Infralogic Investors Forum Renewable Energy 2023
etc.venues County Hall, London
Registration and coffee
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Infralogic Data presentation
Utilising insights from Infralogic, find out the most up-to-date market trends and gain an understanding of the direction of the renewable infrastructure energy market by 2024. Please sign into your community account to download the data pack.
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Opening keynote – The UK’s Energy Infrastructure Programme: current positioning and vision for the future
In this session, the keynote speaker will review the UK's energy infrastructure programme with a particular focus on regulated infrastructure assets.
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Panel discussion – Floating Offshore Wind: accelerating progress and driving growth
It is estimated that by the mid-2030s 20% or more of new offshore wind could be floating. This calls for additional fit-for-purpose CfD-like schemes, and similar supporting mechanisms, to be created to specifically foster investment and growth in floating, while still supporting seabed-fixed offshore wind. With the technology having been proven reliable, pilot projects should be ready to be scrapped and commercial units rolled out.Does this mean that industry standards are starting to emerge for floating platform solutions, and is the industry ready to be invested on a commercial scale?
- Legislative and regulatory updates to support public-private cooperation
- The challenge of turning leasing auctions capacity into reality: overcoming supply chain restrictions, price instability and technology and operational risks
- Route to market: integration issues and substation sharing. Is the grid going to be able to connect new floating projects in a timely manner?
- Financing and insuring an industry with higher risks of failure
- Can adding hydrogen production elements revolutionise floating wind economics?
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Networking break and morning coffee
Interview - The future of partnerships within renewable energy
In this high-profile interview, our senior speaker will look at how the behaviour of companies, developers and investors within the renewable infrastructure market is changing, and how the current geo-political and economic environment is affecting and promoting these changes.
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Panel discussion – Is (clean) hydrogen the key to decarbonisation?
The next step of the global energy transition will be based on the hydrogen economy.
Carbon emission targets in the European Union and other industrialised countries will require massive scaling-up and acceleration of renewable hydrogen production and imports – already 20 million tons will be needed in Europe by 2030 to fast forward the energy transition decarbonisation. The potential of carbon capture enabled hydrogen to reduce emissions is gaining traction, but the viability of the technologies is still to be proven to scale.
- State of the market in UK and Europe: where is demand coming from and what is the expected growth? Incentives and regulatory support at national and supernational level
- Bankability and scalability of green hydrogen projects: how competitive is hydrogen in the current energy market?
- Green hydrogen (from offshore wind farms) as an export product – potential for growth, cost, coupling and grid connection issues, route to market and peak time management
- Investment potential for mass adoption (including transport and heating): is the technology ready? The role of R&D
- Financing the hydrogen supply chain: why is equity raised and not debt? With an increase in capital raised, are lenders ready to get more involved in the market?
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Case study - The Zenobē Energy battery storage story
Zenobē Energy has secured a £235 million long-term project finance debt facility structured by NatWest. The company will use the funding to develop its next two grid-scale, transmission connected battery project storage assets in Scotland with a combined capacity of 400MW/800MWh - The loan represents the largest project finance facility for battery storage projects to be arranged in Europe, according to Zenobē. The two projects to be developed are at Blackhillock near Inverness and at Kilmarnock South near Glasgow.
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Networking lunch
Panel discussion – Driving energy transition and overcoming delays through grid stability and integration
Grid connection delays have been holding back £15 billions of investment in offshore wind alone over the course of this decade, at the very time when we need to boost energy security as quickly as possible and provide cheap power for consumers. Windfarms, solar arrays and battery projects are stuck in gridlock for up to 15 years as the UK’s electricity grid struggles to keep pace with the appetite for more clean energy – including a car factory being forced to wait until 2037. These delays threaten to undermine decades of work to attract the investment needed to support the UK’s clean energy ambitions.
- Unlocking flexibility and ensuring network access with smart grid communication
- How can private-public sectors partnerships accelerate the deployment of cables and smart grid infrastructure to support increased supply?
- Advantages and disadvantages of converting existing transmission corridors to HVDCs
- Investment opportunities, long term planning and delays: which projects will need to find alternative routes to market (hydrogen)? Is proactive queue jumping a temporary solution to delays?
