### **Bilateral Utility Contracts** (Lower risk, preferred for financing)
- Fixed capacity payments over 10-20 years
- Predictable revenue, easy to securitize and finance against
- Less upside but stable cash flows
- Best for raising debt capital
- Example: Swell's Hawaiian Electric 80MW contract
### **Wholesale Market Participation** (Higher risk/reward)
- Bid into ISO/RTO energy and ancillary markets (ERCOT, CAISO, PJM)
- Revenue varies with market conditions (daily price volatility)
- Can capture price spikes ($1,000+/MWh during scarcity events)
- Harder to finance against (banks don't like volatility)
- Requires sophisticated trading algorithms
### **Hybrid Model** (Most common at scale)
- Base load covered by utility contracts (70-80% of capacity)
- Excess capacity bids into wholesale markets (20-30%)
- Risk-adjusted return profile (stable base + upside optionality)
- Can still securitize the contracted portion