November 7, 2018

Allan Marks to Moderate Panel at 2018 Energy Storage North America Conference

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Energy storage projects are increasingly attracting new capital investment. Milbank Project, Energy and Infrastructure Finance partner Allan Marks will explore the frameworks for risk reduction and mitigation, as he moderates a discussion on “Identifying, Assigning and Allocating Risk” at this year’s Energy Storage North America (ESNA) conference on November 8, 2018 in Pasadena, California. Mr. Marks has extensive experience representing developers, investors and lenders in the development, financing and acquisition of a wide range of energy and infrastructure projects, including energy storage facilities.

Investors and lenders are competing to capitalize on growing opportunities in energy storage facilities. Reducing and allocating risk – the topic of Mr. Marks’ panel – will be key to attracting debt and equity capital to fund new projects. Moody’s Investors Service recently highlighted energy storage as an emerging opportunity in project finance, although the market “still presents risks and challenges that could affect the development of battery storage on a non-recourse, project finance basis.” As with any new technology, managing risk in energy storage must be paramount to attract investment in an ever-changing marketplace.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance released a report in November 2017 forecasting the global energy storage market will double six times between 2016 and 2030, with $103 billion invested in energy storage over this period. Nationally, new rules from FERC will expand the role of wholesale energy storage projects in regional power grids. The California market has already taken off. With the signing of SB 100 in September, California law now sets a 100% clean, zero carbon, and renewable energy policy for California’s electricity system by 2045, paving the way for the expansion of the energy storage industry. California has procured more than 1,500MW of energy storage capacity since 2010. This summer, Southern California Edison submitted its Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) that highlighted the significant role of energy storage in achieving California’s electricity sector greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction goals by 2030. SCE models showed that in order to reduce its grid-based GHG emissions to 28 million metric tons by 2030, California load-serving entities would need to procure an additional 9,604MW of energy storage.

ESNA is the leading energy storage conference and expo in North America. Mr. Marks will join more than 2,500 delegates and 100 exhibitors, including developers, investors, energy users, utilities and policymakers, in advancing the understanding and deployment of energy storage.