Finance

  • Octopus Energy Inks $300M Partnership with Canadian Pension Plan Investments Fund to Supercharge the Green Generation

    Houston, TX, December 14, 2021 — Octopus Energy Group announced a new long-term strategic partnership with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), one of the world’s largest pension funds and a global force in energy investing. This global partnership is formed of an initial US$300 million equity investment from CPP Investments with an aspiration […]

  • Dominion Estimates $10B Installation Cost for 2.6-GW Virginia Offshore Wind Farm

    Dominion Energy is revving up its efforts to build the 2.6-GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) commercial project before 2027 to meet state requirements, it said in a detailed filing for the $9.8 billion project submitted to the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) on Nov. 5.  CVOW, which will be sited on a federal lease […]

  • Standardized Documents and Solid Partners Make Financing Less Stressful for Project Developers

    Many small- and medium-sized power projects are simply not large enough to gain the interest of highly sought-after institutional investors. The complexity and related costs of smaller projects means risks and

  • Types of Power Purchase Agreements and Why Each PPA Might Be Used

    Stakeholders are increasingly pressuring corporations to become more sustainable, and often that means using renewable energy to help meet their electricity needs. Most non-power companies don’t want to take

  • The Tsunami Coming for Mexico

    Although Mexican economic history shows moments of tension between the private sector and the federal government—for example, during the administration of President Luis Echeverría (1970-1976)—never in the modern era has such tension reached the levels experienced at this time. The attacks on the private sector, including foreign investment, that the current federal administration has carried […]

  • Is It Safe to Invest in Mexican Energy Projects?

    In late 2013, Mexico embarked on a path to transform its energy markets. Then-President Enrique Peña-Nieto oversaw constitutional reforms that ended state-run monopolies, and opened Mexico’s power market to competition and investment from foreign and private companies. By most accounts, the policies were highly effective in spurring investments in renewable energy and efficient natural gas-fired […]

  • Power Co-op Files Bankruptcy After $2.1 Billion ERCOT Bill

    The group considered Texas’ oldest and largest electricity cooperative has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, saying it can’t pay money wanted by the state’s grid operator in connection with power outages during a major winter storm that hit in February. Brazos Electric Power Cooperative filed its bankruptcy petition March 1 in the U.S. Bankruptcy […]

  • Renewable Energy Insiders Remain Optimistic About the Future

    It was about a year ago that COVID-19 gained the world’s attention. The first laboratory-confirmed case of COVID-19 in the U.S. was reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Jan. 22

  • Duke Energy Reaches $1.1B Deal to Resolve North Carolina Coal Ash Cost Issues

    In a milestone settlement that could resolve Duke Energy’s “last remaining major issues” on coal ash management in North Carolina, the utility has agreed to absorb $1.1 billion in cleanup costs anticipated between 2015 and 2030.  The proposed settlement, which Duke Energy filed with the North Carolina Utilities Commission (NCUC) on Jan. 25, is a […]

  • The Power Purchase Agreement in Transition

    The power purchase agreement, commonly called a PPA, is a fundamental element to the development, construction, and financing of power generation projects. Like many things in the power industry, the PPA is

  • Power Sector Faces Continued Financial Distress in 2021

    The last few months have seen the power sector plagued with enduring lower power prices, exacerbating the continued negative impact on power generation companies and electric utilities. There are a number of

  • Economic Factors Drive Wind and Solar Growth

    Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) have found that a combination of lower capital, operating, and finance costs, in addition to better equipment performance, and longer useful lives, have driven power purchase agreement (PPA) prices and the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for utility-scale wind and solar projects to all-time lows. The findings were […]

  • Securitization a Useful Financing Tool for Transition From Coal

    By Brad Handler and Morgan Bazilian Nearly 75%  of electricity generated from coal in the U.S. could be produced more cheaply with renewables, strengthening the environmental arguments to accelerate the retirement of coal plants. Yet such transitions to renewable sources have to factor in the costs—incremental, stranded and most pressingly, societal—of shutting down existing plants, […]

  • McDermott Secures $560 Million in New Capital to Fund Future Growth

    Strengthens Balance Sheet and Demonstrates Confidence in Operations Enhances Financial Flexibility for Continued Strong Project Execution and Pursuit of New Opportunities New Capital Commitment Provided By Certain Existing Lenders and Shareholders HOUSTON, Nov. 18, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — McDermott International, Ltd (“McDermott” or the “Company”) today announced that it has secured approximately $560 million in new capital […]

