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BERC Innovative Solutions (BIS)Student Consulting Team Application

Fall 2011

Instructions:

** PLEASE RETURN THIS APPLICATION VIA EMAIL TO bis@ berc.berkeley.edu BY 11:59AM Sunday, Sep 4th, 2011. Please save the file as follows:

First_Name_Last_Name_Fall_2011_BIS_Student_App.doc **

All BIS projects are composed of an interdisciplinary team of 4 to 5 students will be selected based on the submitted applications and resumes.

This semester we are offering two different types of BIS projects. External consulting projects where students are each be expected to contribute 40-60

hours over the course of the semester and an internal consulting project where students are each be expected work 10-15 hour per week toward the project

over the course of the semester.

mailto:[email protected]

I. Basic Information Name:Email:Phone:Department & Graduation Year:Primary Area of Study / Research:

Fall ‘11 Courses and Corresponding # of Credits

Other Activities and Expected Weekly Commitment (hours per week)Undergraduate Major & Graduation Year:Are you able to dedicate 4 to 6 hours per week to BIS?

Availability for the kick-off meeting: Please mark date/time that you ARE AVAILABLE

Sep 7th Wed 6-8pmSep 8th Thurs 6-8pmSep 9th Fri 10-12amSep 9th Fri 12-2pm Sep 9th Fri 2-4pmSep 9th Fri 4-6pm

August 29th 2011 | BERC/BECI project application 1

II. Project Selection: At the bottom of this application you will find detailed project descriptions. You have 100 points to assign across five projects; no two projects can be assigned the same number of points. You may include additional information (relevant functional, work, and industry experience) on why you’re an ideal candidate for a particular project. Project selection and team composition are dependent on receiving enough interest from the BERC student community and fit to client needs. Rank Client

NamePoints Assigned

Reason for Selection/ Unique Qualifications- a compelling answer will increase your chances of being assigned your desired project (max. 60 words each)

EXTERNAL CONSULTING PROJECTS

1 Bloom Energy

2 Hydrovolts

3 TRKL/ ARCADIS

4 Sunpreme

5 Calpine

INTERNAL CONSULTING PROJECTS

6* BECI

* The team will be compensated by a stipend of $5000 per team member per semester corresponding to an estimated hourly commitment of 10 – 15 hours/week over the course of the semester.


III. Skills and Project Role: a. Please attach your current resume OR a list of relevant work & educational experience to

your email submission in Word or PDF format. b. Team leads play a critical role in helping to manage the scope of the project and serve as the

main team liaison with the BIS Chair, the project client, UC Berkeley faculty and supporting organizations. Previous experience managing project scope and client expectations is highly preferable for this role. Note: applicants who apply, but are not selected for a lead position, will not be precluded from participating in BIS. If you are interested in serving as a lead, please indicate you preference below. I am interested in serving as a BIS Team Lead (check only if interested)

If so, please describe in a few bullets your project leadership experience:

IV. Project description: 1. Bloom Energy: Data Center Market segment analysis

Company Description:

Bloom Energy is the company that develops, builds, and installs on-site power generation systems that utilize an new fuel cell technology

Key Opportunity Analyze the convergence of Information technology and energy

technology in the context of booming cloud and mobile computing needs. Specific research on data center market focused on regional sizes of market and key pain points/functional requirements of potential customers.

Project Description:

Overall objective: Enable Bloom to develop go-to market strategy and campaigns for the data center segment.

Insight into value proposition for customers will be a key input for pricing Bloom Energy products and services.

Deliverables: Market segment analysis paper and presentation to key Bloom

Energy executives. May include a financial model to demonstrate present costs or value

of solutions to customers.

Desirable Collective Team Experience :

Energy sector background (preferred)


Analytical capability Data Center/High Tech background Financial analysis Strong interest in cleantech

2. Hydrovolts: Investment Opportunity Identification in the residential energy storageCompany Description:

Hydrovolts produces new micro-hydropower turbines that generate steady renewable distributed energy from water currents in canals and spillways. We were national finalists in the 2009 Clean Tech Open contest and we won the 2011 Imagine H2O Water-Energy Nexus Prize. We have raised over $1M from angel and corporate investors, and are currently launching a new funding round. We are looking for help evaluating a new and very promising market.

