Clean Energy Finance

Bringing Public and Private money into the Clean Energy Industry

The Paris summit ended with a historic consensus by world economies to facilitate adoption of energy efficiency practices, diversify into renewable energy sources and cut down on carbon emissions. The panel discusses ways to infuse private and public money for clean energy technologies in a carbon constrained global economy.

Seating is limited. Please register HERE.

Date: Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Time: 6:00 – 7:30 pm
Food: Networking dinner directly following event, 7:30 – 8:30 pm

Invite: Stanford Law School Energy Club and Stanford Energy Club

Moderator:
Jeff Brown, Senior Vice President—Finance & Corporate Strategy at Summit Power

Jeff Brown is Senior Vice President—Finance & Corporate Strategy at Summit Power, a Seattle-based clean energy development firm. Mr. Brown joined Summit after 26 years of energy/infrastructure project finance, debt capital markets and derivatives experience while at Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch.  He retired as a Managing Director from Merrill in 2009 to head Summit’s new finance effort in a utility-scale photovoltaic project and two large wind projects.

Before working on Wall Street, Professor Brown was a Legislative Assistant for a U.S. Congressman from Oregon.  Professor Brown holds an A.B. with high honors in Economics from Harvard College and an M.B.A. (with distinction) from Harvard Business School. He is currently a Lecturer at the Stanford GSB and Stanford Law School, teaching the course “Clean Energy Project Development and Finance” with Dave Rogers and Dan Reicher.

Panelists:
Professor Dan Reicher, Executive Director of Stanford’s Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance

Professor Dan Reicher is Executive Director of Stanford’s Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance, a joint center of the Stanford business and law schools where he holds faculty positions. He is also the interim President, CEO and board chair of the American Council on Renewable Energy. Professor Reicher previously directed Google’s climate and energy initiatives, was an investor and executive in the clean energy industry, and served as U.S. Assistant Secretary of Energy for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, as well as Chief of Staff to the Secretary of Energy, in the Clinton Administration. He was also a member of President Obama’s Transition Team and earlier in his career a staff member of President Carter’s Commission on the Accident at Three Mile Island.

Professor Reicher serves on the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board, the National Academy of Sciences Board on Energy and Environmental Systems, and is a non-resident senior fellow with the Brookings Institution.

Ken Alston, Special Advisor for Finance, Office of the Secretary at US Department of Energy

Ken Alston joined the Obama Administration in 2012.  As Special Advisor for Finance at the U.S. Department of Energy, he advises the Secretary of Energy on pathways to increase financing and investment in clean energy technologies.  Mr. Alston is a co-founder of the DOE Clean Energy Investment Center, chair of the Department’s Energy Finance Working Group, and is an advisor to the Department’s Loan Programs Office, which has provided more than $30 billion in financing to recipients including Tesla and many of the U.S.’s largest solar and wind projects. Prior to joining the DOE, Mr. Alston worked at the White House National Economic Council, as well as the startups Simbol Materials and Editas. Prior to those positions, he was a strategy consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton.

Mr. Alston holds a BA in Economics from the University of Virginia, an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and an MS from the Stanford School of Earth, Energy, and Environmental Sciences.

Ali Amirali, Senior Vice President of Starwood Energy group.

Ali Amirali is a Senior Vice President of Starwood Energy Group. In this role, Mr. Amirali is responsible for the expansion of Starwood Energy Group’s StarTrans high-voltage transmission assets, as well as for new business/project opportunities in the transmission and distribution arena in North America. Prior to joining Starwood Energy Group in 2010, Mr. Amirali held a variety of key technical and leadership positions at Element Power, LS Power, Calpine Corp., California Independent Systems Operator and Pacific Gas and Electric Company. He has participated in the development and interconnection of more than 5,000 megawatts of electric generation in the Western U.S. and Mexico, and has developed and managed several large transmission line projects designed to improve reliability, reduce congestion, and deliver energy from thermal and renewable resources.

Mr. Amirali received a B.S. degree in electrical engineering from the Iowa State University, an M.S. in electrical engineering from University of Idaho, a Master’s of Engineering in engineering management from the University of Colorado, and an MBA from Colorado State University.