Structuring the Clean Energy Investment Trust

The Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) has developed a design for an investment-grade financing vehicle intended for institutional investors. By focusing on the specific financial fundamentals of wind and solar projects—which differ from conventional fossil fuel generation—the model aims to reduce the cost of renewable energy by 15-17%.

• The Climate Policy Initiative (CPI), supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, has designed a financing vehicle for institutional investors that aims to reduce the cost of energy from wind and solar by 15-17% compared to existing practices.
• Renewable energy projects differ from coal- or gas-fired generation because they have no fuel costs, lower and more predictable operating costs, a higher proportion of total cost tied to initial investment, and output prices that are often fixed for much of the project's life.
• Wind and solar projects are characterized by four distinct types of cashflows: asset development and construction; predictable cashflows during operation under a fixed-price regime; less predictable "surplus" cashflows during a fixed-price regime (resulting from higher-than-predicted wind/sunshine or lower costs); and tail-end cashflows after the fixed-price regime expires, which are less certain due to volatile wholesale prices or future regulation.

APA

Climate Policy Initiative (2017). Structuring the Clean Energy Investment Trust. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/clean-energy-investment-trust-financial-innovation-renewables/

Chicago

Climate Policy Initiative. Structuring the Clean Energy Investment Trust. 2017. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/clean-energy-investment-trust-financial-innovation-renewables/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate Policy Initiative |title=Structuring the Clean Energy Investment Trust |date=8 August 2017 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/clean-energy-investment-trust-financial-innovation-renewables/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climatepolicyinitiative2017structuring, author = {{Climate Policy Initiative}}, title = {{Structuring the Clean Energy Investment Trust}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2017}, month = aug, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/clean-energy-investment-trust-financial-innovation-renewables/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }