SMP 143: Insights on the US Solar and Storage Market

Episode Summary

Benoy and his co-host David Magid, who is the founder and managing member of YSG Solar which is solar plus storage developer, discuss current major news and insights on the US Solar and Storage Market.  They are calling it the League which will be a weekly update of the major news in the Renewable Energy Industry.  

In the first episode of the League, David and Benoy discuss the great opportunity with the Inflation Reduction Action(“IRA”),   US community solar update, and the difference between developing solar on rooftops compared to land.

Benoy Thanjan

Benoy Thanjan is the Founder and CEO of Reneu Energy and he is also an advisor for several solar startup companies.  He has extensive project origination, development, and financial experience in the renewable energy industry and in the environmental commodities market.  

This includes initial site evaluation, permitting, financing, sourcing equipment, and negotiating the long-term energy and environmental commodities off-take agreements. He manages due diligence processes on land, permitting, and utility interconnection and is in charge of financing and structuring through Note to Proceed (“NTP”) to Commercial Operation Date (“COD”). Benoy composes teams suitable for all project development and construction tasks. He is also involved in project planning and pipeline financial modeling. He has been part of all sides of the transaction and this allows him to provide unique perspectives and value. Benoy has extensive experience in financial engineering to make solar projects profitable.

Before founding Reneu Energy, he was the Environmental Commodities Trader in the Project Finance Group for SolarCity which merged with Tesla in 2016.  He originated SREC trades with buyers and co-developed their SREC monetization and hedging strategy with the senior management of Tesla to move into the east coast markets. 

Benoy was the Vice President at Vanguard Energy Partners which is a national solar installer where he focused on project finance solutions for commercial scale solar projects.  He also worked for Ridgewood Renewable Power, a private equity fund, where he analyzed potential investments in renewable energy projects and worked on maximizing the financial return of the projects in the portfolio.  Benoy also worked on the sale of all of the renewable energy projects in Ridgewood’s portfolio.  

He was in the Energy Structured Finance practice for Deloitte & Touche and in Financial Advisory Services practice at Ernst & Young.  Benoy received his first experience in Finance as an intern at D.E. Shaw & Co., which is a global investment firm with 37 billion dollars in investment capital. He has a MBA in Finance from Rutgers University and a BS in Finance and Economics from the Stern School of Business at New York University.  Benoy was an Alumni Scholar at the Stern School of Business.  

David Magid

David Magid is the founder and managing member at YSG Solar which is a solar plus storage developer primarily based in New York City. In 2018, Forbes recognized David’s leadership and listed him on the “30 under 30” list in the energy sector.   YSG has executed power purchase agreements with clients such as the New York Military Academy, the New York Botanical Garden, The City of New York and many other local municipalities ,counties and towns.

David’s interviews on the Solar Maverick Podcast

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/smp-09-how-david-started-his-solar-company-with-david/id1441876259?i=1000426815949

Episode 114

https://solarmaverick.podbean.com/e/smp-114-solar-developer-provides-insights-on-what-us-states-are-good-markets-to-develop-solar/

Stay connected:

Benoy Thanjan

Website: www.reneuenergy.com

Email: [email protected]

LinkedIn: Benoy Thanjan

Facebook: Reneu Energy

David Magid

Website: https://www.ysgsolar.com

Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmagid/

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This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry.