Currents Podcast

Project finance, renewable energy and more

The Currents Podcast features in-depth discussions on the latest developments in project finance. The podcast is hosted by partner Todd Alexander, who interviews key business leaders and policy makers to investigate important trends affecting the energy and infrastructure space.

Listen to Currents on your mobile device with Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your preferred podcast app.

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Ep107: Energy Storage in ERCOT

Caitlin Smith, vice president, and Matthew Berend, co-founder, of AB Power Advisors, and Sam Porter, senior counsel at Norton Rose Fulbright, join us to discuss energy storage projects in ERCOT. We discuss what

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Past episodes

Ep121: Edison Energy's Return to Europe

Christen Blum, vice president, renewables advisory and analytics, and Emily Williams, vice president, strategy and sustainability at Edison Energy, join us to discuss vPPAs, PPAs and Edison’s entrance into the

Ep120: Entrepreneur Targeting Climate Change: Norman Crowley

Norman Crowley, serial entrepreneur and founder and head of Cool Planet Group, joins us to discuss his entrepreneurial adventures in renewables and what his nonprofit foundation, The Cool Planet Experience, was

Ep119: Mexico Renewables Market Update

Raquel Bierzwinsky, partner in Norton Rose Fulbright’s Mexico City and New York offices, joins us to discuss the renewables market in Mexico almost two years into AMLO’s term in office. She goes over the shift

Ep118: California Blackouts and Renewables

Jan Smutny-Jones, chief executive officer of the Independent Energy Producers Association, joins us to discuss the recent blackouts in California and how the renewables industry is related. Jan explains what ha

Ep117: Commercial Bank, Term Loan B and Project Bond Markets

Ralph Cho and Mike Pantelogianis, Power & Infrastructure Finance Co-heads for Investec in North America, join us to discuss the commercial bank, term loan B and project bond lending markets.

Ep116: Floating Wind: US Outlook

Dr. Alana Duerr, director, offshore wind North America at DNV GL, joins us to discuss the outlook for floating wind in the United States. We get into what floating wind is, the different types, in which global

Ep115: Enabling Bankability for New Technologies

Tom Dickson, CEO of New Energy Risk, joins us to discuss how the company is enabling project finance and bankability for new technologies through insurance. We go over the void that New Energy Risk is filling,

Ep114: COVID-19's Effect on Utilities

Robert Mudge, principal at The Brattle Group, joins us to go over the company’s report on the impact COVID-19 is having on utilities. We go over how electric load has been affected, how effects vary among diffe

Ep113: Condition of the Tax Equity Market

Many developers report trouble raising tax equity this year for renewable energy projects. This is the third in a series of calls since late March with different tax equity investors to test the current conditi

Ep112: Solar Risk Assessment Report 2020

Richard Matsui, CEO and co-founder of kWh Analytics, and Dana Olson, solar segment leader at DNV GL, are back to discuss the second annual "Solar Risk Assessment" report in which they, along with industry exper

Ep111: Lessons Learned from PG&E's Bankruptcy

PG&E is on its way out of bankruptcy, and there are many lessons to learn from the largest American utility’s second trip through bankruptcy. We briefly cover the political and regulatory issues lurking in the

Ep110: Behind-the-Meter Storage

Brian Warshay, principal consultant, DER and energy storage at DNV GL, joins us to discuss opportunities in behind-the-meter storage. We get into how companies can make money in BTM solar and storage, how the p

Ep109: What's New in the Market

Another economic stimulus bill is expected in August. A refundable tax credit proposal has gotten traction among Republicans. Tax equity is harder for many developers to find this year. A key motion being argue

Ep108: Making C&I Solar More Attractive to Institutional Investors

Steve Cunningham, managing partner of Madison Energy Investments, joins us to explain the details of investing in C&I solar. We discuss what C&I means in the context of size, offtaker and style, why it exists

Ep107: Energy Storage in ERCOT

Ep106: Brightmark on Renewable Natural Gas

Bob Powell, founder and CEO of Brightmark, joins us to discuss his company and the important environmental problems it is solving. He discusses the projects on which the company is working in renewable natural

