Energy

Renewable Energy Financing: The Art of Asset Structuring

Renewable Energy Financing: The Art of Asset Structuring

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA 12 minute read

The renewable energy sector, a rapidly evolving landscape of innovation and sustainability, also presents unique challenges and opportunities in the realm of financing. This in-depth article delves into...

Understanding KPIs for Renewable Energy Projects

Understanding KPIs for Renewable Energy Projects

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA 9 minute read

In the renewable energy sector, evaluating project viability and performance hinges on understanding Key Performance Indicators - KPIs for renewable energy projects. These metrics are vital for...

Pay-as-produced PPA vs. Baseload PPA

Pay-as-produced PPA vs. Baseload PPA

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA 9 minute read

In the evolving landscape of renewable energy, Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) play a critical role. Understanding the nuances between different PPA structures, such as a pay-as-produced PPA and a...

ITC vs PTC: How to Choose the Right Credit for Your Project

ITC vs PTC: How to Choose the Right Credit for Your Project

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA 12 minute read

Renewable energy projects depend on federal tax incentives to drive down capital costs and improve project returns. The debate of ITC vs PTC is a crucial one for developers and finance professionals alike....

Tax Equity in U.S. Renewables: ITC, PTC & Structures

Tax Equity in U.S. Renewables: ITC, PTC & Structures

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA 8 minute read

The U.S. renewable energy market relies on innovative financing tools to unlock the full potential of federal incentives. Tax Equity is one such tool that monetizes federal tax credits and depreciation...

What Is an Energy System? A Beginner’s Guide.

What Is an Energy System? A Beginner’s Guide.

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA 6 minute read

Introduction: What Is an Energy System — and Why Should You Care?What is an energy system? It’s a question that often goes unanswered in many business and finance discussions around electricity,...

Busbar PPA: How It Works, Key Risks, and Market Differences

Busbar PPA: How It Works, Key Risks, and Market Differences

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA 11 minute read

Imagine securing a long-term power purchase agreement for a new wind or solar project, only to discover that your actual revenue fluctuates wildly due to unpredictable grid congestion costs and transmission...

Letter of Credit (LoC) in Renewable Energy Project Finance

Letter of Credit (LoC) in Renewable Energy Project Finance

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA 14 minute read

A Letter of Credit (LoC) is a financial commitment issued by a bank on behalf of its client, guaranteeing payment to a seller under specified conditions. Serving as a cornerstone of global trade, it...

What is a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA)?

What is a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA)?

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA 8 minute read

A Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) is a foundational instrument in the energy sector, especially within the realm of renewable energy. PPAs serve as crucial contracts between electricity generators and...

Energy vs Power: Understanding the Key Differences

Energy vs Power: Understanding the Key Differences

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA 6 minute read

When diving into the world of electricity, renewable energy, or grid systems, one fundamental distinction often causes confusion: energy vs power. Although many use the terms interchangeably, from a...

Financial Model User Guide - Advanced Renewable Energy Model

Financial Model User Guide - Advanced Renewable Energy Model

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA 151 minute read

This Financial Model User Guide supplements the underlying financial model and video courses by Renewables Valuation Institute.Students and users of the financial model can gain maximum value from using...

ESG Analyst | Financial Modeling | Renewable Energy

ESG Analyst | Financial Modeling | Renewable Energy

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA 9 minute read

An ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) analyst is responsible for analyzing and evaluating companies or investments based on ESG criteria. The primary goal of an ESG analyst is to determine the...

Project Finance Deal - Contractual Relations

Project Finance Deal - Contractual Relations

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA 6 minute read

In the center of a project finance deal, there is typically a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), which is a separate legal entity established solely for the purpose of the project. The SPV is created to...

What are Guarantees of Origin (GoOs)?

What are Guarantees of Origin (GoOs)?

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA 4 minute read

Guarantees of Origin (GoOs or GOs) are electronic certificates that provide information about the source of electricity generation. They are used in many countries as a means of verifying and tracking the...

What is Project Finance - Financial Modeling?

What is Project Finance - Financial Modeling?

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA 6 minute read

What is project finance? Project finance is a financing structure that provides funding for a specific project, typically a large-scale infrastructure or capital-intensive project. In project finance, the...

EPCM vs EPC agreement - what's the difference?

EPCM vs EPC agreement - what's the difference?

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA 5 minute read

EPC stands for Engineering, Procurement, and Construction, and an EPC agreement in a renewable energy context refers to a contract between a developer and a contractor in which the contractor agrees to...

What is renewable energy and how to model it?

What is renewable energy and how to model it?

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA 4 minute read

Renewable energy refers to energy sources that are replenished naturally and can be sustained indefinitely, such as wind, solar, hydro, and geothermal energy. What exactly is renewable energy? Renewable energy...

How to model seasonality of renewable energy revenues?

How to model seasonality of renewable energy revenues?

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA 3 minute read

In a project finance deal, the seasonality of renewable energy revenues has a significant impact on monthly cashflows. Consequently, seasonality needs to be considered in a best-practice financial model...

AC vs DC - what's the difference?

AC vs DC - what's the difference?

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA 5 minute read

AC vs DC - for renewable energies, the difference between AC (Alternating Current) and DC (Direct Current) lies in their respective suitability for different stages of the energy generation,...

NORMINV Function - Financial Modeling

NORMINV Function - Financial Modeling

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA 3 minute read

NORMINV Function in Excel: Returns the inverse of the normal cumulative distribution considering two inputs - the specified mean and standard deviation. What is the NORMINV function? The NORM.INV function...

What is degradation and how to model it?

What is degradation and how to model it?

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA 3 minute read

Degradation reduces the electricity output of solar panels over time. These losses must be considered when building a financial model for a solar plant. What exactly is degradation? Nowadays, high-quality solar...

Detriments of the Merit Order - Surging Electricity Prices

Detriments of the Merit Order - Surging Electricity Prices

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA 4 minute read

Since the end of 2021, electricity prices in Europe are surging to highs never seen before - is it all to be blamed on rising gas prices, or may there be a systemic failure in how electricity prices are...

How to model PPA offtake agreements?

How to model PPA offtake agreements?

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA 4 minute read

Bilaterally concluded power purchase agreements ("PPAs") are becoming increasingly popular in the renewables industry; thus, knowing how to model PPA offtake agreements becomes critical. In addition, many...

How to model P50, P75, and P90 energy yield?

How to model P50, P75, and P90 energy yield?

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA 9 minute read

How to model P50, P75, and P90 energy yield? When estimating future cash flows for wind or solar investments, forecasting the energy yield is one of the most critical steps in building a reliable...

What are full load hours and what is a capacity factor?

What are full load hours and what is a capacity factor?

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA 3 minute read

What are full load hours? First of all, there are 8,760 hours in one year. This is a very important number within the renewables industry. If we go back to our solar plant in California, you might think...

What's the difference between kW and kWh?

What's the difference between kW and kWh?

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA

Lukas Duldinger, CFA, RVA 5 minute read

While the units kW and kWh may seem very similar, they are two fundamentally different things, especially when it comes down to modeling a renewable energy investment. Still, many people in the renewables...

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