- Pan-European outlook: how to build partnerships across networks and identify upgrades and the innovative technologies required to achieve an interconnected European green grid
In-Conversation – Maximising ROI with co-located solar and storage facilities
Co-location of renewables assets with storage was rarely considered in the era of subsidies, but it is about to become the norm as investors seek to maximise the value of assets. Capital and operational costs can also be reduced by sharing existing infrastructure, land and grid connections. Combining storage and generation assets also allows more effective utilisation of connected grid capacity, with the savviest investment funds now taking the step of retrofitting storage to their existing renewables projects, therefore making schemes more attractive to investors.
- With half of all solar power to be co-located by 2050, is the long duration energy storage system investment ready?
- What does the end of renewable subsidies mean for investors? Is co-location the answer to project developers’ cost constrains?
- Price arbitrage opportunities and increase in investment returns
- Mitigating risks and limiting profit compression through dynamic containment strategies
- Increasing ROI by reducing CAPEX and OPEX through co-location retrofitting: the case study
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Networking break and afternoon coffee
Panel discussion – EV Battery Charging Infrastructure
With the UK’s EV stock growing faster than expected, its growth is outpacing the installation of charging infrastructure. In order to scale smart charging, policymakers must introduce measures to improve consumer standards and protections; accelerate the uptick of smart chargers in the private and public sectors and stimulate innovation. The industry will also need to keep assessing how smart charging works with other parts of the energy system, how it could unlocking flexibility and reduce electricity system costs for all.
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Fireside Chat – The evolution of the green supply chain: resiliency and sustainability
Supply chain issues will continue to be a major focus for both developers and contractors and, as the market grows worldwide and the pressure to engage local supply chain grows, there will be big challenges ahead. In particular, these issues seem to be plaguing the renewable energy sector: securing and demonstrating a localised supply chain; technological hurdles; lack of standardisation and decarbonisation of the wider supply chain.
- What are the key challenges of the renewable energy supply chain?
- What are the impacts/consequences on the industry and on projects that you can see?
- The importance of promoting local content development – the impact of the US Inflation Reduction Act on overseas investments and comparison with the domestic market
- What are the investment opportunities and challenges from supply chain disruption? What strategies might market participants use to mitigate the issues? Which interdependencies are currently underinvested and how to allocate resources to limit risk?
- Policy and regulations and the impact of the current lack of standards on insurance, cost and deliverability of contracts
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Panel discussion – Financing renewable energy infrastructure
The world’s green energy transition is potentially under threat, as the financial era of rising interest rates is making some projects unaffordable. Estimates suggest that Europe must now find an additional €163 billion to reach net zero by 2050, with figures likely to be similar elsewhere in the world. Sharply higher interest rates have further stressed a model strained by soaring prices for raw materials, higher borrowing costs and investors’ increased risk perception. All this threatens to increase the cost of capital and with potential returns being recalculated, fundraising and M&A processes are also slowing down.
- The cost of financing clean energy in the new high-interest rate, high inflation environment and impact on debt and refinancing of projects?
- How are initiatives such as RENEWFM in EU and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in USA affecting a much slower private equity investment in alternative energy technology?
- Debt opportunities in an increasingly competitive lending market; the green infrastructure debt brand
- Are higher energy prices translating into more generous PPAs? Or is this hitting offtakers’ creditworthiness and increasing counter-party risk for lenders?
- Which renewable sectors are attracting more interest from institutional investors? Will this mean a race to become mainstream for investors?
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Chair's closing remarks
Networking drinks
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Alex joined Inframation as a greenfield analyst in May 2018, becoming head of data analysis in March 2022. He previously worked for risk consultancy AKE International and as an analyst and editor for political risk publication Global Risk Insights, specialising in Southeast Asian political affairs. He completed his PhD in geography and politics at Newcastle University in 2016.
Rohan joined OFGEM in March 2023 as the Director for Financial Resilience and Controls. The remit of his Directorate is to provide financial advice and analysis across the energy sector, and to promote financial resilience in the sector such as ensuring that retail suppliers are appropriately capitalised and run in a financially responsible way.
Prior to this Rohan spent over 20 years at the Bank of England. Between 2014-17 he led the division responsible for concurrent stress testing of the UK banking system and the development of the stress testing framework. Between 2017-22 he led the division responsible for managing the UK’s foreign exchange reserves. He chaired the Global Foreign Exchange Committee Disclosures Working Group and was a member of the London Foreign Exchange Joint Standing Committee. He also co-Chaired a Bank of International Settlements Markets Committee study group into monitoring of fast-paced electronic markets. During 2022-23 he created and led a project unit to deliver a new design, strategy and composition of the Bank of England’s future balance sheet.
