Solar PV
Ranger Solar will sell power to CT from its 220MW portfolio of solar PV projects located in VT and MA. Bid prices were redacted. NextEra Energy will build and operate Ranger Solar's first 20MW project located in VT. VT RFP for new generation winning bidders solar PV 8.9c/kWh, AD to Power 20.8c/kWh. About 10MW available. 32 proposals submitted. 9 projects awarded. Low bidder from 2016 VT RFP Sybac Solar 7.5c/kWh did not bid. Thermal Power Eversource shortlisted 3 bidders for 1.2GW portfolio asset sale. Power hedges offered to clean energy projects by banks and insurance companies. Citi 13-year financial hedge for wind farm located in TX. Equity from Aussie superfund with $130BN AUM AMP Capital (www.ampcapital.com.au). Allianz 10-year financial hedge for 150MW wind power project located in TX. 50MW McNeil biomass power project located in VT offered to provide heat to 100 acres of greenhouse. Winning bidder proposed to make 100,000 tons of compost. 51.2MW biomass power project located in OR provided steam to greenhouses. Oil & Gas Short positions on Brent at record levels. Public negative perception of O&G industry in “Last Cycle”. Latest News Lack of attractive infrastructure investment, abundance of liquidity. ECB hinted at reducing bond buying that might increase rates in the EU and the US. Chadbourne, that has been an active counsel to clean energy, merges with Norton Rose. China accepting new technologies for power generation like CSP + Storage and Aquaponics. Neo Energy is developing AD to Power in VT. Natures Fresh Farms executed LOI to build greenhouses adjacent to power projects. It would use heat and absorb CO2. Natures Fresh Farms has an operating farm in Ohio. Walgreens cancels merger with Rite Aid. Will buy 2,200 stores for $5BN. Pay $325k termination fee. Will expand in the NorthEast. Private equity firms acquiring companies for their distribution networks rather than stores. Sycamore acquired store operator Belk, Dollar Express and mall + web-based specialty retailer Hot Topic. Bankrupt stores include Sports Authority, Rue21, Gymboree and BCBG Max Azria. Closed Loop Fund potential equity investor. $100MM social impact investment fund committed to finding a solution to recycling gap. New York Green Bank investments in clean tech almost $350MM. Target $1BN investment in New York’s clean energy market. World Economic Forum estimates the recycling industry could be worth US$1TN worldwide and US$26BN in Australia by 2025. Waste is the #2 business in China.
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Solar PV
Incumbent utilities using FERC 1-mile rule to challenge PURPA contract status. CleanCapital series A funding for online platform for solar PV investing. Thermal Power Natural gas supply might struggle to meet demand in ISO-NE. Could lead to higher prices. Latest News US is at full employment. Fed rate hike in September not certain. Jobless claims remain rock-bottom. Japan will grow this year. Yen is competitive and global demand is strong so growth should remain robust for now. Utility company model broken. Move towards energy services and transmission. CA requires 50% of generation from renewables by 2030. Apple $1BN green bond UST + 100bps expected Aa1 rating. Sale arranged by BAML, GS and JPM. Investing in solar, hydro and biogas. Can sell power to the wholesale energy markets. AIB emerges from nationalization with 29% equity ownership listing or $3.5BN. Energy high-yield bond spreads are turning higher in response to the oil price weakness. NYC MTA new bond market issue. Potential positive impact on investor appetite. MTA has $37.8BN debt plans $700MM revenue bond and $500MM green bond. Clean energy outlook:
Solar PV
Solar and wind strong annual capacity growth and record-low long-term contract prices. 74MW $100MM solar PV development in SC. Adger industry veterans have developed 750MW in SC. Executives ex Suzlon, NextEra, ARE, Deepwater Wind. NC HB 589 amends PURPA, Duke supports, unlikely to get Senate approval. 2.66GW RFP for solar PV within 3.75 years. Thermal Power CHP performance over 90%. Absorption chillers recover from 15-25% more waste energy, and improve the overall fuel system efficiencies to over 90%. Oil & Gas Conglomerates sell energy business. Cargill sells to Macquarie power and gas business as well as global petrochemical business. Deal with Riverstone failed. Latest News US expects to increase rates 50bps by 2020. Amazon acquires Whole Foods for $13.7BN. McKinsey research finds 2002-10 conglomerate annual return to shareholders was 7.5% vs. 11.8% for more focused companies. Nestle seeking buyer for $3BN US confection business. Dow and DuPont US approval to merge. PE benefits from 5-year statute of limitations. Fed agrees to raise rates. China investment in US companies through investment funds, use JV, early investment. Background on Tesla’s acquisition of SolarCity. Wastewater to energy. No CCGT additions in New England. 7.5GW coal retirements in most markets, PJM bulk of new CCGT 7.4GW. TX regulators rejected NEE's $18.7BN bid to acquire Oncor, for the 2nd time. ECA finance for FL based wood products company. $60MM 8.5-year term loan with SEB guaranteed 70% by GIEK. Japan will require importers of wood pellets to register chain of custody. USDA provides background on Japan’s Clean Wood Act. Business case for microwave pyrolysis and gasification technology. Creates energy from plastic waste and biomass. Solar developers become storage developers. AES solar + storage 4.5c/kWh PPA, FPL 50MW solar + storage, NextEra 100MW solar + 30MW storage/120 MWh, Cypress Creek 50MW storage and others including NRG and sPower. Solar PV
