Just as the solar project development pipeline was on pace in 2022 to deliver a flood of projects following a couple of years of covid-induced setbacks, its bright prospects have been overshadowed by multiple supply chain clouds.

This course will illuminate key elements of the solar project development supply chain:  1) what the pressures are, 2) how they may impact the timing/delivery of projects, 3) the budget impacts, 4) and some possible mitigation measures to lessen the impact on project development outcomes.  It will also evaluate the supply chain consequences of the recently enacted incentives brought forward by the Inflation Recovery Act.

Still, the legislation’s many boosts to solar might not overcome other counterweights, such as ongoing supply shortages, allegations of forced labor, uncertainty about a federal probe on tariffs and lengthening queues for solar farms to get on the electric grid, according to observers.

A Princeton University report last week concluded that the bill’s incentives could cause a fivefold increase in solar generation through 2025-2026, as compared to 2020 levels.

Learning Outcomes  

Attendees at this course will:  

• Discuss solar supply chain drivers
• Review market, other economic conditions, and externalities that affect the supply chain
• Assess domestic and international government policies, incentives and disincentives that are distorting the supply chain
• Evaluate the availability and supply chain conditions associated with specific solar project components
• Identify supply chain challenges’ impact on contracting costs, LCOE, construction milestones and in-service dates
• Analyze consequences of supply chain disruptions on industry build-out trajectory
• Identify procurement considerations in vetting sources for equipment and suppliers
• Examine strategies for minimizing project development delays due to supply chain disruptions
• Predict impacts of the recently enacted climate and CHIPs legislation on the supply chain

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2022

9:00 – 9:20 a.m. :: Overview and Introductions

9:20 – 10:45 a.m. :: Market Conditions and Externalities Affecting the Supply Chain

• U.S. government actions
  • Department of Commerce
    • AD/CVD (antidumping and countervailing duties) anti-circumvention investigation
  • International Trade Commission
    • 201 Tariffs
  • Department of Homeland Security
    • UFLPA (Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act)
  • Customs and Border Protection 
    • WRO (Forced Labor Withhold Release)
• Raw materials inflation
  • Steel
  • Rare earth
  • Semi-conductors
• Logistics
  • Domestic freight
  • Trans-oceanic freight
• COVID 19 and labor availability
  • Domestic
  • International
• Supply and demand drivers
  • ITC
  • RPS
  • ESG
• Geopolitical Overlays
  • IPCC agreement(s)
  • U.S. – China tensions
  • Ukraine conflict
• Other

10:45 – 11:00 a.m. :: Morning Break

11:00 a.m. – 12:45 p.m. :: Evaluating Specific Component Supply Conditions

• Modules
  • Polysilicon
  • Ingots
  • Wafers
  • Cells
  • Modules
• Mounting and racking systems
• Transformers
• Electronics, cabling and related equipment (BOS/BOP)
• Battery storage

12:45 – 1:30 p.m. :: Lunch Break

1:30 – 3:00 p.m. :: Identifying Supply Chain Challenges’ Impact on…

• Project development landscape and supply chain entities
  • Pipeline
  • Deal flow
  • Delay
  • Cancellation
• Project teaming, coordination and project management
• Impact on project schedule
  • Lead times
  • Construction milestones and in-service dates
• Contracting costs and LCOE
• Spare parts and inventory
• REC (renewable energy credits) pricing
• Interconnection queues

3:00 – 3:15 p.m. :: Afternoon Break

3:15 – 4:45 p.m. :: Mitigation Strategies for Minimizing Project Development Delays & Cost Exposures Due to Supply Chain Disruptions

• Open book vs. lump sum contracting
• Module procurement
• Bid timing validity
• Index-tied material and commodity pricing
• Control of schedule “float”
• Construction scheduling and triggers
• Transportation and logistics
• Split-scope EPC structures
• Asset owner-direct supply agreements

4:45 pm :: Program Adjourns for Day

 

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2022

9:00 – 10:30 a.m. :: Contract Impacts, Complications and Modifications

• Risk assignments and cost allocation for project development disruptions
• Contract term modifications
• Re-negotiating existing contracts and PPAs
• Negotiating prospective contracts and PPAs

10:30 – 10:45 a.m. :: Morning Break

10:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. :: Financial Components and Transactions

• Project/portfolio due diligence
• Equity considerations
• Debt considerations
• ITC and other tax incentives
• Insurance products
• Hurdle rates and IRR
• Impact of recently enacted CHIPS Act and climate change (inflation reduction act) legislation

12:15 p.m. :: Course Adjournment

Matt Brinkman, Solar Business Unit and Regional Practice Manager, Burns & McDonnell 

