Daily Business Report: Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022
For thirsty San Diegans, Carlsbad Desalination Plant
served up 100 billion gallons of water over 7 years
The Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant has served more than 100 billion gallons of high-quality, locally controlled water over the past seven years – a milestone passed in late October, as California entered a fourth consecutive year of severe drought.
The plant produces an average of more than 50 million gallons of high-quality, locally controlled water every day. It’s a foundational water supply for the San Diego region that minimizes vulnerability to drought and other water supply emergencies.
The facility is the largest, most technologically advanced and energy-efficient desalination plant in the nation, and it has provided a sustainable water supply to residents and businesses in San Diego County since December 2015.
The desalination plant is a key piece of the region’s multi-decade strategy to diversify its water supply portfolio. A 30-year Water Purchase Agreement between Poseidon (Channelside) LP and the Water Authority allows for the production of up to 56,000 acre-feet of water per year, enough to meet the needs of approximately 400,000 people.
“Since coming online in 2015, the Carlsbad Desalination Plant has met nearly 10 percent of the region’s water demand, and it will be a core water resource for decades to come,” said Mel Katz, board chair for the San Diego County Water Authority.
Top Photo: The Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant (Courtesy of San Diego County Water Authority)
Manchester submits plans for 36-story bayview hotel
Developer Doug Manchester, who is responsible for building San Diego’s single biggest hotel, is close to submitting plans for a new 36-story, 1,150-room hotel tower that would be located just a block from the downtown waterfront. While a large convention hotel was always destined for what is a Navy-owned site going back more than 30 years ago, it was only in the last few years that the Manchester Financial Group began working on — and designing — the current $550 million project.
Ten clean energy companies graduate from
Cleantech San Diego startup incubator
Cleantech San Diego announced the graduation of 10 local clean energy companies from its Southern California Energy Innovation Network (SCEIN). they are: – Chilldyne, Controlled Thermal Resources, Ivy Energy, NeoCharge, Occuspace, South 8 Technologies, Qubitekk, UCAP Power, VLI-EV, and XENDEE
SCEIN is an incubator program for clean energy startups based in San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Imperial counties that are developing technologies to help California meet its clean energy goals. The program offers free business services through a consortium of regional partner organizations and private sector companies to help entrepreneurs successfully bring their energy innovations to market.
Since entering SCEIN, these 10 companies have secured multiple customers, built robust sales pipelines, and raised sufficient capital to support the scaling of their breakthrough energy businesses. A company graduates from SCEIN when it is mutually agreed that they have utilized the full range of resources and referrals made available to them. Seventeen regional clean energy companies have now graduated the program after receiving customized business service plans from SCEIN.
Illumina introduces new research test to address
one of the most common infections in the U.S.
Illumina Inc., a global leader in DNA sequencing and array-based technologies, announced a new research test for genitourinary pathogen and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) identification. The Illumina Urinary Pathogen Infectious Disease/Antimicrobial Resistance Panel applies precision metagenomics to detect and quantify pathogens, including those that are drug resistant that cause complicated and recurrent urinary tract infections.
Genitourinary tract infections are among the most common community and healthcare-associated infections, and rising drug resistance causes increasing morbidity and mortality. This announcement comes after the October launch of two research tests enabling high-risk virus surveillance, as part of Illumina’s commitment to supporting global preparedness for epidemic and pandemic outbreaks.
U.S. Defense Department taps San Diego’s Xendee
to optimize microgrid design for military installations
Due to the growing threat of blackouts, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), through its Environmental Security Technology Certification Program, has enlisted Xendee, a San Diego-based provider of microgrid decision support software, to help significantly cut energy system engineering costs. With the DoD identifying microgrids as a critical technology for increased security, energy efficiency, and resilience at new and existing military installations, the value of microgrids is clear. However, this technology must be optimally planned, designed, deployed, and managed in order to meet organizational goals and mission-critical loads.
As part of this program, Xendee’s software is demonstrated at three different DoD installations. The Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, the USAG Bavaria project in Grafenwöhr/Vilseck, Germany, and the Naval Base San Diego.
Researchers receive nearly $800,000 in
grants to assess National City’s brownfields
Story and Photo by Susanne Clara Bard
In downtown National City, the entire façade of an old storefront is covered over in off-white paint. Originally built in 1930, National City purchased the property along with the vacant lot next door in the early 2000s. The city plans to build a transit-friendly mixed-use development there to address the housing crisis and improve climate resilience in the city. But both properties sit next to a historic dry cleaning business, and before any redevelopment can proceed, the soil needs to be tested for toxic substances.
“Contaminants from solvents get in the soil and then can actually get into the air, and so any building on top of that, it would end up in the air in the building,” said San Diego State University professor and executive director of the Center for Regional Sustainability Jessica Barlow.
