Currents

Richard Matsui, CEO and co-founder of kWh Analytics, joins us again to share the company's popular Solar Lendscape and discuss the current solar market. He goes into why the company created the Lendscape, what is currently going on in debt markets for solar projects, how new lenders are getting into the market, how deals with progressively shorter PPAs are being financed, lenders' comfort levels w...

John Mauel, partner in our Houston office, joins us to discuss the current US LNG market. We take the discussion from an overview of the global LNG industry to where the US market fits into the global transformation. John shares his experiences in the rapidly evolving market and his predictions for the future.

John Eber, former CEO of JPM Capital Corporation, joins us for a conversation about lessons learned over a 30-year career working as a prominent tax equity investor.

Marion Hill, business line director, renewable energy for North America of DNV GL, joins us to discuss the company's "2018 Energy Transition Outlook." We talk about the model on which the outlook is based and how the DNV GL outlook differs from other energy outlooks, when DNV GL thinks the world will hit peak energy demand and why it thinks demand in North America has already peaked.

Alfred Griffin, president of the NY Green Bank, joins us to discuss its mission, what types of deals it is authorized to do and the benefits of borrowing from it. We get into where opportunity currently lies for entrepreneurs, what kind of pricing is offered and more.

Listen in as Lee Taylor, CEO of REsurety, joins Todd Alexander and Rob Eberhardt to give us a refresher course on covariance risk. Lee answers everything from what it is and why you should care about it to who wears the risk in a project and what commercial and industrial buyers can do about when facing it.

Rob Gramlich, CEO of Grid Strategies, joins us to discuss a recent report on reforms needed in the PJM and MISO electricity markets for renewable energy to become competitive. He explains how different technologies can improve the reliability of wind and solar output, the changes needed in the market for a high-penetration renewable energy scenario, how transmission fits in and more.

The new Mexican president already made headlines by halting construction work on the new Mexico City airport and requiring resignations of executives at state companies to reduce salaries. Raquel Bierzwinsky sits down to tell us what she expects to see in the power and infrastructure sectors in Mexico with Andrés Manuel López Obrador in charge.

It is the start of a new year. Interest rates are headed up in the broader market. Economists are split on where the US and global economies are headed. Share prices on world bourses took a beating at the end of 2018. On January 11, we had a conversation among a group of project finance industry veterans about what to expect in the year ahead for tax equity, bank and term loan B debt and project b...

In Episode 23, Richard Matsui of kWh Analytics sat down with us to explain the solar revenue put. One year later, he joins us again to discuss how the market has reacted, the number of deals that have used it, the response to this new innovation and more.

Bob Shapiro joins us to discuss potential wildfire impacts on PG&E, including potential impacts to PG&E's counterparties. We dive into the relationship between the California legislature and the California Public Utilities Commission, the impact a significant loss to PG&E could have on power generators and more.

Listen to a discussion among Keith Martin and five veteran Washington lobbyists and power company office heads about how the US mid-term election results are likely to affect the power sector, especially renewable energy.

Greg Remec, Senior Director with Fitch Ratings, joins us to give a master class on ratings for projects, discussing what goes into a rating, how the different players affect the grade and more.

Scott Bank of First American Insurance sat down to discuss all things title insurance; in this episode we go from title insurance 101 and endorsements for project finance projects to how pricing breaks down and where he sees the insurer most often paying out.

Ken Elser of DNV GL joins us to discuss when a company contemplating an M&A transaction should approach an independent engineer, the different methods DNV GL takes in buy-side vs. sell-side transactions, the top three things that drive the value of an M&A transaction, where he sees the market going in the next six to 12 months, how DNV GL can help, and more.

Ren Plastina of Investec joins us to talk about energy storage and electric vehicles and how to be a first mover in both markets. He gets into energy storage from standpoint of a lender, what is going in the market and whether lenders are seeing deals that can actually be financed, as well as how the traditional project finance model can be used for EV charging infrastructure, a market that is sti...

Steven Greenwald, senior advisor and former head of project finance with Credit Suisse, reflects on a rich 39-year history in the project finance industry. Steve shares what led him to become an investment banker, the secret to his longevity, how he has seen the business evolve, common mistakes to avoid and more.

Michael Kleinberg, head of distributed energy resources and energy storage at DNV GL, joins us to talk all things energy storage. He shares an update on current technology trends of lithium ion, the cost environment, how projects are priced, key players on the manufacturing side and how these technologies are being deployed in the US. The residential market is awakening and Todd asks how much conf...

The representations and warranties insurance (RWI) market is growing rapidly as the insurance expands in scope to cover more types of transactions. David Barrett discusses RWI from a legal perspective: talking about the basics of sell-side and buy-side policies, typical pricing, premiums last year versus this year, the risks that aren't covered, special considerations for energy projects, the clai...

Amanda Rosenberg tells us what the major changes to CFIUS are and how they will affect the energy industry, including details on the new review authority, changes to process, mandatory declarations and when everything comes into effect.

Listen in as Patrick Dolan offers a general overview of securitization and then dives specifically into the niche market of property assessed clean energy (PACE) bonds. We cover which states are doing the highest volume in PACE securitizations, a history of the ratings, residential versus commercial and where he sees the future of the program.

Jim Berger discusses back-leveraged loans from a legal perspective, going over the big picture of project structures as well as the most negotiated points in these transactions, the breakdown of benefits for sponsor members and tax equity investors, security packages, cash sweeps and more.

Bankruptcy lawyer Howard Seife sits down to talk about what happens when a power purchaser files for bankruptcy, using the recent Chapter 11 filing by First Energy Solutions as a case study. As we see more power projects financed based on projected cash flows from corporate PPAs, IPPs need to understand the credit risk presented by a potential bankruptcy of their counterparty.

We sat down with Benoit Allehaut, director on the clean energy infrastructure team at Capital Dynamics, fresh off the heels of its acquisition and privatization of 8point3 Energy Partners LP. Benoit shares his views on how much appetite there is currently in the market for solar, the effects of the new solar tariffs, PPAs, the future of energy storage and more.

Join us as we take a closer look at CFIUS, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, the committee is charged with reviewing transactions in which a foreign person will gain control over a US trade or business. Amanda Rosenberg talks about the basics, national security, specific project finance concerns, lessons learned and what is happening today.