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Currents

Latest episodes

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Jul 27, 2020 • 29min

Ep112: Solar Risk Assessment Report 2020

Richard Matsui, CEO and co-founder of kWh Analytics, and Dana Olson, solar segment leader at DNV GL, are back to discuss the second annual "Solar Risk Assessment" report in which they, along with industry experts from eight other companies, share their quantitative insights on solar production risk. We get into the trends that are being seen in the market, the underperformance that is being found, what is causing it and much more.
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Jul 22, 2020 • 1h

Ep111: Lessons Learned from PG&E's Bankruptcy

PG&E is on its way out of bankruptcy, and there are many lessons to learn from the largest American utility’s second trip through bankruptcy. We briefly cover the political and regulatory issues lurking in the background and then dive into the lessons learned from people who were affected by the bankruptcy, cover what they would do differently if it were to happen again, address how to price bankruptcy risk and discuss how the industry is approaching projects with PG&E offtake contracts and California in general. Jim Berger and Christy Rivera, partners with Norton Rose Fulbright, are joined by Kevin P. Malcarney, senior vice president and general counsel at Clearway Energy, Paul Pace, senior vice president and team leader at KeyBank, and Pascal Uttinger, managing director, project finance in the Americas, at MUFG.
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Jul 20, 2020 • 24min

Ep110: Behind-the-Meter Storage

Brian Warshay, principal consultant, DER and energy storage at DNV GL, joins us to discuss opportunities in behind-the-meter storage. We get into how companies can make money in BTM solar and storage, how the projects are financed, how companies are changing their business models to adapt to the evolving market, additional entities that can get involved in BTM storage, how customer data can be used to increase value to energy providers and customers, what he is currently seeing in the community storage market and more.
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Jul 16, 2020 • 39min

Ep109: What's New in the Market

Another economic stimulus bill is expected in August. A refundable tax credit proposal has gotten traction among Republicans. Tax equity is harder for many developers to find this year. A key motion being argued before a federal court in Washington this month could affect contest rights in tax equity deals. Keith Martin, partner in Washington, gives a lively half-hour update on what is new in the market.
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Jul 13, 2020 • 20min

Ep108: Making C&I Solar Attractive to Institutional Investor

Steve Cunningham, managing partner of Madison Energy Investments, joins us to explain the details of investing in C&I solar. We discuss what C&I means in the context of size, offtaker and style, why it exists and what the benefits are versus utility-scale solar, what makes C&I attractive for investors, the specific risks in C&I, how site control is handled, the benefits of scaling and much more.
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Jul 6, 2020 • 30min

Ep107: Energy Storage in ERCOT

Caitlin Smith, vice president, and Matthew Berend, co-founder, of AB Power Advisors, and Sam Porter, senior counsel at Norton Rose Fulbright, join us to discuss energy storage projects in ERCOT. We discuss what storage projects have been done so far in ERCOT, the regulatory background, ancillary service opportunities for storage, how much storage is currently in the queue, what incentives there are to build storage, who might be interested in these projects and more.
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Jun 29, 2020 • 25min

Ep106: Brightmark on Renewable Natural Gas

Bob Powell, founder and CEO of Brightmark, joins us to discuss his company and the important environmental problems it is solving. He discusses the projects on which the company is working in renewable natural gas, how he decided to get into the RNG space, how the arrangements are typically structured, the value for offtakers, the company’s work in advanced plastics recycling and where he sees the next big opportunity.
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Jun 22, 2020 • 25min

Ep105: Distributed Generation's Reaction to COVID-19

Richard Dovere, managing member of C2 Energy Capital, joins us to discuss how COVID-19 has affected the distributed generation sector. We discuss factors that are coming into play on resiliency and the role of DG, the current appetite for new PPAs, how the pandemic is affecting project returns, how the tax equity and debt markets are responding to market conditions and more.
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Jun 15, 2020 • 29min

Ep104: Clean Energy Associates on Supply Chain, QA and IE

Andy Klump, CEO of Clean Energy Associates, joins us to discuss trends the company is seeing in quality assurance and independent engineering work globally since COVID-19 became a pandemic. He discusses the type of work the company is still able to do amidst shutdowns, the trends it sees in the supply chain, where energy storage is headed, lessons learned that the storage industry should consider, his prediction for how the renewables industry will emerge post-pandemic and more.
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Jun 8, 2020 • 22min

Ep103: Hawaiian Electric and EVs

Aki Marceau, director of electrification of transportation, and Yoh Kawanami, director of customer energy resources, operations at Hawaiian Electric, join us to discuss Hawaiian Electric’s efforts to electrify transportation on the islands. We talk about the unique position that the utility is in, how it has been affected by COVID-19, the utility’s demand response department, its EV charging program with Enel X and more.

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