Transmission

Tax insurance helps clean energy projects manage the risk of the IRS challenging their tax credits - like the Investment Tax Credit (ITC), Production Tax Credit (PTC), or bonus depreciation. Instead of carrying that uncertainty, developers and investors can transfer it to insurers, adding confidence to project financing.

In this episode, Alejandro speaks with James Chenoweth Managing Director at Alliant Insurance Services, about how the market works and who’s using it. They also touch on the key areas of risk today, such as whether projects properly qualify for credits, potential recapture issues, and structuring above the project level, along with ongoing uncertainty around foreign ownership rules (FEOC), which are still awaiting clearer IRS guidance.

You can watch or listen to new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday.

Transmission is a Modo Energy production. Your host is Alejandro De Diego - US Market Analyst

Modo Energy helps the owners, operators, builders, and financiers of battery energy storage understand the market — and make the most out of their assets. Want all the latest power market news? Sign up for our free Weekly Dispatch newsletter: https://bit.ly/TheWeeklyDispatch

00:00:00 Introduction

00:03:48 What is tax insurance?

00:05:19 Who needs it and why?

00:06:18 Is a project insurable?

00:07:05 Insurable risk examples

00:07:51 Which technologies lead demand?

00:08:43 FEOC rules explained

00:09:56 How tax insurance is priced

00:10:57 Where it sits in the finance stack

00:13:49 Who benefits from risk transfer?

00:14:01 Impact on project returns

00:14:32 The next big insurable wedge

00:15:13 Why Texas leads the sector

00:15:57 Houston: oil & gas to renewables

00:17:14 War stories from the boom years

00:18:32 Advice for developers

00:19:07 Alliant's large-scale capabilities

00:21:00 Contrarian take: tax policy is stabilising

Tax insurance helps clean energy projects manage the risk of the IRS challenging their tax credits - like the Investment Tax Credit (ITC), Production Tax Credit (PTC), or bonus depreciation. Instead of carrying that uncertainty, developers and investors can transfer it to insurers, adding confidence to project financing.

In this episode, Alejandro speaks with James Chenoweth Managing Director at Alliant Insurance Services, about how the market works and who’s using it. They also touch on the key areas of risk today, such as whether projects properly qualify for credits, potential recapture issues, and structuring above the project level, along with ongoing uncertainty around foreign ownership rules (FEOC), which are still awaiting clearer IRS guidance.

You can watch or listen to new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday.

Transmission is a Modo Energy production. Your host is Alejandro De Diego - US Market Analyst

Modo Energy helps the owners, operators, builders, and financiers of battery energy storage understand the market — and make the most out of their assets. Want all the latest power market news? Sign up for our free Weekly Dispatch newsletter: https://bit.ly/TheWeeklyDispatch

00:00:00 Introduction

00:03:48 What is tax insurance?

00:05:19 Who needs it and why?

00:06:18 Is a project insurable?

00:07:05 Insurable risk examples

00:07:51 Which technologies lead demand?

00:08:43 FEOC rules explained

00:09:56 How tax insurance is priced

00:10:57 Where it sits in the finance stack

00:13:49 Who benefits from risk transfer?

00:14:01 Impact on project returns

00:14:32 The next big insurable wedge

00:15:13 Why Texas leads the sector

00:15:57 Houston: oil & gas to renewables

00:17:14 War stories from the boom years

00:18:32 Advice for developers

00:19:07 Alliant's large-scale capabilities

00:21:00 Contrarian take: tax policy is stabilising

https://modoenergy.com/sign-up?utm_source=podcast_apps&utm_medium=podcast&utm_id=james_chenoweth

How does a major renewable operator decide what gets built, where, and with whose capital? Lolita Carry, Director of Portfolio Strategy at Engie North America, explains how Engie manages a 20GW BESS, wind, and solar pipeline across ERCOT, PJM, MISO, and CAISO.

In this episode Alejandro de Diego speaks with Lolita Carry about how one of the US's largest battery storage operators structures its investment decisions across multiple ISO markets.

They take a look at how Engie steers a 20GW development pipeline across ERCOT, PJM, MISO, and CAISO; the capital recycling model behind Engie's 2.7GW asset sale to SES; what the Broad Reach Power acquisition brought to Engie's battery portfolio; how ancillary service saturation and energy price cannibalisation are reshaping BESS investment cases; and why Engie remains bullish on batteries despite tightening revenues.

You can watch or listen to new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday.

