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Renewable energy retailers have traditionally found ways to sway Texan customers to choose them, typically through competitive rates, but Octopus Energy has devised a new offering – Amazon Prime memberships.
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El Salvador's president has revealed plans to power Bitcoin mining operations in the country using geothermal energy produced by volcanoes, shortly after El Salvador became the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender.
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A bladeless wind generator designed by a Madrid-based start-up has been dubbed the "Skybrator" due to its suggestive shape and the way it oscillates back-and-forth in a stiff breeze.
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Several renowned Scotch whisky makers, including Glenmorangie, are working out a spirited plan to power their Highland distilleries with green hydrogen produced using generation from nearby offshore and onshore wind farms.
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Securitization exists in the public consciousness primarily as a shadowy corner of the capital markets in which out-of-control financial engineering causes global economic meltdowns. Could it be due a reappraisal?
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Recently, it seems that every day brings blank check company news, whether it’s an initial public offering or a merger. But could a privately held renewable energy project developer go public this way by the end of the year?
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The years-long stampede of international capital into the US renewable energy sector has continued unabated in the first few weeks of 2021, as latecomers from around the world have finally got in on the action.
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As we heave a collective sigh of relief at finally putting 2020 behind us, let’s take a moment to reflect on the past 12 months through the lens of Power Finance & Risk’s most read stories of the year.
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Safety this holiday season is a top priority for IntelStor, which says it is providing Santa Claus with wind turbine geo-location mapping, to make sure that his sleigh ride round the globe goes off without a hitch.
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#PowerTweets is an occasional feature tracking trends in power finance and investment in the Americas on Twitter.
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Recent announcements show that major institutions are taking more of an interest in the world of community solar.
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NRG Energy has brought the US capital markets a step forward with its inaugural sustainability-linked bond, introducing a new flavor of greens for its debt investors to chew on. But as usual, European corporations led the way.
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The apparently unstoppable trend of ever-tightening project finance margins finally hit the buffers in March 2020. But now, even as the pandemic continues to rage, the race to the bottom is back with a vengeance.
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When Engie and EDP Renováveis christened their offshore wind joint venture Ocean Winds, you could be forgiven for assuming that it had taken about 10 seconds to come up with the name. But in the branding world, nothing is that simple.
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Enterprising energy innovators never tire of coming up with unlikely new locations for power generation – on highways, in roof tiles, at the end of a kite string – with mixed results. Now there’s a start-up producing electrons from municipal water pipes.
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In the world of project finance, power purchase agreements are usually considered from the point of view of the project owner or lender. But in the last few years, more attention has started to be paid to the other end of the contract.
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Take-or-pay busbar power purchase agreements with electric utilities are all well and good, but they’re starting to look a bit old-fashioned. Bitcoin batteries and green hydrogen are where it’s at these days.
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As power market and policy experts quarrel over the reasons for California's first rolling blackouts in 19 years, renewable energy project developers and financiers spy opportunities.
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Whenever a Department of Energy loan goes bad – as it did in the case of the Crescent Dunes concentrated solar project in Nevada – questions are raised about the program. But how bad is the US government at picking winners, really?
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A recent development testifies to solar's lasting appeal, albeit with a controversial twist. Afghan opium poppy growers are among those that have caught on to the increasingly affordable technology, though presumably not with ESG criteria in mind.
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Developers of gas-fired and wind projects were united in their fury and dismay last year when Ohio’s House of Representatives passed House Bill 6 – the state’s nuclear and coal bail-out bill. The recent bribery allegations only add fuel to the sense of righteous indignation.
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Several renewable energy and thermal power project developers made use of federal Paycheck Protection Program funding earlier this year, according to data released by the US Department of the Treasury on July 6.
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After sifting through more than 100 nominations, Power Finance & Risk is pleased to announce the short lists for its 17th Annual Deal of the Year Awards.
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Since the novel coronavirus crashed into the US economy in March, the project finance market seems, for now at least, to have settled into a new groove. But while loan margins have widened versus the exuberant pre-pandemic days, some officials still suspect that the market—especially for renewable energy—may be overheated.
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Last week, we published a case study on the uncertain fate of Engie and Tokyo Gas’s Golden Eagle renewable energy portfolio in Mexico in the context of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s controversial energy policy (PFR, 6/25). But political risk is not confined to Latin America, and project finance bankers may do well to consider the risks in the US, too.
