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Currents

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Jun 7, 2022 • 17min

Ep192: Biden's Executive Order

Stefan Reisinger, partner Norton Rose Fulbright’s Washington office, joins us for a closer look at the Biden action yesterday to shield solar panels imported from Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia during the next two years from any anti-circumvention duties that the Commerce Department decides to impose. We discuss the current Commerce investigation, how the Biden order will affect imported panels, what it means for current financings and more.
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Jun 2, 2022 • 32min

Ep191: Recent Evolution of the Hedge Market

Lee Taylor, CEO of REsurety, joins us to discuss the recent evolution of the hedge market due to the impacts of winter storm Uri. We get into the spectrum of hedging options before the storm, how each of those structures fared, how the hedging landscape has changed and more.
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Apr 15, 2022 • 25min

Ep190: Climate Insurance and the Solar Industry

Jason Kaminsky, CEO of kWh Analytics, joins us to discuss the company’s $20M Series B fundraise and the emergence of climate insurance. We discuss what the fundraise means for the industry as a whole, why climate insurance hasn’t emerged yet and the challenges the insurance industry faces when insuring renewables, solutions he has seen on the insurance side, the partnerships that are happening in the industry, the improvement in modeling on the underwriting side and more.
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Apr 1, 2022 • 19min

Ep189: Proposed Tariffs Add to Uncertainty for Solar Develop

Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association, joins us to discuss what the potential anti-circumvention tariffs on cells and modules from Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. We talk about why we are in the midst of an investigation, how long the Department of Commerce has to investigate and what it could mean for the industry, the percentage of panels that are sourced from these four countries, other significant concerns that Hopper has and more.
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Feb 9, 2022 • 18min

Ep188: Energy Storage Investment Tax Credits

Keith Martin, partner at Norton Rose Fulbright in Washington, joins us to discuss investment tax credits (ITCs) for energy storage and provide an update on the current tax equity market. We get into how current ITCs apply to energy storage, what happens if you have a battery that is only partially charged by a renewables project, why an ITC for an energy storage project doesn’t work well with wind farms claiming PTCs, whether the storage and wind or solar projects have to have the same owner, what he expects to see happen with the Build Back Better bill, how the overall market is different in 2022 and much more.
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Feb 4, 2022 • 27min

Ep187: Freeing Energy with Bill Nussey

Bill Nussey, founder and CEO of the Freeing Energy Project, joins us to discuss the shift to cleaner, cheaper energy. We discuss his new book, Freeing Energy, why he thinks local energy can be cheaper than electricity from the "big grid" and what the advantages are, the roles that natural gas, hydrogen and nuclear energy will play in the shift to cleaner energy, policies that can accelerate use of local energy, and more.
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Jan 26, 2022 • 42min

Ep186: An Inside Look at Intersect’s $2.6 Billion Financing

Sheldon Kimber, CEO and co-founder of Intersect Power, joins us to discuss the $2.6 billion financing facility that Intersect signed in November 2021 to finance a portfolio of late-stage solar and storage projects in California and Texas. We get into Intersect’s $600 million equity raise last year, Sheldon’s openness to merchant risk, the sacrifices that need to be made when the company structures these deals, where he sees the energy storage market going and more.
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Jan 19, 2022 • 1h 2min

Ep185: Cost of Capital: 2022 Outlook

The year ahead looks like another strong year for financings, but with uncertainty around supply chains, inflation, potential tax law changes and import tariffs. The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond is up significantly so far in January, repeating a pattern early last year. The Federal Reserve is expected to start raising interest rates as early as March. Listen to a discussion about what to expect in the year ahead for tax equity, bank and term loan B debt and project bonds, led by Keith Martin from Norton Rose Fulbright, among John C.S. Anderson, global head of corporate finance and infrastructure at Manulife, Jack Cargas, managing director and head of originations on the tax equity desk at Bank of America, Ralph Cho, global co-head of the power and infrastructure group at Investec, Max Lipkind, managing director and head of Americas leveraged finance origination at Credit Suisse, and Rubiao Song, managing director and head of energy investments at JPMorgan.
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Dec 17, 2021 • 18min

Ep184: Scaling the Next Generation of Sustainability

Katie McClain, partner at Energize Ventures, joins us to discuss the company’s investment approach. We get into what it looks for in clean energy and climate tech companies, how its approach differs from other funds, how Katie’s policy background shapes her personal investing thesis, the way decarbonization goals are shaping the clean energy economy and much more.
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Dec 2, 2021 • 20min

Ep183: Maximizing the Value of Renewable Real Estate Holding

Maria Klutey, president of Activate Renewables, joins us to discuss how the company’s business model maximizes the value of renewable real estate holdings. We get into the history and background of Activate, its competitive advantage, the advantage that comes with partnering with DESRI, the structures offered to landowners and developers, how much of a project’s capital stack it typically funds, challenges to the business moving forward and more.

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