Sheehy said liquidity in that middle-stage market “has really vaporised” for both standalone battery storage and hybrid projects, with investors now clustering at either end of a project’s development timeline instead.
“There’s been a real thinning of the ready-to-build phase, and investors are either wanting to come in really early, frequently with highly structured transactions, or back to sort of classic financial close deals,” he said.
Asked by moderator Simon Mason, partner in renewables advisory at Everoze, whether the developers who once thrived on that quick approval-to-exit model were “no longer thriving in the market,” Sheehy was direct.
“The naivety of developers calling a project ready to build once you receive your offer to connect is the sort of laughing stock of people who have to actually deliver them,” he said.
“Risk has been entirely repriced between receiving your [connection offer] and going through your final financial close steps.”
