Community Solar is gaining wider acceptance among US states, and the market is seeing an influx of incentives, deal flow, and new market entrants including utility scale developers, traditional and non-traditional financiers.
NPM’s Community Solar Development & Financing Forum will focus on big picture topics such as trends, policy, supply chain issues, advanced and developing jurisdictions, and take a deeper dive into project pipelines, M&A and financing trends currently impacting the sector and drivers for further development.
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Agenda13:00 - 14:00EST
The Big Picture
This panel will cover the following:
- The biggest markets for Community Solar
- Key markets that are on the rise
- How M&A will impact Community Solar and DG developers in 2022
- Supply chain issues and impact on Community Solar development
- Key infrastructure challenges affecting Community Solar
- Costs associated with interconnection
- Long-term solutions needed to encourage further Community Solar development
14:00 - 15:00ESTThe Pipelines
This panel will canvass:
- Current financing environment for Community Solar developers
- Tax equity’s role in financing Community Solar projects, and other financing alternatives
- Project-level and portfolio M&A trends in community solar
- Importance of state incentives for project development and advancement
- Community Solar subscriber management – development and financing considerations
- Corporate chains pursuing Community Solar and DG projects as offtakers
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SpeakersKen Meehan (Moderator) Founder & CEO New Project Media
Jonathan Berke (Moderator) Managing Editor New Project Media
Zaid Ashai Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Nexamp
Mark Domine Managing Director - Head of Origination Fundamental Renewables
Manish Nayar Founder & Managing Partner Oya Solar
Eric Paul Executive Director, Origination Nautilus Solar
Peggy Flannery Managing Director, Investment team Generate Capital
Eric Cohen Managing Director - Renewable Energy Finance Fifth Third Bank
Andrew Burnes (Moderator) Renewable Energy Finance Reporter New Project Media
Kim Leinwand Erle Managing Director, Strategy, Impact & Investor Relations NY Green Bank
Garrett Peterson SVP of Project Development Pivot Energy
Chris King Managing Director Reactivate
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Daniel leads NPM’s new product innovation as well as heading up our research and data team. Daniel joins NPM following seven years with a leading global infrastructure product and founding James Street Global, a financial media consultancy.
Mark has over 14 years of experience in the renewable energy finance industry, including origination, project development, project acquisition and fund development. During his career, Mark has been involved in the development and financing of more than 1.5GW of distributed generation, community solar and utility-scale solar projects. Prior to joining Fundamental Renewables, Mark worked for several leading renewable energy companies, including Conergy, Enfinity, SunEdison and MMA Energy Capital. Mark received his BA from Georgetown University.
Manish is a dynamic, knowledgeable and passionate renewable energy and cleantech executive that brings together 20 years of venture capital, investment banking, management and manufacturing experience. He is the founder and CEO of OYA Ventures, an early stage private investment vehicle focused on companies in the renewable energy, cleantech and agritech space. Manish is a hands on operating executive, helping these businesses scale in their sectors. Manish founded OYA Solar, Polar Racking and PRI Engineering and has since made numerous investments across the renewable energy, energy efficiency, fintech and sustainable agriculture sectors.
Kim Leinwand Erle, LEED AP, oversees Strategy, Impact & Investor Relations for NY Green Bank. Ms. Erle is an accredited sustainability professional, and creative problem solver with extensive operational execution and business strategy experience, and a bias toward using performance measurement/metrics to drive change.
Prior to joining NY Green Bank, Ms. Erle worked as an independent strategy consultant providing thought leadership to senior executives in business strategy and organizational change. Previously, Ms. Erle was a Portfolio Manager of Deutsche Bank’s RREEF Retrofit Partners fund, seeking to deploy investor capital in deep energy retrofit projects for commercial, MUSH and multi-family property owners. As Chief Operating Officer of Trajectory Asset Management, Ms. Erle was responsible for business development, investor relations and firm governance. Ms. Erle was a Partner at Mitchell Madison Group, a global consultancy, where she was a leader in the Financial Institutions practice.
