Energy Finance Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Energy finance managers, Project developers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 7 Nov 2026 Course code SD-CFCM-004

Before you join: Participants should understand basic financial statements, discounted cash flow concepts and the commercial purpose of debt and equity.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Energy investment decisions now combine traditional project-finance disciplines with carbon pricing, emissions obligations, green funding conditions and climate-risk disclosures. Finance teams must judge whether a renewable plant, grid asset, storage project, efficiency programme or transition investment can produce dependable cash flows under changing power prices, policy incentives and carbon-market rules. They also need to distinguish credible climate-finance claims from weak assumptions that create valuation, compliance or reputational exposure.

This course builds the financial and commercial skills used to assess energy and transition investments. Participants examine project revenues, operating costs, capital structures, debt-service capacity, weighted average cost of capital, power purchase agreements, merchant-price exposure and sensitivity analysis. They also cover voluntary and compliance carbon markets, carbon-credit quality, emissions allowances, green bonds, sustainability-linked loans, climate-risk assessment and investment decision papers. The course connects energy-finance models to the commercial contracts, policy mechanisms and carbon assumptions that determine value.

Teaching combines short technical briefings with guided case work, model reviews, group analysis and negotiated commercial scenarios. Participants work with realistic renewable-energy, industrial-decarbonisation and carbon-credit cases, applying finance methods to investment committee decisions. Each participant leaves with an energy-investment appraisal pack containing a project cash-flow model structure, risk register, carbon-market due-diligence checklist and investment-committee paper outline that can be adapted for live opportunities.

The course suits professionals involved in energy projects, sustainable finance, corporate decarbonisation, infrastructure investment, lending, treasury, procurement and public-sector energy programmes. It is particularly useful where teams must explain how climate and carbon variables affect returns, financing terms and investment risk.

What you will be able to do

  • Build project cash-flow models for energy assets using debt, tax and operating assumptions
  • Calculate WACC, NPV, IRR and debt-service coverage ratios for energy investments
  • Assess PPA, merchant-price and availability risks within renewable-project valuations
  • Evaluate carbon-credit quality using additionality, permanence, leakage and verification criteria
  • Compare compliance carbon-market mechanisms, allowance pricing and offsetting restrictions
  • Structure green bonds and sustainability-linked loans against recognised market principles
  • Perform climate-risk sensitivity analysis using physical and transition-risk scenarios
  • Prepare an investment-committee paper supporting an energy or decarbonisation funding decision

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Assess whether energy-project returns remain acceptable under price and policy changes
  • Challenge carbon-credit assumptions before they enter investment cases or claims
  • Write clearer finance cases for renewable, storage and decarbonisation proposals
  • Discuss debt capacity, covenants and funding terms confidently with lenders
  • Apply climate-risk evidence to valuations, budgets and capital-allocation decisions

For your organisation

  • More consistent appraisal of energy and transition capital expenditure
  • Earlier identification of PPA, merchant-price and carbon-price downside risks
  • Stronger lender and investor materials for eligible green-finance transactions
  • Better scrutiny of carbon-credit purchases and associated claim risks
  • Clearer links between decarbonisation targets, cash flows and financing plans

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can identify the commercial and financial variables that determine energy-asset value.

  • Energy-asset cash flows linked to generation, tariffs, costs and capital
  • Value chain mapping from development expenditure through decommissioning liabilities
  • Revenue models compared: regulated, contracted, merchant and capacity payments
  • Capital expenditure, operating expenditure and lifecycle replacement assumptions distinguished
  • Policy incentives assessed through eligibility, duration, transferability and clawback terms
  • Stakeholder interests mapped across sponsors, lenders, offtakers, regulators and communities

Participants can assess whether a project structure supports lender and investor requirements.

  • Special-purpose vehicle structure separating project assets from sponsor balance sheets
  • Sources-and-uses schedule matching development, construction and financing requirements
  • Debt tranches compared: senior, subordinated, mezzanine and shareholder loans
  • Security package reviewed through pledges, assignments, reserves and step-in rights
  • Bankability tests applied to contracts, permits, completion guarantees and insurances
  • Cash-flow waterfall allocating revenues among operations, debt service and distributions

Participants can calculate core valuation and credit metrics for an energy investment.

  • Discounted cash flow model built from annual operating assumptions
  • NPV, IRR and equity multiple interpreted for investment decisions
  • Weighted average cost of capital derived from debt costs
  • Debt-service coverage ratio calculated from cash available for debt service
  • Loan-life coverage ratio used to test long-term repayment capacity
  • Terminal value and decommissioning provisions treated within asset valuations

Participants can value contracted and merchant revenues while identifying key revenue exposures.

  • Power purchase agreement terms translated into modelled revenue assumptions
  • Fixed-price, indexed-price and floor-price contracts compared for revenue certainty
  • Merchant-price forecasts tested using capture rates and curtailment assumptions
  • Basis risk identified between generation location and reference market prices
  • Availability guarantees, liquidated damages and performance deductions quantified
  • Offtaker credit analysis linked to payment security and termination rights

Participants can identify and quantify risks affecting energy-project cash flows and financing terms.

  • Risk register structured by development, construction, operations and market phases
  • EPC contract risks allocated through price, schedule and performance provisions
  • Contingency analysis distinguishes expected cost, management reserve and downside case
  • Operational availability assumptions tested against maintenance plans and warranties
  • Sensitivity tables rank value exposure to prices, costs, delays and rates
  • Monte Carlo simulation introduced for correlated project-finance uncertainty

Participants can match climate-finance instruments to eligible investments and financing objectives.

