Current trends, challenges and opportunities for Renewable Energy project
Current trends, challenges and opportunities for Renewable Energy project finance cannot be over emphasized. Looking back at 2020 and the development of renewable resources , notwithstanding the COVID-19 pandemic, renewable energy continues to be a rapidly growing segment of the economy. In first three quarters of 2020, 70% of all new U.S. power capacity came from renewable energy, almost entirely solar and wind. Expected challenges in project finance include: Finance Challenges Inflation measured by the U.S. Department of Labor’s consumer price index (CPI) ended 2021 at 7.0 percent over the previous 12 months. The CPI will fall, but there is disagreement about how much and when. The recent surge in prices has been due to production bottlenecks and supply-chain constraints. These factors are translating to higher clean energy project costs and making lenders require equipment contracts or shorter project timelines to ensure loans are repaid. Adding large numbers of new renewable e