Energy Toolbase contributes curriculum for Green NRG “Energy Project Finance, Analysis & Structuring” training course

Energy Toolbase has partnered with theGreen NRG Institute and their Training Solutions program to provide a curriculum for their newly launched online “Energy Project Finance, Analysis & Structuring” training course. The educational content is designed for professionals interested in expanding their knowledge of developing and financing distributed energy resource (DER) projects, including solar and energy storage. The extensive training program consists of four modules that include 73 lessons and 32 hours of video content. Students receive an "Energy Project Finance Analyst" badge of certification upon passing the course’s final exam.  

Green NRG was founded in 2013 and has provided training to thousands of students throughout Southern California, catering to a wide variety of professionals, including developers, facility managers, engineers, attorneys, and city and regional planners. Green NRG historically held in-person trainings and later transitioned to an online learning model upon the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. This specific program started as an in-person, 5-day certification course created for novice and experienced professionals to gain a real-world understanding of the applications within the industry.  

The ETB team developed three lessons for this training program, including: 

• How to Understand & Interpret an Electric Utility Bill. Provides a basic understanding of the various components of an electric utility bill, focusing on the most common charge types and how they are categorized. The lesson offers several real-life utility bill examples, including a post-solar net metering bill demonstrated on the ETB Developer platform. 
• Quantifying the Economics of a Solar + Storage project from a California Commercial Building Owner’s Perspective. Reviews the list of inputs and assumptions required to run a financial analysis. The lesson outlines common financial project economic metrics, including average blended savings, payback period, IRR, and NPV. Provides a real-world case study project for a commercial building owner in the Southern California Edison service territory. 
• Measure & Optimize the Performance of a Solar + Storage project. Focuses on the measurement and verification of a project after it is operational. The lesson overviews a typical O&M (operations & maintenance) service timeline. Reviews a real-world case study to measure ESS performance and provides best practices and lessons learned on optimizing performance and savings.  

Gene Beck is the Executive Director and training program creator for Green NRG Institute, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that provides education and corporate leadership training for the energy sector and distributed energy resource development. The full training program is available to anyone seeking to increase their knowledge and/or receive a formal Energy Project Finance Analyst certification. Visit theGreen NRG Training Solutions website to sign up and learn more.