Ms. Erle earned a Bachelor of Science in Operations Research & Industrial Engineering from Cornell University, a Master of Business Administration from Columbia Business School and a Master of Arts in Economics from Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. She serves on the External Advisory Board for the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability.
Chris King serves as Managing Director of Reactivate and Co-Head of Community Solar at Lafayette Square. Chris leads the community solar energy platform in its efforts to make impact in underserved areas by acquiring, developing, financing, and operating renewable energy projects that support local communities.
Prior to joining Reactivate and Lafayette Square, Christopher was a Vice President at Goldman Sachs and a member of the Renewable Power Group where he led investments focused on various community solar markets. During his time at Goldman, Christopher worked to help acquire gigawatt of assets at various stages of development. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Christopher worked at Cypress Creek Renewables (Cypress) in Corporate Finance and project M&A activities.
While at Cypress, Chris worked on teams that helped develop, construct, commission and acquire over 1GW of solar assets. Before his career in renewables, Christopher was a strategy consultant with Deloitte in London.
Chris holds a BS from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
Zaid serves as Nexamp’s Chairman and CEO, providing the vision and leadership to drive the company’s continued growth and innovation. Before joining the management team, Zaid oversaw Nexamp as a General Partner at venture firm Point Judith Capital.
Previously, Zaid worked at Good Energies, where he was elected a Kauffman Fellow and focused on investments in next-generation energy efficiency technologies—including Nexamp, 3TIER, Emergence Bioenergy, Everpower, and Kalpan in India. Zaid joined Good Energies from Harbourvest Partners and was previously an investment banking analyst in Credit Suisse’s Technology Group.
Zaid holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and an MPA from the JFK School of Government at Harvard University. At Harvard University, Zaid was selected as a Zuckerman Fellow. He has an AB in International Relations and Economics, with honors and Phi Beta Kappa, from Brown University. Zaid has served as a judge and mentor for the New England Cleantech Open and has served as guest faculty member for the Pennsylvania Power Law Conference hosted by the Pennsylvania Bar Institute. Zaid currently serves on the boards of SEIA, NECEC and Vote Solar.
Andrew Burnes is a reporter with New Project Media for the past two years where he presently covers the East Coast and Northeast power markets and financing and power purchase agreements. Previously, he had also covered major ISOs such as ERCOT and CAISO.
Eric Paul, Executive Director, Origination. Eric leads the origination team, focused on the acquisition of development-stage distributed generation projects from development and EPC partners. He has more than a decade of experience acquiring, developing, and financing distributed solar projects across the United States. Prior to joining Nautilus, Eric held a variety of business development positions at Green Charge Networks (now Engie Storage), SunEdison, and Ecoplexus.
Eric holds a BA in Economics from Carleton College and an MBA from the University of Berkeley, Haas School of Business.
Garrett Peterson is a dynamic leader with sixteen years energy industry experience, with the past fourteen years focused on the solar sector. Throughout the course of his career Garrett has developed and built over 500MW of C&I and Distributed Generation solar throughout the United States, including large community solar portfolios in Colorado, Minnesota and Illinois. His broad experience across the solar industry has developed a skill set that includes system design, project development and permitting, project management, project finance and transactions, and utility interconnection. Garrett holds a MS in Global Energy Management, a BS in Biology and is a NABCEP certified PV Installer. As Senior Vice President of Project Development Garrett leads strategy, origination, and development of Pivot's renewable energy pipeline.
Peggy Flannery is a Managing Director on the Investment Team at Generate Capital, where she helps build and lead the firm’s community solar investment strategy. Peggy has led Generate’s community solar investment strategy over the last 5 years, building over 200 MW of project, and has 17 years of experience in renewable energy and finance. Prior to Generate Peggy was a director at SunEdision. She holds a BA from Columbia University in Environmental Science and Mathematics.