Transmission is a Modo Energy production. Your host is Alejandro De Diego - US Market Analyst

Modo Energy helps the owners, operators, builders, and financiers of battery energy storage understand the market — and make the most out of their assets. Want all the latest power market news? Sign up for our free Weekly Dispatch newsletter: https://bit.ly/TheWeeklyDispatch

Chapters:

0:00 Introduction — Engie's 20GW pipeline and the portfolio challenge

4:01 Capital allocation and key technologies in focus

5:17 Priority ISO markets: ERCOT, PJM, MISO, CAISO

6:04 What makes each market unique

9:27 BESS + solar development: from site to FID

11:00 Risk assessment and project showstoppers

12:32 Network upgrades and interconnection queue dynamics

14:49 Raising and lowering the investment bar across markets

18:01 Where Engie captures the most value: development vs. construction vs. operations

18:59 The capital recycling model — Engie's 2.7GW SES deal explained

20:20 How grid-scale batteries operate day to day

21:45 BESS revenue decline: ancillary services, cannibalisation, and energy arbitrage

22:34 Investment stance

23:27 In-house energy management vs. external optimisers

24:07 Advantages of scale vs. smaller developers

29:10 Career advice for those entering the energy investment sector

30:20 The Broad Reach Power acquisition — lessons and integration

32:05 Final plug and contrarian view on the energy industry

How does a major renewable operator decide what gets built, where, and with whose capital? Lolita Carry, Director of Portfolio Strategy at Engie North America, explains how Engie manages a 20GW BESS, wind, and solar pipeline across ERCOT, PJM, MISO, and CAISO.

In this episode Alejandro de Diego speaks with Lolita Carry about how one of the US's largest battery storage operators structures its investment decisions across multiple ISO markets.

They take a look at how Engie steers a 20GW development pipeline across ERCOT, PJM, MISO, and CAISO; the capital recycling model behind Engie's 2.7GW asset sale to SES; what the Broad Reach Power acquisition brought to Engie's battery portfolio; how ancillary service saturation and energy price cannibalisation are reshaping BESS investment cases; and why Engie remains bullish on batteries despite tightening revenues.

You can watch or listen to new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday.

Transmission is a Modo Energy production. Your host is Alejandro De Diego - US Market Analyst

Modo Energy helps the owners, operators, builders, and financiers of battery energy storage understand the market — and make the most out of their assets. Want all the latest power market news? Sign up for our free Weekly Dispatch newsletter: https://bit.ly/TheWeeklyDispatch

Chapters:

0:00 Introduction — Engie's 20GW pipeline and the portfolio challenge

4:01 Capital allocation and key technologies in focus

5:17 Priority ISO markets: ERCOT, PJM, MISO, CAISO

6:04 What makes each market unique

9:27 BESS + solar development: from site to FID

11:00 Risk assessment and project showstoppers

12:32 Network upgrades and interconnection queue dynamics

14:49 Raising and lowering the investment bar across markets

18:01 Where Engie captures the most value: development vs. construction vs. operations

18:59 The capital recycling model — Engie's 2.7GW SES deal explained

20:20 How grid-scale batteries operate day to day

21:45 BESS revenue decline: ancillary services, cannibalisation, and energy arbitrage

22:34 Investment stance

23:27 In-house energy management vs. external optimisers

24:07 Advantages of scale vs. smaller developers

29:10 Career advice for those entering the energy investment sector

30:20 The Broad Reach Power acquisition — lessons and integration

32:05 Final plug and contrarian view on the energy industry

The money for German battery storage exists. What's scarce is bankability - the clarity that lets a lender actually commit. What are banks really evaluating when they look at BESS projects in Germany and why regulatory uncertainty, grid connection risk, and the structure of offtake agreements can make or break the chances of getting debt across the line.

In this conversation, Ed is joined by Florian Hock, Senior Director, Origination Energy Europe at NORD/LB to explore what separates a financeable BESS project from one that stalls.

If you're developing, financing, or investing in battery storage in Germany or watching the market, this is the episode to understand what the financing layer actually looks like from the inside.

0:00 Introduction

0:57 Banks as advisors, not ATMs

2:50 Financial & regulatory hurdles

7:46 Defining bankability

9:01 Regulatory risks to revenues

10:25 Tolling contracts & capacity markets

16:37 The grid fees debate

19:03 Offtake 1.0 to 4.0

22:49 Germany vs UK valuations

25:10 Navigating ancillary saturation

27:49 The bankability framework

33:33 Beyond capital: NIBC's role

36:53 Grid connection delays

38:14 Flexible connection agreements

39:56 Lessons from the UK

43:31 One change for Europe

#BatteryStorage #EnergyFinance #GermanEnergyMarket #BESS #EnergyTransition

The money for German battery storage exists. What's scarce is bankability - the clarity that lets a lender actually commit. What are banks really evaluating when they look at BESS projects in Germany and why regulatory uncertainty, grid connection risk, and the structure of offtake agreements can make or break the chances of getting debt across the line.