Ep105: Distributed Generation's Reaction to COVID-19

Richard Dovere, managing member of C2 Energy Capital, joins us to discuss how COVID-19 has affected the distributed generation sector. We discuss factors that are coming into play on resiliency and the role of

Ep104: Clean Energy Associates on Supply Chain, QA and IE Disruptions

Andy Klump, CEO of Clean Energy Associates, joins us to discuss trends the company is seeing in quality assurance and independent engineering work globally since COVID-19 became a pandemic. He discusses the typ

Ep103: Hawaiian Electric and EVs

Aki Marceau, director of electrification of transportation, and Yoh Kawanami, director of customer energy resources, operations at Hawaiian Electric, join us to discuss Hawaiian Electric’s efforts to electrify

Ep102: Tax Equity and Carbon Sequestration

How should carbon sequestration transactions be structured in light of proposed regulations the IRS issued on May 27 about claiming section 45Q tax credits? The IRS has disallowed over half the tax credits...

Ep101: State of Tax Equity

Many developers report that the tide appears to be flowing out on tax equity. At the same time, the two largest tax equity investors say it is business as usual for them. We talked to Peter Cross, managing dire

Ep100: Energetic Insurance: Removing the Risk in Solar Financings

James Bowen, co-founder of Energetic Insurance, joins us to discuss his company’s story and the problems that its insurance policy solves. We get into who should consider using the product, the value propositio

Ep99: Enel X on EV Charging and the Renewable Grid

Giovanni Bertolino, head of e-mobility at Enel X, joins us to discuss the rapidly evolving electric vehicle sector and the potential impact on the renewable grid. We discuss Enel X’s role in energy...

Ep98: Uncertain Times: The Roles of International Finance Institutions

In times of economic and financial crisis, commercial lending and private sector investment into emerging markets – even for projects or opportunities with sound economics and credit fundamentals – often dry up

Ep97: Trump's Executive Order Banning Equipment

Keith Martin, partner in Washington, joins us to discuss the recent executive order banning equipment provided by companies in foreign adversary countries. We get into what the ban covers, which power projects

Ep96: DNV GL on COVID-19 and the Renewables Industry

Ken Elser, senior vice president for project finance and M&A at DNV GL, joins us to discuss how independent engineers are seeing COVID-19 affect renewable energy projects.

Ep95: An Investor's View of the Market Today

Ep94: The Current State of the R&W and Tax Insurance Markets

Gary Blitz, co-CEO, and Matthew Heinz, managing director, of AON M&A and Transaction Solutions, join us to discuss the reps & warranty and tax insurance markets.

Ep93: Merchant Storage: A New Frontier

Brian Warshay, principal consultant for distributed energy resources and energy storage at DNV GL, joins us to discuss merchant storage. We discuss the evolving energy storage value stack, how developers are ma

Ep92: US EXIM is Back

Luke Lindberg, senior vice president of external engagement for the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM), joins us to discuss EXIM’s reauthorization after Chairman Reed’s confirmation last May.

Ep91: What the CARES Act Means for Companies

Keith Martin, partner at Norton Rose Fulbright in Washington, joins us to unpack the $2.2 trillion economic relief bill that cleared Congress on Friday – the CARES Act – and what it means for companies in the p

Ep90: Taking Stock: Tax Equity, Debt and M&A

Tax equity for renewable energy was expected to be a US$15 billion market this year, and interest rates on bank debt had dropped to 125 to 137.5 basis points over LIBOR – before the coronavirus hit. Is financin

Ep89: Taking Stock: Business Outlook

This was expected to be a peak year in new capacity additions for wind and solar projects – before coronavirus hit. How has the outlook changed? Is work continuing on projects that are already under constructio

Ep88: US Wind Energy Market Outlook

Dan Shreve, head of global wind energy research at Wood Mackenzie, joins us to discuss the future of the wind market. We take a look back at 2019, the outlook for 2020, the risks to the supply chain due to coro

Ep87: Coronavirus and the Renewable Energy Industry

Sue Wang, Ben Koenigsberg and Keith Martin join us to discuss the impacts of coronavirus on the renewable energy industry. We discuss how coronavirus is affecting daily life in Wuhan, the effect on loans...

