Note: Grant funding comes from Skillnet Ireland through the Irish National Training fund, and, as a result, is ONLY available to residents of the Republic of Ireland who work as a sole trader, or for a private or semi-state commercial company registered in ROI. If you are not eligible for the discount, you will still have the option to enrol by paying the full course fee. Please read Eligibility Criteria.

Click here for Day 2 ONLY

Date: 19th & 20th June 2025
Time: 09:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Venue: Online (via MS Teams)

Course Overview

The purpose of this course is to equip finance professionals wishing to enter the renewable energy industry with the knowledge, skill and competence to understand the nuances of accounting and finance of the industry.

For non-finance professionals already working in the industry, this course will provide an overview of the interaction between technical and financial aspects of the industry.

Course Outline

Day 1 will be a finance focused course for new industry entrants; Day 2 will be focused on non-finance experienced industry professionals.

Day 1:

• Introduction to Renewables
• Renewable Energy in Ireland

Day 2:

• Project Lifecycle
• Company Structures
• Accounting for Revenue
• PPA Agreements
• Operating Expenses in a Renewables Farm
• Interest, Debt and Financing
• Balance Sheet Management
• Budgets
  
• Upstreaming

Course Content

Day 1:

• Introduction to Renewables:
  Participants will be given an introduction to energy and renewables. Topics covered here, will include:
  • Difference between MW’s and MWh’s;
  • Capacity factors;
  • Understanding drivers of production capacity in a renewables farm;
  • Understand of Ireland’s power grid and the stages of power transfer from renewables farm to end user;
  • High level understanding of wind turbines, solar panels and battery.

• Renewable Energy in Ireland
  Participants will be given an overview of:
  • History of renewable generation in Ireland (AER, REFIT, RESS);
  • Plans for renewables generation in Ireland through to 2030, with a particular emphasis on offshore wind;
  • Ireland’s energy usage and the contribution that renewables makes to same;
  • Single electricity market in the island of Ireland (day-ahead market, intraday market, balancing market) and the link between subsidies and the market;
  • Role of interconnectors in Ireland.

Day 2:

• Project Lifecycle
  Understanding of the stages of the lifecycle of an asset and finance implications along each stage:
  • Project assessment;
  • Development;
  • Construction;
  • Operational;
  • End-of-use.

• Company Structures
  Understanding of the various investment and company structures one can expect to see in a renewables portfolio, and understanding tax, accounting and
  cashflow implications of various structures, such as:
  • SPV’s;
  • Holding companies & Top Co’s;
  • Service Co’s.

• Accounting for Revenue
  Participants will learn how to account for revenue in a renewables farm, and all the various forms of revenue, such as:
  • REFIT / RESS PPA;
  • Corporate PPA’s;
  • Guarantees of origin;
  • DS3;
  • Merchant market revenue;
  • Constraint & curtailment income;
  • Fees associated with revenue;

• PPA Agreements
  Participants will learn about:
  • PPA’s;
  • How they are constructed;
  • Key aspects of a PPA to extract from a finance perspective;
  • Invoicing and cash collection.

• Operating Expenses in a Renewables Farm
  Participants will learn about:
  • What operating expenses one can expect to see in a renewables farm;
  • Major line items and drivers of each cost item;
  • Calculation of multi-year OEM agreements;
  • Calculation of rental agreements.

• Interest, Debt and Financing
  Participants will learn about:
  • Levels of leveraging in a renewables project;
  • Funding structures;
  • Debt covenant ratios;
  • Bank reporting.

• Balance sheet Management
  Participants will learn how a renewables project balance sheet is typically structured.

• Budgets
  Participants will learn:
  • how to draft budgets from beginning to end;
  • Challenges in drafting a budget;
  • Benefits of rolling budget vs static budget.

• Upstreaming
  Participants will learn:
  • Importance and rationale of cash upstreaming;
  • Different types of upstreaming;
  • Frequency and risks associated with upstreaming.

About the Trainer

SkySpecs Financial Asset Management is Ireland’s number one financial asset management firm for the renewable energy industry. In addition to managing farms in Ireland, SkySpecs also manage renewable energy farms across Europe on behalf of funds and IPP.

John Harney is the Head of Financial Asset Management Services & Software at SkySpecs, a global leader in wind energy technology. In this role, he focuses on addressing the challenges associated with scaling renewable energy portfolios from a financial management standpoint.

Prior to joining SkySpecs, John co-founded Fincovi, a company specialising in financial asset management for the renewable energy sector. Fincovi was acquired by SkySpecs in 2021, integrating its expertise into SkySpecs' comprehensive suite of services.

John has also co-authored articles discussing challenges in renewable energy asset management, such as "Containing O&M Wind Costs in European Asset Management," where he explores issues like inflation, supply chain disruptions, and permitting challenges in the industry.