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Energy Storage Financing: Advancing Contracting in Energy Storage

Baxter, Richard

The lack of standard financing contracts and supporting documents is inhibiting the growth of the energy storage industry. A number of firms are actively developing proprietary contract structures, resulting in a variety of unique attributes. This leaves the market disjointed for 3rd party financing groups looking to scale their lending. Lack of commonality and harmonization between developer and lenders raises project execution costs and causes delays in financing. Of special concern, projects based on emerging technologies are finding an increasing uphill climb for equal consideration by developers and lenders, leaving their potential commercialization in peril. This study will evaluate the development of standardi7ed contracts to reduce the cost and contract approval time, learning from success in renewable energy project development. The goal of this study is to determine the key requirements for standard contracts in the emerging energy storage market, and suggest avenues for possible industry led development.