Financial Modelling for Renewables

Financial Modelling for Renewables Course

Sector-specific financial modelling taught using best practice and the FAST Standard

Financial Modelling for Renewables focuses on the challenges that arise in preparing financial models for renewables projects: construction vs operations, seasonality, monthly timelines, P90 / P50 forecasting and financing. It is a modular course for analysts and financiers in the renewables sector who need to build, modify, or run financial models. It is available as a 2-day intensive and immersive classroom course, or as interactive live online course over 12 sessions.

We run this course on an open basis in London and Dubai.

Book and pay online for your place below, or contact us to request an invoice.

What you will learn

This course will teach you:

The concepts of P90 and P50 and how to apply those within the model’s financial forecasts
Approaches for taking annual inputs and implementing those into a monthly financial model and how to aggregate monthly models into broader timelines
Methods for selecting different draw down options and how construction phase revenues can impact funding
How to optimise financial models under both P50 and P90 cases

Who should attend

This course is suited to participants who already have some basic Excel skills and aspire to, have recently started or know they are going to start building financial models in the renewable energy sector. We also assume that participants have a basic familiarity with the layout of financial statements (income statement, balance sheet and cash flow) but not necessarily how they are modelled.

Based on a template financial model with a monthly timeline, participants will cover – step-by-step – the construction phase (costs, income and financing), model optimisation for lenders and sponsors, equity bridge loans, cash sweeps and debt refinancing.

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Date

Format

Location

Duration

Instructor

Price

13 & 14 Feb

Classroom Based

London

2 days

John Dimberline

$2,405

17, 18 & 19 Mar

Live Online

Europe/Gulf timezone

12 sessions

John Dimberline

$2,019

As requested

In House

As requested

Any

$ - Variable

13 & 14 Feb

$2,405

Location

London

Instructor

John Dimberline

Duration

2 days

Format

Classroom Based
17, 18 & 19 Mar

$2,019

Location

Europe/Gulf timezone

Instructor

John Dimberline

Duration

12 sessions

Format

Live Online
As requested

Price $ - Variable

Location

As requested

Instructor

Any

Duration

As requested

Format

In House

ENQUIRE

Course Topics

Project finance fundamentals Model design Best practice fundamentals Generation

Applying seasonality and degradation

Revenues

Fixed PPA revenues followed by variable merchant revenues

Drawdown phase

Construction period expenditure
Sources and uses of funds
Drawdown of senior debt and equity

Senior debt interest and fees during construction

Arrangement fee, commitment fee and interest
Applying day conventions to interest
Understanding model periods and debt balances

Drawdown phase circularity

Concept of drawdown phase circularity
Creating the circularity and solving manually
Creating a macro to solve the circularity

Transition from drawdown phase to repayment phase Repayment phase: senior debt

Simple principal payment and interest
Debt Service Cover Ratio
Sculpted debt repayments to achieve a target DSCR

Repayment phase: equity

Dividends
Shareholder returns

Model optimisation fundamentals

Assessing optimisation using a Track sheet
Optimisation for gearing
Optimisation for revenue unit rate

Optimising for P50 and P90 scenarios

Fixing the repayment profile
Optimising at P90 and at P50

Find out more:

Financial modelling for renewables brochure cover

DOWNLOAD COURSE BROCHURE

Would you like us to come to you?

Expert teams delivering training at a date and place convenient for the group. Discussions can be tailored to suit the participants and course content tweaked accordingly. Train a group at the same time with no distractions, making it easier to implement modelling best practice.

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Our clients

I use my new found skills on a daily basis and can’t speak highly enough of the course and what it has given myself and my colleague. It has changed how we do all of our modelling in the company and has received really positive feedback from everyone that has used the model or reviewed the model.

Sally Brierley, Financial Modeller, FCC Environment

We were stunned at the difference that a standardised approach made. Our new Excel models can provide information that just isn’t accessible through an ERP.

Philip Whittingham COO (and former FD), Virgin Trains

The course was great. I learned so much and really enjoyed it. I’m looking forward to using it in my own work. I would be very happy to recommend the course.

Eric Eastlund, Head of Analytics, SCIO Capital

From start to finish the team were very professional and demonstrated considerable experience in what they were doing. The end result is an exceptionally powerful tool, which is straightforward to use, and now forms the backbone to our forecasting process. I would have no hesitation in recommending F1F9.

Douglas McArthur, CA Group FD, Asset Alliance

[The instructor] was enthusiastic about the material and the course itself which created good engagement in class. I particularly liked the fact that we were consistently taking part in the course, rather than being "taught" we were facilitated.

Andrew Dias, Finance Business Partner, Stansted Airport

The Enterprise model is great value for money. We compared it to the other standard reporting systems available such as Sage and Oracle but the F1F9 solution was much cheaper and also gave us the flexibility to change the way we report our business as it grows and develops. It has halved the time our month end reporting process takes. We started out wanting a model for budgeting purposes only but when we saw what the model could do we decided to use it for actuals reporting as well as our rolling forecasts.

Charles Carolan, Senior Financial Analyst, Skrill

[The instructor] was absolutely excellent. Everything was extremely clear, the pace of the class was spot on. I thought I would come away being slightly better at reading models but actually now I would feel completely confident starting my own.

Emma Paterson, SSE/ Beatrice Offshore Windfarm Limited

The team at F1F9 were responsive, hardworking and helped us upgrade our model to be fit for purpose post acquisition. F1F9 took the time to understand our needs early in the process, met deadlines and were professional in their approach.

