SMP 117: European Commercial Solar Discussion with the Pioneer of PPA Financing in Europe

Solar Maverick Podcast

Episode Summary

In this episode of the Solar Maverick Podcast, Benoy speaks with Harald Overholm who is the CEO and Founder of Alight Energy. Alight Energy is the leading solar Power Purchase Agreement provider in the Nordics and developing more than 500 MW of PPA-based onsite and offsite projects across Europe. Harald speaks about many interesting topics like the European PPA market, how the European solar market has evolved, and how higher electricity prices in the past year is allowing more solar.

Benoy Thanjan

Benoy Thanjan is the Founder and CEO of Reneu Energy, as well as 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, as well as utility-scale solar plus storage projects. The company also sources financing for solar projects and hedges both 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.

Harald Overholm

Harald was previously a cleantech venture capitalist and an advisor on solar markets to the WWF and the Swedish Government. He earned his PhD from the University of Cambridge with a thesis on solar diffusion and PPA. He is a member of the International Energy Agency’s PVPS workgroup on solar business models, a former associate with leading global sustainability think tank Stockholm Environment Institute, and a former board member of the Swedish Solar Energy Association.

Stay Connected:

Benoy Thanjan

Email: [e-mail]

LinkedIn: Benoy Thanjan

Website: https://www.reneuenergy.com

Harald Overholm

Website: https://www.alight-energy.com

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haraldoverholm/

Additional Notes

Benoy wrote two articles on Power Purchase Agreements(“PPA”) in Renewable Energy World and PV Magazine. The links are below.

https://www.renewableenergyworld.com/wind-power/achieving-affordable-clean-energy-goals-through-offsite-corporate-ppas/

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/553e8897e4b0836f4e9a5ccd/t/59bd51a4e5dd5b51a03c20ab/1505579432776/09050_Corporate_PPAs.pdf

Below is a link with Solar Maverick Podcast Episode 52 called PPA 101.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/smp-52-ppa-101/id1441876259?i=1000455375187

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This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)