DC 201 Workshop: Clean Energy Financial Modeling
Are you interested in learning more about a career in clean energy finance? Back by popular demand, this fall CELI will host its second three-part workshop to provide an introduction to how firms finance clean energy companies and projects. At the end of three weeks, participants should expect to understand basic terminology in clean energy finance and to have built a simple corporate and project finance model in Excel.
Classes will be held in D.C. on October 23, October 30, and November 6th from 6:00 - 8:30 p.m. *Please note the location change for the third class.*
Participants must supply their own laptop with Excel installed, and please charge your laptop before class.
Weeks 1 & 2: Introduction to Excel modeling and Corporate Finance
Would you like to get more comfortable with Excel while learning what Corporate Finance is about? This course will show you how to use Excel to analyze data and make financial decisions. We will start with some key functions and then build a model. You’ll also get an overview of Corporate Finance, and will walk out of the course knowing what financial statements are, how investors estimate the value of companies, and why electric utilities are wary of entering into power purchase agreements (PPAs).
Week 1 will focus more on Excel and present basic and intermediate features, as well as some Finance basics. Week 2 will focus more on Corporate Finance but will apply some of the learned Excel features.
Taught by CELI Spring 2016 Fellow Markus Walther. Markus is a Senior Business Analyst at Pepco Holdings, where he forecasts the revenues and returns on equity for Exelon’s mid-Atlantic utilities. Prior to Pepco, Markus had stints in project finance, private equity, and a mutual fund. Markus has an MBA/MS dual degree from the University of Michigan and an MA in International Relations from the Graduate Institute in Geneva.
Week 3: Introduction to Project Finance
Project finance may seem complex, but it isn’t rocket science. This introduction to financial modeling for project finance will introduce the players and structures of project finance and explore the elements and key functions of a financial model for renewable energy investments. Given this outline, we will briefly touch on current topics into the market – including the impact of the ITC step-down, limitations to the value of bonus depreciation, and why developers have the hardest job. Participants who already have a financial background and want to learn to apply it directly to clean energy modeling may want to take just this week.
Taught by CELI Fall 2014 Fellow Jessie Robbins. Jessie is a Senior Director of Structured Finance at Sol Systems, where she negotiates, underwrites, and closes acquisitions and structured funds of distributed and utility-scale solar projects. Since 2014, she has closed approximately 450MW of inverted lease and partnership flip transactions for insurance, banking, and other non-strategic clients. Jessie graduated from the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, where she received a Bachelor of Science in Science, Technology and International Affairs concentrating in Energy and the Environment with a Certificate in International Development.
General Admission: $95 for all three sessions.
CELI Fellows/Alumni: $45 for all three sessions.
Registration is now closed for the workshop series. You can find tickets to class three under the CELI event page. Please email Becca Ward (Becca@cleanenergyleaders.org) for additional information or questions.