Currents
200 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 1 year ago - ★★★★★ - 113 ratingsCurrents is a podcast published by Norton Rose Fulbright that features in-depth discussions on the latest developments in project finance. The podcast is hosted by partner Todd Alexander, who interviews key business leaders and policy makers to investigate important trends affecting the energy and infrastructure space.
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Episodes
Ep196: Inflation Reduction Act
August 12, 2022 05:00 - 1 hour - 32 MBKeith Martin, David Burton and Hilary Lefko have a lively discussion about the Inflation Reduction Act’s effect on deals. Some parts of the Inflation Reduction Act that passed the Senate are retroactive to the start of 2022. Other parts apply only to projects that are placed in service after this year. The bill is expected to clear the House this week. It will affect the tax equity market. It will affect construction and equipment procurement contracts.
Ep195: What's New in the Market
July 29, 2022 05:00 - 30 minutes - 16.1 MBKeith Martin gives a lively update on what is new in the market. The tax equity market is wrestling with a series of issues tied to inflation and construction delays. Developers forced for the same reasons to renegotiate power contracts are drawing interesting lessons. Rising electricity prices are affecting the economics of making green hydrogen, but hydrogen is coming and may prove more disruptive than appeared even a year ago.
Ep194: New PJM Regulations and FERC Rules
July 21, 2022 05:00 - 26 minutes - 19.6 MBBob Shapiro, partner in Norton Rose Fulbright’s Washington office, joins us to discuss the new regulations in PJM and FERC rules being considered. We discuss how PJM is addressing their backlog, an overview of the two interconnection proposals, who the big winners and losers are, how the FERC proposal differs from the PJM regulations and more.
Ep193: DOE Loan Program Office Update
June 15, 2022 05:00 - 37 minutes - 28 MBJigar Shah, Director of the Department of Energy's Loan Program Office, joins us to discuss the mission of the program and what it is working on right now. We talk about the types of deals that are relevant for the office, what Jigar views as the sweet spot in terms of size and debt for a project, how the pricing works, where he sees the renewable market going in the next five years and more.
Ep192: Biden's Executive Order
June 07, 2022 05:00 - 16 minutes - 12.3 MBStefan 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.
Ep191: Recent Evolution of the Hedge Market
June 02, 2022 05:00 - 32 minutes - 23.7 MBLee 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.
Ep190: Climate Insurance and the Solar Industry
April 15, 2022 05:00 - 25 minutes - 19.4 MBJason 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.
Ep189: Proposed Tariffs Add to Uncertainty for Solar Develop
April 01, 2022 05:00 - 18 minutes - 14.8 MBAbigail 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.
Ep188: Energy Storage Investment Tax Credits
February 09, 2022 05:00 - 17 minutes - 15.7 MBKeith 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,...
Ep187: Freeing Energy with Bill Nussey
February 04, 2022 05:00 - 26 minutes - 25 MBBill 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.
Ep186: An Inside Look at Intersect’s $2.6 Billion Financing
January 26, 2022 07:00 - 41 minutes - 40.9 MBSheldon 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.
Ep185: Cost of Capital: 2022 Outlook
January 19, 2022 05:00 - 1 hour - 45.5 MBThe 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...
Ep184: Scaling the Next Generation of Sustainability
December 17, 2021 05:00 - 18 minutes - 16.7 MBKatie 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.
Ep183: Maximizing the Value of Renewable Real Estate Holding
December 02, 2021 05:00 - 20 minutes - 18.4 MBMaria 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.
Ep182: Vanadium Flow Batteries
November 22, 2021 05:00 - 27 minutes - 24 MBMatt Harper, chief commercial officer at Invinity Energy Systems, joins us to explain vanadium flow batteries. We discuss the future of energy storage, how vanadium flow batteries differ from lithium-ion, what has held back vanadium flow so far, what’s next for Invinity and more.
Ep181: Intersect Power’s Approach and Latest Financing
November 19, 2021 05:00 - 35 minutes - 33 MBSheldon Kimber, CEO and co-founder of Intersect Power, joins us to discuss what he is seeing in the industry and talk about the company’s latest financing. We discuss Intersect’s interest in green hydrogen, how big of an impact tariffs are having on supply chain issues, the current tax equity market, Intersect’s $2.6B financing for construction and operations of a six-portfolio project, and more.
Ep180: Insuring Renewables
November 15, 2021 05:00 - 27 minutes - 26.2 MBMaryann Johnson, senior managing director of property and energy claims at Beecher Carlson, Brian DiLuigi, senior vice president of alternative energy, and Alex Nephew, risk management and insurance advisor with Brown & Brown, join us to discuss the complexities of insuring renewables. We discuss the different capabilities Beecher Carlson and Brown & Brown have to help renewable energy companies, the types of coverage the insurance market has in place for solar and other renewables, some of t...