He has written various articles on policy and financial market issues, including Stress Testing and the impact of Unconventional Monetary Policy. Rohan obtained an MA in Economics from Cambridge University and an MSc in Economics and Finance from Warwick Business School.
Georgios joined HSBC in 2022, focusing on advisory and financing transactions across the energy transition space. He actively contributes to HSBC’s origination and execution efforts in the offshore wind space (including floating) and has closed multiple transactions in renewable energy in Continental Europe and the UK, across debt, equity and M&A situations. Georgios was also leading the documentation work streams for the first non-recourse financing closed in France, EFGL floating offshore wind project, financed by commercial banks, EIFO and EIB. Prior to HSBC, Georgios was working at Mizuho Bank and EDF, primarily focusing on nuclear (Hinkley Point C) and renewable energy.
Originally from Greece, Georgios holds a MSc in Management & Strategy from London School of Economics. He also graduated from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki with a M. Eng. in Civil Engineering, and he is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).
Alex joined Inframation as a greenfield analyst in May 2018, becoming head of data analysis in March 2022. He previously worked for risk consultancy AKE International and as an analyst and editor for political risk publication Global Risk Insights, specialising in Southeast Asian political affairs. He completed his PhD in geography and politics at Newcastle University in 2016.
Magnus Ebbesen is the newly appointed Technical Director for Offshore wind investments in ICP Infrastructure. ICP Infrastructure is an investment manager specializing in offshore wind and Carbon Capture and Storage (CSS), with Aker ASA as the largest shareholder. Before starting in ICP Infrastructure, Magnus worked 14 years in DNV where he most recently led the floating wind segment in Northern Europe. Besides having management roles within offshore wind in DNV, Magnus managed and contributed to technical due diligence, market assessment, and cost- and risk-assessments for offshore wind. This included leading technical due diligence assessments for numerous floating offshore wind projects in Europe, and bottom-fixed offshore wind projects in the UK, Germany, and Taiwan. Magnus holds a Master of Science in Engineering and Computer Science from the Norwegian Institute of Science and Technology (NTNU).
Based in Paris, Emilio Zito is EDF Group Head of M&A, Investments and EDF Invest. He is also in charge of Investor Relations.
Emilio joined EDF in 2008 and since he originated, led and executed a wide range of greenfield and brownfield transactions across the energy chain and related infrastructure. He has also been holding Boards positions within several subsidiaries of the Group, mainly in the Renewables business.
Emilio started his career as an investment banker in London, covering natural resources, energy and power sectors. He joined EDF in 2008 as an M&A and Investment Manager and relocated to London in 2011 to take on the M&A and Investment responsibility of EDF Energy, the largest subsidiary of the Group. Between 2018 and 2020 he also held the position of Deputy Head of M&A for EDF Group, before being appointed EDF Group Head of M&A and Investor Relations. On March 1st, 2023, Emilio had his responsibilities widened to include the Group’s principal investments activity and EDF Invest.
Originally from Milan, Emilio holds a double MSc in General Management from Milan Bocconi University and HEC Paris. He also graduated from the University of California San Diego with a major in Corporate Finance.
Emilio is an Italian native speaker, and speaks fluent English and French.
Joe is Head of Infrastructure, Project & Asset Finance at NatWest. Joe has worked at NatWest for 12 years, and leads all aspects of NatWest’s offering into the infrastructure & renewable sector across its target geographies of the UK, Western Europe and the US. Joe also has extensive experience of financing advice to clients across a range of asset classes. He has recently advised Zenobe Energy on the establishment of a funding platform for the E-bus business and subsequently the project financing of its 400MW storage assets in Scotland.
Sarah is the Director leading the Cleantech for UK initiative, building up a coalition of cleantech and policy leaders to scale up sustainable innovation in the UK.
Before joining Cleantech Group, Sarah spent 11 years working for the UK civil service, primarily in energy and innovation policy and legislation. She began her career as a research associate working on carbon capture and storage.
Sarah has a degree in Environmental Science, a Ph.D. in Isotope Geochemistry and a Master’s in public policy.
