Blog - Guest Blogs & Editorials

How to tackle environmental compliance in a decentralised energy market

  • 4 years ago (2019-11-01)
  • Junior Isles

Malcolm Gray, CFO and co-founder of Libryo, discusses the challenges energy businesses face with ever-changing legislation.

Merchant renewables: a viable investment or a bubble fit to burst?

  • 4 years ago (2019-10-03)
  • Junior Isles

Like many other nations, Spain has incentives to encourage investment in renewable energy production. After several years with a ‘moratorium’ on incentives and no new build, the need for incentives has disappeared almost overnight as renewable energy sources have reduced costs and have now achieved “grid parity”, meaning that they can be developed without government subsidies. Whilst this has encouraged an increase in renewable energy projects, it could be harmful to profits and have serious economic risks for investors. So what are the potential risks of taking a long-lasting grid parity in Spain for granted, how can these problems be mitigated and why is it relevant to us all?

By Javier Revuelta, ÅF Pöyry Management Consulting  

Regulatory support can power Latin America’s utilities

  • 4 years ago (2019-09-26)
  • Junior Isles

Although policy uncertainty is spreading across Latin America, strong regulatory frameworks are keeping the region’s utilities on the right track.

By Julyana Yokota, Senior Director and Sector Lead, Infrastructure and Utilities, Latin America, S&P Global Ratings.

Digital Revolution: how blockchain is lagging behind investors’ expectations

  • 4 years ago (2019-09-08)
  • Junior Isles

Despite the large levels of investment in blockchain, the question remains: when will we see scalable, commercial blockchain solutions that can drive real value in the utility industry?

By Robert Schwarz, Principal Consultant, ÅF Pöyry

Taking a shared value approach to energy

  • 4 years ago (2019-07-09)
  • Junior Isles

Climate-conscious companies across the globe and across industries are starting to invest more in shared value strategies for business growth.  The electricity landscape is a prime example of this. As it undergoes a transformation, becoming more complex than ever before with rapidly evolving technologies, declining costs, and shifting regulatory landscapes, the electricity grid’s shared infrastructure provides the underserved with access to affordable services.

By Marga Hoek

Adding value – the BVI corporate advantage

  • 4 years ago (2019-07-09)
  • Junior Isles

A jurisdiction that offers modern corporate laws, efficient and effective court relief and investor neutrality can add value through a corporate structure for frontier and emerging market projects reliant on multinational inbound investment. The BVI is a jurisdiction that offers such corporate solutions. While this does not reduce all the risks faced by investors, such structures can mitigate legislative, corporate, transactional and court risk – this is known as the BVI Corporate Advantage.

By Greg Boyd, Partner in the Transactional Group at Harneys in the BVI Office

Turning up the heat on net zero

  • 4 years ago (2019-07-09)
  • Junior Isles

The way we heat our homes and workplaces poses the greatest challenge to the UK achieving its 2059 net zero emissions target. One area that is currently being overlooked by industry is district heating.

By Ken Hunnisett, project director, Triple Point Heat Networks Investment Project

When uncertainty does not mean an opportunity

  • 5 years ago (2019-06-08)
  • Junior Isles

By Deborah Ruff, Partner, and Julia Kalinina Belcher, Counsel, at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman

In January 2019, all 28 EU member states agreed to terminate all existing intra-EU bilateral investment treaties between them (“intra-EU BITs”) with a deadline of December 2019. Reason? The European Court of Justice’s (“ECJ”) ruling in Achmea v Slovak Republic, which held that EU investors can no longer rely on intra-EU BITs to advance claims against EU member states. The Achmea ruling is clear that arbitrating claims under intra-EU BITs is inconsistent with EU law. However, Achmea left the door open to claims under multilateral treaties to which EU itself is party, such as, for example, the Energy Charter Treaty (the “ECT”). Or did it?

Tariff structures: PV or not PV, that is the question.

  • 5 years ago (2019-06-04)
  • Junior Isles

by James Cox, Director, Pöyry Management Consulting

As part of a major multi-client study, Pöyry has investigated how rapidly falling technology costs could transform the global retail electricity market; every household could have their own rooftop solar, basement batteries and electric vehicles. This raises the question: will we see a significant uptake in decentralisation in the next decade, or will changes in tariff structures and retail prices curb this  natural development?

Winds of change: keeping the UK’s renewables drive on track

  • 5 years ago (2019-06-03)
  • Junior Isles

Tim McNeilly, Managing Director, I.C. Electrical, part of VEO Group.

When it comes to securing European investment for new wind farms, the UK still lags behind regions such as Scandinavia and will need to give careful thought to the efficiency of electrical installation processes if future projects are to be delivered on time.