Previous Agenda

• How can the renewables industry rise to meet demand for energy and REPower EU targets?
• How will the cost of raw materials and their availability affect the economics of solar and storage moving forward?
• Which key raw materials might be subject to shortages?
• Will limits on the global supply chain put the march to net zero at risk?
• What investors and governments could do next to ensure a stable transition

• We have seen exciting advances in solar technology over recent years but how are investors keeping up and ensuring the right products are selected for projects?
• When it comes to improvements, what are investors looking for?
• How is CAPEX expected to change - have we passed the era of downward cost curves?
• How are manufacturers building up supply chain?

• The EU has released emergency regulations to accelerate renewables, what will these entail?
• How are networks responding and aiding growth in renewables?
• What would an efficient permitting timeline look like?

This session will begin with a quick-fire presentation which will be delivered by Bloomberg. It will cover the landscape and context for M&A and partnerships in 2023. The audience will then split into smaller round table discussion groups where investors and developers can discuss business 1-2-1. Each round table will be hosted by an investor and developers will move around the room. Tickets only available to developers & investors.

• What is the long-term outlook for power prices in Europe?
• Who is benefitting the most from the current high prices? (as of August 2022)
• How do utilities and traders’ price PPAs?
• How are corporate PPAs typically priced?
• Utility PPAs vs Corporate PPAs: key differences

• The UK opportunity in a 40GW+ market
• Main market players, pipeline and completed projects
• How are the different markets shaping up (ground mount, C&I, local authority)?
• The storage opportunity
• The larger-scale opportunity - Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs)
• Myth-busting

• Are asset owners ready for a merchant world?
• The PPA/Merchant split
• Pros and cons of different approaches
• Actively managing revenue of a portfolio
• The additional role storage can play in revenue generation
• Other sources of revenue to consider

With the Romanian government expected to host auctions for solar in 2023, this panel will examine the market opportunity, reality of doing business in Romania, offtake market and the infrastructure in place to drive the market forward.

• What tactics are developers using to ensure supply?
• Are ESG requirements having an impact on projects?
• How much local supply needs to be built to secure a European supply chain?
• Will production in other regions such as expand?
• How to achieve more sustainable supply with solar projects?

• What does the pipeline of projects in Poland look like?
• Which regions are attractive?
• With a 47% year-on-year increase, what happened to the Polish PPA market in 2022?
• How is the grid working to accommodate new development?
• Which investors have appetite for Poland and what are their return expectations?

• The EU has a 40GW target by 2030, what part of that will be solar-powered?
• How has the European solar-powered green hydrogen market grown in 2022?
• Green hydrogen from the perspective of an offtaker
• Lender and investor perspectives

• Relevant risks of your PV assets and how to quantify these risks.
• What are hedging strategies to reduce risks?
• Importance of a portfolio approach to risk management
• Case study: risk management to allow new projects.

• Policy updates and market movement
• Solar, storage and green hydrogen
• After the auctions - how have current economics affected projects from earlier auctions?

The PV industry is scaling up at breakneck speed, while political decisions can change our context overnight. Where does that leave us for large-scale solar developments which on one hand feature an extensive lead time, and on the other hand need long-term planning certainty to secure return on investment?

• Long-term strategic partnerships
• Priorities in ESG
• Sustainable goals and carbon reporting
• 2023-2024 outlook

August 2022 saw Europe's largest solar project being switched on in Spain and the government has a target of 75% of power from renewables by 2030 which should be met.

• How will Spain ease dependency on gas with solar?
• What happened to Spanish energy prices and project economics in 2022, what should we expect in 2023?
• How are the networks contending with installations?

What are the most effective tools to extend the life of your assets?

This session will look at some of the up and coming markets in Europe for solar, featuring active developers and investors in the Balkans, the Baltics and the Nordics.

In Europe, there are approximately 20 GW of PV plants larger than 1 MW which were built more than 10 years ago. How can asset owners optimise these assets?

As we see a rise in collocated solar and storage, questions still remain. Although the speed and ease of installing a battery storage project to capture excess solar energy is unrivalled, companies need to understand how to:

• Model the benefits of a co-located model for developers and IPPs
• Source finance at the right cost
• What is the most effective ownership model for the solar project and the battery?
• Secure multiple routes to market
• Select the right battery!

The French Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) announced the fast-tracking of 2.7 GW of solar energy as well as other renewables with a CfD mechanism. It is expected that by 2025, around 10% of of the country's power could come from solar with an estimated 37GW installed. More recently, the government also announced that all large carparks should include solar panels within the next 5-years. This alone could yield up to 11 GW of solar opportunity. Under consideration are additional plans to make use of brownfield land for solar projects alongside motorways and railways as well as an increase in Agrivoltaics.

538.4 MW of renewables capacity was awarded in the recent Greek tender and the country will continue to hold tenders throughout 2023. Whilst lower than the 1 GW of renewables targeted by the country’s regulator, RAE, the figure represents 372 MW of solar PV at an average price of Euros 47.98/MWh. This panel will investigate this tender, as well as upcoming auctions and the proposed Euros 340 million grid-scale storage plan which should represent 900 MW or storage capacity. 

Rooftop portfolios have become more attractive to institutional investors but there is a long way to go before it reaches its true potential. With both investors and corporate offtakers showing increasing interest in this space, what can we do to make investments more attractive and how can debt providers innovate to enable growth?

• CAPEX and power prices went up in 2022, what does this mean for project economics moving forward?
• How might power prices pan out across Europe - what has winter 2022 shown us?
• Where can asset owners spend to boost yield and what's not worth it?
• How have current economics affected projects planned under different scenarios?

2022 has been a great year for Irish solar. Projects started to gain grid connections and the country is set to see over 400 MW of projects which won the first auction (RESS 1) completed in 2023 with more to come from the second auction (RESS 2) in 2024. Almost 5 GW of projects have planning permission which should make the national target of 5.5 GW by 2030 very achievable and the expectation is that a third auction will take place in 2023. This session will offer a snapshot of the Irish market and provide clarity on some of the market challenges.