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Sam Jaffe

Research Manager, Distributed and Renewable Energy

Sam Jaffe is responsible for researching, writing and editing qualitative and quantitative reports and presentations evaluating a range of renewable energy, distributed energy, energy efficiency, demand response and environmental topics. His recent research includes analyses of the energy storage sector, renewable energy spending related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and the impact of declining module prices on the solar photovoltaic industry. In addition to primary research authorship, he provides custom consulting, advisory and research services for clients, most of whom are executives in the utility industry and vendors that sell into that industry.

Mr. Jaffe is a frequent contributor to the renewable and distributed energy blog in the IDC Energy Insights Community (http://idc-insights-community.com/energy).

Before joining IDC Energy Insights, Mr. Jaffe ran his own consulting company, Panea Energy Ltd., which specialized in providing business development advice and consultation in the energy storage and renewable energy fields. His projects included a review of bio-feed prices and a market sizing study for an algae-to-biofuels company, market research for a compressed air energy storage start-up, and an introduction to the U.S. market for a foreign electrochemical storage company. He also provided investment advice in the cleantech space to high-net-worth clients. Prior to Panea Energy, Mr. Jaffe was a magazine journalist, writing for such publications as Wired, Scientific American, The Scientist, BusinessWeek and The Wall Street Journal. He received a B.A. degree from Wake Forest University and an M.A. degree from New York University.



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Research Authored by Sam Jaffe

Distributed Energy Strategies May 2010 Outlook Report
Sam Jaffe, Casey Hogan, Jay Holman
Jul 2010 - Doc # EI224233      Perspective
This IDC Energy Insights Perspective provides an outlook on the most relevant market drivers, industry characteristics, and expectations for the future. The distributed energy market is diverse in terms of the various solutions' fuel sou ...
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Renewable Energy Strategies May 2010 Outlook Report
Casey Hogan, Jay Holman, Sam Jaffe
Jun 2010 - Doc # EI223859      Perspective
This IDC Energy Insights Perspective provides an overview of our perspective on relevant drivers for technology investment in the U.S. renewable energy market. The IDC Energy Insights' Renewable Energy Strategies team hosted the Spring O ...
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Smart Grid Investment Perspective: January–May 2010
Rick Nicholson, Marcus Torchia, Sam Jaffe
Jun 2010 - Doc # EI223857      Perspective
This IDC Energy Insights Perspective presents an analysis of publicly announced investments in smart grid technologies for the January–May 2010 period in the North American market. It focuses exclusively on smart grid technology and thus ...
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Vendor Assessment: Industry Short List for Utility-Scale Photovoltaic Inverters for the North American Market
Sam Jaffe, Chris Williams
Jun 2010 - Doc # EI223398      Vendor Assessment
This IDC Energy Insights report evaluates the vendors supplying utility-scale inverters (100kW and larger) for photovoltaic installations for the PV developer and utilities markets. Inverters are fast evolving from simple boxes ...
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Solar Investment Perspective: January–May 2010
Rick Nicholson, Sam Jaffe, Jay Holman
Jun 2010 - Doc # EI223627      Perspective
This IDC Energy Insights Perspective presents an analysis of publicly announced investments in solar technologies for the period January–May 2010 in the North American market. It focuses exclusively on solar technology and thus ...
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Ice Energy Proves That Economical Peak Shifting Can Be Done Through Its Energy Storage System
Sam Jaffe
Jan 2010 - Doc # lcUS22184810      IDC Link
Ice Energy announced today that the Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA) will purchase 53 Megawatts worth of its Ice Bear air conditioning energy storage systems. It's the first mass purchase of Ice Energy's equipment but prob ...
Best Practices: Enbridge's Approach to Greening the Natural Gas T&D Network via Hybrid Fuel Cells
Nadav Enbar, Sam Jaffe
Jan 2010 - Doc # EI221326      Market Overview
This IDC Energy Insights report describes the pilot initiative undertaken by Canadian gas utility, Enbridge, to commission the world's first hybrid fuel cell for natural gas pipeline applications. Developed and installed in par ...
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North America Utility Industry 2010 Top 10 Predictions
Rick Nicholson, Jill Feblowitz, Marcus Torchia, Jay Holman, Sam Jaffe
Jan 2010 - Doc # EI221538      Top 10 Predictions
This IDC Energy Insights' report presents the top 10 predictions for the North American utility industry in 2010. North American utility companies were negatively impacted in 2009 by the recession, which decreased energy consum ...
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Technology Selection: Molten Salt Thermal Storage — Heating Up, Though Challenges Remain
Sam Jaffe
Dec 2009 - Doc # EI221363      Market Overview
This IDC Energy Insights report explores the technological feasibility and cost-effectiveness of integrating molten salt thermal storage into CSP system installations. To this end, various solar thermal technology systems are e ...
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Defining the Virtual Power Plant
Rick Nicholson, Roberta Bigliani, Marcus Torchia, Sam Jaffe
Dec 2009 - Doc # EI221035      Perspective
This Energy Insights Perspective provides a definition of a virtual power plant (VPP), along with potential benefits and challenges, and provides examples of virtual power plant projects. A virtual power plant is a technical, o ...
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More Research authored by Sam Jaffe