The Western Governors’ Association North American Energy Summit opens tomorrow (14 Apr 04) in Albuquerque, NM. (ABQ). The scope of this event goes well beyond the transportation market. Some interesting aspects to it. There is a transportation breakout in the expo area with featured participation from Blue Sun biodiesel and the US Army with its fuel cell vehicles.

Wilson Sonsini (major Silicon Valley legal firm with deep ties in the IT and Life Sciences markets) and Nth Power (VC specializing in high potential investments resulting from the restructuring of the global energy industry) are hosting a pre-event financing workshop to bring together VCs, public and project finance experts, industry executives and policy makers to discuss funding and growing renewable and clean energy technology companies and projects.

This latter aspect is critical. A dynamic, entrepreneurial environment for new energy solutions is one of the fundamental requirements for success. We need to encourage the high-tech startups in energy in the same way that we encouraged high-tech startups in Silicon Valley. Furthermore, devising solutions for many of the fundamental problems requires cross-over from IT, nanotechnology and biotech. It’s a convergence of technology vectors that is necessary and tremendously exciting. The VCs are a critical component.

Watch for more VC money to shift to alternative and renewable energy sectors.