Financing and risk management of renewable energy projects with a hybrid bond

Although many incentive schemes and renewable energy policies, such as feed-in tariffs and tax credits, have been imposed to boost renewable energy investment, renewable energy investment still necessitates huge initial capital costs and involves numerous uncertainties. Unless the problems are well addressed, renewable energy developments are hindered. In this paper, we present a new financing instrument, called hybrid bond, to build renewable energy projects. The hybrid bond consists of a portfolio of renewable energy projects. It does not only financially support the initial capital costs, but also manages the risks associated with renewable energy investment. Key risks including market risks, credit risks, liquidity risks, operational risks and political risks are identified and managed. In the proposed framework, it reveals that the sale of a hybrid bond can finance a substantial share of upfront capital costs of renewable energy projects and the use of hybrid bond is able to manage major uncertainties. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.