Clean energy finance leader Amanda Lee discusses how federal green bank capital from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund can be scaled via secondary markets.
Insight
Lee: GGRF adds EPA compliance and community complexity to clean financing
“And so when we saw that the GGRF finally got the green light, we were first and foremost thrilled for the industry and the country, but definitely knew we had to help because we're layering that complex transaction that needs help to begin with additional comp…”
Insight
Lee: Poorly chosen green bank standards will alienate either communities or Wall Street
“There's a lot of concerns if we choose the wrong standards, for example, it'll make programs prohibitive to certain communities. Or if you choose the wrong standards, the other direction, right, it'll make it prohibitive to Wall Street.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Lee: Many GGRF community lenders lack clean energy project finance experience
“Some of the participants of the program are newer to green lending as a whole, right? Where there is, you know, deep expertise in, in community lending that will be invaluable to the program, perhaps, but perhaps more a nascent experience with running a solar …”
Assertion Supported
Lee: Selected GGRF recipients aim to begin dispersing funds in late 2024
“Currently, all the recipients have been selected and are at the point that right now organizing internally. With their sub-constituents, with the EPA, to really be ready to disperse funds as soon as later this year, but we all know we're hoping for as soon as …”
Assertion Supported
Lee: Final EPA compliance rules for GGRF remain under development
“Obviously, at the moment, the compliance pieces with the EPA are, you Still, in many ways, in negotiations or in development, hopefully coming out soon, right, with a lot of leading indicators around the need for example, Davis-Bacon and prevailing wage compli…”
Insight
Lee: Fear of bureaucratic paperwork causes clean energy developers to hesitate on GGRF
“A lot of the veterans have seen government programs and incentives that, you know, it's almost like it's not worth applying for, right? So we've had developers come to us and be like, oh, you know, I want to see where the dust settles, right? Is it worth my ti…”