Once again, hear the highly anticipated annual review of the wind power market, including market shares and league tables, observations and predictions by Jeff Chester, the Global Head of Energy Project Finance at Greenberg Traurig, LLP.

Previously exclusively available at our Wind Power Finance & Investment Summit, we’re kicking off our webinar series with Jeff’s insightful market assessment, a must for anyone looking to understand the direction of wind development today. Following his overview, Jeff will lead a lively panel discussion on the project economics at play moving forward in today’s market.

This insightful panel will analyze the effects that the pandemic and economic downturn have had on the overall wind industry, how the recent PTC extension influences project financeability, and what the past year has taught the industry as a whole, with lessons learned moving forward. It will also walk through a breakdown of the per kwh revenues needed to cover costs, financing and equity for both standalone wind and hybrid projects in areas of high resource and average resource.

Wind Market Overview and Trends

Presentation: Wind Power Market Overview
30 min

Panel: Wind Project Economics in the Post-COVID Era
45 min

Audience Q&A
15 min

Amidst the wave of uncertainties and economic downturn caused by the pandemic in 2020, the Solar industry has shown remarkable resilience and is looking towards the future. Despite challenges like a highly aggressive pricing environment, tariffs, and effects from recent local, state and federal policymaking, there are a number of key trends driving solar development opportunities and the competitive landscape is robust. From climate and renewable legislation passed by state legislatures, continued growth in corporate demand and increasing utility support to positive expectations for the industry created by the new administration’s plans for climate and energy are some of the trend shaping the current and future evolution of the solar sector.

During this webinar, a group of Solar industry leaders will share their perspectives on where the solar market is, how it has met some of the challenges and provide an outlook for what’s ahead in project development, investment and financing, including:

• Are there any lingering effects from the COVID-19 pandemic and recession impacting industry and how are stakeholders dealing with them?
• Key factors driving procurement in the current environment
• The outlook for the corporate offtake market and evolving deal structures
• What does the sponsor equity and investor market look like these days and what is currently driving their investment strategies?
• What’s the state of the tax equity market?
• What’s the outlook for the Solar M&A market?

The webinar will close with a 15-minute audience Q&A including all participants.

Tariffs, executive orders, regulations on equipment import, state and local tax changes, other administrative rule changes, and the prolonged economic downturn resulting from the pandemic have made 2020 a challenging year for the solar power supply chain. However, the industry has shown resilience; the US installed 7.2 GW of PV in the first half of 2020, its largest H1 total ever—up 48% year-over-year and despite tariffs, PV modules and cells are being imported into the United States at historically high levels. In addition, the change in administration may help the sector continue its surge long into the future.

Join a panel of Solar Supply Chain experts for a lively discussion and best-in-class insights into U.S. supply and demand, module and system price, investment trends, business models and updates, regulatory considerations, and what is needed in order to keep pushing the industry forward.

• Evaluate supply chain and procurement strategies, sourcing techniques and costs due to regulatory changes
• Assess the current state and outlook for supply chain, manufacturing and inventory finance
• Explore what’s new in digitalization and diversification of the supply chain
• Hear how the industry is building a resilient PV supply chain and adapting to climate challenges and ESG-related investor requirements

The webinar will close with a 15-minute audience Q&A including all participants.

As long-term, fixed price PPAs with utility offtakers have become increasingly scarce, hedges, virtual power purchase agreements (VPPAs), and other creative financing agreements have emerged as alternative offtake structures for renewable energy project finance.

But what makes a power marketer or customer decide to enter into a hedge versus a VPPA or SGA/VFA, or any other type of commodity agreement? What are the differences between these structures, when are they a good idea, and what risks can they mitigate? How common are proxy revenue swaps and proxy generation swaps?

Attend this webinar to hear the answers to these pressing questions and gain an understanding of cutting-edge finance instruments, followed by a panel of lenders sharing an inside perspective on the current market and providing their predictions for the future.

