The Building Podcast with Mark Wakeford

Banking on Solar: What makes a project investable?

Mark Wakeford Season 2 Episode 28

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0:00 | 48:53

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Finance is required for all projects, whether this is provided by the project sponsors or externally through one of many funding institutions.  Thankfully, money is the ultimate universal commodity, however, banks, development banks and other investors all have their own investment parameters and appetite to determine if, how and when a project is bankable and will receive funds.

Nik Stone is a Chartered Environmentalist and a member of the Institute of Sustainability & Environmental Professionals.  He is also an advisor to international development banks and has held positions in many of the top funding institutions.  This perspective gives him a great insight into the way that banks work and the ways that developers and project sponsors and their supply chains need to work to de-risk their projects and make them attractive to financiers.

Listen to this podcast to hear how funders can influence the risks of the projects that they fund.  Hear about the Equator Principals that guide funding institutions on their behaviour and the International Finance Corporation’s Performance Standards that describe minimum standards of ethics and governance on projects.  Nik talks about how these standards have evolved over time to promote better standards and to reduce investment risk.  Hear about the role of development banks, working with Governments, to make the investment environment within a country bankable and possible for the private sector to operate efficiently.

Listen for the positive view that funders can support the 8TW target generation that the Global Solar Council is targeting by 2030 and find out the things that developers and sponsors need to do to make their projects bankable.

Nik Stone MISEP CEnv | LinkedIn

Home Page - Equator Principles

Performance Standards on Environmental and Social Sustainability | International Finance Corporation (IFC)