Ep179: Solar Energy Validation
November 04, 2021 05:00 - 24 minutes - 22.8 MBJackson Moore, product director at DNV for renewable energy software, joins us to discuss DNV's solar energy validation work and to address questions about how and why solar assets may underperform. We discuss factors that may affect the likelihood that a project will satisfy investor expectations, whether any of the common causes of underperformance may be remediable during operation, how underperformance risk is being addressed in project finance transactions and more.
Ep178: Green Energy Infrastructure
October 27, 2021 05:00 - 24 minutes - 22.4 MBSam Porter and Mike Sloan, partners at Synergetic, join us to discuss green energy infrastructure. We go over Synergetic’s mission to deliver zero-carbon energy, the current infrastructure issues that it has identified, how fast the energy transition can happen, what has been learned from Texas’ proactive electric transmission plan (CREZ), what they expect from the infrastructure bill and more.
Ep177: Sustainable Finance
October 12, 2021 05:00 - 30 minutes - 27.6 MBMichael Edesess, managing partner, and Pascal Schoneburg, founder of M1K, join us to talk about sustainable finance. We discuss what sustainable finance is, the financial instruments included in it, whether sustainable finance has been embraced by corporations, the benefits of a sustainable investment and more.
Ep176: A Creative and Collaborative Funding Solution
October 05, 2021 05:00 - 32 minutes - 28.3 MBArunava 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 opportuniti...
Ep175: Developing in the C&I Space
September 28, 2021 05:00 - 24 minutes - 23 MBBrett 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.
Ep174: Building Better Batteries
September 23, 2021 05:00 - 21 minutes - 20.5 MBRick 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.
Ep173: US Offshore Wind Market Update
September 09, 2021 05:00 - 27 minutes - 24.5 MBAbby 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.
Ep172: Supply Chain Ethics and Transparency in US Solar
August 26, 2021 05:00 - 22 minutes - 20.5 MBAbby 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.
Ep171: Renewable Hydrogen Update
August 16, 2021 05:00 - 28 minutes - 25.3 MBJean-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.
Ep170: Green Power Aggregation with Enel
August 02, 2021 05:00 - 22 minutes - 20.4 MBMark 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.
Ep169: What Sponsors Need to Know to Finance CCS Projects
July 26, 2021 05:00 - 28 minutes - 23.1 MBNick 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 com...
Ep168: Data Centers: What Potential Investors Need to Know
July 20, 2021 05:00 - 58 minutes - 55.3 MBDue 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...
Ep167: How Nuclear Technology Can Help Reach Carbon Goals
July 12, 2021 05:00 - 21 minutes - 19.7 MBBret 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.
Ep166: Investing in Water Infrastructure
July 06, 2021 05:00 - 29 minutes - 29.2 MBDamian 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.
Ep165: Banking on Batteries
June 28, 2021 05:00 - 19 minutes - 16.6 MBJames 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’...
Ep164: Utility-Scale Transmission Line Development
June 21, 2021 05:00 - 22 minutes - 20.2 MBKimberlee 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.
Ep163: Supply Chain Traceability
June 15, 2021 05:00 - 27 minutes - 26.1 MBAndy 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.
Ep162: Solar Risk Assessment Report 2021
June 08, 2021 05:00 - 23 minutes - 22.9 MBRichard 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.
Ep161: Reducing Project Costs by Mitigating Risk
June 01, 2021 05:00 - 22 minutes - 18.9 MBLaura 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.
Ep160: Spanish Inbound Investors
May 24, 2021 05:00 - 26 minutes - 21.7 MBNacho 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.
Ep159: SPAC Market Update
May 18, 2021 05:00 - 26 minutes - 26.1 MBTrevor 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.
Ep158: Long-Duration Energy Storage with Highview Power
May 11, 2021 05:00 - 32 minutes - 26.8 MBDr. 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.
Ep157: The Missing Piece of the Carbon Accounting Puzzle
May 03, 2021 05:00 - 22 minutes - 19.8 MBLee 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.
Ep156: Building a Clean Energy Economy
April 26, 2021 05:00 - 35 minutes - 33.9 MBDanny Kennedy, an early pioneer in the residential solar rooftop sector and now CEO of New Energy Nexus, a non-profit that connects entrepreneurs to capital to build clean energy projects, joins us to discuss the future of clean energy. We get into his view on the fate of coal, who is winning the race for the future, what will happen to petro states in an EV economy, China’s role in clean energy, the biggest opportunities for impact and return, the most exciting entrepreneurs in the company’s...
