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Distress and Deals Continue to Persist in Energy Sector

October 8, 2019

The post Distress and Deals Continue to Persist in Energy Sector appeared first on POWER Magazine.

At the end of last year, the power market began to lose steam. The credit market wasn’t as strong as it was at the start of the year and many people began speculating “doom and gloom” for the market. However, over the last few months, the power market has picked up and is beginning to show resiliency. As we explore below, there has also been a healthy amount of merger and acquisition (M&A) activity, highlighting that investor confidence is returning, even if only slightly.

The second quarter (Q2) of 2019, in particular, saw strong deal value compared to Q1, according to a recent report from PwC. The report notes that although overall deal volume decreased in Q2, deal value increased by nearly 55%, making it the highest-value quarter since Q2 2018. This was influenced by the absence of mega-deals ($ 5 billion or more) for the fourth consecutive quarter.…

How Nevada Is Leading the Renewable Energy and Battery Storage Charge [PODCAST]

August 6, 2019

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Renewable energy and battery storage are hot topics in the U.S. today. Lawmakers throughout the country debated various new energy policies during the 2019 legislative session. Nevada is among the states leading the way forward. Several new laws were passed in the state that will affect power companies and consumers for years to come.

Curt Ledford, a Nevada-based attorney who is a partner with Davison Van Cleve PC, was a guest on The POWER Podcast. Ledford’s practice is focused on utility, administrative, corporate, cooperative, and regulatory law, as well as general matters affecting energy developments, generation facilities, renewable energy, and Nevada’s utilities.

On the podcast, Ledford touched on several legal and legislative developments that occurred recently. Among the topics were changes to Nevada’s fundamental utility ratemaking structure and changes to the state’s open access for large customers. He also elaborated on an update to the state’s renewable portfolio standard, which requires 50% of Nevada’s energy to come from renewable sources by 2030.…

Investments in Energy Storage Grow as Battery Costs Fall

July 31, 2019

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A new report released July 31 details continued growth in global energy storage, driven by lower costs for lithium-ion batteries.

Research company BloombergNEF (BNEF) in its latest forecast published Wednesday said energy storage installations worldwide will grow across the next two decades, from the 9 GW/17 GWh of capacity deployed as of last year, to 1,095 GW/2,850 GWh by 2040, as battery costs fall by half by 2030 compared to today’s levels. It said two markets—stationary storage and electric vehicles—will drive demand for batteries.

BNEF said most of the new energy storage capacity for the power market is likely to be grid-scale.

Yayoi Sekine, a co-author of the report, in a news release said the latest research has “two big changes,” noting that “this year … we have raised our estimate of the investment that will go into energy storage by 2040 by more than $ 40 billion,” with BNEF forecasting $ 662 billion will be invested in storage over the next 20 years.…

New York Enacts 100% Clean Energy Law, Secures 1.7 GW of Offshore Wind

July 19, 2019

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New York on July 18 enacted the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), law that requires the state to produce 100% of its power from renewables and nuclear by 2040. The legislation includes agreements to build two offshore wind projects worth a combined 1.7 GW by 2025, the single largest renewable energy procurement in the nation.

The CLCPA signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) on Thursday codifies ambitions proposed under his “Green New Deal,” a climate change program that he claims is “the most aggressive” in the nation. Specifically, it mandates that New York slash its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 40% by 2030 and 85% by 2050, relative to 1990s levels, effectively setting the state on a definitive course to achieve an energy transition to renewables.

The law will seek to achieve the stringent GHG emission cuts through the installation of 9 GW of offshore wind by 2035, 6 GW of distributed solar by 2025, and 3 GW of energy storage by 2030.…

The POWER Interview: CleanCapital Drives Investments in Clean Energy

July 17, 2019

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Investments in clean energy projects have hummed along in the past few years, with the growth of renewables worldwide continuing to increase levels of solar, wind, and other resources in the global energy mix.

Thomas Byrne has been in the middle of this energy transformation. Byrne, co-founder and CEO of CleanCapital and a graduate of the University of California-Berkeley and the UCLA School of Law, leads the company’s strategy and operations. Before CleanCapital, he served as partner and general counsel at True Green Capital, a private equity firm focused on distributed solar investments. He led the financing of landmark clean energy projects including NRG’s California Valley Solar Ranch, Caithness’ Shephards Flat Wind Project, and Terra Gen’s Alta Wind Energy Center.

Thom Byrne of CleanCapital

In his role as an attorney specializing in clean energy financing, Byrne saw first-hand how inefficiency was hampering the growth of clean energy investment. He envisioned a technology-based solution, and founded CleanCapital, which looks to connect investors with opportunities in the clean energy space, with an eye toward “reducing the world’s dependence on fossil fuels and generating attractive returns to boot.”…

Energy Insiders Say Tech, Collaboration Key to Utility Storm Prep

June 13, 2019

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Hurricane season is underway and summer heat already has arrived in many areas, which again puts the spotlight on utilities, the power grid, and disaster response plans after a series of major weather events and wildfires caused outages and other disruptions in the U.S. and Caribbean in recent years.

“We’re seeing these events occur, and regardless of where you stand on climate change, we have to ask ourselves, ‘How do we as utility deal with this?’ ” said Darrel Anderson, president and CEO of IDACORP Inc., which includes Idaho Power as a subsidiary, as he kicked off a panel discussion titled “Taming Nature’s Fury: Electric Companies and Extreme Weather Events,” on June 11 at the Edison Electric Institute’s annual convention in Philadelphia. The panel included Margaret Peloso, a partner with Vinson & Elkins who deals with environmental and natural resource issues; Ronald Brise, a former commissioner with the Florida Public Service Commission; and Barnie Gyant, a deputy regional forester with the U.S.…