Project Finance & Origination
As with any fast-growing industry, clean energy investors and financial players face a growing challenge of balancing the expanding project finance pipeline with the need for high quality due-diligence. GT provides a suite of due-diligence and deal room support services that can help clean energy funds scale their origination pipeline while still maintaining high-quality underwriting standards.
GT’s Project finance team provides investment due-diligence support including contract reviews, red-flag analysis for PPA/EPC/O&M and property related agreements, counterparty credit research and sponsor/guarantor analysis. Additionally, GT can complete the financial analysis, modeling commonly used debt, tax equity and lease financing structures. For a typical project portfolio, GT completes the due-diligence dossier/investment memos for our clients and assigns preliminary risk metrics as per the client’s risk segmentation.
GT’s team uses a range of tools to conduct detailed research into any applicable market risks. This includes deal specific analysis of energy price using ISO LMP data, net metering credit treatment, utility rate schedules and credit allocations (e.g. Community solar). Additionally, we perform incentive research confirming the sponsor’s assumptions using historic and forward price trends such as verifying state specific SREC(s) assumptions. Lastly, we also conduct real estate related searches to ensure the project has no underlying property related exposures.
GT’s engineering team can provide an energy simulation assessment and review the engineering design package to highlight any technical red-flags in the overall design assumptions. The team also leverages a real-time database (Solar Cortex TM) of existing projects to benchmark the production estimates, given the selection of equipment and geographic location of the project.
For operating assets in the portfolio, our team can conduct periodic monitoring of the project’s cash-flows and contract covenants, system production and relevant capital ratios depending on the project’s capital stack. GT also produces and sends investor reports required for disclosure or documentation to debt and equity partners on a project by project or portfolio/fund basis.
Case Study
The Client
This client, based in New York City, is a prominent clean energy-focused investment firm. The firm specializes in acquiring, owning, and operating distributed generation solar and storage assets. Currently, the client manages over 100MW+ of distributed solar assets through two funds, backed by large institutional investors.
Outcomes
- Enhanced investment decision making through comprehensive due diligence of clean energy investment opportunities.
- Prepare tailored, deep-dive financial models based on end client formats and requirements by using customized and advanced analytical tools.
- Enabled real-time tracking and management of assets with advanced Power BI dashboards, leading to more efficient portfolio management.
