Renewable energy and clean technology
Clean energy businesses that know the cost of every watt and the cash behind every unit
Clean energy businesses price on a watt, a unit or a session and carry obligations for decades. We cost each project and product from what it actually consumed, link generation and usage to the cash that follows, and put long-term guarantees and incentive conditions in the books, so margin is known before the obligation arrives.
Generation, not capacity, pays the debt.
Cost per watt → units generated → cash collected
At a glance
Contracts are priced per watt before the equipment is ordered, and the open price exposure is not measured.
Project and product economics
Cost per watt or per unit of capacity, quoted against actual.
5 trades
Each trade runs on different numbers, so each has its own page
Open the one that matches your business. Each sets out how the money moves, where it usually breaks down and what we would do first.
The economics
Why the numbers are harder here
Most clean energy businesses buy a large share of their value as equipment whose price moves quickly and is often set in foreign currency: modules, cells, inverters, battery packs and chargers. A price agreed with a customer per watt or per megawatt-hour is exposed to those movements until the equipment is ordered, and the exposure is rarely measured contract by contract.
After the sale or the commissioning, the business keeps obligations that run for years: generation and performance guarantees, module performance warranties of twenty-five years or more, capacity guarantees on storage, debt covenants on project companies, and conditions attached to incentives and subsidies. Revenue depends on generation, usage and the payment behaviour of distribution companies and other offtakers. Each of these has to be costed and tracked, or the early years overstate margin and the later years pay for it.
The problem
Where visibility breaks down
- Contracts are priced per watt before the equipment is ordered, and the open price exposure is not measured.
- Generation and usage are reported by operations but not carried through to cash, covenants and forecasts.
- Warranties, performance guarantees and augmentation obligations carry no provision with a basis behind it.
- Project companies close late and disagree on intercompany balances, so portfolio reporting is rebuilt every quarter.
- Incentive and subsidy conditions are tracked by the project team, not by finance, and claims rest on unreconciled data.
Where we concentrate
How we focus the engagement
Project and product economics
- Cost per watt or per unit of capacity built from actual equipment, installation and logistics cost.
- Open equipment price and currency exposure listed against signed contracts.
- Inventory tested against current market prices where input costs move quickly.
- Warranty, guarantee and augmentation obligations provided for on a documented basis.
- Capital cost closed out promptly after commissioning, including interest during construction.
Generation, cash and reporting
- Units generated or delivered reconciled to units billed and cash received.
- Offtaker receivables aged, with late-payment amounts computed and claimed.
- Covenant and reserve tests forecast for each project company.
- Common chart of accounts and close calendar across project companies.
- Incentive, subsidy and domestic-content records reconciled to the accounts.
Reporting
Reports worth receiving
- Cost per watt or per unit of capacity, quoted against actual.
- Generation or usage against plan, carried through to cash.
- Receivables by offtaker and customer, aged.
- Debt-service coverage and covenant headroom, by project company.
- Warranty, guarantee and augmentation obligations against provisions.
Common questions
Questions we hear in this sector
We are an EPC firm, not a developer. Does this apply to us?
Yes, with a different emphasis. For an EPC firm the priority is cost per watt and equipment price exposure on each project. For a developer it's generation, collections and covenants across project companies. Our trade pages go into each.
Can you help with incentive and subsidy claims?
We reconcile the production, sales, installation or usage data a claim depends on and keep the records that support it. Certificates a scheme requires from a chartered or cost accountant are issued by an independently engaged professional.
Do you work with early-stage clean technology companies?
Yes. Storage and charging businesses often sign long-term commitments early, so a fractional CFO arrangement with lifetime costing in place before the first large contract is a common starting point.
5th Quadrant performs costing, accounting, reporting and compliance-record work for clean energy businesses. Statutory audit, tax-audit reports, chartered or cost accountant certificates for lenders and incentive schemes, statutory valuations and accredited product certification are performed by independently engaged licensed professionals or accredited bodies, coordinated through 5th Quadrant. Full detail is on our Professional Scope page.
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