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The hidden bottleneck in clean energy [partner content]
From Open Circuit by Latitude Media
April 28, 2026 · 26 min
About this episode
The episode discusses the hidden challenges in clean energy projects, focusing on the importance of early risk identification and data transparency.
What actually kills a clean energy project? It’s not always interconnection delays, permitting, or supply chains. Sometimes, it’s the deal itself. Even after years of development, hundreds of documents, and months of diligence, projects still fall apart late in the process — sometimes just days before closing. Often, it’s because risks aren’t surfaced early enough. The result: capital gets tied up in deals that don’t move forward, developers spend years advancing projects that can’t get financed, and critical information only emerges when it’s almost too late to act on it. In a market defined by policy uncertainty, investors are more selective than ever, and there’s much less tolerance for surprises late in the process. So how do we fix it? In this Frontier Forum, Stephen Lacey talks with Rich Deming, founder of CEARTscore and CEO of East Energy Renewables, about why diligence still breaks down, and what it would take to fix it. They discuss how risks get buried across fragmented data rooms, what prevents teams from fully understanding a project, and how better visibility earlier in the process could change how capital flows through the market. This episode is partner content…
People in this episode
Host: Stephen Lacey
Guest: Rich Deming
Topics covered
- clean energy
- project financing
- risk management
- capital flow
- energy policy
- data transparency
Keywords
- clean energy
- project development
- investment risks
- diligence breakdown
- capital investment
- energy projects
- data management
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: CEARTscore, East Energy Renewables, Latitude Media, ceart.io
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