 Welcome to ThinkTech on OC-16, Hawaii's weekly newscast on things that matter to tech and Hawaii. I'm Jay Fidel, CEO of ThinkTech. And I'm Zuri Bender, Senior Production Engineer at ThinkTech. Our show this time will take us to a very special energy meeting in Hawaii, one in which a number of German companies and officials came to talk about the German energy experience. Yes, for all its rainy weather, Germany has been remarkably successful in implementing clean energy technology. It has also focused on developing solar and grid technology around the country. It is known far and wide for its innovation in this area and has exported a myriad of technologies and products to the world. Hawaii is likewise considered a laboratory and leader in clean energy, and it's a good time for the two to get together and compare notes on a first-hand basis right here in Hawaii. Indeed, a week before the program, ThinkTech had a talk show on the subject with Renee van den Hovel, Managing Director of the German-American Chamber of Commerce, and Dennis Sall, Honorary Council for Germany and Hawaii. We learned a lot about what was coming in the conference. We have invited eight companies from Germany to join us in this, so they're sending their executives or people that have expertise in the field to showcase what they do in Germany right now. So the idea was, for one, to give these guys an opportunity to meet up with Hawaii energy stakeholders and see if they're synergy. Let's get to Renee van den Hovel. What kind of companies are there? Give us a praise, C. Yeah, sure. So it's a very diverse mix of companies. One of the biggest problems that exist right now is for sure when you create a lot of renewable energies, you need storage solutions for that energy. So we have two very prestigious German companies, Sonnen and Mercedes-Benz, and they all offer storage solutions, battery solutions for commercial and private houses. When Conference Day was here, ThinkTech was there. And we took some great footage of the program and had some great conversations with the participants. So much so that we'll present our coverage of the program in two parts. This is the first part. The second part will come next week. They called it a symposium. It took place at the Sullivan Conference Center at the Medical School Complex in Kaka'ako and involved a number of participants who could exchange ideas between Hawaii and Germany. The symposium featured six cutting-edge German clean energy companies seeking to partner with the Hawaii clean energy industry. They were Mercedes-Benz Energy, Sonnen, Stornetic, Adcor, Piwo Energy Solutions, and Geth. The event was entitled What Lessons Can Hawaii Learn from the Latest German Innovations in Energy Storage, Renewables, and Efficiency. It was hosted by the Office of Sustainability at the University of Hawaii and supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. First we heard from René van den Hovel of the German-American Chamber of Commerce and Dennis Sall, honorary council for Germany in Hawaii. My name is René. I'm the managing director of the German-American Chamber of Commerce in San Francisco. And together with our partner, Energiewächter, we organized this trip for the German government. Actually, this is a project for the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy. And this kind of events take place around the world where we're bringing German companies to a place and have a symposium similar to this one and try to start a dialogue on renewable energies and energy efficiency. With us here today are seven German companies that traveled from Germany and they are here the whole week. We set up meetings for them and for sure the highlight is to speak to you during the day and explain their product and their services. This kind of program should start a dialogue with like Hawaii for sure and we hope that this is just the start of a process where Germany and Hawaii can exchange technology services companies and work together closely. I think we've compiled a very interesting program and we have tried to put together groups of people, match them up and bring them to a point of productive discussion. All in the name of a better future and I'm very happy that this is going on. I also want to express my severe condolences about what happened last night. I am so very glad that we are in Hawaii at this time because the connection between Hawaii and Germany is such a strong one, I feel. It's historically strong. Not many people know that the Germans had a very strong group here in Hawaii up until about 1914 where economic exchange between the cities of Bremen, Hamburg and others and Honolulu and the surrounding islands was vibrant. The discussion that followed was moderated by Jeff Michelina of Blue Planet Foundation. I'm with the Blue Planet Foundation and it's good to see a lot of friends in the room. I think reflecting on last night, we're going to need all the help we can get and we're going to really need to pull together to stay focused on our long-term goals not only in Hawaii but globally for this challenge. As Renee mentioned, I'm with Blue Planet where an NGO largely focused on building public support for renewable energy, running some programs to help people be more energy efficient, working with some partners in the room. There was a keynote on Hawaii's energy future and presentations on the energy transition in Germany and the Fraunhofer Initiative and of course an update on energy efficiency in Hawaii. Then we