Podcast Round-up

by Sue Wang

Here are three great podcast episodes to add to your queue:

Currents: Episode 47: Cost of Capital: 2019 Outlook

In case you missed it, the extraordinarily popular Cost of Capital: 2019 Outlook was posted a couple weeks ago.  It’s full of industry intelligence on current prices, which makes it…priceless indispensable. Term loans for power projects in the United States are pricing at 1.25-1.375% above LIBOR for strong sponsors, and construction loans are now pricing at less than 1.00% over LIBOR. Debt service coverage ratios for contracted revenue are roughly 1.4x for wind power, 1.3x for utility-scale solar, and 1.30-1.35x for gas projects. Banks are lending against the merchant tail at coverage ratios of roughly 2x to 2.5x. The full discussion on prices, deal volume and market trends is available for free on the NRF Currents podcast.

Planet Money: Episode 848: The World's Biggest Battery

The curiosity of podcasters knows no bounds, so we shouldn’t be surprised that Planet Money visited a pumped storage facility just to look around.  Their episode, “The World’s Largest Battery,” has some great sounds as they visit one of Dominion Energy’s hydro projects in Virginia.  The Bath County Pumped Storage Station has 3,030 MW of generation capacity and 224,000 MWh of storage capacity.

99% Invisible: Episode 257: Reversing the Grid

Lastly, the popular design/architecture podcast 99% Invisible did a 30-minute episode all about net metering.  Meant for a popular audience, it is a good episode to help friends and family understand the solar industry.  One utility customer in the podcast says, “Why would me having solar panels on my roof…make the utility, like, so angry?  Is it just about the money?”