Ep86: The LIBOR Transition

Claire Edwards, knowledge counsel with Norton Rose Fulbright in London, joins us to discuss the upcoming move away from LIBOR, the London Interbank Offered Rate. We discuss the basics of LIBOR, its importanc

Ep85: The Advantages of a Surety Bond

Karl Choltus, SVP, national surety practice leader at Beecher Carlson Insurance Services, LLC, joins us to discuss all things surety bonds. We discuss what a surety bond is, their traditional applications...

Ep84: 2019 Review of Renewables

Sue Wang, senior counsel in our Washington office, joins us to discuss the banner year that renewables had in 2019. We get into the different changes in step-down dates for tax credits, what types of projects..

Ep83: Cost of Capital: 2020 Outlook

It is the start of a new year. Many forecasters expect modest global growth this year, helped by favorable monetary policies by central banks, but with risk on the downside due to trade and geopolitical...

Ep82: PPAs, Bankruptcy and Utilities, Oh My!

Howard Seife, global head of financial restructuring and insolvency at Norton Rose Fulbright, joins us to discuss how power purchase agreements are affected by utility bankruptcies in the wake of the latest...

Ep81: Distributed Solar Market Update

Woody Rubin, president at AES Distributed Energy, joins us to discuss the distributed solar market. We talk about the market in general, the current abundance of capital, the balance between community...

Ep80: kWh Analytics' Solar Lendscape: 2020 Update

Richard Matsui, co-founder and CEO of kWh Analytics, is back to give us an update on their popular resource, the Solar Lendscape. We discuss how many banks are currently active in solar, what that means...

Ep79: PTC Extension Legislation Update

Keith Martin, with Norton Rose Fulbright, joins us from Washington to discuss the likelihood that Congress will pass a tax extenders bill at year end and what tax changes of interest to the renewable energy ind

Ep78: Financing Renewable Energy: Present & Future

Live from the Wharton Energy Conference, Manish Kumar, managing director at The AES Corporation, Jackson Lehr, operating partner, infrastructure at Energy Impact Partners, Martin Torres, managing director at Bl

Ep77: Solar + Storage: A Look at the Market

Fleming Ray, senior project manager, due diligence at DNV GL, joins us to discuss all things solar plus storage. We get into the federal and state policies surrounding the market, the outlook for the next five

Ep76: FERC's Proposed Changes to PURPA

Bob Shapiro, partner in Norton Rose Fulbright’s Washington office, discusses FERC’s proposed changes to PURPA. We go over what PURPA is and why it was created, its relevance today, the most significant chang

Ep75: The Business of Hydro with Hydro-Québec

Serge Abergel, director of media relations at Hydro-Québec, joins us to discuss how being state-owned affects the company's business decisions...

Ep74: RadiantREIT: Solar Market Disruptor

Jim Spano, co-founder of RadiantREIT, joins us to discuss the evolution of the solar market and the idea behind his new company. RadiantREIT has an interesting business model for providing long term...

Ep73: Superpower: One Man's Quest to Transform American Energy

Russell Gold, senior energy reporter for The Wall Street Journal, and Michael Skelly, a senior advisor at Lazard and founder of Clean Line Energy Partners, join us for a discussion about Gold’s new book on the

Ep72: The ITC Extension Bill and What it Means for the Industry

Jessie Robbins, senior director of structured finance at Sol Systems, joins us to talk about the ITC extension bill. We talk about whether developers still need to worry about safe harboring, how the ITC step

Ep71: BloombergNEF's New Energy Outlook

Ethan Zindler, head of Americas at BloombergNEF, joins us to discuss their New Energy Outlook. We get into how the outlook differs from others in the market, some of the biggest and most surprising findings...

Ep70: Solar Refinancing and M&A

Richard Matsui, founder and CEO of kWh Analytics, is back to give us an update on their Solar Lendscape from the asset owners’ perspective.

Ep69: The Re-entrance of US ExIm Bank

John Schuster, founder and president of JLS Capital Strategies, LLC and former vice president and head of the structured finance division of US ExIm Bank, joins us to discuss US ExIm Bank’s re-entrance.

Ep68: The Current State of the California Market

Jan Smutny-Jones, CEO of the Independent Energy Producers Association, joins us to discuss the California market. We discuss the current appetite for new investment in the state...

