Truth To Power

Truth to Power - Episode 11

On this week’s episode of #TruthtoPower, our Founder & CEO, Philip Totaro looks into the changes to the IRS guidelines in the USA that could impact eligibility for both the investment and production tax credits.
The tax and budget bill which was signed into law on the 4th of July 2025 in the USA has left all #renewableenergy companies reeling a bit. But one of the most profound impacts for #windenergy comes in the from a likely change to the standard definition of the “start of construction” that is used to qualify projects for the production tax credits.
The most likely change to the safe harbor requirement would be to reduce the length of time that you can safe harbor. It’s currently up to 4 years, but that could be significantly reduced. Another likely change will be to combine the safe harbor requirement and the physical work requirement. The current rules make this an either / or situation today, where you can choose one.
As a result of all this, IntelStor expects a surge in corporate power purchase agreements. This will come as a result of some of these legal changes in the PTC eligibility dates as well as the pressure applied to project developers from these anticipated changes in the criteria.
The increasing demand from technology companies and data centers, as well as a desire to lock in a long-term fixed PPA in the face of a potential surge in power prices will lead corporate power buyers to try to lock in more lucrative deals sooner rather than later as they anticipate these price increases.
Have a listen today, and get in touch with your best questions about the USA or any other country around the world.
This show examines data driven insights for the energy sector, with a focus on renewables. To subscribe to IntelStor Research Notes and get early access to our latest content as well as these Truth to Power weekly editorials, visit https://lnkd.in/grfixJn

Truth to Power - Episode 10

On this week’s episode of #TruthtoPower, our Founder & CEO, Philip Totaro tackle the impact of the newly signed tax and budget bill in the USA on the revenue, profitability and growth in the market. The cuts made by the new tax and budget bill in the USA will result in approximately $12 – 16 billion less in revenue to #windenergy asset owners. Of the 62.115 GW of projects installed during 2019 - 2022 that were counting on the full value of the PTC, 5.868 GW of projects, or 9.5% of the installed capacity, were not going to break even during the lifetime of the project already with the full value of the PTC available to them. With the reduction of the PTC, IntelStor projects that there will be a total of more than 18.75 GW of wind energy capacity in the USA that will not achieve a full net positive return on capital prior to the planned end of asset life. Since these projects cannot be repowered between 2028 and 2032, they will be forced to life extend or refurbish. Have a listen today, and get in touch with your best questions about the USA or any other country around the world. This show examines data driven insights for the energy sector, with a focus on renewables. To subscribe to IntelStor Research Notes and get early access to our latest content as well as these Truth to Power weekly editorials, visit https://lnkd.in/grfixJn

Truth to Power - Episode 9

On this week’s episode of #TruthtoPower, our Founder & CEO, Philip Totaro shares the ultimate #windturbine buyers guide including the technical and commercial analysis used by the procurement departments of project developers. There are many different ways to leverage data to make informed procurement decisions. The factors being evaluated by procurement departments include capacity factor, historical performance vs energy yield, purchase price per megawatt-hour produced, & OpEx cost per megawatt-hour produced. Additionally, #renewableenergy project developers look at is their project pro- forma model. This factors in the CapEx costs, OpEx costs, PPA, PTC, the cost of finance and everything that influences whether a project will be commercially viable or not. Have a listen today, and get in touch with your best questions about the USA or any other country around the world. This show examines data driven insights for the energy sector, with a focus on renewables. To subscribe to IntelStor Research Notes and get early access to our latest content as well as these Truth to Power weekly editorials, visit https://lnkd.in/grfixJn

Truth to Power - Episode 8

On this week’s episode of #TruthtoPower, our Founder & CEO, Philip Totaro explores the improvement in wind energy asset profitability in the USA. In 2023, the USA had 20.3GW of #windenergy assets which were not going to break even during the lifetime of the project on the capital that was initially invested. In 2024, that dropped dramatically to 14.36GW of projects that are still below the profitability line through the planned end of asset life. According to IntelStor #marketresearch, this dramatic improvement is due to a combination of improving PPA prices, but also some slight improvements in the technical performance of wind energy in the USA. Including utility power offtake agreements, publicly filed corporate power purchase contracts and merchant power prices, the average PPA price in 2024 in the USA was $55.96/MWhr compared to $36.76 in 2023. Have a listen today, and get in touch with your best questions about the USA or any other country around the world. This show examines data driven insights for the energy sector, with a focus on renewables. To subscribe to IntelStor Research Notes and get early access to our latest content as well as these Truth to Power weekly editorials, visit https://lnkd.in/grfixJn