Matthew Brinkman is the Solar Business Unit and Regional Practice Manager at Burns & McDonnell.  In that capacity, he supports the company’s solar project managers and technical teams through allocation of resources to projects, consulting with clients related to project execution models, performance testing requirements, contract review and negotiations, performance testing, and changes in the solar market.  His team has worked on some of the largest and most lauded solar projects in the nation, including serving as the Owner’s Engineer on the largest solar thermal plant in the world (392 MW Ivanpah) and the largest solar PV project in the United States (580 MW Solar Star).   Mr. Brinkman started his career at Burns & McDonnell in 1994 as a civil engineering co-op while attending North Dakota State University. In 2004, he permanently transferred to Phoenix, Arizona, and moved into a project manager role. In 2006, he was asked to start the Energy Global Practice in the Phoenix office, which has grown to the largest Energy presence in all Burns & McDonnell regional offices.  In 2008, he set up the solar business unit, which has established Burns & McDonnell as a premier Owner’s Engineer in the solar market.  In 2013, Mr. Brinkman was named a member of Burns & McDonnell’s Principal Group, a senior-level leadership group within the company.  Among the industry recognition he has received, he was appointed by Governor Janet Brewer to serve on the Arizona governor’s Solar Advisory Task Force. 

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Paul Wormser, Vice President – Technology, Clean Energy Associates LLC (invited)

Paul Wormser is Vice President of Technology at Clean Energy Associates, a solar specialist technical advisory which provides quality assurance and independent engineering solutions world-wide.  The firm, based in China, serves financial institutions, project developers, EPCs, IPPs, and PV power plant owners with support throughout the project life cycle, from upstream supply chain management and supplier bench-marking, to downstream system design, construction, commissioning, performance assessment, re-power and optimization as well as warranty support.  Mr. Wormser leads the Technology and Quality team, the Account Management team and the Marketing team. Within this portfolio, he is responsible for definition, delivery and positioning of CEA’s upstream services. He also serves as a global technical wingman for Sales, while also contributing his expertise to downstream engineering projects such as project performance root cause analysis.  He owns CEA’s Global Strategic Planning process.  Before joining CEA, Mr. Wormser fulfilled executive management roles at SunEdison, First Solar, Sharp Electronics Solar and several other solar-focused engineering firms.  He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering with a Solar emphasis from George Washington Univ and MBA from Northeastern University.

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Matt Bonovich, Partner, Sheppard Mullin

Matt Bonovich is a partner in the law firm Sheppard Mullin.  He has worked on energy transactions for more than a decade, with particular experience in renewables. During this time, he has negotiated all manner of project contracts, including M&A transactions, power purchase agreements, hedges, construction and procurement, interconnection and transmission and operations and maintenance.  Prior to returning to private practice, Mr. Bonovich served as Deputy General Counsel at Invenergy, where he was responsible for commercial transactions. His responsibilities included joint ventures, joint development arrangements, project acquisitions and dispositions, a variety of offtake arrangements, construction and procurement and all other commercial transactions integral to the full life span of the company’s projects. In this role, he also managed the legal affairs of Invenergy’s projects with various counterparties and stakeholders, guided regulatory matters for these projects, performed risk analysis and served on the company’s risk management committee.

Mr. Bonovich is experienced in the full life cycle of energy projects, from inception through development, financing and construction to operation. He works with all types of energy technologies, including wind, solar, storage, transmission, natural gas, cogen, LNG and biomass.

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Paul Rybak, Vice President – Procurement, Lightsource bp

Paul Rybak is Vice President of Procurement at Lightsource bp, which he joined in 2022.  Over the past two decades, he has performed in procurement roles at Origis Energy, Pattern Energy Group, Sempra Energy, Sargent & Lundy and SAIC.

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Philip Shen, Managing Director & Senior Research Analyst, CleanTech, Roth Capital Partners

Philip Shen is a Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst for CleantTech at Roth Capital Partners providing equity research coverage of the Cleantech sector. Over the years, he has covered the broad spectrum of cleantech sub-sectors and is currently focused on solar. Prior to joining Roth, Mr. Shen worked as a Research Associate at J.P. Morgan and Bear Stearns.  He received a StarMine Analyst Award for No. 1 Earnings Estimator of Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment in 2015 and a Thomson Reuters award for No. 1 Stock Picker of Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment in 2016. He was also a member of a team ranked by Institutional Investor magazine as Second Team for its Machinery coverage in 2007, 2008, and 2009 at Bear Stearns and J.P. Morgan.  Mr. Shen received a B.S. in computer science from Brown University and an MBA from Stanford University