8th Annual Canadian Power Finance Conference

8:00AM Registration and morning refreshments

8:45AM Chairperson's opening remarks

9:00AM IJGlobal introductory data presentation

9:15AM The Canadian power financing environment: Current trends and room for innovation

• The cost of capital to project sponsors in the current Canadian economic environment: Do project loans remain cheap?
• How do the terms and tenor offered by different lenders and investors differ?
• Where do bank and bond financing intersect? Why choose one over the other?
• Examining innovative ways to finance smaller projects

10:00AM The secondary market: Exploring the drivers behind current levels of power asset acquisition and sale

• The rationale behind the interest of different investor types in the secondary power market in Canada and abroad
• At what stage in the project cycle does secondary asset sale and purchase become viable?
• What bank and capital markets financing tools are on offer to participants in the secondary market?

10:45AM Morning refreshments and networking break

11:30AM Keynote Session: The Climate Leadership Plan: Achieving renewables targets in Alberta’s wholesale power market

*Details and practicalities regarding the plan’s realization are presented to the audience, before a period of questions from the floor*
• Contract design, pricing and bidding process: Examining the nuts and bolts of AESO’s renewable electricity incentive program
• An unstoppable movement? Assurances regarding the long-term provincial commitment to renewable power
• Dealing with the pushback from Alberta’s incumbent producers as the coal phase-out becomes reality

12:00PM Market reaction panel: Gauging market participant sentiment towards the Albertan power paradigm shift

• How are Alberta’s incumbent power producers, and their existing contracts, adapting to the change?
• What are the key risks for new market entrants?
• To what extent has successful competitive procurement been made viable by market redesign?
• Assessing the bankability of renewable power projects in Alberta following reform: Would non-recourse financing be available?
• How can energy storage be leveraged to make wind and solar work in the province?

12:45PM Lunch

2:15PM Market Reaction Panel: Input from project finance lenders based on the proposed details of Alberta’s Climate Leadership Plan

• Initial reaction to the plan from potential project finance and corporate lenders
• A lenders’ view on the strengths and weaknesses of the proposed program
• Areas of the proposed program where further details are required, and suggestions on preferred structures

3:00PM Connecting Aboriginal and industry leadership: The importance of First Nations involvement in successful power projects

• From participant to project driver: Examining the changing role of the Indigenous community in power projects
• The macro-federal attitude towards First Nations economic development and its knock-on effect on power
• As a leader in aboriginal affairs, how will Ontario incentivize First Nations involvement in LRP II?
• Financing Indigenous entry into the solar sector as remote communities eschew diesel

3:45PM Afternoon coffee and networking break

4:15PM Explaining Ontario’s power plan in the wake of LRP II’s cancellation: Where will the opportunities come and how will procurement look?

Mike Lyle, of the IESO, will outline how the power plan in Ontario has changed, before a period of questions from the floor

4:45PM Assessing the current refinancing environment and the opportunities for project owners

• Understanding how attractive pricing and a flux of projects approaching their operational phase has created the perfect refinancing storm
• Comparing the refinancing tools provided by loan providers and the capital markets
• Who’s investing in project bonds issued through refinancing? What makes this an attractive asset class?
• As project procurement ebbs, will refinancing continue to provide the flow for Canadian banks and debt investors?

5:30PM Chairperson’s closing remarks followed by cocktail reception

8:15AM Morning refreshments

8:45AM Chairperson's opening remarks

9:00AM Bruce Power: Financing one of the world’s largest standalone operating nuclear plants

• The importance of the site to Ontario’s baseload generation capacity
• Merits of the underlying CANDU technology
• Historical evolution of the off-take agreement with the IESO to support financings
• Approaching the Canadian bank and bond markets with the prospect of future refurbishments

9:45AM Looking further afield: International markets for outbound power investment

*Robert Todd (HSBC) provides a global outlook for Canadian power players and energy investors, before Portia Maier (Austrade) highlights the investment opportunities in Australia and Stephen Somerville discusses H2O Power’s experiences in the US secondary market*

10:55AM Morning refreshments and networking break

11:25AM Going green in Saskatchewan: Breaking down SaskPower’s 2030 renewables commitment

• How has Saskatchewan’s renewables procurement process developed in light of recent provincial targets?
• What kind of yield do developers and sponsors expect from renewables projects in Saskatchewan? Are projects more bankable than in Alberta?
• Has the Swift Current power plant set a precedent for further SaskPower self-build in the province? Does this option dissuade IPP entry?
• What role will the First Nations Power Authority take in procurement? What do they expect from their IPP partners?

12:10PM Quebec’s 2030 Energy Policy: Reviewing the province’s evolving low-carbon profile and a 25% renewables increase

• When and how will procurement of the 25% increase occur?
• Which technologies will be relied upon to achieve provincial targets? Will wind generation’s dominance in Quebec remain the norm?
• Assessing the increased opportunities provided by new green energy policies in neighboring areas: From green energy targets in Massachusetts to Cap & Trade in Ontario

12:40PM Financing Canadian energy storage: Is non-recourse finally on the horizon?

• The risk and bankability attached to different storage methods: Which technologies are lenders in Canada most comfortable with?
• How are current utility scale projects being financed in Canada and elsewhere?
• How could project finance be tailored to suit the risk profile of energy storage development? What can be learned from outside of Canada?
• The pipeline for energy storage projects: Where is procurement taking place? How could it compliment the grid in different provinces?

1:25PM Chairperson’s closing remarks followed by lunch and close of conference