Blog - Guest Blogs & Editorials

Adding value – the BVI corporate advantage

  • 5 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

  • 5 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.

The rise of the Power Purchase Agreement

  • 5 years ago (2019-05-27)
  • Junior Isles

Corporate PPAs might not be a new phenomenon, but the size and frequency of the deals have picked up in the last five years, with 121 corporations across the world purchasing a total of 13.4GW of renewable energy on corporate PPAs in 2018, according to BloombergNEF.

By Kathrine Stene Bakke, Senior Principal at Pöyry

The business of battery storage

  • 5 years ago (2019-05-18)
  • Junior Isles

While the energy market is stable at the moment, what can organisations do to be more resilient when it comes to price shifts, reduce their reliance on the grid and minimise their environmental impact? The answer is battery storage. 

By Paul Sheffield, Chief Operating Officer, Haven Power

Parents of the revolution: why we must start planning for the coming digital age today

  • 6 years ago (2019-03-17)
  • Junior Isles

Don’t work harder; work smarter. This old adage is taking on new significance as digitalisation transforms our economies. Today, we stand at the precipice of a global productivity revolution and the watchword of this will be: “work smarter.”

Stephen Woodhouse, Chief Digital Officer at Pöyry.

 

Addressing four major risks to the physical data security of energy facilities

  • 6 years ago (2019-01-23)
  • Junior Isles

Physical data security is often overlooked within energy facilities – where the stakes could not be higher.

By Douglas Miorandi, Director of U.S. Federal Programs at Metrasens

2018-2019 … the pivotal years for New Energy

  • 6 years ago (2019-01-07)
  • Junior Isles

Decentralised energy has now firmly moved from being on the periphery of the energy debate to front and centre. Most companies now recognise the direction in which the market is heading and it seems like we are approaching the cusp of change.

By Jenny Carson, Senior Analyst,  Delta-ee