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Cleantech Financing : Investment Options for Renewable Energy Projects

Tuesday, March 6th, 2012, 9:30am- 2:30pm EDT / Streamed Panel Discussion: 7:00am - 10:45am PDT /10:00am -1:45 pm EDT /15:00 - 18:45 (Paris-Frankfurt)
Solar Energy | Wind Energy | Smart Grid | Energy and Smart Grid | Bio Energies
AGRION is hosting a two part roundtable conference aimed at discussing ways of lowering costs of capital for renewable energy projects and creating legitimacy for climate bonds.

PROGRAM FOR MARCH 6TH, 2012

 

Doors open at 9:15 AM

 

10:00 - 11:30
Capital in Renewable Energy Projects: The Anatomy of a Promising Investment
 

In recent years, tax incentives, Federal grants, statewide portfolio standards, REC markets, declining manufacturing costs, and streamlined permitting processes have resulted in a spike in renewable energy development. The expiration and evolution of many of these incentives will drastically change the anatomy of cleantech projects like solar and wind. We convene an expert panel to discuss opportunities and industry trajectory here in the United States and beyond. Investors, property managers, tax equity specialists, renewable energy developers, engineers, traders and more all have a stake in the development of this industry. 

 

2011 as transition year and the ongoing uncertainty in the policy landscape

 

  • end of 1603 and return of tax equity
  • PTC extension and broader tax reforms
  • end of LG program
  • impact of Solyndra/Beacon and other bankruptcies
  • mid- to long-term policy direction
  • status and role of state policy   

The evolving marketplace

  • continuing (and new – EU) liquidity challenges
  • impact of $2.50 natural gas (potential for convergence in hydrocarbon market)
  • financing challenges for new technologies or new applications of technologies
  • beginning of demand revival?  Targeted growth markets?
  • distributed generation and the evolution (??) of the utility model

Financing innovations in renewable finance

  • new approaches to the traditional project finance model
  • application of structured finance concepts to renewable energy
  • the thorny problem (and promise) of building integrated energy investing
  • is the investor pool growing, changing?

 

 

Moderator:  

 

Elias B. Hinckley

Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, LLP & Georgetown University, Elias B. Hinckley, Clean Energy Leader & Professor of International Energy Policy 

 

Speakers:


Andrew Worden

Barron Partners & Soltas Energy, Andrew Worden, Chairman & CEO

 

Robert Freedman

Shearman and Sterling, LLP, Robert Freedman, Head of Sustainable Development

 

Ross Severab von Burg

SkyStream Markets, Ross Severan von Burg, Director of New Market and Auction Development

 

Michael Ziemke

SunPower Corporation, Michael Ziemke, Director of Project Finance 

 

 

 

Contact nick.davis@agrion.org for speaking opportunities

 
 
11:30 - 12:15
 

Networking Lunch 

12:15 - 1:45

 
Green Energy Bonds: Establishing Credibility
 

 

The World Bank’s issuance of green bonds has lent legitimacy to an idea long plagued by skepticism and a lack of standards. However, the International Energy Agency estimates that a $18 trillion investment that must be made in low-carbon energy by 2025 to successfully reduce emissions; a Barclay study calls for €2.4trillion ($3.04trillion) to finance renewable energy (wind, solar, geothermal and biomass) in Europe (EU 25), China, India, US A, Japan, Canada and Australia by 2020. According to the Climate Bond Initiative, only just over $12 billion “in the bond markets to fund projects engaged in countering or mitigating climate change”. The era of the green energy bond is still fledgling conditional on some factors such as credibility. In this meeting, we discuss ways of overcoming political barriers to rally private and public support needed to create standards and legitimacy for green energy bonds.

 

  • What risk sharing schemes exist?
  • What role do pension funds play in the future of green energy bonds?  How can aspects of CREB’s/QECB’s be enhanced for a higher utilization rate?
  • What barriers can be removed and what areas can be streamlined? Are similar tax incentives currently being devised?
  • What types of projects in what sectors are most suited to financing through green energy bonds?
  • In what sectors have green energy bonds been most lucrative? What are the project attributes that make them more lucrative?
  • What is the timeline on standards issuance?
  • Which stakeholders need to be galvanized in order to advance the state of green energy bonds?
  • What measures can be taken to quell investor uncertainty? 
  • What explains the dominance of Japanese and Swedish banks in this market?

 

Speakers:
 
Green Capital, LLP, Pano Kroko, Chairman
 
Shearman and Sterling, LLP, Antonia Stolper, Partner and Advisor to the Climate Bonds Initiative
 
Columbia University, Graciela Chichilnisky, Professor of Economics and Mathematics, Director of Columbia Consortium for Risk Management, Advisor to the Climate Bonds Initiative, Founder and Managing Director of Global Thermostat, LLC
 
Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Michel DiCapua, Head of US Analysis
 
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Lenore Kistinger, Associate, Debt Capital Markets and Structured Notes
 
 

 
 
1:45 - 2:15
 
 Networking
2:30 - Roundtable Close 

 

 

Media: 

Greentech Media

 

 

 

 

For general inquiries about this event, contact: 

 



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