In this conversation, Ed is joined by Florian Hock, Senior Director, Origination Energy Europe at NORD/LB to explore what separates a financeable BESS project from one that stalls.

If you're developing, financing, or investing in battery storage in Germany or watching the market, this is the episode to understand what the financing layer actually looks like from the inside.

0:00 Introduction

0:57 Banks as advisors, not ATMs

2:50 Financial & regulatory hurdles

7:46 Defining bankability

9:01 Regulatory risks to revenues

10:25 Tolling contracts & capacity markets

16:37 The grid fees debate

19:03 Offtake 1.0 to 4.0

22:49 Germany vs UK valuations

25:10 Navigating ancillary saturation

27:49 The bankability framework

33:33 Beyond capital: NIBC's role

36:53 Grid connection delays

38:14 Flexible connection agreements

39:56 Lessons from the UK

43:31 One change for Europe

#BatteryStorage #EnergyFinance #GermanEnergyMarket #BESS #EnergyTransition

The AI boom has created an energy problem no one quite planned for. Every new data center needs power now - not in three years when the grid connection finally arrives. Developers are skipping the queue, installing on-site generation at a scale that would have seemed extraordinary five years ago.

But speed to power isn't the only pressure. Data center operators are also staring down net zero commitments, sustainability departments that want decarbonisation, and an energy trilemma of cost, carbon, and resilience.

In this episode Alejandro is joined by Alex Marshall, Group Business Development and Marketing Director at Clarke Energy. Alex explains why gas engines have become the bridging technology of choice for hyperscale data centers, what a 450 MW peaking station outside London actually looks like, and whether the engineering department and the sustainability team will ever agree.

You can watch or listen to new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday.

Transmission is a Modo Energy production. Your host is Alejandro De Diego - US Market Analyst

Modo Energy helps the owners, operators, builders, and financiers of battery energy storage understand the market — and make the most out of their assets. Want all the latest power market news? Sign up for our free Weekly Dispatch newsletter: https://bit.ly/TheWeeklyDispatch

Chapters

- 0:00 — Introduction

- 1:44 — Guest intro: Alex Marshall & Clarke Energy

- 3:30 — Data centers and the shift to self-generation

- 5:00 — The inflection point: Ireland to the US

- 7:00 — Biggest project: 450 MW peaking station, London

- 7:45 — Gas engines vs batteries: what fills the dunkelflaute gap

- 9:00 — What US data centers actually buy

- 10:20 — The net zero pathway for gas engines

- 14:00 — Speed to power vs cost savings

- 17:00 — Europe vs US: sustainability and energy culture

- 18:00 — 45Y production tax credit: what's at stake

- 22:10 — Clarke Energy's business model

- 22:40 — Project highlights: Ireland, Indiana, Nigeria, Romania

- 25:00 — The contrarian view: biogas & organic waste

The AI boom has created an energy problem no one quite planned for. Every new data center needs power now - not in three years when the grid connection finally arrives. Developers are skipping the queue, installing on-site generation at a scale that would have seemed extraordinary five years ago.

But speed to power isn't the only pressure. Data center operators are also staring down net zero commitments, sustainability departments that want decarbonisation, and an energy trilemma of cost, carbon, and resilience.

In this episode Alejandro is joined by Alex Marshall, Group Business Development and Marketing Director at Clarke Energy. Alex explains why gas engines have become the bridging technology of choice for hyperscale data centers, what a 450 MW peaking station outside London actually looks like, and whether the engineering department and the sustainability team will ever agree.

You can watch or listen to new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday.

