First published in Cleantech magazine, October 2010. Copyright Cleantech Investor Ltd 2010

Awarding renewables - much deliberation!

by Anne McIvor

As a judge of this year’s Euromoney and Ernst & Young Renewable Energy Awards, I already knew the winners in all but one category before the awards ceremony on 20th September. But there was still a surprise in store – in the form of the most amazing setting for the event, at Lincoln’s Inn. After an intensive day of sessions at the Renewable Energy Finance Forum, drinks in the open air on a warm September evening were the perfect start to the proceedings.

During the dinner, most awards were presented by Tim Smit, Chief Executive & Co-Founder of the Eden Project (who also delivered an excellent speech). The exception was the Leadership Award, which was presented by Eddie O’Connor, Founder & CEO, Mainstream Renewable Power – and the recipient of 2009’s Leadership Award. Winner of the Leadership Award this year was Dr Zhengrong Shi, Founder, Chairman & CEO of Suntech. As judges, we were in agreement that Dr Shi’s contribution to raising the profile of solar energy has been significant. Dr Shi has successfully used technology as an enabler of change and the award was well deserved.

The Landmark Renewable Deal of the Year was the one award for which the panel of judges weren’t responsible. Attendees of the dinner on the night voted for the winner of this award, billed as “the one that makes you go WOW” by the Euromoney/Ernst & Young awards team, Paul and Julia. Winner this year was the Crown Estate, for the Pentland Firth tidal energy round.

Equity Deal of the Year – Infrastructure went to ETH BIOENERGIA for the acquisition of Brenco – a deal which involved complex financing and which underlined the sheer scale of activity in the biofuels market. Equity Deal of the Year – Technology was awarded to GE for its acquisition of Scanwind. We chose this deal because it highlights the clear excitement surrounding the offshore wind industry.

Our choice for Lender of the Year was Grupo Santander, which financed many deals during the year, across a wide range of technologies and in a variety of geographic localities. Santander has demonstrated a clear continued commitment to lending. The award for Entrepreneurial Developer of the Year went to Element Power. The broad geographic coverage of Element Power’s activities over the last year, including an impressive number of projects in Spain, North America, Italy, France, Poland and the UK, positions it as an outstanding example of a private equity-funded company acting entrepreneurially to build a portfolio.

We chose Acciona as Corporate Developer of the Year, on the grounds of the diversity of geographic locations for its activities, including the Oaxaca Wind Farm in Mexico, and its Research Development & Innovation programme, which covers renewable energy, environmentally sustainable engineering applied to construction materials and processes and water treatment and desalination. We were also impressed by the diversity of technologies employed by Acciona, which has a presence in wind, biomass, mini-hydro and solar.

The title of Legal Advisor of the Year went to Linklaters, which has advised on a large number of deals with a huge geographical spread. Linklaters has acted for a combination of both manufacturers and developers, supporting a wide range of technologies.

The dinner was a highly rewarding finale to the judging process, which I found to be a fascinating experience. My fellow judges included Jamie Fergusson, Infrastructure Department – Power & Renewables, International Finance Corporation (IFC); Kirsty Hamilton, Associate Fellow – Renewable Energy, Chatham House; Jonathan Johns, Director, climatechangematters ltd; and James Barry, Debt Consultant. We chose the winners from a long list of highly impressive candidates. Much deliberation was involved – under the tight supervision of Paul and Julia. Despite the recessionary environment and tough market conditions over the past year, there was an impressive list of entrants, underlining the fact that the renewable energy industry remains robust. Both the REFF London event and the awards demonstrated that renewable energy continues to grow.

Congratulations to all of the winners in 2010 and here’s to another bumper year in 2011!