Stanford Energy Seminar | The Renewables Reckoning: Bankruptcies, Buyouts, and America's Energy Supply | Nick Franchot, GoodFinch

The Stanford Energy Seminar has been a mainstay of energy engagement at Stanford for nearly 20 years and is one of the flagship programs of the Precourt Institute for Energy. We aim to bring a wide variety of perspectives to the Stanford community – academics, entrepreneurs, utilities, non-profits, and more.

About the talk

The U.S. renewable energy industry is in the midst of a financial crisis. Over the past 18 months, more than 100 companies have filed for bankruptcy, even as solar accounted for roughly 80% of new U.S. electricity generation last year. In this seminar, Nick Franchot of GoodFinch will explain what is driving the wave of distress and what it reveals about how the industry has been financed.

Franchot will also discuss GoodFinch's strategy of acquiring assets out of bankruptcy, which has produced one of the largest renewable energy portfolios in the country, with more than $1 billion in EBITDA and close to 1% of U.S. power production. He will close with the implications for the U.S. economy: if, as GoodFinch expects, half of the developers behind recent solar growth fail in the coming years, new energy supply could be significantly constrained at a moment of rising demand.

Nick Franchot is currently a Partner at GoodFinch. Nick brings experience from previous roles at Hall Capital Partners LLC, Passport Capital, U.S. Department of the Treasury and CapitalSource. He holds a Stanford University Graduate School of Business

Anyone with an interest in energy is welcome to join! You can enjoy seminars in the following ways:

Attend live. The auditorium may change quarter by quarter, so check each seminar event to confirm the location. Explore the current quarter's schedule.Watch live in a browser livestream if available. Check each seminar event for its unique livestream URL.Watch recordings of past seminars Available on the Past Energy Seminars page and the Energy Seminars playlist of the Stanford Energy YouTube channel(For students) Take the seminar as a 1-unit class (CEE 301/ENERGY 301/MS&E 494)

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