Currents

Sheldon 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.

Maryann 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 the differences within the renewables industry relating to coverage and cost for asset owners, what has been happening in regard to losses and claims due to recent severe weather events, the differences relating to coverage and cost for solar asset owners, risk factors that dictate appetite and cost for carriers, what developers and asset owners should be doing to minimize their risk and cost, and more.

Jackson 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.

Sam 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.

Michael 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.

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.