What is it?

A form of catalytic capital that strengthens a developer’s balance sheet credit by providing additional cash on hand to reduce lender risk, and secure affordable debt without diluting developer corporate equity.

How does it work?
Corporate-level – Strengthens a company’s financial profile, improving their ability to attract capital at favorable terms.
Project-level – Acts as a credit enhancement by covering specific costs or expertise needed to de-risk a novel project while protecting the developer’s broader balance sheet.

Who could provide it?

Philanthropy, mission-driven investors, and government entities supporting higher-risk positions to unlock market rate capital.

Who does provide it?

Trellis Capital pools philanthropic capital to help de-risk projects for market-rate lenders and accelerate climate infrastructure deployment.

What is it?

For projects investors deem risky, developers can secure corporate partners to act as portfolio guarantors. Particularly useful when the corporate is an offtaker, site host, or equipment supplier invested in the portfolio’s success.

How does it work?

Corporate guarantors reduce the perceived project portfolio risk for investors, allowing individual projects to secure lower-cost debt. Developers can also bundle projects into a Special Purpose Entity (SPE) to streamline financing, simplify transaction structures, and lower transaction costs.

Who could provide it?

Corporate offtakers, energy storage manufacturers, and energy service companies.

Who does provide it?

A NY building management company successfully bundled 15 rooftop solar sites into an SPE, thereby guaranteeing the entity's debt to secure financing. 

What is it?

Insurance provides guarantees for risky aspects of project development, including property, fire safety, market price fluctuations, tax credit monetization, and asset performance.

How does it work?

Insurers boost the financial viability of energy storage projects by offering risk-mitigating products that protect cash flows and collateral and attract market-rate capital to projects.

Who could provide it?

Insurers

Who does provide it?

Among others, kWh Analytics provides property insurance for energy storage systems and tax credit monetization for solar and storage assets, Tallarna is developing performance insurance for solar+storage in commercial real estate, and Energetic Capital supports a tax credit insurance for small/medium projects.

What is it?

Revenue guarantees mitigate risks by offering financial protection against lower-than-projected revenue for performance, market-based, or utilization-based revenue streams.

How does it work?

Many investors are unfamiliar with performance, utilization, or arbitrage based energy storage revenue streams, making these business models appear risky. Revenue guarantees offset risk by providing compensation if projects fail to earn a minimum threshold of revenue. 

Who could provide it?

Insurers, government agencies, strategic investors.

Who does provide it?

Strategic investors such as Uber’s partnership with New York-based startup to enable EV charging infrastructure build-out. In Texas’s ERCOT market, New Energy Risk ensures merchant battery storage revenue streams by insuring the performance of projects’ forecasting and bidding optimization technology.

What is it?

Streamlined due diligence processes from capital providers and project finance platforms can significantly reduce transaction costs. 

How does it work?

Standardized underwriting can simplify funding for smaller projects by focusing due diligence on non-standard elements, enabling lenders to review and fund more projects. 

Who could provide it?

This solution would require collaboration across capital providers, financial innovation companies, and insurance providers to set agreed-upon industry-wide parameters for assessing new projects.

Who does provide it?

The solar industry has successfully adopted this approach and energy storage is primed to follow. Software platforms like Banyan Infrastructure can support the process by centralizing project data and workflows to enable faster decision making.

What is it?

Tax credit marketplaces are platforms that explore innovative ways to bundle tax credits from smaller projects into securities.

How does it work?

Tax credit marketplaces create new avenues for banks, insurance companies, and large corporations to offset tax liabilities while supporting smaller electrification projects. Through aggregation, these marketplaces help smaller projects overcome financing gaps by lowering transaction costs and increasing access to tax equity where they wouldn’t normally meet investment thresholds. 

Who could provide it?

Fintech platforms that support tax credit monetization and aggregation. 

Who is already doing it?

Giraffe is pioneering the aggregation of Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) tax credits into insured portfolios. Basis and Crux are actively working to create new mechanisms to tax credit trading and bundling.

What is it?

Investors that offer equity investments into early FOAK/FOM projects may incorporate Rights of First Refusal to balance out risk across future projects or other performance-based criteria.

How does it work?

These investments help early-stage projects secure capital by offering strategic investors a more favorable financial arrangement, e.g. providing equipment at cost for equity. This structure increases lender confidence, making it easier to secure debt financing. 

Who could provide it?

Strategic investors such as manufacturers, feedstock providers, or offtakers

Who does provide it?

SK E&S, a subsidiary of South Korea’s SK Group acquired a majority stake in Key Capture Energy to accelerate the deployment of large scale storage projects

What is it?

Grants, low-interest loans, or incentives offered by capital providers to projects developed in partnership with community groups.

How does it work?

Partnerships with local communities can build project support, streamline the development process, and open up funding through federal, state, and philanthropic resources. 

Who could provide it?

Mission-driven, philanthropic or publicly funded capital providers.

Who does provide it?

Government agencies provide incentive programs to support community-led and community-partnered projects, while philanthropies are providing grants and low interest loans. The NY-BEST Strategy for Community Partnerships and Equitable Energy Storage Deployment can help project developers navigate the partnership process effectively.