The energy landscape just shifted—again. While the latest legislation may feel like a setback, demand is accelerating and energy leaders are facing rising complexities across clean and conventional power.
Join Verse for a candid conversation on what’s keeping energy and sustainability teams up at night—from rethinking vPPAs, PPAs, and DERs to navigating developer conversations and internal alignment. We’ll break down key market signals, global supply risks, and how to prepare your org and your CFO for what’s next.
whether you’re modeling vPPA scenarios, managing electrification, or just trying to plan with confidence, this session will help you chart a smarter vPPA path forward.
You’ll learn:
Shehzad Wadalawala
VP, Strategy | Verse
Shehzad is a wholesale energy market expert with 15+ years of experience developing and implementing strategies for buyers of electricity that balance forecasted cost, sustainability goals, financial risk, and operational efficiency. He was responsible for developing and implementing Google’s Energy Hedging Program and Risk Management Framework for its global energy portfolio of data centers and energy supply.
Shehzad has led and executed energy portfolio management and hedging programs for a range of organizations, including municipalities, educational institutions, utilities, and community choice aggregators. His background offers a holistic view of U.S. energy markets, combining utility experience (managing reliability and ensuring regulatory compliance with state- and ISO-level energy procurement rules) and advanced private-sector energy procurement.
Sam Cotterall
Director of Client Enablement | Verse
As Director of Client Enablement at Verse, Sam Cotterall acts as a cross-functional leader, blending deep product expertise with market knowledge to bridge product, sales, and customer success functions.
Sam joined Verse from Schneider Electric, where he was a manager on the Renewable Energy and Carbon Advisory consulting team. In that capacity, Sam partnered with Fortune 500 companies to design, implement, and optimize global renewable energy strategies. He led clients through complex decision-making processes with a specialization in renewable energy and tax credit procurement in North America.
Prior to Schneider, Sam worked at BloombergNEF to help investors, businesses, and policy makers navigate the energy transition through data and insights.
Shehzad Wadalawala: I’m Shehzad Wadalawala, VP of Strategy at Verse. I’ve been in energy for over 20 years, starting at Pacific Gas and Electric and most recently serving as an energy portfolio manager at Google before joining Verse.
Sam Cotterall: I’m Sam Cotterall, Director of Client Enablement at Verse. I joined after four years with Schneider Electric’s Renewable Energy and Carbon Advisory team, and before that spent seven years with Bloomberg — first in DC focused on energy and transportation policy, then in New York with the New Energy Finance group.
Sam Cotterall: Today we’ll cover the state of the market including the major changes from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, what’s keeping energy and sustainability leaders up at night, specific tactics for different types of organizations, an overview of Verse, a case study, and Q&A.
State of the Market: The One Big Beautiful Bill Act
Sam Cotterall: The One Big Beautiful Bill Act introduced two major changes for wind and solar. First, there is an accelerated credit expiration: projects must begin construction by July 4, 2026 — one year after the bill was signed — and be placed in service by December 31, 2027 to qualify for the full tax credit. Both conditions must be met. For other technologies — storage, geothermal, hydropower, nuclear — tax credits remain in place through 2033 before beginning to phase down. This bill primarily targets wind and solar.
Sam Cotterall: The begin construction requirement has also been tightened by an August executive order. Previously, developers could satisfy a financial commitment test by committing 5% of total project cost. That option has been eliminated for larger utility-scale projects, which must now satisfy a physical work test — meaning actual construction activity must be underway before the deadline.
Sam Cotterall: The second major provision is the Foreign Entity of Concern restriction, designed to ensure U.S. energy infrastructure is not unduly influenced by entities tied to China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea. This creates regulatory uncertainty around which supply chain partners and developers will be impacted, and requires compliance documentation for any project that touches affected supply chains — particularly solar PV and battery storage.
Shehzad Wadalawala: It’s worth noting this isn’t the first time the industry has navigated tax credit uncertainty — these credits have always been subject to renewal, and that has not stopped the industry from growing. What we’re seeing right now is a classic supply-and-demand dynamic: more vPPA buyers competing for a finite pool of tax credit-eligible projects. vPPA and PPA prices have already increased approximately 4% since the bill passed. The window is open, but it is narrowing faster than most expected.
Shehzad Wadalawala: Even before the bill passed, regulatory uncertainty under the new administration was already shifting renewable investment away from the U.S. toward Europe. New project investment in the U.S. renewable sector peaked in early 2024 and has been declining since. That supply pullback is happening at exactly the same time that demand to contract eligible vPPA projects has accelerated — which is why urgency to go to market is so high right now.
Shehzad Wadalawala: Looking at medium- to long-term capacity, the picture is uncertain. Solar PV has the fastest construction-to-generation cycle, followed by onshore wind, then gas. Natural gas capacity additions are projected at roughly 9 gigawatts per year through 2030 — about the same pace as the last two decades. That’s not enough to cover new demand on its own.
