Deploying Sector-Specific, Sustainable Infrastructure
By: William Bubenicek
Tags: Sustainability, Energy, Finance, Infrastructure, Data Center

In sustainability, it seems that technology innovation gets the most attention.

However, it is the less-sexy stuff that really makes the difference. You can innovate technology all day and night, but the chances of that innovation getting deployed, at scale in this decade is near-zero. And we don’t have time to wait when it comes to the fight against climate change.

Deploying proven infrastructure that we already have today is much more impactful.

With proven technologies (solar, wind, fuel cells, CHP, EV charging, electric vehicles, H2 forklifts, energy storage, etc.), we can turn the focus and innovative thinking towards the structures and business cases required to facilitate scaled adoption. This is primarily driven by the finance world, although developers and technology/solution providers play a big role as well.

In the world of finance, there are very few firms willing to put the time, resources & business model innovation work into solving for implementation and deployment of sustainable infrastructure; typically, they just wait until something is financeable.

But we don’t have that kind of time, and that is why I am grateful to be working with Generate Capital.

The leadership at Generate understands that it takes more than just waiting for the right structures. It takes a hands-on approach and, in many cases, a sector specialization to unlock new structures, models and ultimately deployments.

I have been personally focused on building sustainable infrastructure businesses since 2009.

The threat of climate change is a threat to our species, and it is critical that we put our focus squarely on deploying sustainable and scalable infrastructure.

To do this effectively, I believe we need an approach that is specialized and targeted at the most impactful sectors.

In addition to my focus on sustainability, I have been in the digital infrastructure (cellular, telecoms, data centers) since 2005, and it happens to be the sector that is on pace to being the highest consumer of power globally.

I have been an entrepreneur throughout my career and have been developing products, solutions and structures in project finance; the primary vehicle for infrastructure deployment.

Working in collaboration with Generate also provides direct exposure to all things sustainable across the spectrum; namely all things related to sustainable power, waste/water and transportation.

Being at the intersection of sustainability, digital infrastructure and structured finance, uniquely positions me to work hand in hand with the sector and its players, to develop a platform aimed at deploying sustainable infrastructure in all things digital infrastructure.

In most cases, the structures we are bringing to the digital infrastructure sector are proven solutions from other sectors but adopted to meet the specific needs/wants of this sector.

So again, less about innovation, and more about repurposing proven, financeable solutions so that they serve the unique needs of the sector and its customers.

The key to deployment is to structure a sustainable solution for the customer that is (1) accretive to their business (2) financeable and (3) scalable.

Specific to the digital infrastructure sector, we need a sector-specialized, platform approach to develop de-risked financeable structures with participation from the key players in the ecosystem.

This is exactly what we have been building.

A platform & ecosystem for developing, financing and deploying sustainable infrastructure solutions at scale; designed specifically for the digital infrastructure sector. A sector-specific platform, aimed at opening the floodgates of capital, to upgrade our infrastructure in a bid to mitigate the effects of climate change. Time is of the essence.