Financing Wind
Onshore & Transmission

Hosted at The Four Seasons Hotel Denver as an opportunity for Tamarindo Members to network ahead of the conference the following day.

• Adam Barber, CEO, Tamarindo

The panel discussion will focus on the current landscape for onshore wind developers and investors in the US, where installations were down 37% year-on-year in 2022.

Companies are facing short-term challenges, including inflation, supply chain constraints, and the implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act. However, there are also long-term structural challenges for the sector, including the rise of utility-scale solar and how stable policy support via the wind production tax credit (PTC) since the mid-2010s has sparked a development boom that has caused pressure on interconnection queues and transmission grids. What are the prospects for onshore wind in the US in 2024 and beyond?

The Inflation Reduction Act will provide further support for the development of wind and associated sectors, including green hydrogen. But it will also exacerbate long-standing challenges with the US transmission grid, including long interconnection queues and an ailing transmission infrastructure. Will the IRA and complementary legislation such as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law help unblock these bottlenecks? Could more be done? And should developers be looking at ways around these grid challenges, including the use of battery storage and green fuel production technology?

The interview will focus on evolving energy procurement strategies that meet the needs of owners, operators and power purchasers. We will be covering areas such as;

• Market volatility and energy trading strategies
• Commercialisation in hedging
• Integration of solar, wind & battery technologies
• Future viability of long term corporate PPAs

Continuing challenges impact the industry in supply chain, OEM financial health, power pricing and turbine reliability. These are hampering the scale up of wind. ONYX recently surveyed 50 senior leaders regarding these challenges and discuss these findings, as well as investments being made in technology to manage risk with brief examples of how financers in the industry can impact forward costs.

This session will focus on repowering, including the opportunities that have arisen because of the Inflation Reduction Act and challenges for progressing projects. Talking points include:

• What do lenders need to evaluate a project for repowering finance?
• Has the IRA changed the picture for repowering projects?
• How will slim manufacturer margins affect the turbine market?
• The 80/20 rule
• Use of storage, green fuels etc.
• Permitting / transmission challenges

Sponsored by Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind

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Wind and solar farms produce huge amounts of data that are rarely used to their full potential. Clir leverages over 200 GW of operations and risk data to identify performance and risk benchmarks for the industry. And as the industry changes at unprecedented speed due to new investments — and farms and turbines are being built on scales that have never been seen before — it’s a critical time to analyse risks, challenges and opportunities for wind and solar.

• How has the industry grown in the past year? What challenges has the industry faced?
• What are the new risks facing wind and solar energy? How are best-in-class owners mitigating these risks?
• How have industry performance benchmarks shifted? What is causing these changes?

This panel will focus on corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs) and how the market is evolving in response to growing corporate demand, new structures and market volatility.

• Why is the PPA market still dominated by a handful of tech giants?
• Are wind farms struggling to attract off-take deals against solar farms?
• How is increased volatility affecting PPA pricing and deal structures?
• How do transmission delays affect corporate offtakers’ decisions?
• Transmission: How are long queue wait times affecting PPA pricing negotiations?
• Looking at greenwashing claims and genuine energy load offsetting 
• Are corporations starting to ask for more and are renewable energy credits made the same?

This panel will focus on the impact of changes to tax equity in the IRA, including the topic of tax equity transferability. Areas for discussion include:

• Do we have clarity on what transferability means?
• Is transferability going to have a radical impact on the tax equity market?
• What are the future prospects for traditional tax equity structures?
• Do inflation and market volatility have an impact on tax equity?
• What are the most significant trends in US equity deals?
• Do equity investors have the same concerns as tax equity investors?

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This panel will focus on the role that battery storage can play in the portfolios of companies investing in the wind sector, both standalone and hybrid projects. Topics for discussion include:

• Will wind-and-storage schemes ever be as popular as solar-and-storage?
• How attractive are battery assets for wind developers and investors?
• Are battery assets helping reduce congestion and curtailment of wind energy; and supporting the rollout of more wind farms on grids across the US?
• Should wind operators look to other technologies, such as green fuel production, to deal with curtailment and grid challenges?
• How can battery storage assist with transmission issues?

Taking place at the Pool Terrace. Attendees will enjoy a 2h networking reception.