Truth to Power - Episode 7

On this week’s episode of #TruthtoPower, our Founder & CEO, Philip Totaro dives into the changes to the production tax credits and manufacturing tax credits in the proposed tax and budget bill in the USA. Since the inception of the renewable energy production tax credit back in the 1990’s the US government has provided more than $150 billion to energy producers in the form of a subsidy that adds on… well, these days it’s $31 / MWhr on top of the PPA for the first 10 years of the operation of the power generation. The existence of the production tax credits have sparked more than $500 billion in investment in the United States. IntelStor data on the production tax credits for wind energy show that more than $66.3 billion has supported the wind energy sector alone over more than 3 decades. Have a listen today, and get in touch with your best questions about the USA or any other country around the world.

Truth to Power - Episode 6

On this week’s episode of #TruthtoPower, our Founder & CEO, Philip Totaro examines the potential for #offshorewind in Canada after the recent election which reaffirmed Mark Carney as the Prime Minister. His vision to invest in infrastructure and have Canada become and "energy superpower" has every potential of succeeding given the outright hostility from the United States towards energy technologies including #renewableenergy. Newfoundland & Labrador has ~70 GW of technical potential that can be exploited and Nova Scotia has recently increased their target for permitting to 40GW, with 5GW to start the permitting process before the end of 2025. Canada needs ~CAD$1 billion in port infrastructure improvements and supply chain developments to fully exploit the country's technical potential. Grid infrastructure also needs more work, with the possibility of a CAD$24 billion nationally interconnected grid system that could provide a welcomed market balancing capability. Have a listen today, and get in touch with your best questions about Canada or any other country around the world. This show examines data driven insights for the energy sector, with a focus on renewables. To subscribe to IntelStor Research Notes and get early access to our latest content as well as these Truth to Power weekly editorials, visit https://lnkd.in/grfixJn

Truth to Power - Episode 5

On this week’s episode of #TruthtoPower, our Founder & CEO, Philip Totaro takes a deep dive into the money being jeopardized by the pending tax and budget legislation, and the lack of government accountability from #renewableenergy industry trade groups and lobbyists. Since the Inflation Reduction Act was passed, a total of $52.78 billion was committed to 181 different renewable energy equipment manufacturing or supply chain development projects. Since January, approximately $2.3 billion of those investments have been cancelled, mainly in part because of lack of matching funds from the federal government. #Windenergy is particularly hindered, seeing just a fraction over $4 billion of the $53 billion in factory investments announced. The government matching funds were supposed to be anywhere from about 20 – 50% of the total CapEx.

Truth to Power - Episode 4

On this week’s episode of #TruthtoPower, our Founder & CEO, Philip Totaro deconstructs the patent infringement litigation between 3S Lift and Cooper New Energy on climb assist systems. This new litigation may end up costing Cooper millions in product sales, simply because they did not undertake an IP Risk Certification as part of their go to market launch strategy in the USA. To date, there has been more than $5.2 billion in total commercial loss in the wind energy sector due to patent litigation dating back to 1994. IntelStor’s IP risk certification has saved more than $390 million in royalty payments and legal damages that companies would have otherwise had to pay.

Truth to Power - Episode 3

On this week’s episode of #TruthtoPower, our Founder & CEO, Philip Totaro looks at the recent meetings of Brazilian President Lula da Silva in China, and the announcements made by Yunda Wind Power, CGN and Envision Energy to invest in the Brazilian market. More than $1.5 billion was committed to Brazil for renewable energy project development, research & development facilities as well as the potential for new factories targeting the onshore and offshore wind market. We'll also dive into the efforts of Goldwind, Sinoma and Mingyang Smart Energy to establish a presence in Brazil and grab market share away from Western companies who have abandoned the market.

Truth to Power - Episode 2

On this week’s episode of #TruthtoPower, our Founder & CEO, Philip Totaro is diving into the Australian election and the impact it will have on the onshore and #offshorewind market. We're also re-affirming IntelStor’s #marketresearch forecast for the wind energy sector in Australia with a total of 115.8 GW projected by 2035. We've made certain assumptions on hydrogen demand as well as permitting for offshore wind, new transmission capacity and also the pace of adoption for consumer storage technologies. All of which will help offset negative pricing and curtailments of utility scale generation facilities.