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Currents

Latest episodes

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Sep 28, 2020 • 37min

Ep122: Highlander Transaction: sPower's 620 MW Solar Plant

Brian Callaway, vice president, structured finance at sPower, and Conor McKenna, managing director at CohnReznick Capital Markets, walk us through the Highlander transaction, sPower’s 620-MW solar project and the largest solar plant east of the Mississippi. The pair discusses the developer’s vision for the project, how they were able to bring together so many high-profile counterparties, the challenges they faced to get it across the finish line, how they handled ESG and NIMBY, the complex financing structure and much more.
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Sep 21, 2020 • 22min

Ep121: Edison Energy’s Return to Europe

Christen Blum, vice president, renewables advisory and analytics, and Emily Williams, vice president, strategy and sustainability at Edison Energy, join us to discuss vPPAs, PPAs and Edison’s entrance into the European market. They get into the difference between vPPAs and PPAs, which model is used more widely in Europe, how COVID-19 is affecting corporate interest in renewable energy and much more.
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Sep 14, 2020 • 30min

Ep120: Entrepreneuer Targets Climate Change: Norman Crowley

Norman Crowley, serial entrepreneur and founder and head of Cool Planet Group, joins us to discuss his entrepreneurial adventures in renewables and what his nonprofit foundation, The Cool Planet Experience, was created to address. We journey from the first company he created at 16 to his retirement at 28, the energy efficiency company he founded in 2010, Crowley Carbon, Electrfi, his electric car company that creates world-class hypercars, the solar company he launched last year, his foundation addressing the fun side of environmental responsibility and more.
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Sep 9, 2020 • 33min

Mexico Renewables Market Update

Raquel Bierzwinsky, partner in Norton Rose Fulbright’s Mexico City and New York offices, joins us to discuss the renewables market in Mexico almost two years into AMLO’s term in office. She goes over the shift in government policy and what it means for project developers and lenders.
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Aug 31, 2020 • 17min

Ep118: California Blackouts and Renewables

Jan Smutny-Jones, chief executive officer of the Independent Energy Producers Association, joins us to discuss the recent blackouts in California and how the renewables industry is related. Jan explains what has been happening, what could be done to prevent future blackouts and how storage can help, the investigation that is currently underway, the effect the blackouts might have on political support for the state’s high renewable portfolio standard goals and more.
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Aug 24, 2020 • 27min

Ep117: Commercial Bank, Term Loan B and Project Bond Market

Exploring differences between commercial bank, term loan B, and project bond lending markets; considerations for debt financing strategies for various project types; analysis of market trends and participation during COVID crisis; navigating credit analysis in renewable energy projects; predictions for World Series winner and hopes for vaccine effectiveness.
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Aug 17, 2020 • 22min

Ep116: Floating Wind: US Outlook

Dr. Alana Duerr, director, offshore wind North America at DNV GL, joins us to discuss the outlook for floating wind in the United States. We get into what floating wind is, the different types, in which global markets floating wind has already gotten traction, where floating wind will work in the US, its advantages and challenges and more.
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Aug 10, 2020 • 22min

Ep115: Enabling Bankability for New Technologies

Tom Dickson, CEO of New Energy Risk, joins us to discuss how the company is enabling project finance and bankability for new technologies through insurance. We go over the void that New Energy Risk is filling, how its product offerings evolve over time, how to scale energy storage, how carbon capture will compare to other industries, trends in capital markets and more.
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Aug 3, 2020 • 23min

Ep114: COVID-19's Effect on Utilities

Robert Mudge, principal at The Brattle Group, joins us to go over the company’s report on the impact COVID-19 is having on utilities. We go over how electric load has been affected, how effects vary among different types of utility customers, how they are expected to change over time and by region, the financial consequences for utilities, how states are responding, commodity pricing and more.
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Jul 28, 2020 • 49min

Ep113: Condition of the Tax Equity Market

Many developers report trouble raising tax equity this year for renewable energy projects. This is the third in a series of calls since late March with different tax equity investors to test the current condition of the market. Keith Martin, partner in Washington, is joined by Robert Capps, managing director at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Eric Cohen, group head – renewable energy finance at Fifth Third Bank, Eric Heintz, director of energy finance at M&T Bank, B. Scott McClain, executive vice president and managing director at First Horizon Bank and Yonette Chung McLean, managing director at RBC Capital Markets.

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