They will address such issues as:

• How willing are lenders to support C&I structures, proxy revenue swaps, merchant projects, and other emerging instruments; and how do they get comfortable with the risks in these structures?
• What alternative financings are emerging as viable new trends?
• What are their plans and expectations to participate in financing during the eventual PTC phase down and in the post-PTC era? Did their calculations change with the recent extensions?
• What are the financial market expectations for post-PTC financing?
• How do the parties assess basis risk issues?

Looking Toward the Future of Finance

Panel: Lender Perspectives for 2021 and Beyond
75 min

Audience Q&A
15 min

Hybrid project PPAs contain unique components, definitions and provisions that must be clearly outlined for each stakeholder to ensure maximum profitability and the overall success of the project. While solar + storage projects are a rapidly growing segment of the renewable project landscape, there are nothing like standardized methods and provisions employed for either utility or corporate offtake contracts.

This webinar will feature panelists from major developers and offtakers, who will provide their perspectives on forming effective solar + storage PPAs, including:

• How revenue streams should be accounted for in the PPA
• Handling contracting for completion/schedule guarantee issues, curtailment, performance guarantees, defaults, and limitations on liability
• Determining, balancing, and allocating the revenue risk amongst stakeholders
• Hedging merchant risk
• Managing milestones for solar + storage projects- where costs are upfront
• The offtaker’s role in the hybrid PPA

The webinar will close with a 15-minute audience Q&A including all participants.

Join leading Renewable market executives in a vigorous and wide-ranging conversation about the market drivers for investments into renewables in the current climate and for the next 5 years. What needs to be done to stimulate further private investment in renewable energy? What are the current major investment opportunities and risks, and how will the new administration change these risks and opportunities that fund managers face? What’s on the horizon for the US renewable market beyond COVID-19 and the presidential election? This session will explore these questions and assess the challenges and the strategies to overcome them across the Wind and Solar markets.

The webinar will close with a 15-minute audience Q&A including all participants.

The average age of U.S. wind turbines continues to rise, opening new opportunities for repower every year, with an estimated annual wind repowering investment of $25 billion by 2030, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

Repowering demand is expected to remain steady through 2021 and may increase during 2022 due to the recent PTC extension, as operators take advantage of the 80% tax credit; however, as PTCs eventually decline the fundamental calculations for repower shift. How do repower projects qualify for PTC and what aspects of the financials must shift with lower tax advantages? What advancements could sustain repowering activity for the next decade?

Hear the state of repowering today and predictions for the next decade in this insightful panel discussion. Grasp how to finance a repower and also move that power into load centers, while navigating changes in laws and regulations affecting local and regional jurisdictions. The panel will cover these topics and:

• New wind-turbine technology innovation
• Tax equity and finance considerations
• Contract structure of real property agreements
• Environmental and permitting considerations
• Strategies for operating through the PPA expiration
• Integration of storage and other technologies
• Lessons learned from repower to date

The webinar will close with a 15-minute audience Q&A including all participants.

The primary focus for decarbonization to this point has been in the energy sector, with enormous amounts of profitable wind, solar and other renewable energy projects enabled through state and federal programs. However, the potential impacts of decarbonization investments in the transportation and agriculture sectors is enormous, while commercialization programs are in their infancy. This webinar will examine how emerging state and federal incentive programs are creating opportunities for the monetization of transportation and agricultural decarbonization projects, how these tie into energy sector activities, and explore how several commercialization efforts are leveraging these programs to profit.

Attend this webinar to hear about:

• How California’s LCFS program is leveraging energy sector constructs to create commercial opportunities for transportation and agricultural decarbonization projects
• The emerging state and federal programs that are creating opportunities for profitable new types of projects
• The experiences of pioneering successful commercial transportation and agricultural sector projects
• What is needed to trigger enormous amounts of private equity capital to enter the market

The webinar will close with a 15-minute audience Q&A including all participants.