SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE) and Euromoney Energy Events announced that investor and activist Tom Steyer will deliver the keynote address on the opening day of Renewable Energy Finance Forum-West (REFF-West).
“The transformation to a future of secure, clean, affordable energy will come about only with private investment backed by public policy,” said Tom Steyer, founder and board chair of the Advanced Energy Economy Institute, the nonprofit educational and charitable affiliate of Advanced Energy Economy, a national business association. “Renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy storage, electric vehicles – these are the building blocks of a cleaner energy future for the United States and the world. The private sector is delivering, but can do so only with the market certainty that comes from consistent government policy. We need to mobilize private capital and public support to create an advanced energy economy.”
A successful investment fund manager, Steyer teamed with former Secretary of State George Shultz to defeat California’s Proposition 23, an effort in 2010 by out-of-state oil companies to dismantle California’s groundbreaking clean energy law. Steyer also chaired the successful Proposition 39 campaign in 2012, through which California voters closed a tax loophole benefitting out-of-state corporations, thereby generating a projected $1 billion in state revenue annually, half of which will be devoted to money-saving energy upgrades in public buildings and primarily schools in the first five years.
“Tom Steyer is a huge asset for the renewable energy community, not just in financing but in promoting and building real grassroots support for a much more diverse and renewable energy portfolio both in California and throughout the U.S.,” said Michael Brower, ACORE’s Interim President and CEO. “We are fortunate that Tom will be lending his time and expertise to REFF-West this year. His career thus far is a solid example of what can be done in the renewable energy industry with commitment, ingenuity, and old fashioned hard work. His insights into renewables in general, as well as how to spur finance and profit in the field, will be of great value to the REFF-West attendees.”
The 6th annual REFF-West conference will be held at the Four Seasons Hotel in San Francisco on September 16-17. Programs and speakers’ panels will cover the political state of renewable energy, U.S. competitiveness in a global marketplace, and many more topics. Over forty speakers are scheduled to speak.
“We are at an important time in the renewable energy industry. There is a wealth of opportunities out there for those willing to take some risks and do the important work of delivering renewable power to the marketplace and consumer at a competitive rate,” explained Dan Adler, ACORE Board of Directors Co-Chair and Managing Director of the California Clean Energy Fund. “The clear message coming out of REFF-West will be that innovation and investment opportunity wait for no one. With so many different avenues to energy diversity and independence, everyone has a role. We are the energy of the future and that future is much closer than we think.”
Before retiring at the end of last year, Steyer founded and was the Senior Managing Member of Farallon Capital Management. Steyer and his wife, Kat Taylor, joined Warren Buffett, Bill and Melinda Gates and other high-wealth Americans in the “Giving Pledge,” a promise to donate the majority of their wealth to charitable and nonprofit activities during their lifetimes. At Stanford University, Steyer serves on the Board of Trustees as Vice-Chair, and three years ago he and Taylor founded two renewable energy research institutions there: the TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy and the Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance.