Washington the New Finance Hub for Cleantech?

A year ago, the buzz was that Washington would be the new New York and Silicon Valley for cleantech. Not as untrue this year as some might think it might be.

Andrews Kurth revisited the idea last week in a webinar which focused on how private sector investor and project sponsors might venture with, and benefit from government partners.

Some of the non-intuitive results of the webinar included:

• stimulus money has not disappeared, a great deal of it is sloshing around now at the state level
• obtaining stimulus money may require greater focus on current flavors: solar; energy efficiency; distributed energy using cleantech applications
• the much vaunted and then subsequently derided Federal loan guarantee program is now getting its weather legs and is more flexible both in considering innovative financing approaches which incorporate loan guarantees and practical give-and-take about matters such as sustainable project sizing, risk mitigation and timing constraint reductions
• the focus on private partnering with government programs which sponsor and/or procure cleantech output has increasingly turned to core business issues such as the rights to IP, disclosure of trade information and the extent of prior governmental security rights in project assets and cash flow
• the attention on Agency sources of financial support has markedly broadened to the extensive Defense Department and General Services Agency budgets for "green" projects

In short, the emphasis has shifted to developing sustainable long term ways of doing business with a steady but not tsunami-like continuing output of government cash, supportive agency R&D and procurement interest. It is a give-and-take environment in which an energy finance firm like Andrews Kurth, with a strong Washington presence, excels.

If you missed this webinar and would like to view the program, click here.

Comments (0)