had presentations from representatives of German industry, Hawaii presentations on our mission to net zero energy in downtown Honolulu and a German presentation on decentralized supply and distribution grids. Why do we think about the city and the future because as a technology transfer organization between universities and the industry, we need to think about what are the requirements, the future requirements of our customers and urbanization is a quite big issue. You have the amount of the rising energy demand where people need more energy, first countries, second, third countries. The other issue is that our fuels, you know, the transformation in the fuel area, fossil fuels are decreasing but not only fuel is an issue but also other resources like water but also Germanium in the uranium like scare resources like rare erases are an issue. WHOH is one of the largest energy consuming facilities in the state and we really need to curb that usage and help the state get to its 20, 45 goals and because we're such a large consumer we can really help there and so there is a mandate that we have to meet which is to produce as much as we use. For those of you who don't know the WHOH system, it's a very large footprint, it covers several islands or across the state and there's some pictures of some of the facilities. Back in 2014, Hawaii Energy did an analysis, they're really good at doing analysis and they, you know, the largest consumer in the system is the WHOH, the Manoa campus which is where a lot of the research, 24 hour research goes on. We then heard from State Representative Chris Lee, Chair of the House Energy Committee, followed by a variety of executives from German companies. I was asked to give just a brief overview of what's happening here in Hawaii, what the direction the momentum is pushing us toward and where we're really going to set I think the context in which we're having these discussions that we're going to be talking about today. I have given this presentation or similar version of it before for I know a couple of people who have been in the audience so I apologize for repeating but our story is one that I think needs to be heard and it's a good place to start from. So I start with this, Hawaii is leading the nation obviously with respect to energy and climate and a number of other things and this for me is what drives. This is fortunately my district for the folks who are not from Hawaii. It's on the other side of the island, it's the place I grew up playing in the water and everything else and it's just amazingly gorgeous. If you get the opportunity, get over there before you leave, it's called Kailua. But I bring it up also because it's where the sun rises every morning. And for us it's a solid reminder of the resources and the opportunity that we have here in Hawaii to harness to do something different and to protect against some of the changes that we're starting to see. Hawaii itself, I think there are some great folks, Jay Gnasio from Helco and others who on the utility front can speak much more eloquently about the technical side of the grid and the logistics and all of that stuff. But in short, we are a number of small isolated grids, six of them generally speaking from Tiny Lanai up to Oahu where you have about 1,700 megawatts of capacity and so we've got this large spread of varying grids with varying resources that we've got to figure out how to harness in order to meet our 100% renewable energy goals and do it in a way that's cost effective for each different island and so it's a challenge and by no means do we have a solid answer for how that's going to play out but that's why we're here today. And so all of this ultimately is taking place of course in the context of our 100% renewable energy goal which Jeff spoke about and I want to point out Jeff and Blue Planet Foundation were instrumental in moving this forward from doing the background of the policy work to trying to figure out how to monetize and quantify some of these things that we're talking about, these values that we hold and put it into perspective so that for consumers and for elected leaders we're able to sort of put that into context as we talk about budgets and timelines and all of that. So we are clearly on the forefront not just on policy but actually of course in the marketplace. We also heard from Brian Kealoja, Executive Director of Hawaii Energy and Miles Topping, Director of Energy Management at the University of Hawaii. What I'm going to talk about today is how do we get to 100% clean energy faster and this this pyramid talks about usually what we call the loading order in the energy equation which is the base being energy conservation. These are no to low-cost things that everyone can do. The second layer is energy efficiency. It's the upgrade of appliances and equipment. It costs a little bit more money but there again there are the things that are found the baseline to the ultimate top of the pyramid or the triangle which is renewable energy and I think what's happened here in Hawaii a little bit with the great tax credits that we've had around renewable energy was also the net energy metering program. We saw a rush to do as much solar as we could which is good but we also had the loading order maybe a little bit wrong. So as we're in this stage as economic regulatory and legislative policy continues to evolve there really hasn't been a better time to focus on energy efficiency. So Jeff talked a little bit about who Hawaii energy