Calash

The global push for sustainability is fueling rapid growth in the waste-to-energy sector. From agricultural byproducts to municipal solid waste, innovative technologies are transforming waste streams into valuable resources. 🌱 Calash has been at the forefront of this movement, providing commercial due diligence not just for agricultural waste solutions, but also for broader waste-to-energy projects. ♻️ Our expertise spans anaerobic digestion, incineration, gasification, and other cutting-edge technologies that are revolutionizing waste management and energy production. Whether you're focused on nutrient neutrality, renewable energy, or the circular economy as a whole, Calash can help you identify and assess the most promising opportunities in this dynamic market. #wastetoenergy #renewableenergy #circulareconomy #nutrientneutrality #anaerobicdigestion #incineration #gasification #duediligence #sustainability #calash #investing #acquisitions  https://lnkd.in/edQ-PasJ

In the last year, Calash has increasingly received requests for its services in maturing EU markets in the CEE region, where the rapid growth in renewables capacity, paired with a less developed physical, fiscal and professional supply chain, has created a demand for quality due diligence and strategy advice. We’re very pleased to have opened our first EU office nestled beneath the Vitosha mountain in the heart of leafy Sofia, and look forward to deepening our engagement with investors, companies and the regional advisory community. Iain Gallow. Calash director, said: “Calash has worked extensively across the broader European market throughout its two-decade history, and is pleased to now have a centre of operations within the EU. Our work is increasingly sector agnostic and multinational, reflecting the value our clients place on Calash’s professionalism and ability to get to grips with complex markets and technologies. We have already completed several advisory projects in Bulgaria and have a strong pipeline of upcoming work, which we are excited to now be able to execute from the beautiful surroundings of Sofia.” To find out more, reach out to Iain or to Calash’s head of CEE Mario Petrov. https://lnkd.in/e8G2-8xJ

Thoughts here from Calash CEO Alan Evett on the UK government's approach to investing in energy transition technologies - well worth a read! #energytransition #UKIB GB Energy #energy #investing #infrastructure

The volume of investments and M&A related to data centres is rising, particularly around technologies and services that monitor, maintain and improve the efficiency of these power-guzzling assets. And it’s hardly a surprise. The data centre industry has seen explosive growth in the last decade, and this momentum is unlikely to stop anytime soon. It is primarily driven by the ever-increasing demand globally for cloud services and the expanding use of web-enabled devices. As such, power requirements are growing exponentially. The demand for powering data centres, combined with a shift to electrifying heat, transport, and industry, is straining the grid. In its annual electricity report, the International Energy Agency (IEA) says data centres consumed 460TWh in 2022, with one scenario noting that this could rise to more than 1,000TWh by 2026. This is equivalent to Japan's entire current electricity consumption. Goldman Sachs estimates that AI, which accounts for 19% of data centre power consumption, will add approximately 200 terawatt-hours of power demand annually from 2024 to 2030. Meanwhile, in a Skynet-like demand spiral, AI is itself creating a fundamental improvement in the efficiency of data centre design, site selection and investment approach. In the Republic of Ireland, which several US tech giants call their European home, data centres accounted for nearly a fifth of electricity used in 2022. Despite this, construction is ramping up, and the number of data centres is expected to grow by 65% in the coming years, with 14 under construction and another 40 approved sites. The data centre supply chain is supported by both blue-collar and high-spec technology solutions and services, from electrical engineering to allow grid connections, to SaaS, digital twins and advanced climate monitoring systems. This creates a rich landscape for midmarket M&A. We are putting together a longer report on this subject in the coming months, but we would be happy to share our views on the investment thesis and other commercial considerations. #datacenters #mna #energytransition #privateequity #software #power #grid #energy

Calash was pleased to provide commercial due diligence on Leap AI for The Scottish National Investment Bank. Well done to all involved! The application and impact of robotics, automation and AI in the manufacturing and food supply chains is substantial, and we look forward to tracking the company’s growth following this £7.9m fundraise. This is the latest in a series of project’s Calash has completed that focuses on the use of AI across the energy, industrials, marine and infrastructure markets. #duediligence #automation #artificalintelligence #robotics https://lnkd.in/gH7sNH_w

“The move will enable investors to build out new energy infrastructure with confidence in how their project will fit into the country’s wider clean energy plan.” The UK government has today acquired the energy system operator business of National Grid for £630m and announced the creation of the new National Energy System Operator (NESO). This is the first time that both electricity and gas networks will be operated under a single independent and publicly-owned body, and follows hot on the heels of AR6, the yearly award of contracts-for-difference (CfD) subsidies to the renewable energy sector, which saw a return to largescale offshore wind project awards and a significant increase in solar and emerging technologies. The two are connected. The major cause of bottlenecks affecting the build out new power generation assets is connection to the grid, an issue that could jeapordise the UK’s push to net zero, which requires physical, operational and digital upgrades to the power and gas networks to handle increased input from intermittent renewable energy sources and the growing demand from the electrification of heating and transport. It is likely too early to draw conclusions on NESO’s ability to deliver on a more streamlined and effective UK energy network but for companies and investors exposed the UK's power generation and gas markets this is another indication that the UK is serious about its energy transition. https://lnkd.in/ezSnrAUx 

