There is growing interest globally in hydrogen as a technology with the potential to accelerate the pace of decarbonisation across multiple sectors. By Errol Schultz, director, advisory, Global Corporate & Investment Banking, MUFG Bank, and Georgina Haire, associate.

After years of effort, 2021 is expected to finally provide major financing activity for the offshore wind sector in the United States. By Nic Stone.

It is approaching three years since former energy lawyers Vincent Dwyer and Simon Currie departed from their senior roles in the partnership of the Norton Rose Fulbright firm to set up advisory and accelerator firm Energy Estate in April 2018, seeking to “accelerate the energy transition”. By Alex Dockreay.

UK-based Hive Energy has traditionally been a solar developer but is eyeing green hydrogen as a totally clean source of fuel. The company has a number of ambitious renewable hydrogen projects in its pipeline in South Africa and Spain – where it believes the technology will perfectly complement its solar assets. By Jordan Bintcliffe.

South Korea’s banking industry is often seen as lumbering and egregiously lacking the international chutzpah, ambition and ubiquity of the chaebols. But an international expansion is under way – and KEB Hana bank is leading it. And at home and abroad, the project finance franchise is being driven by the “green industrial revolution.” By Jon Rogers.

For anyone taking a stroll through the many Chinatowns in the United States, the East West Bank brand will be instantly recognisable. The bank has plans to make the brand equally familiar in the world of project finance. By Nick Herbert.

Singapore’s OCBC is moving to align its lending mission statement with the sustainability movement, which is growing with seismic force globally as concerns about global warming have shifted into full-on crisis mode. The bank is targeting sustainable lending to reach US$25bn by 2025. That goal is on track to be fully achieved. By Jonathan Rogers.

How have African governments and companies responded to Covid-19, and how are they preparing for the different world it will bring in its wake? PFI speaks with Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund on the company’s experiences on the front lines. By Peter Collins.

The year 2020 started with the expectation that volume records would be set for tax equity. By late in the first quarter, the pandemic was in full swing, construction crews were sidelined and banks and law firms had to work from home to put orders in place. The renewable energy finance industry was braced for a downturn with various participants adopting austerity measures. By David Burton, partner, Norton Rose Fulbright.

The rapid growth of the energy storage asset class is expected to require large amounts of capital from the non-recourse project finance markets. By Neeraj Arora, partner, and Jane Kang, associate, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP.

Capital Region Solar is a first to market 50MW solar photovoltaic energy facility in West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, which began operating in late October. By Greg Lavigne, global project finance partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, New York.

Financing for Orion’s acquisition of Occidental’s land grant assets combined features of project finance and securitisation. Development of the project will span the sectors. By Alison Healey.

In July 2020, in the shadow of the Covid-19 global pandemic, Reliance Power and JERA reached dry financial close on their 745MW natural gas combined-cycle power project in Meghnaghat, Narayanganj. By Haroun Khawaja, Yohei Oishi and Samia Tariq of Asian Development Bank, Daisuke Matsui and Tomohiko Nishiu of Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Mineto Inoue of Nippon Export and Investment Insurance, and Hans Menski and Michael Pallaras of Clifford Chance.

Australia’s largest virtual power plant (VPP) is providing energy savings for social housing tenants in South Australia. By Zeno Atherton, associate director, Clean Futures Team, Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC).

As part of the Asterix project, Bouygues Telecom and Vauban Infrastructure Partners joined forces to accelerate the roll-out of fibre-optic in France. By Charlotte de Parseval, director – leveraged and telecom finance group, and Elodie Moreau, director – structured finance advisory, TMT, Crédit Agricole CIB.

On August 6 2020, the Almaty ring road concession, the first international PPP project in Central Asia, reached a major milestone – closing with a debt package of US$585m arranged by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. What was it like to close a pioneering PPP deal from a kitchen table during lockdown? By Grigory Savva, associate director at the EBRD.