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To: Bill Harmond who wrote (23699)	3/15/2005 11:02:34 AM
From: denni	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 57684

tried to get on about 7:30, but could only get a clicking noise.

To: Bill Harmond who wrote (23699)	3/15/2005 1:12:56 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 57684

Clean-energy VC fund emerges ______________________________ by Paul Bonanos in San Francisco TheDeal.com 11, March 2005 Three California venture capital firms have secured the mandate to manage a new, $30 million non-profit clean energy technology venture fund to be launched as a condition of the bankruptcy settlement of PG&E Corp. The California Clean Energy Fund, or CalCEF, will invest in conjunction with Draper Fisher Jurvetson of Menlo Park, Calif., VantagePoint Venture Partners of San Bruno, Calif., and alternative energy specialist Nth Power of San Francisco. The unveiling of the fund is scheduled for Monday, March 14. "We see this as a way to find some good in what most ratepayers consider a negative," CalCEF president Lisa Bicker said. Neither Bicker nor board member Jonathan Foster would discuss how the fund was conceived in the settlement between San Francisco-based PG&E and the California Public Utilities Commission. PG&E sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on April 6, 2001, and emerged on April 12, 2004. The fund will come from PG&E shareholder money, and will not take funds from ratepayer or taxpayer dollars, according to Bicker and Foster. Bicker said she knew of about 17 other clean-energy funds across the country that mix private and public funds, but none whose funds come exclusively from a utility's shareholders. At the time of the settlement, PG&E said it would create the fund as one of several environmental benefits negotiated by the company, its creditors and the CPUC. PG&E also moved to protect watersheds surrounding its hydroelectric facilities. The three venture firms will each be apportioned $8.5 million to invest, with the CalCEF board of directors to keep the remainder for future development. Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Nth Power will each directly co-manage their portions of the fund and will contribute matching funds for every dollar of CalCEF money they invest. CalCEF will become a limited partner in VantagePoint's own current fund, but the firm will not match CalCEF's contributions. Foster said initial conversations were held with about 20 firms, a dozen of which received requests for proposal before the field was narrowed to the three firms. In addition to their expertise and experience, they were chosen because they represented a variety of investment strategies and specialties. Nth Power is a specialist in the clean energy sector. Draper Fisher Jurvetson supports early-stage companies. And VantagePoint commercializes somewhat later-stage technologies. The CalCEF fund will re-invest any profits it gains through investments in portfolio companies, thus extending its life beyond its original $30 million starting point. Bicker said that in addition to the matching-funds program, the board is already "actively looking today at ways of increasing the size of the fund." A nine-member board of directors has created a broad strategy for investing the money, which will generally go toward early-stage, clean-energy technology startups. Bicker said the fund would explore information-technology related companies in which California has a "natural advantage." The fund managers are also expected to explore renewable energy, energy efficiency and storage technologies. Still, the venture firms involved will choose the investments. Bicker said the process was developed to avoid conflicts of interest. Many members of CalCEF's all-volunteer board of directors are actively involved in developing new technologies, creating policy or investing in startups separately from the new fund. "We authorized people to make individual investments on our behalf," Bicker said. "The reason for setting up this process was to keep the investments separate from the board's day jobs." Foster said he expects the fund to make fairly small investments, but he would not estimate the size or number of fundings in which CalCEF will participate. He said he anticipates the fund will make its first investments by year's end.