Energy CEOs: Slumping oil prices dragging down clean tech

BOULDER – Low oil prices, while offering a cheap fuel fix for consumers, are making pricey renewable energy technologies less appealing and pressuring the companies that make them, clean-tech chief executives said Tuesday.

Amory Host, CEO of Boulder-based AES Distributed Energy, formerly Main Street Power Co Inc., said the company’s solar projects have faced challenges due to falling oil prices. AES Distributed Energy, bought by AES Corp. (NYSE: AES) last month, owns and operates distributed photovoltaic solar systems.

“We’re rerunning models and re-engineering reports,” Host said. “It gets tricky.”

Consumers that looked to invest in clean energy as oil prices soared above $100 last summer have turned to fossil fuels now that oil prices have plummeted below $50 per barrel, chief executives said. The CEOs discussed the oil market, hiring and access to capital during a BizWest roundtable discussion at EKS&H’s Boulder office Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, spot prices of West Texas Intermediate crude oil sank 3 percent to $48.63 on Tuesday.

Osiris Stevens, founder and president of Next Step Electric, said lower oil prices put a halt to his company’s project in the Bahamas. The Boulder company makes solar inverters and thin-film solar panels that wrap around utility poles.

“Oil coming down is a crusher,” he said.

Host said, however, that he believes that solar will regain even greater popularity when oil prices increase again.

Analysts have said oil markets may not recover until later next year.

“Long-term, I think (oil) prices will come back up,” Host said.

Companies in the oil industry have faith that prices will rally, along with demand.

“We’re a long-term investment,” said Doug Campbell, CEO of Solid Power in Louisville, which makes rechargeable batteries for oil and gas drilling. “I think most of our investors recognize that.”

Other challenges facing energy companies include lack of access to capital and hiring new talent.

Chief executives of energy startups said that they have been unsuccessful in raising money from venture capitalists, instead having better luck finding federal grants.

“VC is dead in cleantech,” said Daniel Higgs, CEO of Superior Ecotech LLC, which makes technology to capture carbon dioxide emissions from craft breweries using algae.

Still, obtaining grants from federal agencies in Washington, D.C., can prove difficult without outside help, Campbell said.

“They’re not easy to get: they’re competitive,” he said.

Chief executives agreed that networking with investors helped them raise the most capital.

“It’s a matter of establishing those relationships over the years and being very clear on your communications,” Host said.

They also agreed that hiring new talent remained one of the most pressing challenges in their companies.

At University of Colorado-Boulder spinoff Solid Power, for example, Campbell said many of the people that the company would like to hire work in Silicon Valley.

In the energy technology space, hiring the right person can replace several average people, said Carl Lawrence, chairman and chief technology officer of Swift Tram Inc. and owner of EnergySense LLC in Boulder.

“It really does make a difference,” Lawrence said.

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