Key Opportunity

The company recently learned that its turbines are suitable for artificial waterfalls or drops within large water treatment facilities. Water treatment facilities have historically been ignored by renewable energy generators, yet are some of the state’s largest energy consumers. The company wishes to evaluate this significant untapped market and develop a go-to-market strategy that will inform our fundraising efforts. The completion of this strategy will help us gain first mover advantage in what we expect will be a major market.


Map market forces and estimate potential for Western US, with focus on CA – suitable for presentation to potential investors and boardo Market sizing (number of sites; projected sales forecasts; competitive

trends; etc)o Identify sample target customers (perhaps potential for CA pilot),

decision makers, influencers, and relevant agency organizationso Assess primary demand in market (are water treatment plants pursuing

RE options?)o “How to” steps for evaluating other markets w/in US and

internationally Develop Califorina sales strategy

o Summarize value proposition (including interviews with at least 3 target customers)

o Key channels and proposed partnershipso Analysis of adoption barriers (major legislative hurdles; competition;

client objections; etc) and sketch possible solution strategieso Proposed timeline and milestones

Produce a report to the management team

Desirable Collective Team

Necessary: Marketing/strategy backgrounds, ideally at least one former consultant. Experience in new product development and expansion.


Experience : Market research. Nice to have: Electrical or mechanical engineering expertise who can

understand the more technical aspects of our product – similar to a wind turbine, but with the added complexity of hydrology thrown in. Familiarity with either the water treatment industry, or agricultural irrigation.

3. RTKL Associates Inc.: Venturi-Effect Turbine opportunity assessmentCompany Description:

RTKL is a global architecture, planning and design firm. The firm is now one of the largest architectural firms in the world. Its award-winning portfolio spans six continents and includes projects in the retail, entertainment, residential, healthcare, civic and public, workplace, mixed use, hospitality, urban planning and technology sectors.In 2007, RTKL became a wholly owned subsidiary of ARCADIS, an international company that delivers consulting, design, engineering, urban planning, architectural and project management services for infrastructure, environment and buildings.

Key Opportunity

Venturi-Effect Turbine Array is an experimental renewable energy technology that captures latent wind energy between buildings in urban areas. The Venturi-Effect has been observed in major cities across the world as predominant winds are forced through a dense network of high-rise buildings. By strategically placing an array of wind turbines in a dense urban fabric, cities can generate a substantial supply of clean, renewable energy that could be fed directly into the city grid, or be tied into a separate municipal system to power public utilities and amenities such as public transit systems, street lights, or public facilities.


Objectives:o Assess the market potential of the VETA system in major cities

worldwideo Determine the policy/regulatory implications of a VETA structure in a

urban areao Summarize the potential legal issues involved with implementation

Deliverables:o Brief Report on the market viability of the VETA systemo Brief Report on the policy, liability, legal, and bureaucratic issues

involvedo Rough cost estimate of a prototypical VETA structure



This project would benefit from a diverse range of candidates. Candidates with the following skill sets and/or backgrounds would be ideal: Renewable Energy Systems Environmental Policy Air Rights Law City Government - Capital Projects Municipal Power Systems Mechanical Engineering Urban Infrastructure

4. Sunpreme: Solar Market Assessment for Developing CountriesCompany Description:

Sunpreme is a growth-stage solar PV startup that is commercializing its disruptive technology to bring low-cost, high-efficiency solar panels to customers around the world. It is an exciting time to work with Sunpreme: We have just closed our Series B financing to build our first large volume production plant in China, our technology and process patents have just been approved by the US PTO, and we have recently shipping product to some of our first customers.

Key Opportunity

We would like a BIS team to complete an in-depth market assessment of developing countries with high potential for solar. At the top of this list are China, India, and Brazil. Historically, solar has not been a large part of these countries’ energy portfolios. However, very recently many have implemented policies, both at the national and provincial level, to speed the adoption of solar energy generation. The team would have the chance to work directly with the CEO and other executives at Sunpreme to determine the market opportunities and competitive landscape.

Sunpreme is actively ramping production to go to market in the next quarter. This project will have a large, immediate, and very visible impact on our go-to-market strategy and sales force execution going forward.


We would like to achieve a better understanding of the relative opportunity for Sunpreme across three countries and two major customer segments. The countries are China, India, and Brazil. The customer segments are: utility-scale solar power plants, and distributed-generation (off-grid) solar applications. One of our investors is the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank, and they have expressed support in having Sunpreme focus on one of these developing economies.