is. Let me just tell you a little bit from our background. With our state making that commitment to reach 100% clean energy by 2045 we truly believe we can get there faster quicker and cheaper to the use of energy efficiency. To do this our role in the community is really to help island families and businesses make smart energy choices so that they can get there and by doing this we really enable everyone to be part of the clean energy movement. You don't have to own your own home. You don't have to be rich. Everyone can do a little piece to not only reduce their energy bills but make a big impact at a national level. So what I wanted to give a little bit more background to for those of you who are not from here and don't really know how this started because back in the early 90s the Hawaiian Electric were the ones that were actually implementing the demand side management programs on you know on behalf of the rate payers for the state. In 2005 they filed a docket to address the next round of demand side management programs at that point actually some other things are happening concurrently in the legislature which was in 2006 which was the funding of or the start of the public benefits fee as as Jeff had mentioned which was really created to help further the renewable portfolio standards and the energy efficiency portfolio standards in the state. In 2007 the PUC issued an order and decision on their docket regarding energy efficiency and established a third-party implementation of the energy efficiency programs away from Hawaiian Electric Company. And we heard from Martin de Spang professor of architecture at UH Manoa. He's a principal of the Spang Architects a German architectural firm and he's the host of human humane architecture on Think Tech Hawaii. We're basically paradise is squeezed in between two mountain ranges right. So as far as everyone wants to come to paradise this is actually from 1965 or something popular magazine. So you try to go up the mountains but that's very difficult and expensive to develop. So we basically tried horizontally and and that isn't isn't more convenient because it causes that. So there are some people again. Thank you to our current still president who just you know was waving me through. So also thank you to to our homeboy here Bruno Mars. Let's I was I was charging myself actually to relate to the presentation you have before the last break the coffee break in the morning. And that was Dr. Ardilio with his Morgan Stutt. So I thought maybe we could do a Morgan Stutt here in our Honolulu and that's what I will sort of propose to you. And sort of we all know we have kakaako we have a lot of hopes and aspirations for kakaako but actually as far as sustainability and we probably you know the term sustainability nachhaltigkeit comes from Germany from German forestry. So and it's also known that the most sustainable thing is the thing that already exists not the one you make because then you got to put in energy. And so we're actually looking into into this urban fabric that's very close to us that's not necessarily is as post Cardi as it would come across here because it's pretty much a nine to five work environment only. That's very monofunctional. So I also want to thank my mother president which is my closer president that's president David Lassner was going to be the closing keynote speaker to allow me to do this kind of crazy work with the students. And I also want to thank the students and I'm not sure they all have to be at school so they can't be here. So they were building this amazing model which is just trying to make them understand what that urban fabric is. So it's a very hermetic enclosed urban fabric. You can even call it invasive to a certain degree because it's built to the International Building Code which has little to nothing to do with us which Howard always reminds us of and works to optimize that. The last speaker of the morning was Fritz Rettberg head of Innovation Management at the Institute of Energy Systems at Dortmund University. I'd like to talk about some lessons learned of decentralized supply concepts in distribution grids in Germany. First I'd like to give a short introduction so that you know what we are doing in Dortmund at our institute. Then I'd like to talk about the challenges in the future power grid integration of renewables in Germany. Then we'll discuss the impact of photovoltaic expansion and some decentralized concepts and use of storage before we give an outlook. So that's our campus at the University of Technology in Dortmund. Our institute is one of the biggest in this field in Europe. We have several research groups and laboratory facilities. We are doing energy efficiency questions. We are working on power economics and power systems. We have a big laboratory for electric vehicles. We're doing research on charging infrastructure for example and an R&D building for transmission system issues. So our topics to break it down are system concepts for transmission networks. We are doing research and consulting on HVDC, on network planning, on power flow control. We are working on smart grids and electric mobility on the question of how to meter in a smart way, how we could integrate grid for vehicles and it's about energy markets and economics and we have a kind of a nerdy working group that are doing new control and automation systems. Our main project is a smart grid technology platform where we provide a laboratory for companies where they can test their