SMP 127: An Investor differentiates itself by assisting with project development.

Solar Maverick Podcast

Episode Summary

In this episode of Solar Maverick Podcast, John Chaimanis and Benoy Thanjan talk about Kendall Sustainable Infrastructure (KSI), how it was founded and how it can differentiate itself from its competitors. Their conversation in this episode goes into development capital, John's ideal projects, his thoughts on frictionless close, why he discourages discounting electricity for community projects, and how he values solar projects and renewable energy.

Benoy Thanjan

Benoy Thanjan is the Founder and CEO of Reneu Energy and is also an advisor for several solar startup companies. Reneu Energy is a premier international solar energy consulting firm and developer, and the company focuses on developing commercial and industrial solar and utility-scale solar plus storage projects. The company also hedges energy and environmental commodities.

Benoy received his first experience in Finance as an intern at D.E. Shaw & Co., which is a global investment firm with 37 billion dollars in investment capital. Before founding Reneu Energy, he was the SREC Trader in the Project Finance Group for SolarCity, which merged with Tesla in 2016. He originated SREC trades with buyers and co-developed their SREC monetization and hedging strategy with the senior management of SolarCity to move into the east coast markets. Benoy also worked at Vanguard Energy Partners, Ridgewood Renewable Power, and Deloitte & Touche.

John Chaimanis

John Chaimanis is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Kendall Sustainable Infrastructure (KSI), a leading development and asset management firm that positively impacts the world through direct investments into distributed scale sustainable infrastructure assets such as clean energy and water projects. He is a recognized thought leader, lecturer, and author. He consults regularly with sustainable business startups, investors, and institutions on the topics of sustainability and project finance and is an adjunct faculty in the finance division at Babson College.

Prior to his career in clean energy investing, Mr. Chaimanis co-founded a charter school in the greater Boston area. Mr. Chaimanis holds an M.B.A. from Babson College, a B.S. in Finance from Villanova University, and a US SIF for Sustainable and Responsible Investing (SRI) certification.

He has been featured in the 2014 Journal of Environmental Investing “Most Influential Investors” edition, the Institutional Investing in Infrastructure “In Focus” interview web series, the Family Office Review, the SunCast Podcast with Nico Johnson, the Experts Only Podcast, the Solar Maverick Podcast, the EM2U Podcast, and is the author of a graduate-level energy investment business case.

Insights from this episode:

• Details about Kendall Sustainable Infrastructure (KSI)
• How KSI differentiates itself from other competitors
• Insights into development capital
• John's ideal projects
• Why John discourages discounting electricity for community projects
• Insights into valuing a solar project
• Trends in the industry (renewable energy)
• Insights into the value of DER (distributed energy resources)

Quotes from the show:

• “The first transactions are always the most difficult. If you are able to get through that, it seems like it’s a lot more scalable” -Benoy Thanjan, Solar Maverick Podcast
• “It can be a very bad situation when you staff a development inside an organization that just doesn’t know how to deal with development capital and development risk” -John Chaimanis, Solar Maverick Podcast
• “Development capital is very risky. If you don’t have the structure right, you don’t have the right alignment, there can be disagreement and challenges” -John Chaimanis, Solar Maverick Podcast
• “There are not enough projects out there to meet investors' appetite” -Benoy Thanjan, Solar Maverick Podcast
• “What we see is the value of DER (distributed energy resources) to be the single most valuable kilowatt power on the system” -John Chaimanis, Solar Maverick Podcast
• “We make electricity, just like anybody else that makes electricity, but we get the privilege of selling our electricity at a discount. It just does not make sense why we should be discounting it” -John Chaimanis, Solar Maverick Podcast
• “A frictionless close can be done when you have trust in a relationship or a partnership” -John Chaimanis, Solar Maverick Podcast
• “We have been really fortunate to find like-minded professionals that are as interested in making a good profit as they are in dealing in dignity and respect” -John Chaimanis, Solar Maverick Podcast
• “There is always gonna be a lot of room for a local regional developer: could be an individual, could be three people” -John Chaimanis, Solar Maverick Podcast

Stay connected:

Benoy Thanjan

Website: www.reneuenergy.com

Email: [e-mail]

LinkedIn: Benoy Thanjan

Facebook: Reneu Energy

John Chaimanis

Website: www.kendallsustainableinfrastructure.com/

LinkedIn: John Chaimanis

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This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry.