Did Buffett buy into BYD for the auto? (old clip)

From BYD's 2010 1st half report

As an important part of the “Silicon-Iron” strategy of the Group, the energy storage station business also made a major breakthrough during the period. By leveraging on the supporting policies of the State on new energy development, the Group actively participated in new energy projects associated with such policies, including the construction and demonstration operation of solar power stations and energy storage stations. During the Period, two 100KW energy storage stations in Beijing and Shanghai were delivered for use and put into demonstration operation. As for the Wind-PV Energy Storage and Transmission Project with China Electric Power Research Institute, relevant contracts have been signed and delivery of batteries and other related equipment have started. Further, the Group had a number of Megawatt-class energy storage station projects in bidding stage. During the Period, the Group collaborated with renowned overseas residential property developers by installing BYD household energy system for their property developments, which may, through a solar power generation system and together with an energy storage station, achieve complete independence of household energy to power grid systems.

U.S. Economy Faces `Painful Period' of Debt Unwind, Berkshire's Sokol Says

The U.S. is facing a “painful period” in the next five years as homeowners and governments unwind debt built up during the housing boom, Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s David Sokol said today.
“All of that just feeds into a slow-growth environment,” Sokol, who heads Berkshire’s energy and luxury-flight divisions, said today in an interview at Bloomberg headquarters in New York. “If we could average 2 percent for the next five years, we’d be pretty happy.”

“It’s going to be a painful period,” said Sokol, whose energy division owns a real-estate brokerage. “If the U.S. grew a consistent 2 percent from this year forward, Europe half a percent and Asia 6.5 to 7 percent, my guess is that we’ll all feel pretty good.”
 
The credit crisis in 2008 was “such a dramatic jolt to businesses that it did something very positive,” Sokol said. “It made companies that were pretty efficient get a lot more efficient. It made every business I’m involved with really take a hard look at the business model.”
 
“People have been shocked into the notion that maybe some monthly savings is a good thing,” Sokol said. “We’ll end up with a lot of people that are struggling until their home values come back a little bit.”
 
Sokol considers his main job at Berkshire to be “whatever Warren wants me to do,” he said in an interview today on Bloomberg Television.
 

Link to the Article

Warren Buffet's Right-Hand Man Speaks Out

Notes: Thanks to GuruFocus for the original reference

Warren Buffett's Mr. Fix-It: Full Version

FORTUNE -- The day after Lehman collapsed in September 2008, David Sokol noticed that the stock of Constellation Energy, a Baltimore utility, was plummeting. He called his boss, Warren Buffett, and said, "I see an opportunity here." Buffett, who had noticed the same thing, replied after a brief discussion: "Let's go after it."

Constellation (CEG, Fortune 500) held vast amounts of energy futures contracts that had gone sour, and the company appeared to be on the verge of bankruptcy. Sokol, as chairman of the Berkshire subsidiary MidAmerican Energy Holdings, knew the utility industry and saw a chance to buy solid assets at a bargain price. The deal, however, had to be done within 48 hours or the company would have to file for bankruptcy.

Sokol phoned the office of Constellation CEO Mayo Shattuck III, who was in an emergency board meeting. When his assistant answered, Sokol told her he'd like to speak to him. The secretary replied that if she interrupted the meeting, she might lose her job. Sokol replied, "If you don't interrupt the meeting, you might lose your job."

Sokol boarded a Falcon 50EX and sped to Baltimore. He met with Shattuck and struck a deal that evening to buy the company for $4.7 billion, staving off bankruptcy.

Within weeks, before the acquisition was completed, Constellation's board received a competing bid from Électricité de France for about a 30% premium. The board liked the offer, and so did Sokol -- who walked away with a $1.2 billion breakup fee for Berkshire.

Read All

David Sokol on NetJets and Wang Chuanfu

David Sokol on Economy, Housing and BYD

Warren Buffet's Big Battery Play

David Sokol, the chairman of an Iowa-based utility holding company called MidAmerican Energy Holdings, which is 80 percent owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, has for the most part been quieter. But Sokol and MidAmerican Energy have been positioning their business for a low-carbon future. MidAmerican's investments in wind power mean that it generates more power from renewable source than any other regulated utility, as best as I can tell. It was Sokol, at Buffett's request, who engineered MidAmerican's investment in BYD, the Chinese battery-maker and auto company that is building low-cost electric cars. (See Warren Buffett Takes Charge, my story about BYD that ran last month in FORTUNE.) And now there's more news from MidAmerican, and you heard it here first: The company will soon begin testing batteries from BYD that, if all goes well, could store electricity on a large scale at a reasonable cost.

That's a big deal.

Just a few details: This fall, MidAmerican will build a 2 megawatt storage facility using BYD batteries at an existing substation in Portland, Oregon, where it operates the local utility, Pacific Power. BYD, meanwhile, is building a bigger storage facility in China, and plans to build a third one in a still-undisclosed location on in southern California. That's about all I can tell you because BYD is reluctant to talk about its research.

The 2 megawatts of battery storage in Portland will allow MidAmerican to test BYD batteries to see how well they charge, what control systems are needed to discharge the electricity and to analyze their reliability and cost. "It will let us do a fair amount of testing to understand the economics of a 100 or 200 megawatt storage facility to back up wind," Sokol says.

Link to the Article