- A new financing channel is being explored for utility-scale renewables. The effort would extend ABS techniques from residential and commercial installations to grid-level solar and wind, potentially broadening the investor base and adding an off-balance-sheet funding option.
- Risk concentration and ratings uncertainty are central obstacles. Compared with consumer pools, utility-scale collateral involves fewer sites and counterparties, correlated weather and congestion risks, and no established ratings-agency framework, increasing scrutiny of production forecasts and engineering reports.
- Battery storage with tolling contracts may be the near-term path. More predictable, contracted tolling revenue could make securitizations — and separately, long-dated private debt placements — more viable as tax-equity financing phases down and sponsors look for structures less dependent on tax-credit monetization.
Media Mention
Trade Group Leading Charge for ABS Funding of Utility-Scale Solar, Wind Power
Green Street News
July 10, 2026Estimated Read Time: 1 min
Key Takeaways
Ben Huffman was quoted in the Green Street News article, “Renewables utility-scale sector eyes first ABS deal” about how the American Clean Power Association is developing a blueprint for a first-of-its-kind asset-backed securities deal backed by cash flows from utility-scale solar and wind projects, according to Green Street News Infrastructure. An investment bank is assessing potential collateral pools and investor demand, with the goal of adapting securitization structures long used in residential and some commercial solar to much larger, more concentrated utility-scale assets. Market participants say key hurdles include concentrated production and counterparty risk, limited historical performance data for ratings, and the challenge of creating predictable revenue streams — a dynamic that could favor portfolios pairing generation with battery storage under long-term tolling contracts.
Read more here. (Subscription required)