Reporters Notebook

Renewables project finance enthusiasts flocked to REFF Wall Street 2021 last week for two days of non-stop networking and panel discussions, after being deprived of conferences for over a year-and-a-half due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Renewables project finance enthusiasts flocked to a secluded conference center in midtown Manhattan earlier this week for REFF Wall Street 2021, after being deprived of events to attend over the last year-and-a-half. PFR editor Taryana Odayar and reporter Alfie Crooks were on site to catch the goings-on.

While some debt investors have grown increasingly comfortable financing merchant solar assets over the last few years, many market watchers at REFF Wall Street 2021 remain unconvinced that the attractive yields to be gained by taking on merchant exposure outweigh the associated risks.

Conference goers at REFF Wall Street 2021 in New York this week applauded the tremendous volume of investments in the renewables space over the last year-and-a-half, despite the disruption wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic, but some warned that there could be "surprises down the road" as a result of the rapid buildout of the asset class.

Wind sponsors look poised to favor a "more equitable" direct-pay structure following the approval of a portion of the Democrats’ proposed $3.5 trillion spending package by the US House of Representatives' Ways and Means Committee, which could alter the tax equity landscape, say insiders at REFF Wall Street 2021.

Renewable energy retailers have traditionally found ways to sway Texan customers to choose them, typically through competitive rates, but Octopus Energy has devised a new offering – Amazon Prime memberships.

El Salvador's president has revealed plans to power Bitcoin mining operations in the country using geothermal energy produced by volcanoes, shortly after El Salvador became the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender.

NordLB's Sondra Martinez, CohnReznick Capital's Conor McKenna, Convergent Energy + Power's Frank Genova and Kirkland & Ellis's Brian Greene discuss the latest developments in the energy storage market.

Colombia has set the dates for the country’s second renewable auction, which it first announced in November.

A bladeless wind generator designed by a Madrid-based start-up has been dubbed the "Skybrator" due to its suggestive shape and the way it oscillates back-and-forth in a stiff breeze.