This week has seen the results of the AR6 auction announced and Aberdeen picked as the home of Great British Energy – two positive foundations for medium-to-long term growth in the UK’s offshore energy sector. Lessons have been learned from last year’s auction, when a low strike price for offshore resulted in zero bids from would-be developers, with just shy of 3.4 GW of new capacity awarded this time around. The auction has also included an additional 1.5 GW of offshore wind awards for "permitted reduction" projects – those that withdrew up to 25% of their earlier CfD allocations to bid independently in AR6. This strategic move provides developers with greater financial security and project viability. Emerging technologies have also received a significant boost, with 400 MW of floating wind capacity awarded and 28 MW for tidal stream technologies. Solar too has achieved a major milestone, securing 3.3 GW across 93 projects – the highest single auction award to date. These awards give investors confidence on the pipeline of projects likely to be commissioned in the coming years. However, other macro factors should also be considered, such as supply chain constraints around construction and grid connection that may cause projects delays, as well as the impact of the tax burden on the UK’s oil and gas industry, which may have a negative affect on the transition of capital, skills and technologies to emerging industries. #ar6 #windenergy #offshorewind #cfd #energytransition #tidalenergy #floatingwind #northsea #greatbritishenergy #aberdeen

TotalEnergies isn’t the only operator or developer aiming to fast-track offshore floating wind rollout via Crown Estate Scotland’s Innovation and Targeted Oil & Gas (INTOG) leasing round. Electrification of existing oil and gas assets and infrastructure in the North Sea using floating wind is a smart way to hit net zero targets and to move forward in the energy transition in a logical way. The engineering and technical learnings from these small-scale projects will provide the knowledge and skills base to embark on more ambitious floating wind schemes. Determining the potential market size and scope of the floating wind sector is an evolving science, but getting to grips with the growth dynamics of the space is critically important to energy supply chain equipment and service providers, and the investors into that market, that want to pivot to an adjacent market with high technical and skill crossover. #intog #offshorewind #northsea #energytransition https://lnkd.in/da8KvZ3k

There’s been a lot of chatter this week about the UK’s oil and gas tax policy but it’s important for any investor into the supply chain to keep in mind that, while the tightening of the EPL will slow investment into the UKCS, the taps can’t be just shut off. There's a balance to be struck by the operators between not investing vs continuing to run assets with the bare minimal investment (where the need for the base level of OPEX-related work will still exist). Plus, the independents have assumed responsibility for the decommissioning cost – so either they need to find someone else to take that on (which seems unlikely), or need to make enough money off the asset through production to fund the end of life and realise some benefit on top. The majors have regarded the North Sea (except for certain large fields such as Rosebank) as non-core for a long time and the last ten years has seen ownership pass to the next tier of independent owners, such as Chrysaor/Harbour, Neptune, Siccar Point, Serica, Viaro etc., who are more focused on getting as much production and cash out of the assets as possible. The EPL disproportionately punishes these smaller players because they are so much more exposed to the UK than the multinational majors. The ramping up of the tax is a serious threat to the investible life of the UKCS, probably to single digit number of years. The new generation of independents will either accept managed decline or seek diversification, as many have recently indicated. What the government decides to do with the investment allowances will make a big difference, and is yet to be seen. For suppliers of equipment and services, this means that they need to be geographically spread, given the medium term view for oil is bullish regardless of what happens in our backyard, and they need to win that work be it in the GoM, Middle East, LatAm or West Africa. #oilandgas #energytransition #epl #northsea https://lnkd.in/e_EzpBx2

This week’s German offshore wind leasing awards could represent an inflexion point, as low offshore wind profitability and strains on the supply chain across the industry has led to calls from turbine manufacturers and industry associations to reconsider current tendering processes. For investors, these leasing and subsidy rounds are key indicators of the pace at which the offshore wind industry will grow and the potential return on investment to be made by investing in the renewables supply chain, so we’ve pulled together a chart showing the upcoming leasing rounds across key offshore wind jurisdictions. On Monday, a tender led by RWE won the right to build 4GW of capacity across two sites, which it may develop alongside TotalEnergies, while a bid from a project company backed by Luxcara won a 1.5GW site. In total, the round saw only five bids for the three sites, located in the German North Sea. The seabed leasing and subsidy award regimes in the UK and Germany are markedly different but the UK reached a similar turning point last year when its Contract-for-Difference (CfD) auction received zero bids, putting its aim to have 40GW of installed capacity by 2030 at risk and subsequently prompting government to signal a rethink its approach to supporting the offshore wind sector. The recent leasing round in Germany is different, given it is for pre-developed seabed licenses without subsidies (Germany, along with the Netherlands, has experience zero – or negative – project bids awards since 2023). This has meant that projects are largely tied to wholesale power prices and less financially hedged, with the risk that low prices will result in a squeeze on the supply chain and an increase in cost to consumers. The levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for offshore wind may have dramatically dropped in recent years face the challenge of supporting the continued large-scale development in a sustained way that allows the suppliers or technology and services to be profitable in the long term, without overly impacting the bill to the public. Offshore wind is the key power generation technology driving the energy transition in North Sea nations, so solutions will be found to support the industry in a better way, however the timeline on change is unclear #offshorewind #energytransition #wind