Altresco History
The Altresco name is an acronym created from Alternative Resource Company. In the beginning, it was about creating power generation that was cleaner, more efficient, and more cost-competitive than the current Investor-Owned Energy Monopolies that had controlled the electricity landscape in the United States.
But the alternatives were far more than just fuel sources and efficiency; they were also innovative approaches to financing and business models. Williams and the team were not from the electricity world but from Finance, Oil, Gas, and Real Estate investment expertise.
As a result, the Pittsfield Cogeneration business was designed with those mental models. It fostered the arrangement of income and expense across 12 discrete and monetizable income and expense streams.
And, like any other business, the net operating income derived from these revenue streams had to be adequate to enable the debt financing of the hard and soft costs of getting the company up and running with all the needed fixtures. One of these fixtures was a cogeneration plant.
Then came the natural supply chain assembly in a way that would precisely match the various incoming revenue streams.
What this is sharing with you is part of the overall mental model behind what changed the Gas to Power game in the US. Ironically, even though it opened up a new game, the mental model that made it possible is still somewhat of a mystery.
A regulatory change in 1993 ended that model's usefulness in the U.S. Still; it may be just the model to solve many of the disconnects between gas and power generation in the developing world.
Williams was the architect of the original proven model, and today the climate is desperate for similar Alternative Solutions.
Is history repeating itself?
It appears so.
And Williams would love to see these kinds of disconnects solved in the developing world.
The original strands of correlation and connectivity are hiding in the reality that followed. But they've done their job in New England and the US.
This time, instead of just bridging a continent, we can use them to bridge the new disconnects holding global and African development.
This time it's the planet.
The past decade has illuminated a new world of technologies and abundance. But today, in our Ikea world, some assembly is required.
All of the pieces of the puzzle are now in place, and those who have experience with these systems have learned what to expect.
It can be much better than what the mainstream is imagining. After all, how can people imagine something they've never seen or thought about before.
They are there in plain sight. But with no analogs or references, our brains can't interpret them: until someone explains them to us.
That's the purpose of Altresco.
Gather around, and we can draw it together.
The Altresco Pittsfield Power Plant
The physical power generating plant built for the first Altresco Power business is still operational and providing essential support to the New England ISO as more and more renewable energy is added to the "grid."
The GE Plant in the background was closed due to PCB contamination, but this power plant and the businesses that owned it still provide significant benefits.
Others have replaced every "stakeholder" in the original business arrangement, but the benefits for the current stakeholders are still there.
That's what true sustainability is all about.
It's not the hardware; it's the value it provides.
The Altresco approach to creating innovative business models that own and operate generating facilities were successfully modified to "invent" the Private Power-Private Customers models for both the Philippines and India.
Those businesses have now been for 25 and 27 years, respectively. The assets successfully financed, constructed, and brought into commercial operation still provide the benefits they are designed to provide.
All of those are elements of the knowledge base that Altresco and its founder William Ross Williams bring with him as he helps the current wave of sustainable economies and Microgrid Generating resources emerge.