  • Renewables Group Lambasts Labor Department’s ‘Anti-ESG’ Rule

    A pan-renewables organization has chastised the Department of Labor (DOL) for fast-tracking a new rule it has said is a “transparent attempt to slow the growth” of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing.  According to the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE)—a group that represents a wide range of renewables stakeholders including some of the […]

  • Thermal Coal—Now and Next

    Joe Mease and Bryan Benoit, Grant Thornton LLP After serving as a primary source of electrical power generation for the last half-century, bankruptcies throughout the American coal mining industry in 2020 serve as the proverbial canary in the mine for the once dominant black nuggets found across the U.S. from the Appalachians to the Powder River Basin. […]

  • Follow the Money—Considering Climate in Energy Investment

    Arguments continue about the impacts of climate change, but there’s little debate when it comes to where banks and other investors are putting their money. Shareholders and institutional investors are

  • National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation Selects FIS for Commercial Loan Enhancement

    Key Facts National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation (CFC) selected FIS Commercial Lending Suite to consolidate loan origination and back office servicing. FIS Commercial Lending solution will consolidate CFC’s legacy lending systems into one fully integrated front to back solution JACKSONVILLE, Fla., October 28, 2020 – Financial technology leader FIS® (NYSE:FIS) today announced that it […]

  • Energy Deals Shift to Renewables and U.S. Shale Bargains

    At a time when deal activity in the energy and natural resources sector has slowed dramatically—down 26.2% globally year-on-year—one development in particular may define the industry’s near-term future. In mid-May 2020, French oil major Total opted not to pursue a deal, announced in 2019, to purchase the African assets of Anadarko Petroleum, a U.S. producer […]

  • Is LCOE the Best Metric for Choosing New Power Resources?

    Costs for wind and solar power systems have been declining for years thanks to technology improvements, economies of scale, and fierce competition in auctions. In the second half of 2019, the levelized cost of

  • PSEG to Return to Regulation, Will Divest 6.7-GW Fossil, Solar Fleet

    Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG), New Jersey’s giant utility, has become the latest major U.S. power company to seek an exit from the competitive generation business.  In a statement attached to the company’s second-quarter 2020 earnings results released on July 31, Ralph Izzo, PSEG chairman, president, and CEO, said the company is “exploring strategic alternatives” […]

  • Rural Electric Cooperatives: Debt Rules Need to Change

    The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) is working feverishly to get a provision into the next COVID-19 stimulus package that would allow electric cooperatives to reprice loans from the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) at current low interest rates without penalties. The change could save co-ops more than $10 billion. The RUS, which is a […]

  • Renewable Energy Growth Stymied by Pandemic, but Optimism Is High

    The renewable energy sector was on a steep growth curve entering 2020 with a lot of experts predicting a record year. Then COVID-19 disrupted the entire world, causing trouble in supply chains and putting millions of workers in unemployment lines. However, a new report released by the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE), a renewable […]

  • The Evolution of Power Business Models

    Traditional models have been upended by recent disruptions, including decarbonization, decentralization, and even the COVID pandemic, but new ones are replacing them that focus on customer preference

  • Rural Electric Cooperatives Get Big Money to Improve Infrastructure

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said it will provide loans and loan guarantees to rural electric cooperatives and utilities to build or improve infrastructure in 21 states. The funding was announced on June 22 and amounts to more than $1.6 billion, including nearly $386 million for investments in smart grid technology, which uses digital […]

  • Renewables Gain Investors as Some Flee Oil, Gas, and Coal

    The global crash of prices for crude oil, on top of a prolonged slump in the price of natural gas, is taking a toll on the oil and gas sector. The coal industry also continues to suffer, as the supply of

  • IRS Grants Wind and Solar Sectors Critical COVID-19 Reprieves

    The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has granted a one-year extension of the continuity safe harbor, providing much-needed relief for many wind developers, which, crippled by pandemic-related delays, were racing to complete projects before crucial tax incentives expired at the end of this year.  In its May 27–issued Notice 2020-41, the IRS essentially modified prior […]

  • The Economic Case for Solar Energy in South Africa

    South Africa has the largest carbon footprint in Africa and contributes 40% of the total CO2 emissions in the continent. As the world evolves in response to climate change concerns, the way business is done in South Africa will need to change. In addition to the critical need for every business to contribute to broadly […]