Currents

CohnReznick Capital’s Michael Tatarsky, Managing Director, and Colin Smith, Senior Research Analyst, join Todd Alexander to discuss the Market Cost of Energy (MCOE) in the wake of the Inflation Reduction Act. They go over how the IRA will affect pricing, the impact on PPA’s and how the market has reacted.

The Inflation Reduction Act last August let companies sell nine types of federal tax credits to other companies for cash. The window opened on such sales on January 1. Five market veterans discuss how the market is developing. Moderator Keith Martin is joined by Ted Brandt, CEO of Marathon Capital, Jack Cargas, Managing Director and Head of Tax Equity Origination at Bank of America, Billy Lee, Pre...

Martin McCann, partner in London, joins Todd Alexander to discuss the global mining supply chain. We discuss how the global EV boom is affecting precious metal mining, the competition among countries to be top in mining and battery manufacturing, how the Inflation Reduction Act is affecting investment in mining, how car makers are taking advantage of IRA tax credits, and more.

Ep203: Transferability of Tax Credits Hilary Lefko, partner in Washington, joins Todd Alexander to discuss the transferability of tax credits. We discuss how federal transferability compares to the existing market for sales of state tax credits, how developers are taking advantage of transferability, how lenders look at it, what the market looks like for brokers, what has surprised Hilary about th...

Tim Byrne, Eric Daucher and Tom Delaney join Todd Alexander to discuss the formation of the bridge banks for Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank and what to expect from them and government regulation going forward. We get into what will happen in terms of loans, outstanding credit arrangements and contractual obligations, the good news for depositors, how the bridge banks are backed, the effect...

Silicon Valley Bank was placed into receivership on March 10. Tim Byrne, Eric Daucher and Tom Delaney join Todd Alexander to discuss what has unfolded for Silicon Valley Bank over the weekend and what it means for the project finance community. We discuss why a bridge bank would have been set up, if there are bankruptcy concerns for investors with funds in collateral accounts, depositors’ access t...

Four veteran tax equity investors and lenders talk about what to expect in the year ahead. The five are Jack Cargas, managing director and head of tax equity origination, Bank of America, Ralph Cho, co-head of power & infrastructure finance - US, EU and UK, Investec Group, Rubiao Song, managing director and head of energy investments, JPMorgan, and Elizabeth Waters, managing director - project...

Stefan Reisinger, partner in Washington, joins us to discuss the Department of Commerce’s preliminary determination of circumvention issues. We go over the general reaction to the order, which solar panels and cells are covered by the preliminary determination, the significance for the four companies found to be circumventing, the impact the determination will have on panels that have entered befo...

Katherine Blunt, who covers renewable energy and utilities for The Wall Street Journal, talks to Keith Martin in Washington about her new book, California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric—and What it Means for America's Power Grid, on the challenges facing utilities with aging power lines in drought-stricken parts of the United States.

Five veteran Washington observers talk with Keith Martin in our Washington office about what the midterm election results mean for clean energy, storage, carbon capture, hydrogen and the project finance market. The five are Michael Catanzaro, president, CGCN group, and a former senior advisor to House Speaker John Boehner, John Gimigliano, principal-in-charge, federal tax legislative and regulator...

Keith Martin, David Burton and Hilary Lefko have a lively discussion about the Inflation Reduction Act’s effect on deals. Some parts of the Inflation Reduction Act that passed the Senate are retroactive to the start of 2022. Other parts apply only to projects that are placed in service after this year. The bill is expected to clear the House this week. It will affect the tax equity market. It will...

Keith Martin gives a lively update on what is new in the market. The tax equity market is wrestling with a series of issues tied to inflation and construction delays. Developers forced for the same reasons to renegotiate power contracts are drawing interesting lessons. Rising electricity prices are affecting the economics of making green hydrogen, but hydrogen is coming and may prove more disrupti...

Bob Shapiro, partner in Norton Rose Fulbright’s Washington office, joins us to discuss the new regulations in PJM and FERC rules being considered. We discuss how PJM is addressing their backlog, an overview of the two interconnection proposals, who the big winners and losers are, how the FERC proposal differs from the PJM regulations and more.

Jigar Shah, Director of the Department of Energy's Loan Program Office, joins us to discuss the mission of the program and what it is working on right now. We talk about the types of deals that are relevant for the office, what Jigar views as the sweet spot in terms of size and debt for a project, how the pricing works, where he sees the renewable market going in the next five years and more.

Stefan Reisinger, partner Norton Rose Fulbright’s Washington office, joins us for a closer look at the Biden action yesterday to shield solar panels imported from Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia during the next two years from any anti-circumvention duties that the Commerce Department decides to impose. We discuss the current Commerce investigation, how the Biden order will affect imported...

Lee Taylor, CEO of REsurety, joins us to discuss the recent evolution of the hedge market due to the impacts of winter storm Uri. We get into the spectrum of hedging options before the storm, how each of those structures fared, how the hedging landscape has changed and more.

Jason Kaminsky, CEO of kWh Analytics, joins us to discuss the company’s $20M Series B fundraise and the emergence of climate insurance. We discuss what the fundraise means for the industry as a whole, why climate insurance hasn’t emerged yet and the challenges the insurance industry faces when insuring renewables, solutions he has seen on the insurance side, the partnerships that are happening in...

Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association, joins us to discuss what the potential anti-circumvention tariffs on cells and modules from Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. We talk about why we are in the midst of an investigation, how long the Department of Commerce has to investigate and what it could mean for the industry, the percentage of panels tha...

Keith Martin, partner at Norton Rose Fulbright in Washington, joins us to discuss investment tax credits (ITCs) for energy storage and provide an update on the current tax equity market. We get into how current ITCs apply to energy storage, what happens if you have a battery that is only partially charged by a renewables project, why an ITC for an energy storage project doesn’t work well with wind...

Bill Nussey, founder and CEO of the Freeing Energy Project, joins us to discuss the shift to cleaner, cheaper energy. We discuss his new book, Freeing Energy, why he thinks local energy can be cheaper than electricity from the "big grid" and what the advantages are, the roles that natural gas, hydrogen and nuclear energy will play in the shift to cleaner energy, policies that can accelerate use of...

Sheldon Kimber, CEO and co-founder of Intersect Power, joins us to discuss the $2.6 billion financing facility that Intersect signed in November 2021 to finance a portfolio of late-stage solar and storage projects in California and Texas. We get into Intersect’s $600 million equity raise last year, Sheldon’s openness to merchant risk, the sacrifices that need to be made when the company structures...

The year ahead looks like another strong year for financings, but with uncertainty around supply chains, inflation, potential tax law changes and import tariffs. The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond is up significantly so far in January, repeating a pattern early last year. The Federal Reserve is expected to start raising interest rates as early as March. Listen to a discussion about what to exp...

Katie McClain, partner at Energize Ventures, joins us to discuss the company’s investment approach. We get into what it looks for in clean energy and climate tech companies, how its approach differs from other funds, how Katie’s policy background shapes her personal investing thesis, the way decarbonization goals are shaping the clean energy economy and much more.

Maria Klutey, president of Activate Renewables, joins us to discuss how the company’s business model maximizes the value of renewable real estate holdings. We get into the history and background of Activate, its competitive advantage, the advantage that comes with partnering with DESRI, the structures offered to landowners and developers, how much of a project’s capital stack it typically funds, c...

Matt Harper, chief commercial officer at Invinity Energy Systems, joins us to explain vanadium flow batteries. We discuss the future of energy storage, how vanadium flow batteries differ from lithium-ion, what has held back vanadium flow so far, what’s next for Invinity and more.