Ben Hubbard is CEO and Co-founder at Nexus PMG, an infrastructure advisory and project development organization dedicated to reducing carbon intensity and enhancing resource efficiency. Ben co-founded Nexus PMG in 2013 after multiple years of working on complex metal refining facilities in locations including Mongolia and Saudi Arabia.
In this episode, Cody and Ben cover how Nexus PMG got started, what key risks the firm explores when assessing a project for development capital, Ben's advice for infrastructure-heavy startups as they scale, and how he sees the next five years of infrastructure deployment playing out. And they cover a whole lot in between, including the criticality of feedstocks, the role of insurance, opportunities for private equity, and first-of-a-kind project finance.
In this episode, we cover:
- [01:56]: Ben's early mining experience in extreme climates during the 2007 recession
- [05:24]: Nexus PMG's founding story
- [11:51]: Abandoning all fossil-fuel projects and full transition to low-carbon focus
- [17:01]: Observations on declining investment returns in wind and solar projects
- [20:39]: Challenges in variability and quality of sustainable materials
- [27:15]: Turnaround of a distressed biomass plant in British Columbia
- [30:08]: Launch of Nexus Development Capital for scaling businesses
- [36:04]: Recent shifts from strategics investing to meet ESG goals
- [38:17]: Why team dynamics are critical to project success
- [42:50]: Trend forecasting in sustainable projects: hydrogen, sustainable aviation fuels
- [46:01]: Ben’s optimism about capital deployment in the next decade
Episode recorded on Jan 8, 2024 (Published on Feb 5, 2024)
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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant
