Currents

Bob Powell, founder and CEO of Brightmark, joins us to discuss his company and the important environmental problems it is solving. He discusses the projects on which the company is working in renewable natural gas, how he decided to get into the RNG space, how the arrangements are typically structured, the value for offtakers, the company’s work in advanced plastics recycling and where he sees the...

Richard Dovere, managing member of C2 Energy Capital, joins us to discuss how COVID-19 has affected the distributed generation sector. We discuss factors that are coming into play on resiliency and the role of DG, the current appetite for new PPAs, how the pandemic is affecting project returns, how the tax equity and debt markets are responding to market conditions and more.

Andy Klump, CEO of Clean Energy Associates, joins us to discuss trends the company is seeing in quality assurance and independent engineering work globally since COVID-19 became a pandemic. He discusses the type of work the company is still able to do amidst shutdowns, the trends it sees in the supply chain, where energy storage is headed, lessons learned that the storage industry should consider,...

Aki Marceau, director of electrification of transportation, and Yoh Kawanami, director of customer energy resources, operations at Hawaiian Electric, join us to discuss Hawaiian Electric’s efforts to electrify transportation on the islands. We talk about the unique position that the utility is in, how it has been affected by COVID-19, the utility’s demand response department, its EV charging progr...

How should carbon sequestration transactions be structured in light of proposed regulations the IRS issued on May 27 about claiming section 45Q tax credits? The IRS has disallowed over half the tax credits claimed so far. Keith Martin, David Burton and Amanda Rosenberg talk about three ways to structure such transactions and more.

Many developers report that the tide appears to be flowing out on tax equity. At the same time, the two largest tax equity investors say it is business as usual for them. We talked to Peter Cross, managing director at Credit Suisse Securities, Jorge Iragorri, head of the alternative financing group at Morgan Stanley, George Revock, head of alternative energy and project finance at Capital One, and...

James Bowen, co-founder of Energetic Insurance, joins us to discuss his company’s story and the problems that its insurance policy solves. We get into who should consider using the product, the value proposition, who benefits, how the policy helps when there is a lack of tax equity, if it can enable securitizations or other capital market transactions and more.

Giovanni Bertolino, head of e-mobility at Enel X, joins us to discuss the rapidly evolving electric vehicle sector and the potential impact on the renewable grid. We discuss Enel X’s role in energy and transportation, some of the broader impacts of COVID-19, how government incentives encourage sales of EVs and installation of charging infrastructure, how increased EV adoption might affect the ener...

In times of economic and financial crisis, commercial lending and private sector investment into emerging markets – even for projects or opportunities with sound economics and credit fundamentals – often dry up. Development finance institutions and export credit agencies are often called upon to step into the breach. While aggregate investment declines, IFIs, in effect, see a larger piece of a sma...

Keith Martin, partner in Washington, joins us to discuss the recent executive order banning equipment provided by companies in foreign adversary countries. We get into what the ban covers, which power projects are affected, how it will work in practice, when it will take effect and how it might affect equipment already installed. We also cover the recently launched investigation that may lead to t...

Ken Elser, senior vice president for project finance and M&A at DNV GL, joins us to discuss how independent engineers are seeing COVID-19 affect renewable energy projects. We talk about how the pandemic has affected the execution of deals already in progress, what DNV GL has seen in terms of force majeure claims, its insights into supply chain issues, how the pandemic is affecting how IEs work, ho...

Benoit Allehaut, managing director at Capital Dynamics, joins us to discuss the state of the market and what the company has been up to lately. We go over what he views as the current state of the M&A, tax equity and debt markets, how investors are handling the merchant curve when valuing projects, the company’s new joint venture with Sol Systems, exposure to the PG&E bankruptcy, and more.

Gary Blitz, co-CEO, and Matthew Heinz, managing director, of AON M&A and Transaction Solutions, join us to discuss the reps & warranty and tax insurance markets. We get into how they are being affected by COVID-19, how R&W insurance can help in distressed transactions, how specialty products like tax insurance and litigation buyouts are being used, and much more.

