Renewables seem to be strong in terms of volume. Conventional power is somewhat slow. New Business Opportunities There are more renewable energy deals getting done. Renewables seem to be strong in terms of volume. A lot of opportunities in development-stage renewables projects and less opportunity to invest in deals at the start of construction There are not a lot of transactions involving operating projects. Project Finance Market Traditional lenders, like commercial banks and insurance companies, are focused on construction and term debt. There is still debt capital for renewable energy and ..read more

Seven states have energy storage procurement targets. They are California, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Virginia. China accounted for 73% of global lithium-ion cell manufacturing capacity in 2019. The US was a distant runner up with 12% of global capacity. There are 5 kinds of offtake structures for standalone energy storage facilities. Capacity sales agreement with a utility. Put option that gives projects the right to sell to the utility all of the stored energy and ancillary services at a fixed price. Ancillary services financial hedge. Grid Services Agreement. D ..read more

100 globally significant banks and insurance companies (those with at least $10 BN in AUM) have announced coal exclusion policies Barclays: Prohibits financing to clients with more than 50% of their revenue from thermal coal as of 2020, transitioning to 30% as of 2025, and to 10% as of 2030. BNP Paribas: Targets an end the use of coal by its electricity-producing customers by the end of 2030 for the OECD and 2040 for the ROW. Citigroup: Reviews clients for their GHG reduction strategies and their management of the risks and opportunities related to a low-carbon transition. Morgan Stanley: Eng ..read more

1 GW of renewables already built at mining sites across the world, and another 1 GW in the pipeline. 56 MW solar + wind + energy storage project provides up to 70% of the mine’s power requirements with renewable energy. 55 MW solar + wind + diesel project provides up to 70% of the operational needs. 2.5 MW wind + 1 MW solar + 2 MW/0.5 MWh energy storage provides up to 70% of the electricity needs 60 MW solar+ 35 MW/11 MWh energy storage to provide up to 100% of the operational needs. 34 MW solar + 12 MWh energy storage project 10.6 MW solar + 6 MWh energy storage + diesel project The post Re ..read more

$34.5 BN was invested in US startups across all stages in 1Q20. There were 3,304 funding rounds. There will be a reset in the second quarter. Energy Storage $244 MM was invested in energy storage corporate funding including VC, debt and public markets in 1Q20 was in 9 deals. Energy storage VC funding including PE and CVC in Q1 2020 was $164 MM in 6 deals. 14 invetors participated in energy storage funding. Top VC funded energy storage companies were: Demand Power: $71 million from Star America Highview Power $46 MM from Sumitomo Heavy Industries; Advano: $19 MM from Mitsui Kinzoku SBI Materia ..read more

The power sector will add 19.4 GW of wind capacity and 12.6 GW of solar capacity in 2020. Renewable Energy Renewable energy sources account for the largest proportion of new generating capacity in 2020. Renewable generation by the electric power sector will grow by 11% in 2020. The economic slowdown will likely have an impact on new generating capacity builds. Oil Oil prices recently fell to negative $36.20/bbl of WTI crude. That price was the lowest at least since records started being kept by BP in 1861. The fall in oil prices can be attributed to: (1) an economic correction caused by COVID ..read more

EIA expects that total power sector generation will decline by 3% in 2020. Renewable energy sources account for the largest proportion of new generating capacity in 2020. It will grow by 11%. Electric power sector will add 19.4 GW of new wind capacity and 12.6 GW of utility-scale solar capacity in 2020. Natural gas generation will rise by 1% in 2020 reflecting favorable fuel costs and the addition of new generating capacity. US will return to be a net importer of crude oil and petroleum products in 3Q20 EIA expects that average Brent prices will rise to an average of $46/bbl in 2021. Coal gene ..read more

Energy majors plan on being carbon neutral by 2050. Shell plans to be a net-zero company. It does not want to produce emissions from any of its activities or products it sells. Shell pledges to be carbon neutral by 2050. It will cut the emissions intensity of its energy products by 65% by 2050 and 30% by 2035. BP plans to be carbon zero by 2050. It will reduce by 50% the carbon intensity of all the products it sells. Equinor, Repsol and Eni have all planned to reduce carbon emissions. Great Depression The only time the combination of falling demand and a supply increase was even close to the c ..read more

There are 5,147 private capital funds in market seeking to raise over $1.6 TN from investors. By contrast, there are 4,397 publicly listed companies in the US. The average pension fund is only 66% funded. Public pension plans had unfunded liabilities of at least $1.4 TN. Private equity is the best performing asset class. It has outperformed public markets by 3-4% each year. Private equity investments offer greater downside protection than investments in public markets. PE allocations made up 27% of investments awarded by pension funds in 2018. Mandates awarded to PE firms increased to 954 comm ..read more

Corporate funding, including VC funding, public market and debt financing into the solar sector in 1Q20 was $1.9 BN in 17 deals. That was 31% lower compared to 1Q19 that was $2.8 BN in 35 deals. 4Q19 was $2.7 BN in 27 deals. Over 12 GW of solar projects were acquired in 1Q20 compared to 10.1 GW in 4Q19 and 5.9 GW in 1Q19. M&A activity in the solar sector was 12 transactions in 1Q20 compared to 8 transactions in 4Q19 and 18 transactions in 1Q19. There were 55 large-scale solar project acquisitions (8 disclosed for $4.1 BN) in 1Q20 compared to 54 large-scale solar project acquisitions (20 di ..read more