Energy & Infrastructure Finance

This course explores the key commercial, legal, economic and policy issues affecting the development and financing of energy and infrastructure projects. Classroom discussion and readings will compare energy and non-energy infrastructure projects emphasizing principles of contractual risk allocation and valuation. Many of these case studies will be taken from recent transactions, to show how theoretical concepts raised in class apply in practice. The interplay between debt and equity investors, regulated and unregulated industries, and corporate and project finance will be raised in the context of comparative, real-world case studies of diverse types of energy and infrastructure projects, including renewable energy, energy storage, water, transportation, entertainment facilities, and digital infrastructure.
This course is designed as an interdisciplinary course and will focus on the ways in which project finance techniques simultaneously reduce risk and boost returns on equity, as well as relevant aspects of economics, technology, regulation and public policy. Attention will be paid to the diversification of sources of capital (including strategic equity, tax equity, commercial banks, private equity and infrastructure funds, institutional investors and private placements, public capital markets, and government incentive programs) and to emerging technology trends (including energy storage and digital infrastructure). Since infrastructure financing is such a global field, special issues of international transactions, cross-border investments and international capital flows will be integrated into the course where relevant. The course will include a practical drafting assignment for a nonrecourse renewable energy project financing.