Objective Deliverable

Understand the market opportunity for solar

Analysis of market opportunity (solar resource available, size of market, current


through 2016 for countries/segments specified above

incumbents, barriers to entry) by country and segment. (SPREADSHEET FORM)

Understand what government policies and programs are already in place at both the national and provincial level to accelerate the adoption of solar

High-level summary and analysis of government policies and programs for all segments. Detailed analysis and summary for the top 2-3 most attractive segments. (This could be at the provincial level for instance) (MEMO FORM)

Prioritize which opportunities (countries/segments) match up best with Sunpreme’s value proposition

Presentation of analysis of Sunpreme’s value proposition matched against opportunities (PRESENTATION FORM)

Identify the requirements in place for each policy/program in order to participate (e.g. local manufacturing, local sourcing)

List of specific requirements for participation along with an analysis of the feasibility for Sunpreme to meet the requirements (MEMO FORM)


Management consulting experience Experience working on market assessments in emerging markets Public policy experience for understanding government programs Experience in the solar space (nice to have) Chinese/Portuguese language proficiency (nice to have)

5. Calpine Corp. : Investment Potential Assessment for Solar Generation


Calpine is one of the largest independent wholesale power generators in the U.S. The company was founded in California but currently has significant assets in three main regions: California, Texas, and PJM. Most of Calpine’s fleet consists of relatively new gas-fired generation, some of which is used in cogeneration applications, i.e., in addition to generating electricity, we provide steam for industrial processes. We also own and operate the Geysers, the largest geothermal generating facility in the U.S. Our generating units at the Geysers currently provide approximately 20 percent of the RPS energy in California.

Key Opportunity

Calpine has been ambivalent about investing in solar generation. We would like the BIS team to look harder at Calpine’s potential investment in solar generation. We hope that the team’s research will inform our


strategy to pursue specific projects and investment in solar more broadly.Project Description:

We would like the team to address some of the following questions (Final scope to be defined between the team and client based on the team members’ interests):• What are the merits of different solar generation technologies?• What unique advantages, if any, does Calpine have as a developer of and/or investor in solar generation, e.g., generic development skills, control of sites, hybridization opportunities?• Why are many of our competitors, e.g., NRG and AES, investing in solar? Should Calpine pursue the same strategy?• Is investment in solar actually profitable? Is collocation of PV at existing Calpine conventional plants cost competitive with other PV projects of similar size?• At what stage, if any, does it make sense for Calpine to invest in solar generation, i.e., should we assume development and/or technology risk or invest primarily in late stage projects?


The most important skills include some knowledge of the energy industry and some familiarity with valuation and structured finance.

6. UC Berkeley: Berkeley Energy and Climate Institute (BECI)


The Berkeley Energy and Climate Institute (BECI) is a new initiative that provides a coordinating hub for all of Berkeley's energy and climate efforts to ensure the integration of science, engineering, social science, market, and policy research.

Key Opportunity

Conduct a semester long BERC consulting project for the Berkeley Energy and Climate Institute (BECI) to evaluate energy and climate research and education offerings at UC Berkeley and develop a set of prioritized recommendations for how, in the next five year, the University can utilize strategic investments to: 1) attract and retain top talent 2) increase research disclosures 3) increase awareness and recognition 4) catalyze breakthrough research 5) increase external funding.


Task 1: Develop a gap analysis.

The project team will meet with key stakeholders throughout the University community (including LBL) to understand the current set of strengths and weaknesses related to energy and climate research, programs, and education. The team will then map the offerings and identify overlap and white space.

Key questions include: What are the crucial research areas in energy and climate today and how does UCB’s ongoing and proposed research map onto these areas?What are the important/growth areas for programming and education and how does UCB’s current offerings map onto these areas


What are some additional metrics for assessing strengths and weaknesses?

Task 2: Internal Student Survey

Conduct a survey of current graduate students to better understand motivation in selecting their ultimate graduate institution.

Key questions include: What draws best graduate students to pursue energy and climate research/education at Berkeley? Breadth of research? Number of influential publications? Dedicated energy andprograms/course offerings?

Task 3: Develop a set of recommendations.

The team will synthesize the research done in Tasks 1 and 2 and suggest areas that the University should prioritize, foster, and invest in. If deemed appropriate, the team will provide input on scoping a second semester follow up project to survey best practices at outside institutions.


Knowledge and experience with UC Berkeley’s energy programs a plus.


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