Clean Energy Finance Forum

Where oil has flowed for decades, plunges in oil price can't make fossil fuels outshine solar in terms of cost.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc and EDP Renovaveis SA agreed to sell power from a wind farm they’re building in the Atlantic Ocean for a record-low price. The 804-megawatt Mayflower wind farm, located south of Martha’s Vineyard, will supply electricity to utilities in Massachusetts for $58 a megawatt-hour over the life of the contract.

Though 45% of utility employees surveyed in Utility Dive's 2020 State of the Electric Utility Survey see the transition's cost — including stranded assets — as a top risk for the sector, only 18% see generation retirements and stranded assets as a top concern and just 14% said stranded assets present a major challenge to a changing fuel mix.

A decade ago, entrepreneurs and investors alike believed that silicon wafer-based photovoltaics would soon be a relic. Tens of billions of venture and corporate dollars chased novel technologies that would surely replace silicon.

The fund has 70% less carbon emissions than its benchmark, the S&P/ASX 300 Total Return Index, because it’s typically underweight cyclical stocks in industries such as fossil fuels, steel and cement, transport and mining.

The David and Goliath story is a common parable for the relationship between small, nimble startups and big, lumbering corporates — the new kid on the block swoops in and disrupts the old guard. Sometimes, it’s an apt comparison (just think about what happened to your local Blockbuster store), but often, corporates and startups can find opportunities working together that create better outcomes for everyone involved.

A lunch held at POWERGEN International highlighted the importance of “a better balance” in the energy industry workforce, with a focus on getting more women in the workforce but also more diversity and inclusion overall.

Though Vivint sales representatives knock on “millions of doors a year,” CEO David Bywater said on the company’s Q3 earnings call that recent power outages have pushed many potential customers to reconsider renewables and storage.