Welcome to Berken Energy LLC

  • Summary
  • Opportunities & Analysis
  • Market Challenges
  • Validated Concept
  • Why it All Makes Sense
Berken Energy has attracted multiple nationally recognized customers in the public utility, industrial and consumer space. We are in the process of further developing these partnerships as well as identifying the key markets that will benefit the most from our innovative products.

We plan to sell our products to integrators, developers and commercial end-users in partnership with system manufacturers. We also believe that there will be substantial opportunities to use contract manufacturers that will allow us to ramp production quickly and leverage our technologies in all of the major regions throughout the world.

We also plan to license our technologies to other leading energy companies to establish our technologies as the industry standard in the renewable energy market. Once you observe our products generating electricity, you will see for yourself that the possible applications are too numerous to mention.

Berken Energy Will Make You Money
The following spreadsheet clearly shows the cost and development times advantages that Berken Energy has to offer:

Energy Type Construction Costs
($/Avg* MW)
Acres Req'd
(ac/MW)
Build Time
Coal $3.7M 0.35 >4 years
Gas $2.1M 0.32 >2 years
Nuclear $8.7M 1.25 >10 years
Wind $13.8M 60 >2 years
Solar PV $26.4M 6 18 months
Berken PTV™ $10.0M 3 <12 months
Geothermal $3.0M    
Berken GTV™ $1.5M 0.25 <18 months

Berken's Vision + Investment = Serious Return on Investment
We reduce the cost per watt by combining thermovoltaic and photovoltaic systems to take advantage of the wasted heat generated by the inefficiency of photovoltaic products. This combination increases the energy output of the system during peak demand time and continues to generate power as long as there is a heat source, even after the sun goes down.

*It's important to note that there is a difference between stated nameplate (i.e. "peak") watt generation vs. average watt generation. For example, solar, wind and gas power's average watt output is typically only 25% of the nameplate power generation advertised. Coal, nuclear and hydro power is much higher: typically 95% of the stated peak power.

I. Opportunities

  • Revenue Growth
    1. Revenue growth for solar PV, wind, biofuels, and fuel cells increased by 40% – from $55B in 2006 to $77.3 B in 2007.
    2. New global investments in energy technologies expanded by 60 percent from $92.6 billion in 2006 to $148.4 billion in 2007 (Source: New Energy Finance).
    3. Venture capitalists in the U.S. invested $2.7 billion in the clean-energy sector, representing more than 9% of total VC activity (Source: Global Energy Industry Outlook 2009)
  • Concentrated Solar Power
      1. Solar photovoltaics will grow from a $20.3 billion industry in 2007 to $74 billion by 2017.
      2. Annual installations were just shy of 3 GW worldwide, up nearly 500 percent from 2004 (Global Energy Industry Outlook 2009) In 2009 there is currently 480 MW of CSP installed globally (Source: Emerging Energy Research – April 2009)
      3. Currently another 800 MW under construction in Spain
      4. Financially sound players are moving forward with their 3,000 MW of planned projects as emerging players reevaluate their strategies to survive off the $US420 million in capital raised in 2008

    2. Wind vs Geothermal

    • Wind
      1. EC&R North America scheduled to bring the largest wind generation installation online in mid-2009 - 781.5 MW
      2. Wind power (new installation capital costs) is projected to expand from $30.1 billion in 2007 to $83.4 billion in 2017.
      3. In 2008 global wind power installations reached a record 20,000 MW, equivalent to 20 large-size 1 GW conventional power plants. (Source: Global Energy Industry Outlook 2009)
      4. China's ranking in the world wind energy league moved up from the top 10 to the top 6, and the country is planning to host some of the biggest wind farms in the world.
    • Geothermal
      1. Geothermal is experiencing a global renaissance as a key clean energy source with improved technology, new construction, and renewed investor interest.
      2. Geothermal is the only clean-energy resource besides hydroelectric that provides baseload power 24 hours a day
      3. PG&E, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas & Electric—have announced new geothermal contracts in the past 12 months.
      4. Projects that had been shelved in recent years like the 55 MW Bottle Rock facility has attracted an investment stake from Carlyle/Riverstone’s Renewable Energy Infrastructure Fund, a strong sign of Wall Street’s renewed interest in geothermal.

    3. Existing Solar and Geothermal Competitors

    • Thermoelectric Device Manufacturers
    • Hi-Z
    • BSST
    • Nextreme
    • Geothermal Integrators
    • Ormat
    • Raser
    • Vulcan
    • Magma Energy

    4. Berken Product Differentiators

    • No Moving Parts
    • Large-Area Product (Acres)
    • Only Solution to Use Mid-Grade Heat
    • Only Geothermal Solution Available in 80% of U.S. Geography
    • Cost/Watt is Less than Coal or Nuclear

    5. Industry Comparisons

    • Coal power plants cost more than $3M/MW and take 5 years to recoup investment
    • Nuclear power plants cost as much as $6,000/kW of generating capacity
    • Opposition to a long-term nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain shows how difficult it will be to come up with a politically acceptable solution
    • Natural gas for electric power made up 31-percent of delivered volumes for 2008 — very slow growth

    The energy market has many factors that play into it — government regulation, for example — and market demand is increasing yearly. Main bullet points include:

    • Electricity is currently a $112B per year market in the U.S. and is growing rapidly
    • Significant government influence and regulations
    • Current green energy is not consistent or reliable
    • Energy costs consume up to 65% of Heavy Industry budgets
    • High startup costs for conventional power plants

    Regulatory Forecast

    • H.R. 2454 The American Clean Energy & Security Act (Cap & Trade)
    • Adjusting the federal production tax credit (PTC) to make it more effective in the midst of the current economic downturn and extending it for a longer term (it expires at the end of 2009)
    • Establishing a national renewable electricity standard (RES) with a target of generating at least 25% of the nation’s electricity from renewables by 2025, and a near-term target of 10% by 2012
    • Legislation and initiatives to develop a high-voltage interstate transmission “highway” for renewable energy
    • Fall 2008: Chena and United Technologies received a Department of Energy grant to install a demonstration plant at an oil or gas well in the US.
    • Ormat Technologies has already build a geothermal/oil co-production facility in cooperation with the Department of Energy
    • Ormat received $45M in 2008 to build a joint facility in Guatemala

    Emerging Energy Markets

    • Top 5: Brazil, China, Mexico, India and South Africa (Source: Energy Business Reports)
    • The top five emerging countries contributed $621.7 billion to the global Oil & Gas industry in 2008
    • In 2013, the market is forecast to have a value of $680.8 billion
    • Due to increased demand for electricity, these countries represent an excellent target markets for new alternative green energy.

    The concept has been proven, but unlike other companies, we have a viable product right now. For more information, please read the Third-Party Validation letter from SAIC.

    We believe that we've developed a revolutionary product, and we invite you to contact us to join other venture capital firms in investing in our technology.

    As a recap, our GTV™ provides:

    • 24 Hour electric baseload
    • Cheaper than traditionalpPower generation (e.g. coal, oil and nuclear)
    • No geographic constraints — works in all 50 states and globally
    • Low power plant startup costs
    • Works with all existing generating technology