Investment Opportunities for Energy Storage to be Discussed at Benelux Infrastructure Forum

London, United Kingdom, August 10, 2017 --(PR.com)-- Balancing energy supply and demand has been, and still is, a challenge for governments worldwide. However, growing energy storage technology that allows excess electricity to be saved and stored for future use on demand, is the industry breakthrough that many nations, especially EU member states, have been waiting for.

The EU recognises the need for increased commercialisation and application of energy storage systems in order to restrict the wastage of captured energy. This is particularly relevant with increasing trends towards renewable energy sources that have intermittent generation profiles – creating supply and demand discrepancies. Energy storage systems also improve efficiency and flexibility across the whole energy industry infrastructure, from transport to substations. Hence, in the past few years, the European Commission has co-funded over 391 projects with an estimated spending of almost EUR 1 billion*.

With this heightening interest in developing energy storage infrastructure, industry leaders will gather at the Benelux Infrastructure Forum this November to discuss prospective investment opportunities and deliberate how to achieve optimal profitability for project plans.

Headlining the day is a panel discussion about bankability and profitability of energy storage projects and a financial model for the future featuring speakers Andrew Petry, Partner, Simmons and Simmons, Lisa McDermott, Executive Director for Structure Debt, ABN Amro Bank N.V, and Gerard Reid, Founder, Alexa Capital. The panel discussion will examine the recent increase in deployment of grid-connected batteries that should reduce fossil-fuel reliance. See why Energy Storage Systems (ESS) are the missing link from wind and solar energy infrastructure and confer the challenges of innovating ahead of regulator expectations. Discuss the advantages of subsidies and the future battle to maintain these. Explore consequences of meeting increasing energy demands and the decarbonisation of economies. Review the lessons from current and past ESS and the bankability and profitability of these as examples of financial models for the future.

Nord LB, Head of Infrastructure, Mathias Pahlke will provide an outline of viable developments in the infrastructure sector and prospective investment opportunities for energy storage projects. He will give practical advice on mitigating niche-market risks by acknowledging risk profiles and allocation. Comparison of energy storage and other markets such as data centres and fibre networks will be made to see if these are profitable alternative investments. Finally, he will address considerations for the outlook of infrastructure projects outside of PPP by highlighting the challenges of improving awareness and information for alternative market entry.

Macquarie Capital’s Head of Energy and Infrastructure Benelux, Managing Director Willem Stitselaar will discuss energy storage in the form of battery in the Benelux region. He will talk about the major trends and developments and as well as highlight project financing options for energy storage.

The conference further covers alternative financing methods such as project bonds, pension funds, government funding, and project financing, as well as growing on and offshore markets to which investors are attracted. Developments within the infrastructure market of the Benelux region in 2017 will be reviewed to find out what challenges were faced, how these were overcome, and the outlook of the infrastructure market. The format of the conference will be an eclectic mix of presentations and round table discussions which allow plenty of debate and interaction amongst delegates and detailed analysis of the latest case studies.

In addition, the conference also features an exclusive pre-conference workshop on “Financing Offshore Wind in the New Competitive Auction Environment” hosted by, Amsterdam Capital Partners taking place on the 21st November 2017.

The conference has established itself as the industry-leading event for the Benelux region and will provide an unparalleled opportunity to learn and network amongst senior executives in this thriving industry. The Benelux Infrastructure Forum is the only place to meet the major players within this industry from banks, constructors and institutional investors to the lawyers and the regulators.

For those who are looking to attend, there is a £100 early bird offer available online ending on the 29th September 2017.

Further information is available at online at: http://www.beneluxconf.com/prcom

16th Benelux Infrastructure Forum
22nd-23rd November 2017
Movenpick Hotel, Amsterdam, Netherlands
http://www.beneluxconf.com/prcom
Media: Contact Theresa Chung on tchung@smi-online.co.uk
Booking: Contact Andrew Gibbons on agibbons@smi-online.co.uk

*Source: https://setis.ec.europa.eu/setis-reports/setis-magazine/power-storage/mapping-of-energy-storage-innovation-europe

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