Eric Cohen is a Managing Director with the Renewable Energy Finance team, focusing largely on solar financing and with an emphasis on project finance. He has been with Fifth Third since August 2010.
Eric closed the Bank’s first solar financings in North Carolina in 2012 and has led its internal expansion - to a corporate line of business, and its external expansion - The Renewable Energy Finance team has lent over $4B to the industry across 50+ different relationships in 25+ different states.
In addition, Eric is the co-chair of Fifth Third’s Sustainable Financing & Climate Strategy Council, helping to establish its $8B sustainable finance goal through 2025. He also helped evaluate alternatives for Fifth Third’s corporate PPA signing.
Eric was born in Huntington, NY and holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce.
Jon Berke is the managing editor of New Project Media, where he covers capital markets activity across all of the major renewable generation verticals. He has been covering alternative asset classes over the course of his 20-year career in journalism, including of infrastructure and private credit.
Daniel leads NPM’s new product innovation as well as heading up our research and data team. Daniel joins NPM following seven years with a leading global infrastructure product and founding James Street Global, a financial media consultancy.
Ken is the Founder of NPM, based in Princeton.
He was previously the Editor-in-Chief of Fixed Income information products globally for Acuris and a Senior Reporter for Refinitiv.
He is an avid Liverpool supporter and an enthusiastic Knicks apologist.
Jon Berke is the managing editor of New Project Media, where he covers capital markets activity across all of the major renewable generation verticals. He has been covering alternative asset classes over the course of his 20-year career in journalism, including of infrastructure and private credit.
Zaid serves as Nexamp’s Chairman and CEO, providing the vision and leadership to drive the company’s continued growth and innovation. Before joining the management team, Zaid oversaw Nexamp as a General Partner at venture firm Point Judith Capital.
Previously, Zaid worked at Good Energies, where he was elected a Kauffman Fellow and focused on investments in next-generation energy efficiency technologies—including Nexamp, 3TIER, Emergence Bioenergy, Everpower, and Kalpan in India. Zaid joined Good Energies from Harbourvest Partners and was previously an investment banking analyst in Credit Suisse’s Technology Group.
Zaid holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and an MPA from the JFK School of Government at Harvard University. At Harvard University, Zaid was selected as a Zuckerman Fellow. He has an AB in International Relations and Economics, with honors and Phi Beta Kappa, from Brown University. Zaid has served as a judge and mentor for the New England Cleantech Open and has served as guest faculty member for the Pennsylvania Power Law Conference hosted by the Pennsylvania Bar Institute. Zaid currently serves on the boards of SEIA, NECEC and Vote Solar.
Mark has over 14 years of experience in the renewable energy finance industry, including origination, project development, project acquisition and fund development. During his career, Mark has been involved in the development and financing of more than 1.5GW of distributed generation, community solar and utility-scale solar projects. Prior to joining Fundamental Renewables, Mark worked for several leading renewable energy companies, including Conergy, Enfinity, SunEdison and MMA Energy Capital. Mark received his BA from Georgetown University.
Manish is a dynamic, knowledgeable and passionate renewable energy and cleantech executive that brings together 20 years of venture capital, investment banking, management and manufacturing experience. He is the founder and CEO of OYA Ventures, an early stage private investment vehicle focused on companies in the renewable energy, cleantech and agritech space. Manish is a hands on operating executive, helping these businesses scale in their sectors. Manish founded OYA Solar, Polar Racking and PRI Engineering and has since made numerous investments across the renewable energy, energy efficiency, fintech and sustainable agriculture sectors.
Eric Paul, Executive Director, Origination. Eric leads the origination team, focused on the acquisition of development-stage distributed generation projects from development and EPC partners. He has more than a decade of experience acquiring, developing, and financing distributed solar projects across the United States. Prior to joining Nautilus, Eric held a variety of business development positions at Green Charge Networks (now Engie Storage), SunEdison, and Ecoplexus.
