Currents show

Currents

Summary: Currents 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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  • Artist: Norton Rose Fulbright
  • Copyright: © 2016-18 Norton Rose Fulbright

Podcasts:

 Ep196: Inflation Reduction Act | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 3602

Keith 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 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1836

Keith 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 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1568

Bob 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 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 2227

Jigar 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 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1007

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.

 Ep191: Recent Evolution of the Hedge Market | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1946

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.

 Ep190: Climate Insurance and the Solar Industry | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1500

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.

 Ep189: Proposed Tariffs Add to Uncertainty for Solar Develop | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1134

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.

 Ep188: Energy Storage Investment Tax Credits | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1055

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.

 Ep187: Freeing Energy with Bill Nussey | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1611

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.

 Ep186: An Inside Look at Intersect’s $2.6 Billion Financing | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 2494

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.

 Ep185: Cost of Capital: 2022 Outlook | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 3738

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.

 Ep184: Scaling the Next Generation of Sustainability | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1089

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.

 Ep183: Maximizing the Value of Renewable Real Estate Holding | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1213

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.

 Ep182: Vanadium Flow Batteries | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1644

Matt 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.

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