QGEN's "sponsorship" of 2011 MIT Energy Conference + the "old" BTU Power is back for a Guest Appearance.

Note:  QGEN finally MADE the "news" regarding its "sponsorship" of the 2011 MIT Energy Conference on March 4, 2011.  What this means, essentially, is that they wrote their OWN press release and presented it as "news."  They finally found a place to put this "news" item somewhere in the stream of other breaking QGEN news.

Interesting coincidence.  We pointed out that their "sponsorship" of the 2011 MIT Energy Conference had not been deemed "newsworthy" as of March 1, 2011 and on March 4, 2011 it becomes "news."  We'll just keep the section of the the writeup immediately below as an artifact of historical curiosity.  The rest of the post needs no changes.

Originally written on March 1, 2011

QGEN "news" that didn't make the cut in 2011

QGEN's participation in this conference made it into the "news" section of its website in 2010 (actually the news articles are press releases written by QGEN).  It was probably crowded-out by all the other "notable" QGEN-related events that have been reported by the press since the last MIT Energy Conference in March 2010 (a total of one press released issued by QGEN in August 2010).

QGEN is once again a Title Sponsor at the 2011 MIT Energy Conference to be held Saturday March 4th and 5th, 2011 at the Westin Copley Place, Boston

In its website, QGEN describes it's involvement in the MIT Energy Conference as follows:

"As a thought leader in the industry, QGEN is once again demonstrating its commitment to identifying and cultivating the leaders of tomorrow’s energy industry."

One can only assume that they still retain that premiere position as a "thought leader in the industry."   Their participation as a Title Sponsor this year is just as "newsworthy" as it was last year.  

"Title Sponsor" exclusive benefit: a chance to be one of ~65 speakers

Don't know how much you have to pay to become a "Title Sponsor" at the 2011 MIT Energy Conference, but it must be enough to get you a role as one of approximately 65 speakers during the two-day conference.

link: Speakers: Wael Almazeedi

Session: Risky Business: Is the Age of Big Energy Passé?

Date and Place: Saturday, March 5th, 2011 at the Westin Copley Place, Boston

The Old BTU Power Is Back!

It's interesting to note that the BTU Power described in Almazeedi's bio. has transformed from being a company with two assets (in Tunisia and Abu Dhabi totaling 482 net MW) back into the BTU Power of old (as can be seen from the Wael Almazeedi bio from the link above):

"Wael Almazeedi has more than 25 years of experience developing and financing energy projects. He is also Managing Partner of BTU Power, a private equity fund engaged in the development, management and ownership of 11,000 MW of installed power generation capacity located in China, South Korea, Taiwan, Tunisia and the UAE." 

The "new" BTU Power Company emerged sometime in the middle of February 2011.  The "new" BTU Power is only a bit smaller than the representation of the "old" BTU Power by a factor of 26.  Wonder why they did not include a link to the NEW BTU Power?

QGEN "Confidential"

 Note: QGEN "updated" its website apparently earlier today (March 4, 2011).  They now include a section titled "Geography."  Essentially, it's a map with some regions highlighted in yellow.  It still doesn't show where all their purported operational hybrid-solar power plants are located.


QGEN also claims in its updated website that it "...has several patents pending for its proprietary hybrid plant design configurations."  A quick check of the US Patent & Trademark Office as well as the World Intellectual Property Organization shows NO patent applications having been made by QGEN.

QGEN and other world hybrid solar-gas plant "leaders"

From Renewable Energy Magazine:  "Ain Beni Mathar is the first ISCC hybrid solar-gas plant to enter service in the world (December 13, 2010)"  [note: it was built by Abener, a Spanish company. Abener will operate  for the first five years.  ONE, the Moroccan state-owned utility will operate afterwards. ONE is also the owner.]  

Yet, only two months after the first hybrid solar-gas plant in the world becomes operational, on February 2011, QGEN claimed to ALREADY be a developer, owner and operator of hybrid solar (and coal) power plants AND water desalination plants.