innovative components for the future power grid without doing it in the field because it's I don't know how it is here. I heard Hawaii one wants to be a kind of a test center for new technology. Later that day he appeared on a think tech energy talk show. Fritz is here representing European interests who are interested in German interests that are interested in and doing business here in the place where things are really happening with renewable energy and so Fritz as PhD has been in and I heard him talk today he is very very knowledgeable about what the things are that we need to think about going forward. Why is this conference here in Hawaii interesting to you? Because as far as I understood you have the highest potentials for renewable energies in the whole world. So when you think about Germany or let's say Europe as I said at the conference I learned you have 300 days of sun in the year. We have 300 days of rain in the year. At least what I'm feeling. But even Germany has 30% of renewables in the power grid and so when I think about and imagine what Hawaii could do with this potential that's a hotspot for renewable energy in the world in my opinion. That was only the morning and by no means the end of the symposium. There were important speakers and interactions in the afternoon too including remarks by UH President David Lassner. We'll show you all that in part two of our coverage on the symposium next week so stay tuned for more. All in all the Germany-Hawaii energy symposium proved to be a great statement of our progress in clean energy and of a promising relationship we can and should have with German energy experts, companies and officials. This kind of program is in the interest of Hawaii and the common good and we hope more programs like this with Germany and other countries can happen on a regular basis here in Hawaii is part of our natural leadership role and destiny in clean energy. Not only can this kind of symposium teach us what is happening in energy in Europe, identify the latest and greatest technology and products, not only can it help us establish win-win business, academic and government relationships with contributors around the world, it can also help us find our own path, refine our own visions, meet our own goals and save our state. And now let's take a look at our think tech calendar of events going forward. There's so much happening in Hawaii. Sometimes things happen under the radar and we don't hear much about them, but think tech will take you there. Remember, you can watch think tech on OC16 several times every week to stay current on what's happening in government, industry, academia and communities around the islands and the world. Remember also that think tech broadcasts at Stanley Talk shows live on the internet from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays. Then we broadcast our earlier shows all night long and on the weekends. And some people listen to them all night long and on the weekends. If you missed a show or if you want to replay or share any of our shows, they're all archived on thinktecawaii.com and YouTube. For our audio stream, go to thinktecawaii.com slash radio. Visit thinktecawaii.com for our weekly calendar and live stream and YouTube links or sign up in our email list and get the daily docket of our upcoming shows and uploads. Think Tech is a high tech green screen studio at Pioneer Plaza. If you want to be a part of our live audience or participate in our programs and help us raise public awareness, contact us at think at thinktecawaii.com. Give us a thumbs up on YouTube or send us a tweet at think tech H.I. We'd like to know how you feel about the issues and events that affect our lives in Hawaii. We want to stay in touch with you and we'd like you to stay in touch with us. Let's think together. Our talk shows live. While you're watching any of our shows, you can call in at 415-871-2474. Pause a question or make a comment to participate in the discussion. We'll be right back to wrap up this week's edition of Think Tech. But first, we want to thank our underwriters. Okay, Zuri. That wraps up this week's edition of Think Tech. Remember, you can watch Think Tech on OC 16 several times every week. Can't get enough of it, just like Zuri does. For additional times, check out OC16.tv. For lots more Think Tech videos and for underwriting and sponsorship opportunities on Think Tech, visit thinktech hawaii.com, be a guest or a host, a producer or an intern, and help us reach and have an impact on Hawaii. Thanks so much for being part of our Think Tech family and for supporting our open discussion of tech, energy diversification and global awareness in Hawaii. You can watch this show throughout the week and tune in next Sunday evening for our next important weekly episode. I'm Jay Fiedel. And I'm Zuri Bender. Aloha, everyone. So, Zuri, it's Germany coming to Hawaii and Hawaii exchanging ideas and best practices with Germany. What does this mean? What does this mean to you? It means that Hawaii is and always will be a part of the global leadership. It's great. You know, we're learning from another another country. We're sharing ideas about what we have. Obviously, there's so much valuable information in Hawaii. What do you think? Oh, I love to see global awareness. This is an example of global awareness. We didn't always have this. Maybe this is a sign that our sense of global awareness is increasing. Maybe it's the kind of thing we've been talking about for all these years.