Rob Lamkin, CEO

Rob Lamkin is a recognized leader in clean and renewable energy, and is an active advocate for solar in local venues, national conferences, and international media, such as Discover, Time, Economist, Fortune, Forbes, and Business Week. In his 25-year career in energy, Rob led the project development and asset management of over 10 GWs of electric power plants at Fortune 500 companies and start-ups.

Rob currently serves as CEO for Cool Earth Solar, an innovative solar start-up company. His journey to Cool Earth began at the Northern California Power Agency, where he held a variety of positions including assistant general manager responsible for all of its power plants. Rob then served as a corporate officer at two Fortune 500 energy companies—Calpine Corporation and Mirant Corporation. At Calpine, he had leadership responsibility for power plant development, project construction, asset management, trading and marketing, and project finance. Over 10,000 MW of new power plant capacity were developed under his direction, and over 6,000 MW were constructed and brought into commercial operations during his leadership. As Vice President at Mirant, Rob was responsible for the asset management of 3,100 MW of gas-fired power plants following the acquisition from Pacific Gas & Electric. Rob is also active on the Advisory Boards of three clean tech companies.

Rob plays third base on the Cool Earth softball team and, in what little spare time he has left, is designing and building an electric car.

Articles:

• "New Uses for Old Plastic," Triple Pundit, November 22, 2010.
• "Materials Minimization: Overcoming the Challenge," InterPV Magazine, April 2010. (PDF)
• "The Essential Tools for Reducing Costs and Scaling Up," Solar Industry Magazine, Vol. 1(12) pp. 26–27, 2009.
• "Cutting Costs from Utility-Scale Solar Production," Energy Central, January 21, 2009.
• "Solar Energy Reality Check," Huffington Post, January 15, 2009.

Selected Appearances:

• AlwaysOn: GoingGreen. Panel: "Terawatts of Solar," September 15, 2009.
• Innovation—How the Tri-Valley Fits into a World Economy. Panel: "Innovation—Pioneering a New Path Forward," June 30, 2009.
• Fortune Brainstorm Green 2009. Panel: "Great Green Ideas," April 22, 2009.
• CleanTech Forum XXI. "Sector Leaders Showcase," February 24, 2009.
• Solar Power Generation. Panel: "Concentrating Photovoltaics," January 22, 2009.
• Solar Innovation and Investment 2008. Panel: "Concentrated Photovoltaics (CPV)," December 3, 2008.

Selected Appearances, continued:

• CPV & CSP Investment and Finance Summit USA 2008. Panel: "Hear From the CSP/CPV Gurus About How They Attracted Investment Successfully," October 2, 2008.
• 2nd Berkeley-Stanford CleanTech Conference, BIG Solar: Utility Scale Solar Power Generation. Panel: "Innovations in Technology," May 7, 2008.

To see or hear Rob in action, visit the following:

• National Public Radio: The Diane Rehm Show. "Solar Power," July 13, 2009. (Podcast)
• Focus Earth: Planet Green (A Discovery Channel). "Green Tech Revolution," March 28, 2009. (Video)
• Fresh Dialogues. "Cool Earth Solar," March 13, 2009. (Podcast)
• Renewable Energy World. "Shake-up in Project Finance; Bucking the Downward Housing Trend with BIPV; PV Concentrator Balloons," November 6, 2008. (Podcast)
• Free Energy Now Radio. "Cool Earth Solar: Interview with Rob Lamkin," August 11, 2008. (Podcast)