Banyan Infrastructure’s Amanda Li weighs in on a new era for project finance at Projects & Money

The Infocast 2025 Projects & Money conference brought together leading voices in project finance to discuss the evolving landscape of renewable energy investment. Held in New Orleans in January, the annual conference was the first major renewable energy conference held after the presidential election. It provided a critical forum for industry leaders to assess market trends, financing challenges, and innovative solutions shaping the project finance sector. 

Banyan Infrastructure COO and co-founder Amanda Li joined a panel discussion titled "The State of Project Finance: View from the C-Suite" alongside industry executives from CleanCapital, Volt Energy Utility, Soltage, and Nuveen Green Capital. The conversation discussed the ongoing demand for a renewable energy resource mix, debated the economic and political factors affecting the market, and speculated on investor appetite in the coming year.

Additionally, Banyan Infrastructure's head of growth and strategy, Alyssa Spagnolo, provided insights on risk management and insurance in the energy transition and emphasized the financial strategies needed to de-risk and scale renewable projects.

Here’s what we learned at this year’s conference.

Navigating America’s growing need for power

A major theme across multiple discussions was the burgeoning need for power generation, which drives investment in clean energy. Panelists emphasized that the industry is seeing historic levels of transaction activity across various asset types and project sizes, including solar, wind, and storage. Though federal initiatives like the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) have helped build momentum in the sector, panelists noted that uncertainty around permitting, interconnection delays, high borrowing costs, and supply chain constraints still pose challenges to project deployment.

Panelists also discussed how the current economic environment — particularly high interest rates — affects investor risk appetite. While financing remains available, investors emphasize deal structures that mitigate inflation and adapt to policy fluctuations while maintaining steady capital flows. 

Banyan Infrastructure’s Amanda Li emphasized the importance of collaboration between public and private stakeholders to sustain momentum in the sector. 

“A lack of coordination combined with a lack of market standards make it very difficult to impossible to partner with those of different risk profiles,” Li said, adding that it can be helpful to connect different stakeholders with different risk appetites to get catalytic capital successfully out the door. 

Industry veterans are prioritizing the ability to mobilize public and private investment at scale — and that requires technology.

The role of technology in scaling capital deployment

Technology’s role in streamlining project finance processes was another recurring topic. 

During the conference, Li emphasized that digital transformation is no longer optional for project financiers — it’s essential to the industry’s growth. 

She highlighted that many financial institutions still rely on fragmented, manual workflows that slow deal velocity and increase risk, administrative burdens, and errors. 

Panelists noted that while artificial intelligence is increasingly a game-changer, there’s still a long way to go before it can play a major role in project finance. Leveraging AI remains challenging when project financiers lack a strong digital foundation.

Panelists agreed that standardization and automation can help address bottlenecks in deal execution, improve compliance tracking, and increase transparency. As deal volume grows, Li explained, digital tools can help stakeholders manage transactions more efficiently and reduce reliance on labor-intensive manual processes. 

By reducing administrative friction, technology-driven solutions can help financiers scale their operations without exponentially increasing overhead costs.

Standard data enhances investor confidence and accelerates project timelines.  

Mitigating financial uncertainty through risk management and insurance

Risk management emerged as another core focus for project finance strategy in 2025. Banyan Infrastructure’s Alyssa Spagnolo noted that as clean energy projects grow in complexity, insurers are becoming an integral part of financial deal structures. 

The “Insurance & Risk Management in the Energy Transition Era” panel highlighted how clean energy project development and financing are increasingly impacted by extreme weather events and operational interruptions. 

Panelists discussed how insurance coverage impacts indemnity, contingency planning, and contractual provisions, as well as the rising costs associated with securing insurance for renewable projects. As the energy transition progresses, access to comprehensive insurance solutions becomes a key factor in securing project financing and finalizing deals.

Additionally, effective, data-based risk mitigation strategies — ranging from performance guarantees to policy-backed investment security — are essential for attracting institutional capital and ensuring long-term project viability.

“The foundation of starting to manage risk effectively is collecting and digitizing all deal and project data,The very basis of starting to manage risk is collecting and digitizing and having a robust data infrastructure,” Spagnolo explained. She added that standardization has happened in other industries; for instance, the commercial banking sector gathers data onrelated to an individual’s credit risk to generate a FICO score for each potential borrower. 

“The industry is at a point where we all have an immenseWhen you get immense amounts of data on each project., We are now at a place where we you start to get to a place where you need to have a FICO score for renewable energy projects,” she said. “That is thea gap that’s missing for how we approach risk management, and standardization is a really important layer for that — it lets us all communicate in the same language.”

Panelists also highlighted that as financiers navigate an evolving regulatory landscape, the ability to track and analyze project performance in real-time will be essential for ensuring investment stability and reducing exposure to unforeseen risks.

Investors need clear visibility into project performance and potential financial risks, making real-time reporting and standardized data management crucial components of any digital strategy. 

The industry’s next steps

Looking ahead, panelists at Projects & Money agreed that multiple factors, including political shifts, regulatory adjustments, and evolving investor priorities, will shape the direction of project finance in 2025.

Renewable energy project finance must continue evolving to meet the increasing demands for renewable energy investments. 

While new funding mechanisms may be available and can provide valuable opportunities, the industry’s success will depend on financiers’ ability to adapt to regulatory changes and integrate digital tools that enhance deal execution.

At Banyan Infrastructure, we are committed to supporting this transformation. By providing digital solutions that streamline workflows, improve compliance tracking, and scale capital deployment, we help project financiers navigate an increasingly complex and fast-paced market.

For more insights into the evolving landscape of project finance and how technology shapes the future of renewable energy investment, download our latest industry report here.