Transmission is a Modo Energy production. Your host is Alejandro De Diego - US Market Analyst

Modo Energy helps the owners, operators, builders, and financiers of battery energy storage understand the market — and make the most out of their assets. Want all the latest power market news? Sign up for our free Weekly Dispatch newsletter: https://bit.ly/TheWeeklyDispatch

Chapters

- 0:00 — Introduction

- 1:44 — Guest intro: Alex Marshall & Clarke Energy

- 3:30 — Data centers and the shift to self-generation

- 5:00 — The inflection point: Ireland to the US

- 7:00 — Biggest project: 450 MW peaking station, London

- 7:45 — Gas engines vs batteries: what fills the dunkelflaute gap

- 9:00 — What US data centers actually buy

- 10:20 — The net zero pathway for gas engines

- 14:00 — Speed to power vs cost savings

- 17:00 — Europe vs US: sustainability and energy culture

- 18:00 — 45Y production tax credit: what's at stake

- 22:10 — Clarke Energy's business model

- 22:40 — Project highlights: Ireland, Indiana, Nigeria, Romania

- 25:00 — The contrarian view: biogas & organic waste

Australia has built one of the world's most competitive battery storage markets — and it got there faster than almost anywhere else on the planet. What started as an experiment in South Australia in 2017 has grown into a mature, multi-gigawatt industry that is now redefining what grid-scale batteries can do.

In this episode of Transmission, host Wendel Hortop sits down with Jérémie Yvon, Head of Energy Management at Neoen Australia, to explore how one of the country's largest renewable energy companies is navigating the rapidly evolving battery landscape across both the National Electricity Market (NEM) and the Western Australian Electricity Market (WEM).

They cover the maturation of the Australian battery market, how Neoen structures battery revenue across two very different market designs, the rise of virtual batteries and firm renewable PPAs, long-duration storage investment, and why Jérémie believes battery oversupply is a credible - and under appreciated - risk.

You can watch or listen to new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday.

Transmission is a Modo Energy production. Your host is Wendel Hortop - Head of Australia

Modo Energy helps the owners, operators, builders, and financiers of battery energy storage understand the market — and make the most out of their assets. Want all the latest power market news? Sign up for our free Weekly Dispatch newsletter:

https://bit.ly/TheWeeklyDispatch

Chapters

0:00 Introduction — the hospital generator analogy

1:45 Guest intro: Jérémie Yvon and Neoen Australia

4:30 NEM vs WEM: how battery economics differ

8:30 Hornsdale: from proof of concept to system services

11:30 NEM design — volatility and five-minute trading

14:00 WEM design — capacity market mechanics

17:00 Revenue compression in ancillary services

20:30 How Neoen builds optimisation capabilities in-house

23:00 Battery + wind firming: delivering baseload renewables

25:30 Virtual battery products explained

29:00 Risk management for firm products

32:00 Solar cannibalisation and price suppression

38:00 Long-duration storage pipeline

44:00 Rate of change of frequency (RoCoF) services

47:00 Are batteries now the cheapest system service provider?

50:00 Contrarian view: what the market is getting wrong

51:39 Wrap-up

Modo Energy | modoenergy.com

Australia has built one of the world's most competitive battery storage markets — and it got there faster than almost anywhere else on the planet. What started as an experiment in South Australia in 2017 has grown into a mature, multi-gigawatt industry that is now redefining what grid-scale batteries can do.

In this episode of Transmission, host Wendel Hortop sits down with Jérémie Yvon, Head of Energy Management at Neoen Australia, to explore how one of the country's largest renewable energy companies is navigating the rapidly evolving battery landscape across both the National Electricity Market (NEM) and the Western Australian Electricity Market (WEM).

They cover the maturation of the Australian battery market, how Neoen structures battery revenue across two very different market designs, the rise of virtual batteries and firm renewable PPAs, long-duration storage investment, and why Jérémie believes battery oversupply is a credible - and under appreciated - risk.

You can watch or listen to new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday.

Transmission is a Modo Energy production. Your host is Wendel Hortop - Head of Australia

Modo Energy helps the owners, operators, builders, and financiers of battery energy storage understand the market — and make the most out of their assets. Want all the latest power market news? Sign up for our free Weekly Dispatch newsletter:

https://bit.ly/TheWeeklyDispatch

Chapters

0:00 Introduction — the hospital generator analogy

1:45 Guest intro: Jérémie Yvon and Neoen Australia

4:30 NEM vs WEM: how battery economics differ

8:30 Hornsdale: from proof of concept to system services

11:30 NEM design — volatility and five-minute trading

14:00 WEM design — capacity market mechanics

17:00 Revenue compression in ancillary services

20:30 How Neoen builds optimisation capabilities in-house

23:00 Battery + wind firming: delivering baseload renewables

25:30 Virtual battery products explained

29:00 Risk management for firm products

32:00 Solar cannibalisation and price suppression

38:00 Long-duration storage pipeline

44:00 Rate of change of frequency (RoCoF) services

47:00 Are batteries now the cheapest system service provider?

50:00 Contrarian view: what the market is getting wrong

51:39 Wrap-up

Modo Energy | modoenergy.com