Investment Manager, UK Private Equity House

Thanks for the excellent academy which has so boosted my own modest modeling skills. F1F9's strong customer service culture is a big help.

Geoffrey Finch, Resident Adviser for Infrastructure Finance for the US Treasury Office of Technical Assistance - Government of Paraguay, Ministry of Finance

I particularly liked the setup of the online training, and the portions provided in each section. The ability to go back and review and exercise with the models after each training and even after a few training provided an excellent opportunity to really 'learn' the skills. The setup allowed for my own pace of learning and the time I was able to dedicate besides work to complete the training. I highly recommended the training to colleagues.

Hartmut Weissmann

Very useful tips and tricks, certainly helped me a lot in understanding and 'simplifying' the enormous models. Thank you very much!

Julie de Bock, Senior Advisory / Corporate Finance, BDO

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Course reviews

Andrew and John provided very in-depth understanding of the modeling

Z. S.

January 16, 2024

I personally have found it a really useful refresher, particularly liked some of the useful shortcuts and convention styles that I think will help my modelling more coherent and easier to audit/review going forward.

C. C. Transport for London

January 11, 2024

Good course, expertly and clearly explained. Have already recommended it to others.

A. M.

November 21, 2023

The course was well organised. The materials were well prepared. It was great to point out the key methods of financial modelling for renewables.

A. S.

November 23, 2023

Instructor was awesome and really easy to follow !

[Name not given] Ocean Winds

November 14, 2023

John was an excellent instructor and explained things very clearly and simply. He made it very easy to follow and understand what he was doing. He was also very interactive, so it was easy to stay engaged and not get distracted. The shortcuts in the comments box were also very useful - thank you Anushka! Really enjoyed the course and how it was structured. Four 1 hour sessions over 3 days with the spacing in between worked really well for me.

Diana H.

August 15, 2023

Both instructors (John and Andrew) very knowledgable and good at explaining material. I would say that a knowledge of accounting rules and accountancy was assumed which i personally dont have which meant i found the logic in forming some of the models quite difficult to follow. Very good and quick at helping when there were any personal queries and technical issues which was great as allowed to keep up course speed and momentum, but sometimes this was too quick as it did not allow for me to understand why i went wrong, just where.

A. H-S Shell

July 19, 2023

Andrew & John were both very knowledgeable in the area and did not at anytime make you feel like you were being rushed to learn. They were fantastic at explaining concepts in an easier way for all to understand. I really enjoyed the teaching style and it didn't ever feel like death by powerpoint which is a welcomed change from other courses I have been on in the past.

A. L. Shell

July 11, 2023

It was great that both Andrew and John used humor will teaching the course - made it far more engaging. Great to have this in person with the laptops. Loved that they both spent the time to explain the concepts as well as the modeling processes. My finance knowledge has greatly improved. Andrew especially knows his stuff, and his competence shines through.

John W.

July 25, 2023

Really liked the way the training is delivered, even though rarely I lost track simply because I was trying to a) digest the "financial" logic of that specific exercise and b) catching up with the Excel related shortcuts and connections. I would be really interested in the next level of course, in which we can build up the model from scratch, but probably an easier sample :)) Because I am simply lacking the accounting part... Many thanks to Andrew and John.

C. D. Shell

July 19, 2023

Very engaging, took the material at the right speed, quick to help out if needed and explained all the material well.

K. B. Shell

July 18, 2023

Both Andrew and John were very engaging and were able to effectively communicate course content. They kept p a group interested and alert at the end of a 2 day excel course which is pretty impressive! Would highly recommend to colleagues.

R. C.

August 1, 2023

Energetic, engaging, with a clear expertise in the content. Had the ability to explain commercial concepts to non-commercial audience members in a concise manner.

C. B. EWEC Abu Dhabi

May 15, 2023

Really great. Very approachable and friendly!

David Manley

June 8, 2021

Both of the instructors were excellent and complimented eachother. They encouraged discussion during the sessions, added commerical insights whereever possible and also answered questions in full. The course was engaging which is often difficult online, and the sessions went by very quickly which speaks to the quality of the presentation. The one hour sessions worked well, as it was not too long sitting infront of a screen listening. This was backed up well through assignments which helped solidify the learnings from the sessions. Spreading it out across 2 weeks also worked well, as it ave time to digest + also pick up stuff from work in between.

Stuart Gillies

March 11, 2021

John explained the material in a concise and clear manner. Questions were addressed and homework reviewed to ensure learnings were cemented. Excellent overall.

J P

February 8, 2021

The course was great. Thank you.

Marco Montesinos

September 25, 2020

The standard of the tuition was very good and has taken my knowledge base far beyond where it had previously been in terms of financial modelling. I have previously used financial modelling for feasibility purposes only and not generally (beyond at a simple level) considered all the debt repayment options. I certainly had not considered the use fo equity bridge loans although I now understand the value of this option. Overall, the course has provided a great insight into the financial modelling world and whilst I may not utilise every aspect of the knowledge gained it has emphasised the need to work with a standardised approach (FASTstandard) and the need to model transparency.

C P

July 23, 2020

Very good instructor and teaching assistant. The audience was a very inhomognous group ranging from excel-illiterate to VBA programmer to head of project finance. Instructor and teaching assitant managed to overcome these obstacles very well!

M K

July 23, 2019