Ep67: The M&A Landscape for Renewables

Ted Brandt, CEO and founder of Marathon Capital, joins us again to discuss his overall perspective on how active the M&A market is for renewables right now and what he sees in the next six months.

Ep66: Tax Market Update

David Burton, partner in our New York office, joins us for an update on recent headlines in the tax market. We discuss the recent opinions of the US Court of Federal Claims, repowerings and more.

Ep65: The Solar Market: Today and Tomorrow

Tom Buttgenbach, CEO and president of 8minute Solar Energy, one of the most successful developers of utility-scale solar projects in the United States, joins us to discuss what he sees in store for the market

Ep64: Thermal Power Hedging

Noam Berk of Dean Street Capital Advisors joins us to discuss interesting developments in thermal power hedging as well as key hedge products. We get into the details of tolls, HRCOs, RPOs, spark spread swaps,

Ep63: The Business of Repowering

Ali Ghorashi, head of section, wind independent engineering at DNV GL, joins us to unpack the business of repowering, which has become relevant in the past few years.

Ep62: North American Development Bank

Alex Hinojosa, Calixto Mateos, Carlos Carranza, and Salvador Lopez of the North American Development Bank join us to talk about why the bank was formed, the types of projects it finances and more.

Ep61: Solar Risk Assessment Report

Richard Matsui, CEO and co-founder of kWh Analytics, and Dana Olson, solar segment leader at DNV GL, join us to discuss the recently published "Solar Risk Assessment" report.

Ep60: DOE's Solar Energy Technologies Office

Dr. Becca Jones-Albertus, deputy director of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office, joins us to talk about what the office does and the programs it has funded in the past.

Ep59: Quasi-merchant Gas Deals

Ralph Cho and Mike Pantelogianis, Power & Infrastructure Finance Co-heads for Investec in North America, join us to discuss quasi-merchant gas deals.

Ep58: Energy Storage PPAs

Kat Gamache, senior counsel at Norton Rose Fulbright, joins us to discuss all things energy PPAs. We go into the biggest differences between traditional renewable PPAs and PPAs with storage...

Ep57: BayWa's Innovative PPA Approach and Market Overview

Jared Quient, Executive Vice President and General Counsel at BayWa r.e., joins us to discuss the innovative PPA structure the company recently used to finance its 100 MW solar deal in North Carolina.

Ep56: The Orange Button Standard

Jon Previtali from Wells Fargo and Tom Tansy from the Sunspec Alliance join us to discuss the orange button data standard, explaining what it is and why the solar industry is in need of a data standard.

Ep55: kWh Analytics' Solar Lendscape

Richard Matsui, CEO and co-founder of kWh Analytics, joins us again to share the company's popular Solar Lendscape and discuss the current solar market.

Ep54: The US LNG Market

John Mauel, partner in our Houston office, joins us to discuss the current US LNG market. We take the discussion from an overview of the global LNG industry to where the US market fits into the global...

Ep53: Practical Wisdom About Tax Equity

John Eber, former CEO of JPM Capital Corporation, joins us for a conversation about lessons learned over a 30-year career working as a prominent tax equity investor.

Ep52: DNV GL's Energy Transition Outlook

Marion Hill, business line director, renewable energy for North America of DNV GL, joins us to discuss the company's "2018 Energy Transition Outlook." We talk about the model on which the outlook is

Ep51: Working with the NY Green Bank

Alfred Griffin, president of the NY Green Bank, joins us to discuss its mission, what types of deals it is authorized to do and the benefits of borrowing from it.

Ep50: Covariance Risk with REsurety

Ep49: Grid Strategies on Electricity Market Design

Rob Gramlich, President of Grid Strategies, joins us to discuss a recent report on reforms needed in the PJM and MISO electricity markets for renewable energy to become competitive.

Ep48: Mexico: Changes in Store?

The new Mexican president already made headlines by halting construction work on the new Mexico City airport and requiring resignations of executives at state companies to reduce salaries.

Ep47: Cost of Capital: 2019 Outlook

It is the start of a new year. Interest rates are headed up in the broader market. Economists are split on where the US and global economies are headed. Share prices on world bourses took a beating...