  • Green bond proceeds allocated against eligible project categories
  • ICMA Green Bond Principles applied to governance and reporting
  • Sustainability-linked loan terms tied to measurable performance targets
  • Transition finance assessed against credible plans, milestones and capital expenditure
  • Blended-finance structures compared: concessional debt, guarantees and first-loss capital
  • Use-of-proceeds tracking reconciled with allocation and impact reporting

Participants can explain how compliance carbon markets affect operating costs, hedging and investment decisions.

  • Cap-and-trade mechanics explained through allocation, surrender and compliance cycles
  • Allowance demand estimated from verified emissions and allocation assumptions
  • Carbon-price exposure incorporated into operating costs and project valuation
  • Hedging choices compared: spot purchases, futures, options and forward contracts
  • EU ETS price drivers examined: policy supply, fuel switching and activity
  • Carbon border adjustment mechanisms assessed for trade-exposed value chains

Participants can conduct initial commercial and integrity due diligence on carbon-credit opportunities.

  • Carbon-credit lifecycle traced from methodology selection through retirement records
  • Additionality tested against regulatory, financial and common-practice baselines
  • Permanence risk assessed through reversal buffers, monitoring and replacement obligations
  • Leakage quantified where activities displace emissions beyond project boundaries
  • Verification documents reviewed for vintage, registry, methodology and issuance status
  • Procurement criteria distinguish avoidance, reduction, removal and jurisdictional credits

Participants can incorporate physical and transition climate risks into financial analysis and disclosures.

  • Physical-risk scenarios test heat, flood, drought and storm disruptions
  • Transition-risk scenarios assess policy, technology, demand and carbon-price changes
  • IFRS S2 requirements connected to governance, strategy, risk and metrics
  • GHG Protocol emissions data assessed for investment and financing relevance
  • Scenario analysis translates climate assumptions into revenues, costs and asset values
  • Materiality thresholds documented for investment papers and risk reporting

Participants can prepare a structured recommendation for an energy or climate-finance decision.

  • Investment thesis states strategic rationale, value drivers and decision requested
  • Base case, downside case and upside case presented consistently
  • Key assumptions register assigns sources, owners, confidence and update dates
  • Risk-adjusted recommendation links mitigations to financial sensitivities and conditions
  • Funding options compared by cost, tenor, security and reporting obligations
  • Ninety-day application plan prioritises live decisions, stakeholders and deliverables

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Energy project cash-flow model template
  2. Project-finance bankability checklist
  3. PPA and merchant-risk assessment matrix
  4. Carbon-credit due-diligence checklist
  5. Climate-finance instrument selection guide
  6. Investment-committee paper template

Who should attend

  • Energy finance managers — assess project returns, funding structures and downside exposure
  • Project developers — prepare bankable cases for renewable, storage and grid investments
  • Investment and credit analysts — test energy-asset valuations and borrower repayment capacity
  • Sustainability finance professionals — connect decarbonisation plans with finance instruments
  • Corporate treasury managers — evaluate green funding options and financing covenants
  • Public-sector energy officials — appraise energy programmes, incentives and carbon-market proposals

Skills and tools covered

Energy project valuationCarbon market analysisClimate finance structuringProject finance modellingInvestment risk assessmentFunding decision papers

Tools and standards

GHG Protocol, ICMA Green Bond Principles, IFRS S2, EU Emissions Trading System

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to establish finance concepts, followed by guided case work on renewable generation, industrial decarbonisation and carbon-credit purchases. Participants review cash-flow assumptions, calculate valuation metrics, test scenarios and compare financing structures in small groups. Simulated investment-committee and lender discussions develop decision-making and challenge skills. Facilitated application planning helps participants adapt the course templates to a current project, portfolio decision or funding proposal.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should understand basic financial statements, discounted cash flow concepts and the commercial purpose of debt and equity. Experience with budgets, investment proposals, energy projects, lending, sustainability reporting or procurement is helpful. Participants should be comfortable interpreting percentages, cash-flow tables and spreadsheet outputs. Prior work in energy, carbon trading or project finance is not required. The course explains specialist energy contracts, carbon-market terminology and climate-finance instruments before applying them. Advanced spreadsheet modelling, accounting qualifications, trading licences and prior knowledge of emissions registries are not required.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should understand basic financial statements and discounted cash flow concepts. Prior energy, carbon-market or project-finance experience is helpful but not required; specialist terms are introduced before analysis begins.

Bring a laptop if possible, as the course includes model interpretation and structured analysis. You may also bring a non-confidential project case, investment proposal or funding question for use during application planning.

It is suited to finance, investment, project development, treasury, sustainability and public-sector professionals working with energy or decarbonisation investments. It also fits credit analysts and procurement professionals assessing carbon-credit or energy-contract commitments.

General corporate finance courses focus mainly on company valuation, capital structure and financial statements. This course applies those methods to energy assets, project-finance contracts, carbon pricing, climate finance and emissions-market decisions.

Participants can use the cash-flow model structure, bankability checklist, carbon-credit review criteria and investment-paper template on current proposals. The methods are relevant to renewable projects, energy-efficiency programmes, green funding and emissions-cost planning.

The five days provide about 32.5 contact hours, with ten modules taught in sequence. Time is divided among technical briefings, case analysis, group discussions, financial calculations, commercial scenarios and application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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