David Markey Assesses Shifting Landscape of Clean Energy Project Finance

Foley & Lardner LLP partner David Markey shared perspective in New Project Media on the evolving U.S. clean energy project financing landscape.

Markey, chair of Foley’s Infrastructure subsector, detailed how financing typically operates and the novel challenges developers are confronting today, particularly for lenders that have high exposure to pre-Notice to Proceed (NTP) facilities in their portfolios.

“The market is digesting the impact from the [One Big Beautiful Bill Act] and waiting for guidance on topics like the [Foreign Entity of Concern] rules and start of construction,” Markey explained. “The market will take some time to decide on how to value development pipelines, whether for equity investments or secured credit.”

“For developers with a lot of pre-NTP projects in the pipeline,” he continued, “the question is, how many of those projects they will be able to safe harbor, how do they continue to fund development and business operations before getting more certainty, and, in the longer term, potentially negotiating higher power prices.

“After all the dust is settled, the industry will be fine, because plenty of capital has been raised to be invested and America needs energy that can be deployed cost efficiently and quickly,” Markey added. “It is a matter of adapting to the new set of rules, figuring out some new ways of deploying capital. Those who adapt thoughtfully will continue to be successful in this market.”

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