NYS makes $1.5BN available for renewable energy. Offers $300MM in finance and capital to double annual investments in energy efficiency and solar deployments. Panasonic 20MW solar PV PPA with Dominion. Largest solar PV projects in VA. PowerREIT invests in property underlying solar PV. Receives royalties that qualify as REIT income. NYPA will install 125MW solar PV on schools and other public buildings by 2020. CSP bid 9.45c/kWh for 200MW in the middle east. NC House passes bill that allows 1MW+ solar PV to sell "above market" power to existing and new facilities. Senate to consider bill. Energy Storage 100MW battery plant planned in EU. Daimler, BMW, VW and BYD exploring 2nd-life storage projects with used batteries. DER component of energy storage economics expected to increase in future with RPS mandates. 30% ITC can be claimed on batteries at the federal level. US installed energy storage currently 336MWh, by 2022 7,300MWh and generate revenues of $3.3BN. Distributed energy storage has been financed on a non-recourse basis. Revenues comprise utility capacity payments and customer demand response payments. Thermal Power EDF takeover Areva nuclear business. 20-year $227MM tax exempt muni bond finance for 225MW power project. Japan FIT extended to major utilities might allow co-firing 10-20%. Demand could jump 4-7MM TPY of wood pellets. Mizuho arranged $68MM development finance for First Solar projects in Japan. 10,500 TPY wood pellet production project located in ME. Has a high chance of economic success. Wood price biggest driver of project economics. Latest News BlackRock acquires First Reserve energy infrastructure portfolio and team. Power markets reserve margin mostly exceed reference. ISO-NE reserve margin at reference. Indicates potential for power price increases summer 2017. Conventional large power project model at risk. Movement towards smaller DG generation like solar PV, CHP. Dow Jones Brookfield Global Infrastructure corporate bond index fell from 4.8% in 2012 to 3.3% in April 2017. Senior debt competitive, stringent credit conditions. Mezz debt most often used in bid scenarios. Common in shareholder recaps. Solar PV
CA could go 100% renewables. Sempra spun off Pxise Energy that has patents with OSIsoft. Raises questions about the necessity of new fossil fuel plants. Risk portfolio of a solar PV project much more different than a portfolio of batteries. Thermal Power Energy efficiency analytics firm raises equity from Blackstone. Founders former Johnson Controls. Cost of service repaid from energy savings in about 6 months. Blackstone analyzed 20 firms. Charges building owners $2,000 to $20,000/month. Typical customer pays about $36,000 to $48,000/year. OPEC extended oil production cuts but oil prices fell. Likely create a significant drag on global demand for oil. US refining and exports at record highs. Capacity Resource auction prices continue lower. 2 nuclear facilities fail to be competitive. Solar and wind fail. Opportunity for resources that can be despatched like CHP. Energy prices expected to remain flat. OPEC and Russia extend production cuts. US producers have increased production by over 800,000 BPD since 2016. US added 174 oil rigs representing 600,000 BPD of oil. Latest News Corporate PPA for renewables. RE100, 90 companies have committed to 100% renewable power. 10 states have 13 green tariff programs for customers to purchase renewables over the grid. Global LNG supply glut for the next 5 years, forecast a severe gas supply shortage as early as 2024. Energy storage project deployment expands as costs reduce. 50% decrease in storage system costs over the last 2 years. Lithium-ion is the technology for the next 3 to 5 years. Solar-plus- storage now less than the cost of a new CT. Primary market will be pairing storage alongside new solar projects. This captures the ITC for the storage, and makes the solar generation dispatchable. Li-Ion battery production projects planned in EU. Global battery-making capacity from 103GWh to 278GWh, 2x by 2021. Batteries 1/3rd cost of new cars. Cut cost of Li-ion by 43% from $273/kWh to $156/kWh. Plug-ins 20% auto sales or 21MM by 2030. Currently Asia controls the battery business: LG, Samsung and China. Panasonic + Tesla $5BBN gigafactory in NV, 2nd in NY, expect 3-5. 35GW/year of capacity. Mercedes Benz $543MM plant. US JV with Vivent. Germany plans 6MM electric cars by 2030. Large-scale factories planned NorthVolt $4BN Sweden by 2023, Hungary and Poland. Enel wind + battery increased output by 30%. |
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