Ep46: Solar Revenue Put: One Year Later

In Episode 23, Richard Matsui of kWh Analytics sat down with us to explain the solar revenue put. One year later, he joins us again...

Ep45: Potential Impacts from Wildfires on PG&E and Other California IOUs

Bob Shapiro joins us to discuss potential wildfire impacts on PG&E, including potential impacts to PG&E's counterparties. We dive into the relationship between the California legislature and...

Ep44: Post-Election Assessment: US Power Sector

Listen to a discussion among Keith Martin and five veteran Washington lobbyists and power company office heads about how the US mid-term election results are likely to affect the power...

Ep43: A Master Class on Ratings for Projects

Greg Remec, Senior Director with Fitch Ratings, joins us to give a master class on ratings for projects, discussing what goes into a rating, how the different players affect the grade and more.

Ep42: Title Insurance for Projects

Scott Bank of First American Insurance sat down to discuss all things title insurance.

Ep41: M&A Due Diligence

Ken Elser of DNV GL joins us to discuss when a company contemplating an M&A transaction should approach an independent engineer and more.

Ep40: Emerging Energy Infrastructure Opportunities

Ren Plastina of Investec joins us to talk about energy storage and electric vehicles and how to be a first mover in both markets.

Ep39: Interview with an Industry Veteran: Steven Greenwald

Steven Greenwald, senior advisor and former head of project finance with Credit Suisse, reflects on a rich 39-year history in the project finance industry.

Ep38: The Future of Energy Storage

Michael Kleinberg, head of distributed energy resources and energy storage at DNV GL, joins us to talk all things energy storage. He shares an update on current technology trends of lithium ion...

Ep37: Legal Perspective: Representations and Warranties Insurance

The representations and warranties insurance (RWI) market is growing rapidly as the insurance expands in scope to cover more types of transactions...

Ep36: US to Review More Inbound Investments

Amanda Rosenberg tells what the major changes are in a new law this month that gives CFIUS broader power to set aside inbound US investments and how they will affect the energy industry...

Ep35: PACE Securitization Overview

Listen in as Patrick Dolan offers a general overview of securitization and then dives specifically into the niche market of property assessed clean energy (PACE) bonds...

Ep34: Legal Perspective: Back-leverage Loans

Jim Berger discusses back-leveraged loans from a legal perspective, going over the big picture of project structures as well as the most negotiated points in these transactions, the breakdown of...

Ep33: IPPs, PPAs and Chapter 11

Bankruptcy lawyer Howard Seife sits down to talk about what happens when a power purchaser files for bankruptcy, using the recent Chapter 11 filing by First Energy Solutions as a case study...

Ep32: Capital Dynamics' View on the Solar Market

We sat down with Benoit Allehaut, director on the clean energy infrastructure team at Capital Dynamics, fresh off the heels of its acquisition and privatization of 8point3 Energy...

Ep31: CFIUS: A Closer Look

Join us as we take a closer look at CFIUS, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. The committee is charged with reviewing transactions in which a foreign person will gain control...

Ep30: New York: Renewable Energy Incubator

Alicia Barton, president and CEO of NYSERDA, talks about New York’s 50% renewable energy by 2030 plan, its goals for the offshore wind market and its stance on energy storage.

Ep29: Increasing Regulatory Headwinds

Keith Martin joins Todd Alexander to talk about the likely outcome of DOE efforts to halt coal and nuclear power plant retirements, how the growing number of US import tariffs is affecting the market...

Ep28: The M&A Landscape

Todd Alexander discusses the M&A landscape, macro trends in the market, valuations, assumptions, natural owners and more with industry veteran Ted Brandt of Marathon Capital.

Ep27: Representations and Warranties Insurance

Join us as Matt Heinz, Senior Managing Director at Aon Transaction Solutions, unpacks representations and warranties insurance, a product that is now considered an essential tool in closing deals...

Ep26: Tax Credit Insurance for Renewable Projects

Tax equity transactions have been a mainstay of financing renewable energy projects. While the general idea—using the tax benefits from renewable energy projects as a way to generate financing...

Ep25: Energy Storage Drivers and Pitfalls, a Webinar with ICF

Please join us for a webinar from Norton Rose Fulbright and ICF on energy storage. Our own Kat Gamache and Deanne Barrow are joined by Judah Rose and Shankar Chandramowli from ICF to discuss market...

