Tom Burton, chair of the energy practice at Mintz, discusses capital financing trends in the clean energy sector with host Steven Lacey.
Prediction Open · timeframe Dec 2028
Burton: Substantially fewer renewables will come online in 2027 and 2028
“And so it really will be in the out years, 27 and 28, where we're going to see substantially less renewables coming online. So, so there's definitely going to be a slowdown.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Burton: Data centers face power shortages rather than chip or land constraints
“There's plenty of space. There appear to be plenty of chips but there isn't enough power.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Burton: Utility cost increases stem from transmission and distribution, not generation
“And if you look at, certainly in this region, How electricity costs have increased for us and actually our gas costs as well. It has been largely on the transmission and distribution side. So not so much, you know, on the generation side.”
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Burton: Renewable energy developers will face consolidation and a shakeout
“So I do think that there will be a shakeout. There'll be consolidation, you know, for sure.”
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Burton: New developers will model clean energy projects without tax credits
“There'll be then, I think, a new crop of, you know, developers, so to speak, or companies that will be, you know, deploying renewables, and that new crop is going to figure out How to model projects that will work without tax credits or will work with less tax…”
Insight
Burton: Permitting is probably more critical than tax credits for developers
“I do think that permitting probably is as important, if not more important than, you know, tax credits and some other incentives. You know, the incentives you can model without and with, right? So you can at least figure out what the answer is. When you don't …”