Brian Warshay, principal consultant for distributed energy resources and energy storage at DNV GL, joins us to discuss merchant storage. We discuss the evolving energy storage value stack, how developers are managing the risk involved with merchant storage projects, the difference between merchant storage and merchant power plants, whether lenders are comfortable with merchant storage, the current...

Luke Lindberg, senior vice president of external engagement for the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM), joins us to discuss EXIM’s reauthorization after Chairman Reed’s confirmation last May. We go into what the bank’s priorities are, the changes Congress made to its charter during reauthorization, the markets that EXIM is focused on, how they work with other government agencies and mo...

Keith Martin, partner at Norton Rose Fulbright in Washington, joins us to unpack the $2.2 trillion economic relief bill that cleared Congress on Friday -- the CARES Act -- and what it means for companies in the project finance market. We get into the handful of things it does for companies, the prospects for more targeted relief for renewables, what we are seeing currently in the market and more.

Tax equity for renewable energy was expected to be a US$15 billion market this year, and interest rates on bank debt had dropped to 125 to 137.5 basis points over LIBOR – before the coronavirus hit. Is financing still available for power and infrastructure projects? Has there been any change in availability or cost of tax equity, bank debt, B loans and project bonds? How have asset valuations been...

This was expected to be a peak year in new capacity additions for wind and solar projects – before coronavirus hit. How has the outlook changed? Is work continuing on projects that are already under construction? Are new projects still able to secure financing? How are utilities faring? What issues are companies facing that will require a government response? Six power company CEOs joined us to ta...

Dan Shreve, head of global wind energy research at Wood Mackenzie, joins us to discuss the future of the wind market. We take a look back at 2019, the outlook for 2020, the risks to the supply chain due to coronavirus and the potential effect on deployment, the impact of the PTC extension, the competition in the US between wind and solar, and more.

Sue Wang, Ben Koenigsberg and Keith Martin join us to discuss the impacts of coronavirus on the renewable energy industry. We discuss how coronavirus is affecting daily life in Wuhan, the effect on loans, what sponsors should do after receiving force majeure notices, what might happen to renewable energy projects that are up against deadlines to start or finish construction to qualify for tax cred...

Claire Edwards, knowledge counsel with Norton Rose Fulbright in London, joins us to discuss the upcoming move away from LIBOR, the London Interbank Offered Rate. We discuss the basics of LIBOR, its importance to the industry, why it is being replaced, what types of rates people can expect to see in place of it, the difficulties around getting people to accept a new standard rate and much more.

Karl Choltus, SVP, national surety practice leader at Beecher Carlson Insurance Services, LLC, joins us to discuss all things surety bonds. We discuss what a surety bond is, their traditional applications and competitive advantages, how similar a surety bond is to a guarantee, the target audience for a surety bond and much more.

Sue Wang, senior counsel in our Washington office, joins us to discuss the banner year that renewables had in 2019. We get into the different changes in step-down dates for tax credits, what types of projects people are interested in buying, how clients are mitigating political risk, the growth in storage paired with generating facilities and more.

It is the start of a new year. Many forecasters expect modest global growth this year, helped by favorable monetary policies by central banks, but with risk on the downside due to trade and geopolitical tensions. The US market remains awash in liquidity. Listen to a discussion led by Keith Martin, partner at Norton Rose Fulbright, among John C.S. Anderson, global head of corporate finance and infr...

Howard Seife, global head of financial restructuring and insolvency at Norton Rose Fulbright, joins us to discuss how power purchase agreements are affected by utility bankruptcies in the wake of the latest ruling by a US appeals court in the FirstEnergy Solutions bankruptcy. He covers what the FirstEnergy Solutions case, plus experience with the PG&E and other recent bankruptcies, suggest about w...