Ep24: Net Metering and Community Solar Update

As the community solar market continues to expand, our associate Ana Vucetic joins us to provide an update on the market and takes us through important recent changes in net metering rules across several...

Ep23: Solar Revenue Puts with Richard Matsui, KwH Analytics

Richard Matsui, CEO of KwH Analytics, joins us to discuss the Solar Revenue Put, an innovative new financial product that may change the way solar projects are financed. While the solar industry...

Ep22: Cost of Capital

Please join us for a special episode featuring our 2018 Cost of Capital Webinar. Partner Keith Martin moderates and is joined by panelists...

Ep21: Interview with a wind energy pioneer: Jacob Susman of EDF Renewable Energy

Jacob Susman has been investing and developing projects in renewable energy since 1999. He led OwnEnergy from inception to its sale to EDF Renewable Energy...

Ep20: Tax changes affects on power and infrastructure transactions

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Ep19: Tax bill's impact on US power market

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Ep18: Mexico power auctions

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Ep17: Back-leverage loans: trends and issues

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Ep16: Renewable energy hedges

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Ep15: Cross-border energy M&A transactions

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Ep14: Political risk insurance: industry overview and trends

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Ep13: Spotlight on LNG-to-power projects

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Ep12: WIFIA and the US water infrastructure gap

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Bonus: An interview with Governor Pataki

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Ep11: Governor Pataki's perspective on energy and infrastructure

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Ep10: How US Tax Reform could affect renewables

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Ep9: My favorite project, part one

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Ep8: Tax equity 101

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Ep7: 2017 renewable energy outlook

The renewable energy industry saw a tremendous amount of success in 2016, but the new year brings some uncertainty, both in the US and abroad. In this episode, we speak to Todd Alexander, partner in Chadbourne'

Bonus: Cost of capital: 2017 outlook

It is the start of a new year. The Trump presidency and the likelihood of corporate tax reform have added an element of unpredictability. On January 17, 2017 Chadbourne hosted a webinar among a group of project

Ep6: Africa: opportunities, challenges and the effects of a Trump Administration

There is a tremendous amount of opportunity for energy and infrastructure development in Africa. In this episode, we speak to Chadbourne partner Ikenna Emehelu to discuss opportunities, challenges, the future o

Ep5: Lessons From the SunEdison Bankruptcy

The bankruptcy of solar power developer SunEdison has been one of the most discussed topics of the US renewable energy market in 2016. Christy Rivera, partner in Chadbourne's bankruptcy group, joins us to discu

Ep4: US Infrastructure and P3 Opportunities

President-Elect Trump has positioned US infrastructure investment as a top priority, and the topic was a rare source of bipartisan agreement throughout the 2016 election season.

Bonus Episode: US Renewable Energy After the November Elections

The markets are trying rapidly to assess the effects of a Trump presidency on the energy industry.On Thursday, November 10, 2016 Chadbourne hosted a webinar with five experts in Washington who are close to ener

Ep3: Net Metering Programs and Policy Update

Chadbourne associate Megan Strand joins us to discuss net metering, an important tool in the continued deployment of distributed solar in the United States.

Episode 2: The Future of US Offshore Wind, Part 2

In part two of our discussion on offshore wind development in the United States, Chadbourne counsel Kat Gamache delves into the complex regulations that developers of US offshore wind proje

Episode 1: The Future of US Offshore Wind, Part 1

Benjamin Koenigsberg and Christine Brozynski take us on a behind-the-scenes tour of the complex financing and construction of the Block Island Wind Farm, the first offshore wind farm in the US. What hurdles did

Introduction

Chadbourne & Parke is excited to announce that we have launched a new podcast featuring in-depth interviews on the latest developments in project finance. Chadbourne Currents talks to key business leaders and p

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Currents Podcast

The Currents Podcast features in-depth discussions on the latest developments in project finance. The podcast is hosted by partner Todd Alexander, who interviews key business leaders and policy makers to investigate important trends affecting the energy and infrastructure space.

Listen to Currents on your mobile device with Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your preferred podcast app.

Ep107: Energy Storage in ERCOT

Ep107: Energy Storage in ERCOT

Past episodes