February 23, 2011  "QGEN (USA), Inc. is a technology-driver global developer, owner and operator of utility-scale hybrid power generation and water desalination plants.  Our hybrid plants integrate state-of-the-art concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies into conventional gas and coal-fired plant designs.  We are pursuing both greenfield hybrid projects as well as solar retrofits to existing fossil fuel-fired power plants in key markets around the world, including the Mediterranean Basin, Persian Gulf, China, USA, Chile and South Africa." 

link: MIT Energy Club QGEN - Current Energy Job Opportunities - Financial Analyst

"Apparent" progress at QGEN continues to be achieved at a dizzying pace (see page titled "What is QGEN" elsewhere in this blog).   As of August 2010 they claimed to be a developer, owner and operator of seemingly CONVENTIONAL power and water desalination plants (see excerpt from their website below).

August 10, 2010  "QGEN is a U.S.-based technology-driven global developer, owner and operator of utility-scale power generation and water desalination projects. QGEN’s hybrid plant designs integrate state-of-the-art renewable energy technologies into conventional fossil fuel power generation plant designs, with a focus on integrated solar combined cycle plants. QGEN’s track record spans projects in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia."

It appears that in ONLY six months QGEN has managed to integrate its "hybrid designs" into its EXISTING conventional plants."  Moreover, as of February 2011 they claim that their geographic scope of activities now includes the USA, Chile and South Africa (they've "expanded" beyond the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia).

And yet, nowhere in their website (or anywhere else) can one see any concrete, factual description of all these impressive achievements.

"Confidential"

Adele Schlotzhauer, QGEN's Chief Human Resources Officer and the contact person listed in a very recent QGEN job posting QGEN - Financial Analyst (February 23, 2011) lists her current employer as Confidential in her LinkedIn public profile:

link: Adele Schlotzhauer LinkedIn Public Profile

Perhaps the reason that there is no record of QGEN's hybrid solar (and coal) power and desalination plants is because they are also CONFIDENTIAL. Even the operators of the electric power grids that they are connected to wouldn't know about them.

However, that might be circular reasoning on our part because, otherwise, Ms. Schlotzhauer would have identified the prospective employer as CONFIDENTIAL in the job description and her email address would be aschlotzhauer@CONFIDENTIAL.com (instead of QGEN and aschlotzhauer@qgenenergy.com, respectively).

Someone must know the whole STORY and the facts surrounding that story.  We have to admit that we can't figure "it" out.

Wael Al-Mazeedi: the visual record

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Latest (~March 2011) - as the:

1. Chairman
2. CEO
3. President
4. Treasurer
5. Secretary
6. Director 

of QGEN (USA), Inc. (pretty much all the substantive roles)

source: 2011 MIT Energy Conference Speaker Bios.
Conference Theme: "Confronting Limits with Fact-Based Analysis"

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As Chairman and and CEO of QGEN (at the New England Chinese Information and Networking Association gathering in Chelmsford, Massachusetts on October 18, 2008) 

• about 15 months before QGEN was actually registered to do business in Massachusetts on January 29, 2010)  [Link: QGEN (USA), INC Foreign Corporation Certificate of Registration] and 
• about 9 months before QGEN Ltd., its putative off-shore parent from the Caymans, was formed on July 31, 2009.  [Link: QGEN Ltd. (Caymans)]

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Happy as a clam after "winning" the 2006 ERNST & YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR AWARD (New England region - energy category - June 15, 2006).  Around the time that, according to the IFIC Complaint, Meiya Power Company:

"...Fund was in financial distress. The one-year loan time-period permitted by Desdner was about to expire. Al-Mazeedi's planned third round of equity fund raising, with migration from prior BTU groups' funds, was unsuccessful." - April 2006  (Paragraph 7)

"...Dresdner noticed an event of default on August 31, 2006..."  (Paragraph 8)

"By the early fall of 2006, the financial investment of all the investors in the Fund, including that of Plaintiffs, was completely exposed to ruin by virtue of Al-Mazeedi's operational control of the Fund." (Paragraph 9)

Note: Photo is from E&Y "Hall of Fame" website (search under BTU).

Note: See blog post regarding Ernst & Young award.

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Most frequent promotional picture for Al-Mazeedi