Barlow and assistant professor of city planning Madi Swaynehave been awarded a three-year, $500,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and a two-year, $296,000 grant from the California Department of Toxic Substances Control to conduct environmental assessments of properties like these, known as brownfields, in National City.
Alpine to hold inaugural ‘Taste of Alpine’ on Nov. 5
The community of Alpine will host its inaugural Taste of Alpine from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 5. The public is invited to attend. Tickets are priced at $30 for adults and $10 for children ages 12 and under. About 15 restaurants and breweries are participating. On event day, ticket holders will receive a Passport Book with names, addresses and a map of participating eateries. Ticket holders will then travel on their own, at their own pace, and visit their favorite locales to enjoy food and beverage samples .Sponsors include Viejas Casino & Resort, Alpine Taco Shop, San Diego Estates, State Farm Insurance, Farmers Insurance, Postal Annex, Stoney Oaks Ranch, Barons Market, Alpine Construction and RJS General Builders.
Erickson-Hall Construction completes Pacific Sky School
Erickson-Hall Construction Co. joined more than 100 educators, community members, and stakeholders recently to celebrate the ribbon cutting of Pacific Sky School in Del Mar Union School District. Located at 6631 Solterra Vista Parkway, the new K-6 school was funded by the district’s Measure MM passed in 2018. The highly anticipated Pacific Sky School expands Erickson-Hall’s $1 billionportfolio of innovative and award-winning educational facilities across Southern California. The 67,000-square-foot Pacific Sky School features 20 classrooms, three after-school classrooms, three STEAM+ classrooms, an Innovation Center, the district’s central kitchen, and a performing arts stage.
Brain Corp launches next generation
platform for commercial robots
Brain Corp, an artificial intelligence (AI) company creating transformative core technology in robotics, announced the launch of a next generation autonomy platform for commercial robotics. The third generation platform represents the latest evolution of Brain Corp’s BrainOS autonomous robotic operating system – which currently powers over 20,000 autonomous robots operating in public spaces – and has been designed to underpin a future generation of intelligent robotic solutions to be applied across multiple commercial sectors. The new, modular architecture promotes faster and easier product development and includes a number of key features designed to expand potential robot applications and advance machine capabilities, performance, safety and security.
MedCrypt raises $25 million Series B funding
MedCrypt. Inc., the cybersecurity solution provider for medical devices, announced its $25 million Series B funding round. The rould included marquee strategic investments by Intuitive Ventures, Johnson & Johnson Innovation-JJDC Inc., and participation by institutional investors Secion 32, Eniac Ventures, Anzu Partners, and Dolby Family Ventures. MedCrypt will use these funds to scale their cryptography, behavior monitoring, and vulnerability inventory products across various types of medical devices, from small devices like glucose monitors to hospital-based surgical robots.
Mitchell awarded third patent for collision repair diagnostics
Mitchell, a San Diego company and leading technology and information provider for the property and casualty claims and collision repair industries, has been awarded another auto diagnostics patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The patent (11,462,061)—which is specific to collision repair and auto physical damage claims—covers key workflow enhancements designed to support safe and efficient repairs that extend beyond simply performing a scan and clearing diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs).
Mitchell was awarded its first auto diagnostics patent (10,152,836) in 2018 and its second (11,151,812) in 2021.
Epic Sciences appoints William J. Kullback as CFO
Epic Sciences Inc., aa privately held diagnostics company in San Diego, announces the appointment of William J. Kullback as chief financial officer while previous CFO, Joel S. Smith, will continue in his other executive roles as general counsel, chief compliance officer, and executive vice president of corporate development. Kullback has 27 years of experience as CFO and has held a broad range of financial management and operational roles, primarily in mid-sized to large corporations, including multiple publicly held life science companies. Prior to joining Epic, he most recently served as CFO of BioLegend Inc., where he led the company’s sale to PerkinElmer for $5.25 billion, the largest acquisition in PerkinElmer’s history.
SkySafe partners with Robotics Centre to
bring counter-drone technology to Canada
SkySafe, an airspace security and management technology company in San Diego, announced that its groundbreaking Cloud-based counter-drone technology is now detecting drone flights in Canada, thanks to their partnership with Robotics Centre. SkySafe Cloud is unique in that it offers customers a way to detect, track, and analyze the drones in their airspace, without having to buy and maintain expensive hardware. As the only company in the world to build, own, and operate citywide sensor networks, SkySafe offers airspace awareness via a subscription to their Cloud based application.
Stout acquires Vantage Point Advisors
Stout is a global investment bank and advisory firm in Chicago, has acquired Vantage Point Advisors, a provider of business valuation services for tax reporting and compliance, financial reporting, transaction advisory and otther business advisory services. Vantage Point Advisors has offices in San Diego, Irvine, Seattle, Portland, Salt Lake City, Dallas-Ft. Work, and Greenwich Conn.