Eric holds a BA in Economics from Carleton College and an MBA from the University of Berkeley, Haas School of Business.
Peggy Flannery is a Managing Director on the Investment Team at Generate Capital, where she helps build and lead the firm’s community solar investment strategy. Peggy has led Generate’s community solar investment strategy over the last 5 years, building over 200 MW of project, and has 17 years of experience in renewable energy and finance. Prior to Generate Peggy was a director at SunEdision. She holds a BA from Columbia University in Environmental Science and Mathematics.
Eric Cohen is a Managing Director with the Renewable Energy Finance team, focusing largely on solar financing and with an emphasis on project finance. He has been with Fifth Third since August 2010.
Eric closed the Bank’s first solar financings in North Carolina in 2012 and has led its internal expansion - to a corporate line of business, and its external expansion - The Renewable Energy Finance team has lent over $4B to the industry across 50+ different relationships in 25+ different states.
In addition, Eric is the co-chair of Fifth Third’s Sustainable Financing & Climate Strategy Council, helping to establish its $8B sustainable finance goal through 2025. He also helped evaluate alternatives for Fifth Third’s corporate PPA signing.
Eric was born in Huntington, NY and holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce.
Andrew Burnes is a reporter with New Project Media for the past two years where he presently covers the East Coast and Northeast power markets and financing and power purchase agreements. Previously, he had also covered major ISOs such as ERCOT and CAISO.
Kim Leinwand Erle, LEED AP, oversees Strategy, Impact & Investor Relations for NY Green Bank. Ms. Erle is an accredited sustainability professional, and creative problem solver with extensive operational execution and business strategy experience, and a bias toward using performance measurement/metrics to drive change.
Prior to joining NY Green Bank, Ms. Erle worked as an independent strategy consultant providing thought leadership to senior executives in business strategy and organizational change. Previously, Ms. Erle was a Portfolio Manager of Deutsche Bank’s RREEF Retrofit Partners fund, seeking to deploy investor capital in deep energy retrofit projects for commercial, MUSH and multi-family property owners. As Chief Operating Officer of Trajectory Asset Management, Ms. Erle was responsible for business development, investor relations and firm governance. Ms. Erle was a Partner at Mitchell Madison Group, a global consultancy, where she was a leader in the Financial Institutions practice.
Ms. Erle earned a Bachelor of Science in Operations Research & Industrial Engineering from Cornell University, a Master of Business Administration from Columbia Business School and a Master of Arts in Economics from Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. She serves on the External Advisory Board for the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability.
Garrett Peterson is a dynamic leader with sixteen years energy industry experience, with the past fourteen years focused on the solar sector. Throughout the course of his career Garrett has developed and built over 500MW of C&I and Distributed Generation solar throughout the United States, including large community solar portfolios in Colorado, Minnesota and Illinois. His broad experience across the solar industry has developed a skill set that includes system design, project development and permitting, project management, project finance and transactions, and utility interconnection. Garrett holds a MS in Global Energy Management, a BS in Biology and is a NABCEP certified PV Installer. As Senior Vice President of Project Development Garrett leads strategy, origination, and development of Pivot's renewable energy pipeline.
Chris King serves as Managing Director of Reactivate and Co-Head of Community Solar at Lafayette Square. Chris leads the community solar energy platform in its efforts to make impact in underserved areas by acquiring, developing, financing, and operating renewable energy projects that support local communities.
Prior to joining Reactivate and Lafayette Square, Christopher was a Vice President at Goldman Sachs and a member of the Renewable Power Group where he led investments focused on various community solar markets. During his time at Goldman, Christopher worked to help acquire gigawatt of assets at various stages of development. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Christopher worked at Cypress Creek Renewables (Cypress) in Corporate Finance and project M&A activities.
While at Cypress, Chris worked on teams that helped develop, construct, commission and acquire over 1GW of solar assets. Before his career in renewables, Christopher was a strategy consultant with Deloitte in London.
Chris holds a BS from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.