Currents

Five veteran Washington observers talked about what changes to expect for renewable energy and the project finance market as a result of the election. John Gimigliano, principal in charge, federal tax and regulatory services at KPMG, Brandon Hurlbut, partner at Boundary Stone Partners and co-host of the “Political Climate” podcast, Joe Mikrut, partner at Capitol Tax Partners, Christine Tezak, managing director at ClearView Energy Partners, and Eric Wolff, an energy reporter at Politico, joined Keith Martin, partner at Norton Rose Fulbright in Washington.

Chris Leary, investment partner at Orion Energy Partners, joins us to discuss how the company invests in energy innovation. We get into how Orion defines energy innovation, what it has already invested in, why it believes this approach is important, the drivers of acceleration in ESG investing, who else is active in the space and much more.

Kathy Hannun, president and co-founder of Dandelion Energy, joins us to discuss residential geothermal heating and cooling. We dive into her background, why she decided to form Dandelion Energy, how geothermal heating and cooling is an efficient, clean alternative to fossil fuel heating, the challenges and opportunities in the industry, what innovations are needed in order for geothermal to go mainstream and more.

JohnPaul Baric, CEO of Aurum Capital Ventures Inc., joins us to explain the relationship between bitcoin mining and the energy industry. We dive into what bitcoin mining is, why bitcoins are scarce, how bitcoin mining is a new way to monetize energy, how miners interact with the power grid, who is currently funding miners operations, where he sees the bitcoin space going in the next five years and more.

The November elections carry significant potential upside for renewable energy companies. The election is factoring into construction-start strategies. A FERC order involving Broadview Solar has many solar developers up in arms. More than 3,400 companies have filed suit against the Trump administration to get back duties paid on Chinese products. A test case involving COVID-19 claims under business interruption insurance policies was decided in September. The tax equity market remains a tale of two cities. Keith Martin, partner in Washington, gives a lively half-hour update on what is new in the market.

Yuri Horowitz, CEO of Sol Systems, joins us to discuss the convergence of social and environmental impact principles on solar energy infrastructure. We talk about what motivates corporations to take action, the challenges of implementation, how corporations are integrating ESG into their solar procurement strategies, Sol Systems’ recent groundbreaking solar power community investment agreement with Microsoft and more.

Richard Matsui, CEO and founder of kWh Analytics, joins us to unpack a new kWh study that found US utility-scale solar projects are underperforming P50 production estimates on average by 6.3%.

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.

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.

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.