Business Planning

Context

The energy sector continues to attract strong inflows of investment, but in many regions external constraints mean that capacity shortages exist. Opportunities range from the acquisition and sale of national or regional utilities, to small and dispersed projects such as small scale distributed generation and electrification opportunities. In addition, there are many parts of the world where elements of the sector remain in public hands, and there is ongoing need for sector reform to improve efficiency and create a climate conducive to sustainable investment. Particular challenges exist in regions which are highly dependent on expensive or scarce primary fuels, or where there is a need to recover from historical underfunding of the sector, perhaps due to wider economic circumstances. Around the world there is a need to adapt business models to take account of potentially disruptive technologies such as distributed generation, smart metering, customer demand participation, smart grids and real-time asset management.

Our Key Strengths

PPA Energy's expertise is provided to both private and public clients.

Our private clients are often investors or power asset owners. Their objectives are to structure commercially advantageous deals, for example, in the construction of Independent Power Producer (IPP) plants, or in the setting up and negotiation of concession contracts and Power Purchase Agreements. Our skills span a range from market evaluation to expert witness work, and our clients range widely, from commercial property developers looking at opportunities to exploit small scale generation, through to major international corporations looking to invest hundreds of millions of dollars.

For public clients, multilateral lenders and regulatory bodies, we provide the expertise in development of financial restructuring and turnaround plans plus the associated training and capacity building support. Where such work is required to be aligned with international accounting standards, we have relationships with major blue chip accounting firms who can provide this support alongside our operational knowledge. A key component of such planning often includes the setting of management performance targets, for example for the improvement of revenue collection, reduction of losses, and management of billing, and our experience in this area spans the technical, managerial and financial disciplines.

What we do:

For Private Investors:

• Due diligence and financial evaluation
• Investment planning
• Support in negotiation of Power Purchase Agreements and concession contracts
• Transaction advice
• Strategic advice to IPPs (Independent Power Producers)
• Market Studies

For Public and Government Entities

• Design of regulations and regulatory regimes
• Support in the process of Electricity Sector Reform and Power Sector Restructuring
• Economic analysis
• Support on Institutional Issues
• Incentivising private investment
• Energy policy advice