2010 – The First Quarter
The first quarter brought more exciting growth and progress to the community power sector overall, as well as to ReGenerate.
The most significant news was the Ontario Power Authority awarding the first FIT and microFIT contracts for a total of 2,612 megawatts (MW) of generating capacity, including 21.8 MW of on- and off-farm biogas. In addition, the second annual Canadian Farm and Food Biogas conference took place in London, Ontario, Transition Canada was created, and three more Ontario Transition Towns were awarded official status by the Transition Network – bringing the world total to 291.
What I’ve been up to
- Our Fields, Our Future – an agricultural symposium in Norwood, Ontario hosted by Kawartha Choice and the Greater Peterborough Economic Development Corporation took place in early January. It featured speakers from Trent University, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Farming and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), as well as farmers from Traynor Beef, and Glen Isle Farms, among others.
Attendees were mainly farmers from around Peterborough county, but also included representatives from Carbon Control Systems, the Community Futures Development Corporation, Fleming College, the Peterborough Innovation Cluster, the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association, and the local Liberal candidate.
- MaRS hosted the Green Energy Act Finance Forum later that month with the goal of increasing the understanding and flow of money from Bay Street to renewable energy projects around Ontario. Bankers, accountants and consultants from Europe spoke about how projects were financed when feed-in tariffs were passed in multiple EU countries and revealed some interesting facts – like that wind projects were being financed with 90% debt before the financial crisis (70-80% leverage today), and that when Germany passed its FIT program to 2008, investment growth was equal to 93% annually.
Ontario’s premier Dalton McGuinty then told the crowd about how Ontario is headed down a similar path right now, with over 10,000 MW worth of applications received since October 2009.
- Before spending most of February in Nicaragua for a vacation, I had to submit my entry into the UpStart Competition at MaRS – a 3 page executive summary of ReGenerate’s business plan.
29 different plans were submitted, and 12 got through to the next round, including mine. Part of the competition included meeting with a MaRS advisor; Tony Redpath gave me some good feedback and also suggested I offer an ongoing operating service for biogas plants.
- In early March, I drove to Peterborough to meet with some of the people who will be integral in the growth of community biogas in the county. Stephen Hill at Trent University, Karen Jopling and Lauren Gogo at the Greater Peterborough Economic Development Office, Chris Ferguson and Larry Gibson from Carbon Control Systems Inc., followed by a presentation called ‘Energy Co-ops’ to members of Transition Town Peterborough.
Dr. Hill is one of the founders of the Peterborough Renewable Energy Co-operative and has expressed interest in working with ReGenerate to develop community owned biogas in Peterborough. Karen started the Kawartha Choice (local food first) program for the EDC, having her understanding and support for my goals is important. This was my first time meeting Larry from Carbon Control Systems, after meeting Chris for the first a couple months before. CCS is one the players in the competitive anaerobic digestion technology market, and likely one of my future partners.
The Transition meeting went very well, people were very excited about biogas and had many questions about the feedstock possibilities. A cameraman was there too and I got on the local news! Afterward, Fred Irwin, the founder of Transition Peterborough and Chairman of Transition Canada told me that he wants to help out however he can – a valuable endorsement I was hoping to get.
- The following week, the second annual Canadian Food and Farm Biogas Conference was held in London, Ontario and featured speakers and guests from around the world involved in all aspects of the biogas value chain.
I learned much about the current state of the biogas market here in Ontario, met more of the technology developers and other future partners, reconnected with people I’ve met along the way, and honed more ideas for how ReGenerate can help communities develop biogas projects – such as creating regional organics processing facilities in order to provide a consistent feedstock to the region’s biogas plants, and the increasing need for a common local operator to ensure high safety and operating standards.
- The Ontario Sustainable Energy Association (OSEA) held its quarterly members call in March and announced the launch of the Community Power Services Group – to be run by Harry French.
Harry and I got together for burritos a couple weeks afterward and talked about how ReGenerate could help his new group in the biogas sector, as the website only advertised assistance for wind, solar and hydro development. OSEA is a credible organization with a strong membership base; involvement in this services group will connect me to communities who are interested in developing community owned biogas.
- Entrepreneurship 101 also continued. Over the quarter, lectures focused on turning ideas into income, effective communication strategies, getting VC funding, human resources, and the role of boards. Michael McCain from Maple Leaf Foods also spoke about the experience of his father and uncle developing McCain foods and his own experience with Maple Leaf.
The course is over now, but it was immensely helpful in getting me to think about the many different areas of business and to hear about the experiences of others. I would definitely recommend it to people wanting to build businesses in the life sciences, high tech, clean tech, or social enterprise sectors.
Looking Ahead
To start the second quarter, the Sustainable Leaders Exchange hosted an event discussing B Corps; what they are, the benefits of becoming certified, etc. The ‘B’ stands for benefit, as in to benefit all of the stakeholders involved – something ReGenerate is already thinking about in its approach, so you can bet that I will become a certified B Corp when I incorporate the company.
The closing lectures of Entrepreneurship 101 included topics like building high performance teams, enterprise sales and building an effective pitch. I was also working pretty hard on preparing my pitch for the UpStart competition, which took place May 5th at MaRS. I’ll spare you the suspense of waiting for the Q2 report, I didn’t win – but it was a great experience, I learned a lot about my business, and improved my presentation skills.
Also at MaRS, will be the Community Power Finance Forum on May 10, which will feature experts from Europe and Ontario speaking about their experiences financing community power projects. It will also mark the launch of the Community Energy Partnership Program, which will provide financial assistance to communities for pre-project development costs. This grant is how communities can pay ReGenerate to complete a general resource assessment.
In mid May, I will be attending “Training for Transitioners” at the University of Guelph – a two-day workshop teaching participants the skills needed to organize or run a transition initiative.
I will be completing a general resource assessment of Peterborough County.
The Numbers (unaudited)
| Jan – Mar 2009 | Jan – Mar 2010 | |
| Revenue |
0 | 0 |
| Expenses | ||
| General Admin | 92 | 1,541 |
| Travel (car rentals, gas) | 0 | 545 |
| Rent and Utilities | 0 | 750 |
| Bank Interest | 0 | 92 |
| Marketing and Web | 0 | 600 |
| Memberships | 0 | 100 |
| Conferences | 0 | 721 |
| Total Expenses | 92 | 4,349 |
| Net Profit (loss) | (92) | (4,349) |