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As Pacific Gas & Electric’s bankruptcy proceedings appear to roll inexorably toward resolution, owners of power and renewable energy projects tied to the utility through power purchase agreements are beginning to indulge in pleasant thoughts of a return to normal for their project finance arrangements.
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The anti-racism protests sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis have led, among other things, to increased recognition of Juneteenth, the anniversary of the emancipation of the last enslaved African Americans in the US.
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One of the first pieces of advice a retail stock investor receives after opening their first brokerage account or downloading the Robinhood app is not to try to “time the market.” But in corporate finance – especially during weak markets – timing is everything. If a window of opportunity opens after a period of volatility, you go for it.
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Eleven weeks after bankers and fund managers left Midtown Manhattan for coronavirus lockdown at home, the pace of activity in power and renewable energy finance in the US seems as hectic as ever. Indeed, disruption to the capital markets has created more work for some borrowers and unique opportunities for lenders.
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It has been credited with producing Western Europe's mild climate, blamed for intensifying Atlantic cyclones, and used for centuries by sailors to speed their passage across the ocean, but could the Gulf Stream soon become a source of plentiful renewable energy? A recent demonstration project has brought the idea a step closer.
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The Covid-19 panic that has sent markets spiraling has also upended the working conditions and lifestyles of project finance officials, with cancelled conferences, enforced remote working, handshake bans and even the prospect of "virtual closing dinners," however that is supposed to work.
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The annual Siemens Energy Financial Services Oktoberfest bash in New York settled into a new venue this year at the Ziegfeld Ballroom, a recently repurposed former movie theater in Midtown Manhattan.
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The #PowerTweets feature tracks trends and news in power and energy on Twitter. For more news and coverage, follow @PowerFinRisk on Twitter, as well as editor @richmetcalf and reporters @Shravanbhat, @Taryana_Odayar and @ArroyoNieto.
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China has set a Guinness World Record for the largest solar panel image, which takes the pattern of a galloping horse and is equivalent in size to 195 football pitches.
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With single-digit reserve margin forecasts drawing solar, battery and peaker developers to Texas in droves, PFR reporter Shravan Bhat visited Houston last week to catch up with the Ercot community and assess the market for power price hedges.
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Early-stage renewable energy projects exceeding 1 GW were auctioned off at a novel event on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange last Monday, hosted by Akin Gump, Novogradac, DNV GL and FTI Capital Advisors.
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With graduation festivities in full swing across the Golden State, PG&E has begun warning customers about the dangers of helium-filled metallic balloons, using the slogan, ‘Look Up and Live!’
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Gusts of up to 46 mph in Las Vegas this week did not dampen the spirits of attendees of the S&P Global Platts 34th Annual Global Power Conference, but did put paid to plans for open air cigar parties. PFR editor Richard Metcalf and reporter Taryana Odayar were on hand to chronicle the action, inside and outside the conference hall.
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As representatives of developers, banks, investment firms and service providers descend on Las Vegas for S&P Global Platts’ 34th Annual Global Power Markets Conference, PFR takes a look at what to expect.
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Known for undertaking ambitious infrastructure projects such as the world’s largest hydro project, the Three Gorges Dam, China has now embarked on a mission to develop the first utility-scale solar project in space by 2040.
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An internal memo at Goldman Sachs regarding a new “firm wide flexible dress code” was widely reported this week, but don’t expect the firm’s investment bankers to turn up in sneakers and sweatpants any time soon.
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So you've left your job at an established financial institution, project developer or energy retailer and decided to set up your own energy investment firm. There are a lot of decisions to make, but first of all, you need a logo. Where do you go?
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On the morning of Feb. 2, sleeping residents of the Rhode Island towns of Cranston and Johnston were rudely awakened by a booming roar.
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Budweiser’s 2019 Super Bowl ad features all of its classic motifs: Its beloved Clydesdales, a Dalmation mascot, fields of wheat, and—in an unusual twist—wind turbines spinning to the sultry sounds of Bob Dylan.
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A transformer explosion at a ConEdison facility in Astoria, Queens, which took place two days after Christmas, set the New York city skyline ablaze with a dazzling blue glow. The blast caused power outages across the borough, including at LaGuardia airport, and sent social media users into a frenzy about the possibility of an alien invasion.
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Paraguay, home to Jesuit ruins, rainforests and the world’s largest dam, will also soon be home to what is being touted as the world’s largest cryptocurrency mining center and exchange, which will be powered by the massive, state-owned Itaipú hydroelectric project under a 15-year contract.
