Currents

Simon Morrish, entrepreneur and CEO of Xlinks, joins us to discuss the ambitious Xlinks solar project, which transfers solar energy from Morocco via a 6.3 GW subsea cable to the UK. We get into the scope of the project, where the idea came from, the current project status and next steps, how projects like this are financed, if the model can be replicated internationally, how he is able to convince skeptics and more.

What is the outlook in Congress for the massive infrastructure plan that President Biden unveiled last week? Listen as four veteran Washington observers, John Gimigliano, principal-in-charge, federal tax legislative and regulatory services, KMPG Global, Elissa Levin, director, federal government affairs, Avangrid, Inc., Joe Mikrut, partner, Capitol Tax Partners, and Chris Miller, partner, AJW, Inc., discuss which parts of the plan they expect to be enacted with Keith Martin from Norton Rose Fulbright.

Adam Stern, executive director of Offshore Wind California, and Jim Berger, partner at Norton Rose Fulbright, join us to discuss prospects and growing momentum for offshore wind power in California. We start with an overview of progress to harness offshore wind in the US, the potential to bring this renewable energy technology to California, what it would mean for clean power, jobs and climate in the Golden State, new legislative initiatives as well as hurdles and financing to develop offshore wind in California, and how much this new industry is expected to grow in the next 10 years.

Charles Wheeler, president, co-CEO and CIO, and Benjamin Baker, managing director, at Greebacker Capital join us to discuss the firm’s mission and their fundamental approach to sustainable infrastructure. We discuss some of the most notable changes in renewable energy since the firm was founded, the hardest part about navigating the industry, the competitive landscape, the shift to a private equity focus, how the firm is expected to evolve and much more.

Has the appetite among banks and tax equity investors to finance hedged merchant power and storage projects changed as a result of the events last month in Texas and, if so, how? What lessons did lenders and tax equity investors take away about how to do future projects? Are the effects limited to projects in ERCOT? Sven Wellock, managing director and co-lead of energy – renewables and power at ING Capital, Daniel Miller, managing director at CIT Energy, James Wright, managing director and head of renewables, clean energy and sustainability for the United States at CIBC Capital Markets, and Rubiao Song, managing director and head of energy investments at JPMorgan, talk about these and related questions with Keith Martin from Norton Rose Fulbright.

Richard Matsui, CEO of kWh Analytics, joins us for an update on the Solar Lendscape. He covers what is new in tax equity, gives a breakdown of three trends he is seeing on the lender side and an update on the underperformance of solar projects that was uncovered in the Solar Generation Index, explains how underperformance might affect refinancing and more.

Close to 4,000 people registered to listen to a discussion among three experts about the prospects for hydrogen. Interest is particularly high in green hydrogen, which is expected to play a significant role as the US moves rapidly to decarbonize. Sheldon Kimber, CEO and founder of Intersect Power, Karen Lee, senior counsel for commercial law at the Southern California Gas Company, and Sanjay Shrestha, chief strategy officer of Plug Power, talked with Jim Berger and Deanne Barrow with Norton Rose Fulbright.

Eren Ergin, general manager of renewables and distributed assets at Honeywell, joins us to talk about stationary battery storage. We discuss what Honeywell is doing in the market, how it has created a business unit focusing on storage, how it believes it can compete and succeed long-term, how remote operation centers tie into asset management, safety concerns for projects, misconceptions about battery storage in the infrastructure investment community and much more.

Richard Walsh, managing partner at Madison Energy Investments, joins us to talk about trends he is seeing in the C&I solar market. We get into the best state markets for C&I solar and emerging markets, how storage is becoming part of projects, how investors can keep track of the different markets despite the rapid pace of change, how the corporate push for renewable energy has affected C&I solar, how retail energy providers play a role in deregulated state electricity markets and more.

Kunal Phalpher, CCO of Li-Cycle, joins us to talk about recycling lithium-ion batteries. We get into the size of the market, what is recycled out of the batteries, how much of the materials extracted can be used in new batteries, the impact the growing energy storage market will have on the need to recycle batteries and more.