Some of the Mint Selection team recently attended the Solar Investment and Finance Conference hosted by Informa Markets. A few key themes came through clearly: financing models are evolving, the grid remains the critical constraint on renewables and battery deployment, and regulatory changes are reshaping how renewable power is procured and verified.
Financing is shifting from projects to portfolios
A notable trend is the move away from traditional project finance towards portfolio financing.
Developers and investors are increasingly bundling multiple assets together to manage risk and improve flexibility. This approach helps mitigate uncertainty around grid connection timelines.
Portfolio structures also make projects more attractive to institutional capital by smoothing returns and spreading exposure risks across locations and technologies. In a market where grid delays are becoming the norm rather than the exception, flexibility is now a commercial advantage.
GHG protocol Scope 2 changes will reshape clean power procurement
Proposed updates to GHG Protocol Scope 2 introduce stricter reporting, including potential hourly and locational matching for renewable energy consumption. The Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG) is the most widely used framework for measuring and reporting GHG emissions with scope 2 covering indirect GHG emissions from the generation of purchased acquired electricity, steam, heat, or cooling.
This makes clean energy procurement more restrictive but also strengthens the link between corporate sustainability targets and real-world grid decarbonisation. We expect this will more closely align the supply of clean energy with demand.
Impact on PPAs and renewable development
We expect the proposed changes to result in stronger demand for hybrid PPAs, particularly solar combined with storage. Locations with high PPA demand are expected to develop stronger renewable project pipelines, reinforcing the importance of geography when planning new assets.
UK Grid Reform Gate 2 and industry sentiment
In the UK, Grid Reform Gate 2 was another focal point of discussion.
NESO is prioritising projects that are considered “ready” and “strategically aligned”, with a focus on connections before 2030 and 2035. Transmission remains the main bottleneck across the system.
Industry sentiment, however, is bearish about the impact that this reform will have on the queue. There is also confusion over what “strategically aligned” truly means in practice. Procurement risks are anticipated to rise with a rush once connection dates are confirmed, potentially driving up costs across equipment, construction and talent.
What this means for developers
For developers, the implications are clear.
Location is becoming critical to project viability. Grid access and strategic fit now matter as much as land and resource availability. The grid process continues to be the biggest structural challenge to growth, and strategic alignment is increasingly being prioritised over simply being build ready.
This reinforces the need for long term planning, stronger partnerships and deeper market intelligence.
Emerging solutions to grid bottlenecks
To mitigate these constraints, key solutions are gaining momentum. These include hybridisation, where multiple assets share a single grid connection, long duration storage to balance intermittency, and the use of AI driven software to optimise renewable generation and demand management.
Energy demand and pricing outlook
Near term energy demand growth is expected to remain moderate. While data centres are a major driver of future consumption, their impact will be delayed due to long build times.
Negative pricing events are expected to increase, which in turn strengthens the economic case for storage and flexible assets. This will further accelerate investment into batteries and hybrid projects across key markets.
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At Mint Selection, we see this as a pivotal moment. The organisations that will thrive are those who understand not just where the market is going, but how to build the teams and partnerships needed to support sustainable growth.
To keep up to date with market insights in the energy sector follow us on LinkedIn and if you are building your team contact us at hello@mintselection.com. Mint Selection are an insight led energy transition talent partner. We deliver search, embedded talent and recruitment solutions across the full project lifecycle, with a specialist focus on growth stage clean energy companies.