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Con Edison Solutions has installed solar arrays at five Catholic parishes on Staten Island and in Yonkers, N.Y., after signing 20-year power purchase agreements.
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The #PowerTweets feature tracks trends and news in power and energy on Twitter.
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A Oregon solar project operated by Pine Gate Renewables is abuzz with a sweet collaboration involving bees and brews.
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Just as one robin (or, depending on your geographic location, swallow) doesn’t make a spring, two project finance CLOs (PF CLOs)—Bayfront Infrastructure and RIN—may not confidently mark the re-emergence of PF CLOs. They are, nevertheless, a positive and potentially significant development, writes Paul Forrester, Chicago-based partner at Mayer Brown.
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As President Donald Trump's grand infrastructure plan hit the buffers earlier this year, his former attorney, Michael Cohen, was allegedly doing his own bit for the cause by seeking government funds for a mothballed nuclear project in Alabama, according to an Aug. 2 report in the Wall Street Journal.
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The #PowerTweets feature tracks trends in project finance and M&A in the Americas on Twitter. For more news and coverage.
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British bureaucrats have drawn up radical contingency plans to keep the lights on in Northern Ireland—which relies on a shared energy market with the Irish republic—in the case of a “no-deal Brexit”, the Financial Times reported last week.
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Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's the superman-shaped drone that environmental group Greenpeace flew into a wall of EDF's 3,580 MW Bugey nuclear facility on July 3.
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The #PowerTweets feature tracks trends in project finance and M&A in the Americas on Twitter. For more news and coverage, follow @PowerFinRisk on Twitter, as well as editor @richmetcalf and reporters @FotiosEuromoney and @Shravanbhat.
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A 2.6 GW hydro project built in the Soviet Union in the 1950s is partly to blame for the decline of sturgeon that has devastated the Russian caviar industry, according to a British wildlife conservation researcher.
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In this week’s Industry Current, John J. Marciano III, partner, and Ramin Mohammad, associate, at Akin Gump in Washington, D.C., outline the implications of the Internal Revenue Service’s latest guidance in relation to the solar investment tax credit.
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Celebrity spotting, a Danish debut and the usual high quality food and drink marked REFF Wall Street this year, which was attended by PFR editor Richard Metcalf and reporters Fotios Tsarouhis and Shravan Bhat
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Using renewable energy to mine cryptocurrency is not a new idea—PFR first reported on it in December, at which point miners in Europe and Iceland were already using hydro and geothermal—but a recent intervention by Star Trek legend William Shatner has thrust the concept squarely into the limelight.
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The results of the recent PJM Interconnection capacity auction have excited many in the industry but should prompt a thoughtful pause, writes Louise Pesce, managing director at MUFG in Los Angeles, in this week’s Industry Current.
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PFR has pored over the results of this year’s JP Morgan Corporate Challenge race in New York’s Central Park to find out which power sector financiers crossed the finish line first.
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The #PowerTweets feature tracks trends in project finance and M&A in the Americas on Twitter.
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The #PowerTweets feature tracks trends in project finance and M&A in the Americas on Twitter.
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The #PowerTweets feature tracks trends in project finance and M&A in the Americas on Twitter.
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As the GenOn Energy asset sale spawns several power holding companies with “Kestrel” in the name, an electric utility in California has been busy finding names for a trio of peregrine falcons.
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Kirk Edelman, global head of energy finance at Siemens Financial Services, makes the case for gas-fired generation to complement renewables and for investment from technology and equipment suppliers as a key step in attracting capital from banks and institutional investors, in this week’s Industry Current.
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Calendar clashes, avocado implements and steak—a few notes and observations from the sidelines of the Platts Global Power Markets conference in Las Vegas.
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The recent reform of the U.S. tax regime has ushered in several provisions that, taken together, could make sale-leaseback financing transactions attractive, whether to refinance solar projects or fund the acquisitions of gas-fired facilities. John Eliason and David Weisblat attorneys at Foley & Lardner, address the possibilities in this week’s Industry Current.
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The #PowerTweets feature tracks trends in project finance and M&A in the Americas on Twitter.
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As capital floods into renewable energy, investors must think strategically about merchant tails and asset performance management, which means digging into power market and operational data analysis, write Ryan Hardy, Ethan Paterno and Barbara Sands, energy and utilities experts at PA Consulting Group, in this week’s Industry Current.
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