Currents

Arunava Mitra, CFO of Mitsubishi Power Americas, and Nik Nunes, CEO of Industrial Development Funding (IDF), join us to discuss their collaboration to provide creative forms of financing for energy projects. We get into who the two companies are, their plans for the energy transition, how Mitsubishi Power Americas is creating value for customers through the IDF financing solution, the most important trends and opportunities over the next 10 years in energy, where the companies see opportunities for future collaboration and more.

Brett Phillips, vice president, sustainable and responsible investments at Unico Solar, joins us to discuss the company and how it is developing projects in the C&I space. We get into the type of projects that Unico is investing in, the biggest challenges in developing C&I, the company’s joint venture with Excelsior Capital, how the company’s real estate background makes the contracting process easier, the company’s approach to tax equity and more.

Rick Luebbe, CEO of Group14, joins us to discuss how the company brings new performance capabilities to lithium-silicon batteries. We get into how Group14’s technology works, what it means for the typical consumer, where Group14 sees the biggest demand for better batteries, what OEMs are looking for in battery materials, how Group14 is scaling up, what it will take to get everything electrified and more.

Abby Watson, head of governmental affairs, North America at Siemens Gamesa, joins us to discuss the US offshore wind market. We discuss the trajectory of offshore wind on a global level, where it is headed in the US, the potential challenges the sector faces, how it compares to offshore wind in Europe, policy changes and developments that could unlock potential manufacturing jobs, how new technology could affect viability of offshore wind in the future and more.

Abby Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), joins us to discuss current supply chain ethics issues in the US solar industry. We discuss the current forced labor issues that the industry is seeing, the response SEIA has seen from the Chinese government, what is happening at the border with US Customs, the association’s traceability protocol, the new tariffs some US solar panel manufacturers are seeking and more.

Jean-Louis Kindler, CEO of Ways2H, a company focused on turning the world’s waste into renewable hydrogen, joins us to discuss the company’s technology and the hydrogen market. We get into what is currently happening in hydrogen, how Ways2H fits into the hydrogen economy, its recent projects in Tokyo, Paris and the UK, where he sees the biggest demand for renewable hydrogen, the cost of renewable hydrogen and more.

Mark McGrail, vice president of the commercial office at Enel Green Power North America, joins us to discuss green power aggregation. We get into the options available to corporations that want to buy renewable energy, how virtual power purchase agreements work and why they are growing in popularity, the factors buyers should consider when making their purchasing decisions, common myths about PPAs, what Mark views as the next big thing in renewable energy and more.

Nick Knapp, senior managing director, and Mike Yurkerwich, director with CohnReznick Capital, join us to talk about what sponsors need to know to finance carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) projects. We discuss what CCS is and why it is an important component of the energy transition, what the current market for CCS is in the US, the market drivers spurring growth, capital requirements for CCS projects, key financing considerations, what financing structures are most likely to increase comfort for financing CCS projects and more.

Due to the increased investor appetite for digital infrastructure and growing governmental focus on improving connectivity, digital assets like data centers are crucial in supporting the growth of smart and sustainable cities. Listen to a discussion led by David Barksdale, partner at Norton Rose Fulbright, among Kristina Metzger, senior vice president and leader of CBRE Data Center Capital Markets, Ben Wobschalll, managing director at Principal Global Investors, Sicco Boomsma, managing direct at ING Wholesale Banking, Christophe Strauven, senior vice president and treasurer at Vantage Data Centres, and Matthew Eid-Holm, vice president at Deutsche Bank about what they are seeing in the market.

Bret Kugelmass, managing director of the Energy Impact Center, joins us to talk about why nuclear is his chosen technology to reach our carbon goals. We get into what small modular reactors (SMRs) are and how they are different from the larger traditional nuclear reactors, what the main challenges are in the commercialization of SMRs, the current opportunities for SMR developers, how the OPEN100 model is different from other developers’ models and more.

Damian Georgino, with Norton Rose Fulbright, joins us to discuss investing in water infrastructure. We start with how he got into the water space, what the market looks like today, the diligence questions that investors should be asking, how rates are regulated in the market, where the investment opportunities are and more.

James Wright, managing director and head of renewables, clean energy and sustainability with CIBC Capital Markets, joins us to discuss batteries and energy storage. We get into why it has taken so long for battery storage deals to come to the project finance lending market, how lenders are thinking about the unique risk factors that come with a new technology, why these battery projects are more bankable now, what is holding back some of the non-lithium technologies from making it to bankers’ desks, the battery issue that keeps James awake at night and more.

Kimberlee Centera, CEO of TerraPro Solutions, joins us to discuss the critical aspects of utility-scale transmission development. We discuss key issues and challenges for transmission line development, land use feasibility, tax credits and incentives, site location, project development and timing and more.

Andy Klump, CEO of Clean Energy Associates, joins us to discuss supply chain traceability. We get into the concerns over polysilicon made in Xinjiang that many financiers and developers have due to their ESG-minded stakeholders, the work that CEA has been doing on supply chain traceability, its expansion into downstream engineering services work in the US, the challenges that Klump sees as more multinational corporations and financial institutions shift to renewables and more.

Richard Matsui, CEO of kWh Analytics, and Joe Kastner, CEO of Radian Generation, join us to discuss the 2021 Solar Risk Assessment Report. We discuss the findings of the report’s third edition, what the risk assessments mean for the solar project finance community, the problems the research found, Matsui’s and Kastner’s perspectives on the underperformance issues that were uncovered in last year’s report, things to be optimistic about and more.

Laura Pagliarulo, president of SolaREIT, joins us to talk about ways to reduce project costs in clean energy projects. We discuss how SolaREIT works with landowners and developers on land acquisition and lease monetization, the types of investors it has, the liquidity it is providing landowners, at what stage SolaREIT buys the land or lease, how it interacts with financing parties and more.

Nacho Ruiz Hens, managing director at Karbone, joins us to talk about breaking into the US renewable energy market for foreign investors, especially from Spain. We discuss the attraction of the US market, the main barriers to entry, the current activity from Spain, what opportunities he sees and more.

Trevor Pinkerton and Lior Nuchi with Norton Rose Fulbright join us to discuss the renewable energy SPAC market. We discuss the boom the SPAC market has seen in the last year, the recent slowdown of SPAC IPOs and why it is happening, why technology-focused companies are subject to de-SPACing, the history of renewable energy in the SPAC world, what happens with the deals after they close, how much de-SPACing is happening and more.

Dr. Javier Cavada, CEO of Highview Power, joins us to talk about the energy storage technology on which the company is working. We discuss the energy storage landscape and where he sees it going in the future, market drivers for long-duration energy storage, some of the challenges with long-duration energy storage that Highview Power is addressing, projects the company is developing, the company’s growth plans, its recent $70 million funding and more.

Lee Taylor, CEO of REsurety, joins us discuss the carbon accounting market. We discuss how the company has solved the missing piece of the carbon accounting puzzle, how it has found that some renewable projects displace as much as twice the amount of carbon as others, what locational marginal prices are and how they work, a new concept called locational marginal emissions and how it can help energy buyers double their carbon savings, how this relates to Google’s 24/7 system and more.