Episode Details

Episode Overview

In this episode, recorded live at the ACORE Finance Forum in NYC, host Benoy Thanjan sits down with Ray Long, President & CEO of ACORE. They discuss the evolving clean energy finance landscape, grid permitting challenges, policy battles around the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), and the exponential demand for power driven by AI and electrification.

Ray also shares the history and mission of ACORE—from its origins connecting Wall Street to developers in 2001, to its current role as a leading voice in renewable energy policy and finance.

Key Themes & Takeaways

Explosive Growth in Power Demand

• U.S. energy demand remained flat for decades—but is now rising due to:
  • AI and cloud computing
  • Electrification of buildings and manufacturing
  • EV charging infrastructure
• Urgent need for scalable solutions—wind, solar, storage, and natural gas are critical in the next 5–10 years

IRA Threatened by Tax Bill

• “Big Beautiful Bill” proposes eliminating key tax incentives from the IRA
• Would undermine progress and financing certainty across clean energy markets
• Industry needs a thoughtful, phased approach, not abrupt disruption

Permitting & Interconnection Bottlenecks Interconnection Crisis

• Major ISOs like PJM are overwhelmed—some developers face 7+ year delays
• Load centers like Virginia see 100+ data center projects awaiting connection
• ACORE’s Macro Grid Initiative pushes for regulatory fixes and grid modernization

Bipartisan Momentum & Strategy

• ACORE promotes an “all of the above” strategy—recognizing solar, wind, storage, natural gas, and emerging tech
• Urges policymakers to emulate China’s aggressive infrastructure and energy approach
• Emphasizes renewables as a national competitiveness issue—not just environmental

Benoy Thanjan

Benoy Thanjan is the Founder and CEO of Reneu Energy and he is also an advisor for several solar startup companies.  He has extensive project origination, development, and financial experience in the renewable energy industry and in the environmental commodities market.  

This includes initial site evaluation, permitting, financing, sourcing equipment, and negotiating the long-term energy and environmental commodities off-take agreements. He manages due diligence processes on land, permitting, and utility interconnection and is in charge of financing
and structuring through Note to Proceed (“NTP”) to Commercial Operation Date (“COD”). Benoy composes teams suitable for all project development and construction tasks. He is also involved in project planning and pipeline financial modeling. He has been part of all sides of the
transaction and this allows him to provide unique perspectives and value.

Benoy has extensive experience in financial engineering to make solar projects profitable.

Before founding Reneu Energy, he was the SREC Trader in the Project Finance Group for SolarCity which merged with Tesla in 2016.  He originated SREC trades with buyers and co-developed their SREC monetization and hedging strategy with the senior management of SolarCity to move into the east coast markets. 

Benoy was the Vice President at Vanguard Energy Partners which is a national solar installer where he focused on project finance solutions for commercial scale solar projects.  He also worked for Ridgewood Renewable Power, a private equity fund, where he analyzed potential investments in renewable energy projects and worked o