Analysis

Standalone storage development in Chile has arrived with project financing deals finally closing in the last 2 months. The age of battery storage comes as Chile remains riddled with curtailment issues, high exposure to zero marginal cost and price decoupling, especially in the north of Chile.

Fundraising for infrastructure funds globally was challenging in H1 2024, with data from sister publication IJInvestor revealing that $57.85 billion was raised by 40 funds that hit final close. North America-focused funds too have not been popular among investors over the last 2 half years, representing just 11% of capital raised.

Spanish renewables developer Grenergy reached financial close in July 2024 for the first 2 phases of its Oasis de Atacama solar-plus-storage project in Chile, the largest storage project in the world according to the company.

Tax credit transferability has dramatically altered the tax equity market since it was introduced in 2023 under the Inflation Reduction Act. From bringing in more would-be investors and facilitating the creation of online platforms to sell credits, transferability immediately expanded the traditional $20 billion (or so) tax equity market. In 2023 it added around $9 billion of new deals and is expected to double the market by the end of 2024.

The energy transition in the US has been turbo-charged in recent years by sweeping federal government tax reform and state-level emissions targets. Despite the gigawatts of renewables being built across the nation, getting power connected to load markets remains a problem – transmission infrastructure is the hold up.

Mexico’s renewables market had been described by some industry professionals as at “rock bottom” but with a change at the political top the market is bracing for a rebound.

For more than 7 months the government of Alberta paused the approval of new renewable energy projects causing a multi-gigawatt logjam with upwards of $25 billion of investment sat idle.

The tax equity market was changed forever with the introduction of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). As the last of the guidelines for these renewables tax breaks – specifically transferability rules – are ironed out the market has already found innovative ways to take advantage of the new regime.

A stalled bill to extend tax breaks for data centres in Michigan has been touted as the bellwether for a co-generation comeback.

As the Lone Star State begins to face the climbing summer temperatures, intense weather events, specifically Winter Storm Uri, remain at the top of Texans' minds.