Currents

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.