Adrien Pinsard has a 17-year track record of renewable energy investment and development.
Prior to founding Telis, Adrien was Interim CEO of the Macquarie Group 11GW European solar energy developer, Cero Generation
Adrien led the energy team of Platina Energy Partners where he deployed €1bn in renewables.
Katharina Sudeck, Vice President, is a member of the Climate Infrastructure team which manages $10bn in capital commitments across 6 funds. Her role focuses on deal sourcing and transaction execution of climate infrastructure investments in Europe. She is actively involved in managing these investments including forming their exit strategy.
Theo graduated from École Polytechnique in September 2020. During his six years of studies he focussed on electricity generation technologies, data analytics and electricity markets.
He started at TagEnergy as a project manager to help develop the UK branch and provide data based market insights.
After successfully closing TagEnergy’s first project Hawkers Hill and acquiring a portfolio of late stage battery projects he became Head of Development UK, leading all development activities in the region.
Dr Robyn Lucas is the Director of Analytics at Modo Energy, where she leads a team in producing benchmarks, forecasts, and market analysis for utility-scale battery energy storage. Robyn has been working in energy storage since 2016, previously Head of Data Science at Open Energi and at Limejump. She read physics at the University of Oxford and holds a physics Ph.D. from Imperial College London.
A long-established investment banker and asset manager with more than 30 years’ experience, who has advised on, structured and financed over £6 billion and 8,000MW of infrastructure energy projects.
Mark has worked across different infrastructure finance platforms and now sources the capital needed for GRIDSERVE’s fast-growing infrastructure. GRIDSERVE is a tech-enabled sustainable energy business that aims to deliver at the speed and scale needed to move the needle on climate change. GRIDSERVE develops, builds, owns and operates a net zero 'Sun-to-Wheel' ecosystem of hybrid solar farms that supplies their leading electric vehicle charging network, covering 85% of the UK’s motorway service areas and some of the UK’s busiest retail destinations.
Previously Mark financed power projects globally at Dresdner Kleinwort Benson and Société Générale, before establishing the project finance power and renewable energy team at Investec and the solar investment fund at Greencoat Capital (now Schroders Greencoat).
Gridicity is pioneering the use of AI and optimisation techniques in the electric vehicle energy management software sector. The company’s mission is to radically enhance the operational efficiency of energy market participants, and accelerate the transition to clean and sustainable transport and energy.
Gridicity founder Alicia Blatiak's expertise stems from her academic background, notably her PhD focused on Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) technology from Imperial College London. With a history rooted in research, particularly on the interplay of transportation and energy systems, and professional stints at organisations such as DNV GL and the International Renewable Energy Agency, Alicia and Gridicity aim to shape the future of EV charging solutions.
Gridicity has received funding from Innovate UK and The Greenhouse Accelerator (a partnership between Imperial College’s Grantham Institute and the Royal Institution).
Jamie is a senior associate in Ashurst's Projects and Energy Transition department in London, and has over 10 years of experience advising on projects in the transport sector.
Jamie has advised on EV, battery and charging infrastructure projects from both the operator and funder perspectives, including in relation to innovative contracting structures reflecting emerging approaches to risk allocation.
He also has a particular depth of experience in rail and has advised in relation to a number of significant projects relating to many of the key elements of the UK rail industry, including in relation to franchising, rolling stock procurement, regulatory issues and rail decarbonisation.
Jamie is ranked as "Rising Star" (Legal 500) and "Associate to Watch" (Chambers).
Edward joined Amber Infrastructure in 2017 and focuses on the origination of investment opportunities in Energy and Transportation. Prior to Amber, Edward was part of the investment team of First Reserve, a private fund manager dedicated to investments in the global energy and energy infrastructure sectors. Edward started his career in the Corporate Finance division of Deutsche Bank where he advised clients across Europe on mergers and acquisitions, asset disposals and capital markets transactions in the utility and infrastructure sectors.
Kai Rintala is the Managing Director of Taaleri Energia, a Helsinki-based renewables fund manager and developer. He is responsible for a 2.8GW portfolio of development, construction and operational assets for the Taaleri SolarWind funds. Kai has more than 20 years of experience in the infrastructure industry, having previously worked for KPMG in Helsinki and London, advising public and private sector clients on infrastructure strategy and transactions across energy, transport and social infrastructure.