Capturing Carbon with Carbonvert CEO Alex Tiller

Sunya Stories Episode #6 with Carbonvert CEO Alex Tiller

Newsletter - https://www.sunyascoop.com/

AI-generated show notes:

Summary

Alex Tiller discusses his diverse background and entrepreneurial journey, from animation to farmland investment to the solar industry in Hawaii. He highlights the importance of identifying niche markets and market inflection points. Alex also explores the potential for full-service solutions in carbon capture and storage (CCS) and the challenges of aligning incentives in the engineering industry. The conversation covers challenges in adopting new technology, the fear of looking dumb, lessons learned from timing, the origin story of CCS, the transition to an energy practice, building a sales funnel, the discovery of carbon capture and storage, the carbon capture community, the perception of expensive technology, exploring carbon capture opportunities, the focus on ethanol and its limitations, being compelled to start a CCS company, connecting with Jan Sherman and Talos Energy, responding to the RFP for Bayou Bend, unique expertise in the team, merging RFPs to prepare for Bayou Bend, partnering with Talos Energy, the short response window for the RFP, the debate on venture-backed vs private equity-backed, understanding project finance, and the stage of Gulf Coast origination. In this conversation, Alex Tiller discusses the offshore carbon capture and storage (CCS) industry, emphasizing the importance of poor space acquisition and the challenges of building mega architectures. He also explores the opportunities in transportation projects and the potential for clustering carbon-related facilities. Tiller introduces the concept of Carbon Plex, a plug-and-play industrial park for carbon-related projects. He highlights the need for carbon accounting and monitoring, as well as the disconnect within the environmental community. Tiller concludes by discussing the growth potential in the carbon industry and the importance of overcoming misconceptions.

Takeaways

Identify niche markets and market inflection points to find unique business opportunities.

Consider the financial and regulatory landscape when entering a new industry or market.

Specialize in providing full-service solutions to meet the needs of customers and simplify complex processes.

Align incentives and expertise to ensure successful project execution and overcome challenges. Adopting new technology can be challenging due to complexity and the fear of looking dumb.

Timing is crucial in business opportunities, and being early can sometimes be the same as being wrong.

The origin story of Carbonvert involved exploring the carbon capture and storage (CCS) space and identifying a business opportunity.

Building a sales funnel and marketing plan are essential for raising funds and investing in projects.

The Gulf Coast origination of carbon capture projects is still in the early stages, with opportunities for small companies to participate. Offshore CCS projects require significant poor space acquisition and are still in the early stages.

The carbon industry involves two land grabs: poor space acquisition and emissions contracts.

Transportation projects face challenges, and clustering facilities may be a more practical solution than building mega architectures.

The Carbon Plex concept aims to co-locate carbon-related projects and provide shared services.

There is a disconnect within the environmental community, and overcoming misconceptions is a challenge.

The carbon industry offers numerous opportunities, including carbon accounting, monitoring, and services.