Currents

Brandon Keefe and Joshua Goldstein of Plus Power discuss why they pursued stand-alone battery storage, the future of energy storage projects, investor response, constructing projects and diversified revenue streams, managing pricing and interest rate challenges, the impact of the cost of capital on battery storage growth, and the current state and future predictions of the energy storage industry.

Weather-related catastrophes have left the global insurance market with $50 billion in losses in the first half of this year, the second worst start to a year since 2011. Moderator Keith Martin discusses how climate change is affecting the availability and cost of insurance with Ernst Rauch, Chief Climate Scientist at Munich Re, Lesley Harding, Global Head of Strategic Relationships, Energy & Transition at Liberty Specialty Markets, and Dr. Maryam Golnaraghi, Director of Climate Change and Environment at The Geneva Association, in the second of two podcasts on the topic.

Rising insurance costs and shrinking coverage are starting to limit where renewable and other energy projects can be built. Moderator Keith Martin discusses conditions in the US market with Sam Jensen, partner and co-founder at STANCE Renewable Risk Partners, and Tucker Compton, client advisor at Sterling Seacrest Pritchard, in the first of two podcasts on the topic.

Dan Shreve of Clean Energy Associates joins us for a wide-ranging discussion about the current environment around existing and emerging technologies in the energy mix, challenges facing renewable energy, the regulatory climate in the US and Europe, and advice for individuals who are interested in entering the renewable energy industry.

Declan Flanagan, CEO of Bluestar Energy Capital, discusses promising markets, supply-chain risks, capital raising, pricing changes, viability of technologies like battery storage and offshore wind in the renewable energy sector. Topics include growth potential in wind, solar, and storage projects, challenges in the supply chain, battery storage's value and future growth, overcoming hurdles in renewable energy development, and the importance of perseverance and discipline in renewable energy investing.

Andrew Waranch, CEO of Spearmint Energy, joins us to discuss his company and why he chose to go into battery energy storage, how the growing availability of energy storage options has affected the larger renewable energy market, tax equity’s interest in energy storage, what incentives the Inflation Reduction Act has created for energy storage investments, and more.

Sheldon Kimber, CEO of Intersect Power, joins Todd Alexander for a discussion about the United States power grid system. He discusses what challenges the system poses to energy transition strategies, the dependency on natural gas, misconceptions that may exist around the power grid, and more.

Gary Blitz, global co-CEO of Aon's M&A and transaction solutions practice, joins us to talk about the insurance market for tax credit transfers. He explains what risks underwriters are willing to insure, how the Inflation Reduction Act and transferability are changing the use of tax credit insurance, whether the supply of insurance is keeping pace with growing demand, how pricing is being affected, and what claims have been paid on these policies.

Kyle Hermanson and Nate Hoeppner of Invenergy discuss build-transfer transactions (BTAs) in the renewable energy industry, including types of utilities interested, financing, ownership, and operations of projects. They also delve into recent legislative changes and challenges in the BTA world, contractual protections, and the future of the BTA structure in renewable energy.

Adam Hise, managing director of storage risk solution at Ascend Analytics, discusses the potential and risk profile of the energy storage market. He addresses the economics, investor class, and revenue risk transfer structures for energy storage. The podcast also covers the market adoption of new products and obtaining information about storage development.