Key Takeaways from RE+

Earlier this month, the Banyan Team was excited to attend RE+, the largest energy conference in the country. The event, held in Las Vegas this year, hosted over 40,000 energy professionals worldwide, featured 1,300 exhibit booths showcasing products, technologies, and solutions across clean energy sectors, and hundreds of educational sessions covering everything from emerging technologies to policy and regulatory issues. 

It was truly invigorating to be surrounded by experts from across the industry. The myriad of partners and peers we met with included equity funds, independent power producers, and solar and storage developers. We were also inspired by the wide range of technologies and software solutions for different stages of the development and operational cycle for renewable and low-carbon projects. Here’s a quick review of the top trends we heard during the conference: 

The IRA: Hesitation But Optimistic 

Unsurprisingly, the landmark Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was on everyone’s minds. In particular, tax credit adders were of interest, as well as the upcoming government-hosted transferability portal that could help accelerate the market. But despite the excitement about the IRA’s potential impact, there’s increasing anxiety around gaps in IRS guidance. Many developers expressed concerns about compliance risk, as there is still a lot of confusion around eligibility and documentation. A lack of certainty also creates fear that the IRA may effectively disappear after the next election cycle. Several banks also stated that the IRA is simply too new and does not present an explicit guarantee for investment. So, while there is still optimism about the potential gains, many feel hesitation about securing tax credits beyond the ITC/PTC. 

Resiliency: This Year’s Hot Topic

This year’s unprecedented extreme weather – from record-breaking precipitation to blistering temperatures – has also made resilience a critical topic of discussion. The Banyan Infrastructure Team noticed a significant presence of battery manufacturers and energy storage solutions, from residential to utility-scale. Storage is increasingly paired with solar for new projects and is being added to existing solar projects. However, storage projects are also increasingly contending with the grid’s interconnection delays, which can hinder deal velocity and slash project returns. More to come here as we figure out how to best implement and scale resilient projects. 

Repowering to Accelerate Deployment

Lastly, there were several exciting conversations about how, due to the rapidly decreasing availability of greenfield sites for utility-scale development, existing energy sites such as mines or oil and gas production facilities could be converted to renewable – or simply add renewable assets to existing operations. Amidst historic permitting delays for greenfield sites, this alternative could maximize existing land and accelerate project deployment - ideally another avenue to curb our carbon foot print faster and get capital out faster. 

Simplify, Streamline, and Scale with Banyan Infrastructure 

Undoubtedly, it’s an inspiring time to be in this industry. RE+ provided a fantastic opportunity for stakeholders across many sectors to share, learn, and be inspired. 

Here at Banyan Infrastructure, we are on a mission to use modern software to accelerate the flow of capital to sustainable infrastructure projects worldwide. With our end-to-end software platform, complex tasks like covenant tracking, IRA eligibility, and documentation are streamlined and organized to ensure compliance and minimize risk. Auto-populated forms, digital scorecards, and checklists facilitate efficient and accurate workflows and create standardization for risk management. 

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To learn more, visit: https://www.banyaninfrastructure.com/