Sam Cotterall: One underappreciated development: plants that were expected to retire are being kept online. Capacity markets in PJM and MISO are seeing record prices, which is sending strong signals to retain existing resources. Most of those plants are older coal and less efficient natural gas units. For those with sustainability titles, the natural decarbonization of the grid is not happening on the timeline that was forecast just a few years ago. The grid you’re buying from is evolving fast, and vPPA strategies around risk and cost need to account for a diverse generation mix — not just wind and solar.
Shehzad Wadalawala: Utility-scale storage is one clear bright spot that is not slowing down. ERCOT has seen massive storage buildout, and storage continues to be one of the fastest ways to bring somewhat firm, flexible capacity online. We’re also hearing more corporate buyers ask where storage fits into their portfolio. With continued tax credit eligibility and improving economics, that conversation is becoming much more common.
Sustainability Target Rebaselining
Sam Cotterall: A number of organizations have seen alliances and peers walk back or restructure their sustainability pledges. The important principle here: investors and stakeholders tend to penalize opacity more than they penalize misses. If your targets need to be adjusted, the recommendation is to do it transparently. Bring finance and audit teams into the conversation so that commitments are treated as budgeted obligations rather than aspirational slides. If you have CSR or earnings call visibility into your decarbonization progress, be explicit about how market changes are affecting your timelines and what that means for your commitments. Credibly rebaselining with a scenario-tested procurement roadmap is a stronger position than a vague deferral.
Shehzad Wadalawala: This is the under-the-radar issue that could change the whole game. The Greenhouse Gas Protocol is undergoing its first meaningful revision in about a decade. The core question being worked through: does it matter when and where renewables are generating, not just how many megawatt-hours? The technical working group is currently in public consultation, with finalization expected within the next one to two years. Changes could affect Scope 2 reporting as soon as 2027 or 2028. If you have 2030 sustainability goals tied to vPPAs or other clean energy instruments, the activities you’re planning now will fall under whatever emerges from this revision — and the goalposts may shift not just from how the market is evolving, but from how you’re measured and evaluated.
Shehzad Wadalawala: Timing the energy market is essentially impossible. To illustrate: expectations for the around-the-clock power price in ERCOT for August swung from over $150 per megawatt hour down nearly 70% within a single year. The actual average came in around $38. For an energy buyer, that range of uncertainty makes budgeting, planning, and communicating risk to a CFO extremely difficult.
Sam Cotterall: The response isn’t to try to time the market — it’s to build a structured procurement strategy with risk frameworks as guardrails. Diversification, robust analytics, and ongoing reforecasting as market conditions change are the tools that prevent this volatility from derailing either your P&L or your decarbonization plans. Point-estimate forecasts don’t serve you well here. Leadership needs to understand the range of outcomes, not just a single number — and that expectation needs to be set proactively, not after an invoice arrives.
Shehzad Wadalawala: For sustainability leaders, the FEOC rules introduce national security compliance risk into clean energy procurement. We’d strongly recommend engaging tax counsel for specific questions. The key practical point: make sure FEOC compliance is addressed in any clean energy contract negotiation, and confirm that your counterparty has visibility into their supply chain. This is more relevant for solar PV and battery storage than for wind, which has a largely domestic and western supply chain.
Sam Cotterall: One practical note: it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer number of possible scenarios and variables. After you’ve outlined a few of the key ones, the marginal value of adding more diminishes quickly. The goal is a digestible set of scenarios you can actually communicate to leadership — not hundreds of edge cases that add cognitive load without improving decisions.
Sam Cotterall: The right approach depends significantly on where your organization sits in the market. The fundamental question is whether to move fast or pause — and the answer differs based on your program maturity.
Sam Cotterall: Established clean energy programs — those with seasoned teams, track records, and investment-grade credit — should generally be accelerating procurement right now. The goal is to lock in remaining tax credits before deadlines hit and secure lower vPPA prices before the market shifts further in developers’ favor. Large buyers in this category may also have leverage to negotiate more complex deal structures, including vPPA storage integration and 24/7 carbon-free matching provisions.
Sam Cotterall: Emerging programs — those that have done one deal or have green tariffs in place — face a decision point. The market dynamics have flipped since most of those first deals were signed. It was a buyer’s market for vPPAs then; it’s a seller’s market now. The question is whether to double down on your vPPA strategy, rationalize across the portfolio, or step back. This is a moment to make a go or no-go call with clear eyes rather than spending months in a procurement process without reaching a decision.
Sam Cotterall: First-time buyers face the steepest learning curve, but there are real options. If internal alignment is in place — finance, risk, and sustainability are on board — running a solo vPPA RFP is not out of reach. The most common path we’re seeing for first-time vPPA buyers right now is joining a procurement cohort: teaming up with peers across an industry or supply chain to share balance sheet exposure, reduce minimum contract size, and leverage collective experience. We’re seeing cohorts successfully fast-track education and help emerging buyers get to market more efficiently.
Shehzad Wadalawala: On ESG compliance: the burden differs meaningfully by size. Larger buyers with higher consumption face greater granularity requirements as reporting standards evolve, particularly around Scope 2. Supply chain compliance and ESG reporting are two areas where procurement strategy and broader corporate governance need to be aligned from the start.
