prices are provided. Each country's market overview covers the following: indium production, indium demand, indium export and import.
The report offers a 10-year outlook on the reviewed market, including indium industry trends, supply and demand forecast.
Global Market Report:
Reasons to Buy
Key Topics Covered:
1. WORLD INDIUM INDUSTRY TRENDS IN 2016-2021
1.1. General data about indium
1.2. Global indium market trends
1.3. Indium prices in the global market
2. INDIUM INDUSTRY TRENDS IN EUROPE
2.1. Belgium
2.2. France
3. INDIUM INDUSTRY TRENDS IN CIS
3.1. Russia
4. INDIUM INDUSTRY TRENDS IN ASIA PACIFIC
4.1. China
4.2. Japan
4.3. South Korea
5. INDIUM INDUSTRY TRENDS IN NORTH AMERICA
5.1. Canada
5.3. USA
6. INDIUM INDUSTRY TRENDS IN LATIN AMERICA
6.1. Peru
7. GLOBAL INDIUM MARKET FORECAST TO 2031
7.1. Indium production forecast to 2031
7.2. Indium demand forecast to 2031
7.3. Indium prices forecast to 2031
For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/pryaku
ResearchAndMarkets.com
Laura Wood, Senior Press Manager
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