kWh Analytics Launches the Solar Generation Advance to Provide New Revenue Stream for Asset Owners
SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–kWh Analytics, the market leader in Insurance for the Energy Transition, launched the first-of-its-kind Solar Generation Advance today. The Solar Generation Advance allows solar asset owners to receive upfront “bonus” payments in return for maintaining asset performance. The innovative new offering was developed in partnership with Excelsior Energy Capital.
kWh Analytics has structured the Solar Revenue Put on $3 billion projects, enhancing project economics and protecting against downside risk for both sponsors and lenders since 2017. As the market leader in insurance, kWh Analytics continues to explore unique solutions to improve project financial terms and mitigate risk for sponsors and financiers. The Solar Generation Advance represents another milestone in this process: the Advance provides a second revenue stream for operating and new build projects.
The Solar Generation Advance provides an additional revenue source for both development and operating assets. Specifically, for development stage assets, the Solar Generation Advance can provide additional unencumbered cash for developers, which can increase their development fee or increase equity internal rates of return by 50-100 bps. For operating assets, the Solar Generation Advance provides a flexible funding source for additional sponsor distributions or operations and maintenance enhancements to the project.
“As a long-term asset owner, we understand the benefit of flexible capital and additional revenue streams in today’s market. The Solar Generation Advance provides value-enhancing optionality to both developers and asset owners, and we are proud to be a part of this innovative solution” said Ryan Fegley, Partner and Co-Founder at Excelsior Energy Capital.
“We are excited to deliver a solution that rewards prudent owners and stewards of solar power plants. The Solar Generation Advance and Solar Revenue Put are complementary risk management tools that sophisticated investors use to unlock more value from their assets,” said Richard Matsui, CEO and Founder at kWh Analytics.
The Solar Generation Advance will help ensure our industry accomplishes its goal of installing more solar to accelerate the Energy Transition, while continuing to provide reliable returns to equity investors. Akin Gump has provided legal support for the formation of this project with a team led by Daniel Lynch and including Matt Kapinos and Graham McCall.
About kWh Analytics
kWh Analytics, the market leader in Insurance for the Energy Transition, uses our proprietary database of renewable energy project performance of 300,000+ operating assets — the world’s largest renewables database — to underwrite insurance policies for renewable energy, backed by Swiss Re, the world’s largest reinsurer. We have insured $3 billion of American solar power plants with our first insurance product, the Solar Revenue Put. kWh Analytics is funded by venture capital and the US Department of Energy. To learn more, please visit https://www.kwhanalytics.com/, connect with us on LinkedIn, or follow @kwhanaltyics on Twitter.
About Excelsior Energy Capital
Excelsior Energy Capital is a pure-play renewable energy infrastructure fund focused on long-term investments in wind and solar power plants in North America. The Excelsior management team alone brings over 70 years of combined experience and a comprehensive set of strategic, financial, legal and operational expertise; making Excelsior Energy Capital a valuable partner for developers and operators, and a trusted manager for investors. For more information, visit http://www.excelsiorcapital.com.
Contacts
Stephanie Lee
stephanie.lee@kwhanalytics.com