Sam Cotterall: On contract structure: large buyers with an investment-grade rating and a track record may still have meaningful leverage. You can push on change-of-law provisions, indemnities, and availability guarantees. For smaller buyers, simplicity is the priority — using a vendor-provided contract form rather than a bespoke document can save months of negotiation. In both cases, focus on late-stage assets where interconnection studies are complete, EPC is lined up, and equipment is secured. Given the tax credit timelines at stake, schedule milestone provisions and make-good payments for slippage are worth the negotiating time.
Sam Cotterall: For mid-size and smaller buyers who may not be ready for a utility-scale vPPA, don’t overlook other levers: community solar where available, on-site PV plus storage if you have the land or roof space, demand response, and efficiency measures. As transmission costs become a larger component of utility bills, behind-the-meter solar plus storage is becoming increasingly economic for a broader set of organizations.
Shehzad Wadalawala: Verse is a technology company that has built software to support the full clean energy lifecycle — from planning and procurement through ongoing portfolio management. On the planning side, that includes evaluating different clean energy strategies against Scope 2 frameworks, modeling vPPA offer economics, and tracking utility footprint and market exposures. On the operations side, it includes invoice validation, generation tracking, and short- and mid-term forecasting for operating contracts.
Sam Cotterall: The operations piece is particularly relevant given market volatility. Knowing whether your vPPA invoice is accurate and understanding why your net spend is deviating from your forecast — before you’re surprised by it — is the difference between a proactive and reactive posture with your finance team. Verse automates invoice validation and provides a dynamic reforecast that updates as market conditions change. We also have deep capabilities around battery energy storage analysis — quantifying the value stack, evaluating projects, and integrating storage into a broader vPPA and renewable portfolio view.
Jessica (Moderator): What’s the realistic likelihood of projects meeting the construction start and placed-in-service deadlines?
Shehzad Wadalawala: To feel confident about meeting a December 2027 in-service date, a project needs to be fairly late-stage already. Most developers and financing partners are telling us that corporate vPPA offtakers need to sign within the next three to nine months to give the project enough runway. For projects where there’s some risk of slippage, expect to see change-of-law provisions or shared tax credit risk written into contracts.
Jessica (Moderator): Is battery storage considered renewable?
Shehzad Wadalawala: It depends on the definition. Storage is only truly renewable if it’s charged with renewable energy. That’s why there’s strong incentive to co-locate storage with solar or wind. In markets like CAISO, where there’s significant midday solar generation and duck curve effects, storage that shifts solar electrons to non-solar hours makes a compelling renewable integration story. Storage alone isn’t a standalone renewable claim, but as an enabler of higher renewable penetration, the case is strong.
Jessica (Moderator): How are you reassuring clients that the One Big Beautiful Bill isn’t going to derail their programs?
Sam Cotterall: History is the best answer here. Tax credits for renewable energy have been renewed, restructured, and debated for decades, and the industry has grown through every iteration of that cycle. Wind and solar are now the cheapest new-build electrons in almost every energy system globally. The underlying economics don’t disappear because a tax credit structure changes. Future administrations and Congresses will revisit this — that’s always been true. The vPPA market has survived and thrived through previous cycless, and I expect the same going forward.
Shehzad Wadalawala: And to borrow an expression: don’t let a good crisis go to waste. Policy uncertainty drives creativity. The technologies and commercial structures that emerge from constrained environments often end up being more durable than those built during easy tailwinds.
Jessica (Moderator): How do you recommend explaining underperformance to leadership without losing trust?
Sam Cotterall: Proactivity over reactivity. If you have a dynamic view of the market and are updating your estimates as conditions change — not after the invoice arrives — you are communicating expectations rather than explaining surprises. There’s also a critical distinction between market-wide conditions and project-specific issues. If natural gas prices were low across all markets and all PPAs underperformed, that’s a defensible explanation. If your vPPA asset underperformed relative to comparable projects in the same market, that requires a different conversation — including, potentially, one with your developer. Having the data to distinguish between those two situations is essential.
Jessica (Moderator): What advice would you offer to organizations considering their first VPPA today?
Sam Cotterall: Stakeholder alignment is everything. Understand what is driving your organization’s interest in a vPPA — sustainability commitments, investor expectations, a directional energy hedge — and make sure leadership understands what they’re signing up for. That means communicating the volatility explicitly across the full contract term. Use scenario ranges, not point estimates. Build your vPPA business case on realistic risk communication, not an optimistic case that will require backtracking later.
Shehzad Wadalawala: Be transparent about the risks when seeking internal approval. There is a real temptation to advance the program by downplaying uncertainty. But if the vPPA business case is built on the premise that it will consistently save money, and it doesn’t in year one, you’ve put the whole program at risk. The stronger foundation is: here is the impact we’re making, here is the range of vPPA financial outcomes we expect, and here is how we will monitor and communicate performance over time.
Jessica (Moderator): Thank you both — this was a rich and timely conversation. A survey will follow this webinar for additional questions, and the Verse team will follow up directly. Thank you to everyone who joined.
Sam Cotterall: Thank you to Jessica and Energy Leader for having us.
Shehzad Wadalawala: Thanks everyone. Great to be here.
