Operis has been in the financial modelling business for 35 years and in that time we have seen a lot of different trends in the type of infrastructure that’s being developed. Throughout it all we have been there applying our skills to give decision makers more reliable numbers to work with. We are proud of all the transactions we have helped to close – and these are some of the new sectors we have been utilising our skills in recently.
Energy Transition
There is rightly a big push on innovative projects that will assist with the energy transition. We are seeing a lot of c battery storage projects and recently completed a financial model review for the Ocker Hill 99 MW Battery Energy Storage System (BESS). Projects with a variety of types (or sites) of economic activity may bring modelling challenges in terms of how the assets are accounted for and consolidated. With our vast experience of all the different ways of approaching portfolio modelling and our in-house tax and accounting team we have the relevant expertise and are well equipped to meet these challenges.
Power transmission lines is another area which is very active in the UK at the moment due to the demand for offshore wind farms. Operis has a long history in this sector, from the London Array OFTO bid in 2012 (as model auditor), right up to providing advisory services on the financial close of the Seagreen OFTO earlier this year. We are well familiar with the regulatory framework that surrounds these and the idiosyncrasies of the modelling requirements.
We are seeing other types of power project coming through, too, in the push to meet net zero requirements – floating solar and wind, small nuclear and hydro. We recently worked on the Nachtigal Hydroelectric Power Station project in Cameroon. Our experience of working on power projects in many different areas with many different revenue structures means we are easily able to understand and adapt to new approaches and model them accurately and efficiently.
The other side of the net zero coin is carbon capture, a sector we are also active in. We are proud to be part of the system that is helping to reduce our emissions and give us all cleaner air and a brighter future.
Data And Communication
The other sector that we see is a big growth area at the moment is in data storage and transmission. This is hardly surprising in an increasingly connected world where people expect to be able to work from anywhere, and where the growing use of AI will drive a need for greater processing power globally. On the storage side we worked with AIMCo on the financing of a portfolio of data centres across the US and on the transmission side we recently built the model for the National Broadband Ireland, and we understand the unique revenue and financing structures that can apply to these projects.
We have a depth of experience in reading, understanding and translating contractual agreements into clear model logic, which makes us a natural choice as a financial modelling partner for innovative or unusual projects.
Transferable Techniques
Alongside the unique demands of the operational side of the project lies the financing structure, which is less sector specific. Often, the structurally most complicated modelling is found in the financing, and it is here that Operis’s experience of over 1,640 deals, and its team of scientists, mathematicians and engineers comes into its own.
We know how to do efficient debt sizing with however many constraints you’d like to throw at us, optimising the structure to optimise your returns. We can manage the interaction between the cash waterfall and the reserve accounts, ensuring that you can run sensitivity analysis that helps you identify and mitigate the key risks in your project. Our modelling work is always accompanied by a suite of audit tests that ensure that the numbers in the model are a good basis for decision making.
If you are breaking new ground and you’d like a modelling partner who can really understand your deal and deliver elegant modelling solutions, do reach out to Operis.
