The richest group of investors ever assembled?

This is from yesterday and is across multiple news platforms

Bill Gates is leading a more than $1 billion fund focused on fighting climate change by investing in clean energy innovation.

The Microsoft co-founder and his all-star line-up of fellow investors plan to announce tomorrow the Breakthrough Energy Ventures fund, which will begin making investments next year. The BEV fund, which has a 20-year duration, aims to invest in the commercialization of new technologies that reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in areas including electricity generation and storage, transportation, industrial processes, agriculture, and energy-system efficiency.

“Anything that leads to cheap, clean, reliable energy we’re open-minded to,” says Gates, who is serving as chairman of BEV and anticipates being actively involved.

The directors of BEV include Alibaba founder Jack Ma, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, venture capitalists John Doerr and Vinod Khosla, former energy hedge fund manager John Arnold, and SAP cofounder Hasso Plattner. The combined net worth of the directors is nearly $170 billion, based on estimates of their individual wealth by Bloomberg and Forbes.

Gates had last year announced his intention to personally invest an additional $1 billion in clean energy technology. He was also among the 28 wealthy individuals and families signed on to the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, a group broadly committed to investing in this area. The new fund, which includes many of them, is a next, concrete step toward actually deploying their capital.

http://qz.com/859860/bill-gates-is-...combatting-climate-change-through-innovation/

Their website has been updated :
http://www.b-t.energy/ventures/

Key Investment Criteria :

1. CLIMATE IMPACT
   We will invest in technologies that have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least half a gigaton.
2. 
   OTHER INVESTMENTS
   
   We will invest in companies with real potential to attract capital from sources outside of BEV and the broader Breakthrough Energy Coalition.
3. 
   SCIENTIFIC POSSIBILITY
   
   We will invest in technologies with an existing scientific proof of concept that can be meaningfully advanced.
4. 
   FILLING THE GAPS
   
   We will invest in companies that need the unique attributes of BEV capital, including patience, judgment by scientific milestones, flexible investment capabilities, and a significant global network.

VRFBs were one of the key technologies BG wrote about last November...

I wish you all luck, honestly think that this Sumitomo Energy MOU is very positive. Hopefully BG and the team recognize the technology needing support is not limited to the final product, but also investing in technologies that reduce the input cost to these new energy techs. Cheaper Vanadium would be one.

The Carnegie association, well I used to run a website which highlighted their Ceto technology, so this is pretty exciting news as well.

Just wish I was still a part of it.... sigh.... that's life I guess