New Energy World™
New Energy World™ embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low-carbon technologies.
Debt and equity bankability for renewable energy project financing
20/4/2026
10 min read
Feature
The Energy Industries Council’s March 2026 Bankable Energies conference gathered financiers and borrowers to map out how to bridge the gap between net zero targets and the capital deployment required to reach them. With global investment in the energy transition hitting a record $2.3tn in 2025, the day’s conversation focused on risk mitigation and structured finance. Kristy Jooste AMEI, Senior Content Officer, Energy Institute, was there.
Neil McDermott, CEO of the Low Carbon Contracts Company (LCCC), opened the event by describing the UK’s contracts for difference (CfD) scheme as a ‘global gold standard’ for providing the revenue stability investors crave. According to McDermott, the scheme has attracted nearly £80bn in investment through Allocation Round 6 (AR6). With the inclusion of the most recent round, AR7, McDermott says that figure is expected to surpass £100bn.
‘Great Britain has become a leader in the deployment of offshore wind, onshore wind, solar and other technologies. The UK low-carbon transition is accelerating and the LCCC, alongside all of you in this room, is helping to drive that progress,’ he said.
The success of the CfD model in the power sector is now being exported to other areas of the economy. McDermott highlighted how the LCCC is working with the government to apply similar business models to carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) by supporting projects like BP’s Net Zero Teesside and the Padeswood cement plant in the HyNet cluster; signing projects under the government’s hydrogen allocation rounds to produce ‘green hydrogen’, with the first contracts expected to settle in 2026; and exploring how CfD can attract private investment into cleaner air travel with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).