Ep155: A Green Infrastructure Investment Strategy
April 19, 2021 05:00 - 24 minutes - 23 MBDaniel Goldman, co-founder and managing director of Clean Energy Ventures, joins us to discuss green infrastructure investment. We go over what Clean Energy Ventures looks for in potential clean energy and climate tech companies in which to invest, how its investment approach toward early-stage companies differs from the traditional venture capital model, what areas it considers most promising, what trends and technologies in the climate tech sector it expects to gain momentum in the next yea...
Ep154: Powering the UK with the Moroccan Sun
April 12, 2021 05:00 - 22 minutes - 21.1 MBSimon Morrish, entrepreneur and CEO of Xlinks, joins us to discuss the ambitious Xlinks solar project, which transfers solar energy from Morocco via a 6.3 GW subsea cable to the UK. We get into the scope of the project, where the idea came from, the current project status and next steps, how projects like this are financed, if the model can be replicated internationally, how he is able to convince skeptics and more.
Ep153: Biden's Infrastructure Plan
April 06, 2021 05:00 - 59 minutes - 42.2 MBWhat is the outlook in Congress for the massive infrastructure plan that President Biden unveiled last week? Listen as four veteran Washington observers, John Gimigliano, principal-in-charge, federal tax legislative and regulatory services, KMPG Global, Elissa Levin, director, federal government affairs, Avangrid, Inc., Joe Mikrut, partner, Capitol Tax Partners, and Chris Miller, partner, AJW, Inc., discuss which parts of the plan they expect to be enacted with Keith Martin from Norton Rose ...
Ep152: Offshore Wind in California
March 29, 2021 05:00 - 19 minutes - 16.9 MBAdam Stern, executive director of Offshore Wind California, and Jim Berger, partner at Norton Rose Fulbright, join us to discuss prospects and growing momentum for offshore wind power in California. We start with an overview of progress to harness offshore wind in the US, the potential to bring this renewable energy technology to California, what it would mean for clean power, jobs and climate in the Golden State, new legislative initiatives as well as hurdles and financing to develop offshor...
Ep151: Private Equity with Greenbacker Capital
March 22, 2021 05:00 - 28 minutes - 24.1 MBCharles Wheeler, president, co-CEO and CIO, and Benjamin Baker, managing director, at Greebacker Capital join us to discuss the firm’s mission and their fundamental approach to sustainable infrastructure. We discuss some of the most notable changes in renewable energy since the firm was founded, the hardest part about navigating the industry, the competitive landscape, the shift to a private equity focus, how the firm is expected to evolve and much more.
Ep150: Merchant Financings After Texas
March 19, 2021 05:00 - 46 minutes - 33.3 MBHas the appetite among banks and tax equity investors to finance hedged merchant power and storage projects changed as a result of the events last month in Texas and, if so, how? What lessons did lenders and tax equity investors take away about how to do future projects? Are the effects limited to projects in ERCOT? Sven Wellock, managing director and co-lead of energy – renewables and power at ING Capital, Daniel Miller, managing director at CIT Energy, James Wright, managing director and he...
Ep149: 2020 Lendscape Update: The Refinancing Boom
March 15, 2021 05:00 - 15 minutes - 12.7 MBRichard Matsui, CEO of kWh Analytics, joins us for an update on the Solar Lendscape. He covers what is new in tax equity, gives a breakdown of three trends he is seeing on the lender side and an update on the underperformance of solar projects that was uncovered in the Solar Generation Index, explains how underperformance might affect refinancing and more.
Ep148: Hydrogen: The next frontier
March 11, 2021 05:00 - 59 minutes - 46.9 MBClose to 4,000 people registered to listen to a discussion among three experts about the prospects for hydrogen. Interest is particularly high in green hydrogen, which is expected to play a significant role as the US moves rapidly to decarbonize. Sheldon Kimber, CEO and founder of Intersect Power, Karen Lee, senior counsel for commercial law at the Southern California Gas Company, and Sanjay Shrestha, chief strategy officer of Plug Power, talked with Jim Berger and Deanne Barrow with Norton ...
Ep147: Competition in the Battery Storage Market
March 08, 2021 05:00 - 24 minutes - 21 MBEren Ergin, general manager of renewables and distributed assets at Honeywell, joins us to talk about stationary battery storage. We discuss what Honeywell is doing in the market, how it has created a business unit focusing on storage, how it believes it can compete and succeed long-term, how remote operation centers tie into asset management, safety concerns for projects, misconceptions about battery storage in the infrastructure investment community and much more.