Retech Conference, Part 2

Today's Focus: Retech Summary, Part 2.

Yesterday I posted a general summary of my odessey at the Exhibitor's Hall (you can find it in Archives). Today, I will provide short summaries of the conversations I had with company/association representatives. In each case, I presented myself as someone representing a group of college students looking for jobs and internships in clean energy. All the representatives took the Dayaway handout I offered (listing the registered profiles and providing background information on Dayaway) and promised to give it to their hiring representative.

Suzlon Wind Energy. I learned that Suzlon, an India based wind turbine company, is in the #2 or #3 position in the U.S., and that they have and will hire college graduates into entry-level positions. The two representatives appeared to be in their mid-twenties, business majors I would guess. They were optimistic about the long term future of wind energy, but quick to acknowledge that things are challenging now.

NEDO. The New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization is one of my favorites. This is a Japan public organization promoting clean energy R&D. They provide $2B annually to Japanese companies such as Sharp, Sanyo and Kyocera. I believe this shows that private capital markets alone are not enough for corporations who get graded by Wall Street every three months. Long term R&D investments need government support, which in turn, encourages private capital to pile on later.

Suniva. Big point learned here is that this company, a solar cell manufacturer, has an eighteen month backlog of orders. We need to watch them for job opportunities.

ThermaSource. This geothermal drilling company explained that there are similarities (and important differences) between drilling for oil and thermal energy. The take-away point is that getting a few years of experience in oil exploration (oil company or related-Schlumberger) could then lead to a geothermal career.

Ewing Bemis & Co. / Talor DeJongh. These two investment banking firms are both active in the clean energy space. They both hire MBAs. The fact that they were present at Retech is a sign of their long term commitment to clean energy given current soft equity markets.

Sterling Planet. This Georgia based consulting firm (carbon asset management) expressed a preference to hire local candidates, but would look past that preference for a strong candidate who reached out to them. This shows that in this economy it is an employers' market and students will have to sell themselves hard.

Anonymous. One representative (whose name I will supress given his candid and perhaps non-representative remark) expressed some frustration with the high salaries, especially to MBAs, that were paid 2 to 3 years ago. Now that the market has turned, he felt that candidates had to come back down to earth in their salary expectations. I'm not sure if this feeling is widespread among hiring representatives, but perhaps an extra dose of job-seeker humility is wise.

Lockheed Martin. I expressed my surprise that a major defense contractor was at the conference. I learned LM is active on a number of fronts, especially in the grid and smart-grid sector. The impressive young professional said that college job-seekers should study the utilities with an eye on whom they do business with--their consultants, software providers, PPAs (power purchasing agreements--the private solar or wind farm that sells clean electricity to a utility).

National Hydrogen Association. I learned about lots of cool hydrogen initiatives. I also promised to inform Dayaway's membership of a contest to design a hydrogen community. I will do this tomorrow.

Well, that's my summary. Go to www.retech2010.com if you want to learn more about what happened at Retech. You won't believe how much information is available to you.

Got or need a clean energy job/internship? Join or follow Dayaway.

michaelbrownell@dayawaycareers.com. Thanks. Mike b.