Structuring the Clean Energy Investment Trust

The Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) has developed a new finance and business model for a Clean Energy Investment Trust aimed at institutional investors. By addressing the specific cashflow fundamentals of wind and solar projects—which differ from conventional fossil fuel generation due to higher initial investments and lower operating costs—the proposed model aims to reduce the cost of renewable energy by 15-17% compared to existing practices.

• The proposed investment-grade financing vehicle is designed to reduce the cost of energy from renewables by 15-17% compared to current 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 share of initial investment in total costs, and often fixed output prices.
• Wind and solar projects are characterized by four distinct cashflow types: asset development and construction; predictable cashflows under fixed-price regimes; less predictable "surplus" cashflows; and tail-end cashflows after the fixed-price regime expires.

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} }