A deadline for cleantech startups. Free Electrons is a new program that Danny Kennedy told us about on EnergyWakeup podcast last week. There is a deadline to apply on February 28th for companies that work to disrupt the utility space. The program is a global endeavor with partners from the world’s largest utilities. These companies, as Danny Kennedy told us, understand the future lies in renewables and their business will be transformed. By getting ahead of the curve and working with these innovators, the utility executives know they are helping their shareholders.
Events you can’t miss. I can’t speak more highly of the two organizations I have been working with from my very first day in solar. Vote Solar and IREC were both there when I flew to Tallahassee in 2007 and together wrote the net metering policies that have created a solid baseline for our market here. The nuanced regulatory fights, grassroots activation, workforce education and public education costs money and does good for our industry we must support. Do this today please. BUY A TICKET to IREC’s Impact @35 and Vote Solar’s Equinox. Even if you don’t go, buy a ticket (preferable the most expensive one).
The Big F Deal. Couple of highlights from the big deal of the week. AES is buying sPower with AIMco, the Alberta pension fund. This is AIMco’s second endeavor into renewables after putting $500million with DE Shaw RE Fund. My first observation is that this is probably not the number one choice outcome for sPower. They likely preferred a private yieldco with the pension fund but it seems that the pension fund wanted a large sponsor to stay at the top of the ticket. AES is a decent partner, they have large exposure to the space already but they have also exited from large scale development platforms when they sold Silver Ridge to SunEdison. This also isn’t surprising, CohnReznick’s Conor McKenna teased this in our interview a few weeks ago that pension funds were looking hard.
The Pricing on sPower. Breaking down the pricing on this is hard because we only get top line numbers. 1.274GW for $853million in cash and assumption of $724million in project debt. Doing the numbers, assuming standard tax equity terms, you get to about $2/watt of project valuations. The pipeline could or could not be in these numbers but instead in an earnout to the current owner FirTree. At a high level it seems like a win for FirTree having deployed the capital, making some acquisitions and exiting the development platform. Maybe FirTree Principals will now go big into another segment of solar now.
- EnergyWakeup: Danny Kennedy From CALCEF On Startup Investing and Innovating Utilities
- PV-Magazine: AES dives deeper into clean energy with SPower acquisition
- Think Progress: Seth Meyers invites a ‘rogue scientist’ to debunk climate denial of Cruz and Trump
- Greentech Media: Cleantech Investment Roundup – There’s Still Life in This Turbulent Sector
- Renewable Energy World: PACE Financing Is the Solution to America’s Silent Housing Crisis
- Bloomberg: Solar Squabble Shows How a Trump Trade War With China Could Backfire
- Motley Fool: SunPower’s Comeback Plan in Utility Scale Solar
- Solar Industry: Georgia Utility Launches New Solar Option For Customers
Opinion
Opinion
Have a great day!
Yann