Solar Securitization: Leveraging Alternative Financing Without Jeopardizing Existing Investor Tax Breaks
Course Details
- smart_display Format
On-Demand
- signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level
- work Practice Area
Energy
- event Date
Thursday, June 18, 2020
- schedule Time
1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT
- timer Program Length
90 minutes
-
This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.
This CLE course will discuss solar securitization, examining its role in solar financing and challenges to anticipate. The panel will guide counsel on leveraging solar securitization as an alternative financing tool while protecting investor tax benefits.
Mr. Reisler is a Principal at Sive, Paget & Riesel P.C. He regularly works on solar, storage, wind, geothermal and renewable natural gas project financings, representing lenders and borrowers. Mr. Reisler also works on securitizations of residential solar and rural small wind assets. He frequently represents lenders providing “back leverage” credit facilities to tax-equity financed projects. Mr. Reisler's experience includes representing lenders in recapitalizations of private equity sponsored renewable projects. He has also represented investors in preferred equity financings of LEED certified real estate projects. Mr. Reisler has considerable experience helping lenders navigate the complexity of renewable project finance borrowers in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, advising in negotiations with the Chapter 11 trustee, tax-equity investors, cash-equity investors, O&M service providers and other creditors.
Mr. Lowder is a partner and member of the firm’s Finance Practice. Although his practice extends to all aspects of business law, he currently focuses his practice on energy, project finance, project development, and related tax and public financing. He is also a member of the firm's Energy Industry Team. He has experience with numerous project technologies including commercial, utility-scale, and residential-scale solar photovoltaic systems; onshore and offshore wind development; biomass and biofuel projects; and other energy and alternative energy technologies.
Continued growth in the solar industry depends on its access to capital. One of the most innovative ways that solar companies have been using to access capital is through the securitization market.
Solar's growth has been propelled by the use of a third-party financing model where solar systems are owned by third parties who lease them or provide power to customers under long-term leases and power purchase agreements.
Both models are a good fit for securitization. Securitization is an emerging strategy for solar financing that gives developers access to capital markets to get favorable financing opportunities. Investors and customers also benefit from solar securitization.
The securitization of solar assets can play a crucial role in meeting the rising demand for solar financing. However, securitization must be structured to avoid jeopardizing the tax benefits in the underlying tax equity transactions while satisfying the requirements of the securitization market.
Listen as our authoritative panel examines the role of securitization for solar transactions, and provides guidance for how these deals are being structured and what to expect in the markets in 2020 and beyond.
- Role of securitization in financing solar transactions
- Basic terms
- Key requirements
- Basic securitizations without tax equity
- Combining securitizations with tax equity
- Inverted leases
- Flip partnerships
- Asset and structure risks
- Tax insurance
- The future of solar securitizations
The panel will review these and other key issues:
- What role is securitization playing in financing solar lease models?
- What are some of the structural challenges in securitizing solar assets?
- What transaction structures are emerging in the securitization space to address non-residential solar assets?
- How are strategic alliances between sponsors, loan originators and securitization market players changing the market?
- What are the risks associated with solar securitization? How are they being mitigated? What role can tax insurance play?
