The solar industry must increase capacity and continue to fight cost escalation to meet climate change goals. By David Dixon, senior renewable analyst, and Sumit Yadav, cost analyst, Rystad Energy.

Wind turbine manufacturers may be facing another tough year. How long will headwinds persist in the wake of COP26 and how will this impact project prices in 2022? Arup’s James Theobalds, transaction director, Meltem Duran, senior offshore wind consultant and Amy Johnstone, renewable energy consultant, explore the factors affecting the outlook for the industry.

Energy Estate, with our friends at Cranmore Partners, recently co-published H2i, a ranking of the top 40 countries for hydrogen producers (www.h2-index.com/). By Peter Conway, director, Energy Estate.

As the CO2 storage industry increasingly handles third-party supplies of CO2, the landscape is set to change as the industry looks to exploit conveniently located sites. By Royal Bank of Canada analysts, London.

The first non-recourse debt financing for the construction of an offshore wind farm was closed in October 2006. Fifteen years later, as the sector has moved from a marginal activity confined to the North Sea to a global industry and is now seen as a critical part of the ongoing energy transition, it is interesting to take a look back and see what has changed, and what has not, on the debt financing side. By Jérôme Guillet who was managing director of Green Giraffe until August 2021 and has been involved in offshore wind financings since 2004.

The founders of Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners have been investing in power markets since the early 1990s and renewables since 1997. Armed with that experience to focus on lower carbon and renewable energy infrastructure investment and operational asset management, Quinbrook finds itself in the right place at the right time, at the centre of one of the biggest industries on the planet. By Nick Herbert.

Needing to continue to attract investment dollars from global infrastructure players, the US is confronting dual demands: remediation of decades of deferred investment and under-investment across multiple infrastructure asset classes, and investment in future-proofing US infrastructure assets, including combatting the effects of climate change. By Dolly Mirchandani, partner, White & Case LLP.

Transitioning to a circular economy that retains plastic in its highest value condition is essential to reducing environmental impacts, promoting reduction, re-use, and recycling. By Andrew Butler, director, Industrials Transport and Consumer, Commonwealth Bank.

The wind power sector in Vietnam is still in a relatively nascent stage but has significant potential, both onshore and offshore. The recently closed 144MW Lotus onshore wind power project, structured and arranged by the Asian Development Bank, is to-date the first and largest internationally project-financed wind-power project in Vietnam to utilise long-term US dollar limited-recourse financing from development finance institutions and commercial banks, and represents a major step forward in this fast emerging sector. By Michael Gabisch, Desiree Zhou and Nicholas Moller from the Asian Development Bank and Ben Thompson from Mayer Brown, Singapore.

Pulau Indah Power Plant Sdn Bhd (PIPP) has been incorporated as a single-purpose company to undertake the development of a greenfield 2x600MW combined-cycle gas-fired power plant in Pulau Indah, Selangor, Malaysia. By Audrey Chew, Christopher Ang, Danny Lim and Eric Yap, UOB, Jerry Tiew Wei Hsiang and Leong Yew Seng, Adnan Sundra & Low, and Nasri Mohd Jamal, Worldwide.

Eight international banks have signed a revolving construction financing of US$1.1bn, initially funding four transmission assets spread across various states in India being developed by various subsidiaries of Adani Transmission Ltd. By Santosh Janakiram, Subhalakshmi Naskar and Pururaj Bhar, partners in Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas.

Bank of the Year – Standard Chartered

SWPC’s original plan included Jubail 3 as a stand-alone IWP with a capacity of 1.2Mm3/d, but the project was later split and tendered as two separate schemes given the size. By Ali Tahir Jaffery, executive director, Project and Export Finance, AME, Standard Chartered and Sarah Kiriluk, Head of Acquisitions, Investments & Financial Advisory for Middle East, India & Africa, Engie.

Every now and then a project comes along that is a genuine milestone. The Warsan waste-to-energy project in the Emirate of Dubai was successfully financed in June this year. By Belinda Knox, Director Investment, I-Environment Investments, Peter Lembrechts, Head of Concessions & Assets, Besix Middle East, and Richard Keenan, partner, Covington.

Orange’s Polish subsidiary has raised an approximately €650m local currency debt package backing its fibre rollout and taking it off balance sheet. The company is looking to gain a head-start in Poland, where fibre connections are still sparse. By Jordan Bintcliffe.