Workshops (Thursday)

Thursday of the Summit will feature four workshops targeted to industry professionals and students from a diversity of energy related disciplines. Our hour-long workshops aim to instruct on highly relevant energy sector dimensions and improve the energy toolkits of our participants. Reserve your spot now!

  • Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) – How to Contract Renewable Energy

    • Hosted and sponsored by Avangrid, this workshop provides an overview of renewable energy Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), covering energy market trends, key terminology, and the fundamentals of contract construction. Through two mini-case studies, participants will examine the relationship between current events and PPA structures, gaining insights into the risks and challenges facing renewable energy developers and buyers.

  • Financing Renewable Energy Projects – Legal Essentials

    • Hosted by attorneys from Orrick, this workshop introduces the basic concepts of renewable energy project finance by examining various levels of the capital stack, including debt finance (through construction and beyond), monetization of tax incentives through tax equity investors or tax credit sales, and preferred equity structures. Participants will explore the structure of a deal through a high-level case study, with a particular focus on the role of the legal team and key concepts involved in structuring and negotiating deal documents and “getting to closing.”

  • Scarcity to Surplus: Interconnection Challenges & Opportunities for Interconnection Sharing

    • The transition to a clean energy future and meet rapid load growth hinges upon the ability to connect new renewable energy projects to the grid quickly and efficiently. However, we have gigawatts of projects waiting in interconnection queues, stuck in regulatory limbo while the grid struggles to keep up. But what if instead of scarcity, we saw surplus - by making smarter use of the infrastructure we already have? That’s the game-changing solution being explored by UC Berkeley researchers, which shows that existing fossil fuel plants sharing their grid access with renewables can rapidly and cost-effectively double US generation capacity.

  • Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in Practice

    • This workshop introduces the concept of life-cycle assessment and the key steps required to perform an assessment. Energy systems will be the emphasis of this LCA workshop, and participants will be exposed to current tools and their applications.

For questions regarding the workshops, please reach out to Fiona Grant at fionagrant@berkeley.edu.