How to run a sale process for a renewable energy project at NTP?
Run a sale process for a renewable-energy project at NTP in stages: a teaser to a curated list, NDA then CIM and the room, round-one indicative bids, a shortlist of two to four, a marked-up PSA, and short exclusivity. Deferred COD payments and holdbacks are common.
One audience per bidder. Have counsel review. This page is not a template.
Staged NTP project sale (definition). A teaser to a curated list before the NDA.
CIM and first-look room under the NDA.
Round-one indicative bids, then a shortlist. Marked-up PSA and short exclusivity.
A Drive dump of the GIS share is not this process.
Stages, not one folder
PF Nexus’s typical process and timeline from a developer’s perspective (13 June 2024, retrieved 2026-10-02) surveys active developers and puts a simple mid-market sale at about 26 weeks. Pre-marketing two to six weeks. NDA, teaser and room around weeks three to four. Non-binding offers weeks five to six. A shortlist, typically one to three. Exclusivity weeks nine to ten. Full diligence and heads of terms weeks twelve to nineteen. Binding contracts weeks twenty to twenty-six. Norton Rose Fulbright’s renewable project sales note (10 February 2020, retrieved 2026-10-02) puts an exclusivity agreement or letter of intent as a precursor to the purchase and sale agreement, and treats notice to proceed and commercial operation as the bookends of construction. Milestone payments at development completion, NTP and COD, plus deferred COD consideration and holdbacks, are how the price is staged. What belongs in the folders is what documents a buyer needs for a solar or battery storage project acquisition. The tax-equity packet is what goes in a data room for raising tax equity for a solar project.
| Gate | What opens | Who sees it | What stays closed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before the NDA | A teaser, typically one to ten pages: region, MW, stage, no offtake terms | A curated list of IPPs, infrastructure funds and utilities | The model, offtake terms, interconnection studies, and the room |
| NDA, first look | CIM and the first-look room: site control, interconnection documents, offtake summary, tax-credit facts | Every bidder who has signed the NDA | The marked-up PSA and confirmatory sampling |
| Round-one indicative | The same package, one bid date | Every NDA'd bidder | A second data tape emailed to a favourite |
| Shortlist and exclusivity | Deeper room, site visit, marked-up PSA | The shortlisted bidder or exclusive buyer, and advisors under the NDA | Other bidders' Q&A, and a second room in parallel if a banker already runs one |
SurgePV’s NTP, PTO and COD note (updated 30 September 2026, retrieved 2026-10-02) says NTP authorises specified contractual work, PTO is the utility’s permission to operate, and COD is the date the applicable agreement defines. Read the contract before treating any of those as a payment trigger. Norton Rose says a full notice to proceed should name which contracts it covers. Have counsel review.
Interconnection studies and the signed agreement sit in the room as documents. How the queue itself works is the interconnection queue. KMZ, shapefile, DWG and native engineering files cannot be uploaded; the developer shares PDF exports of site plans, single-line diagrams and study reports.
Several bidders, one audience each
One room with one audience per bidder is the default. Each IPP or fund sees only the folders that audience has earned. Q&A stays in the room: one group per bidder, and a published answer reaches only that bidder. How to keep competing buyers out of each other’s questions is how to keep buyers from seeing each other’s questions in a data room. Reply-all on a process email is how the wall fails. If a bank already runs the auction, use that banker’s room.
| Control | What it does | How it fails |
|---|---|---|
| One audience per bidder | Each IPP or fund sees only allowed sections and files. | One shared Drive folder, or one link forwarded down the chain. |
| Agreement signed at the door | No file opens until the NDA is signed, versioned, with a certificate per signer. | Emailing the model while the NDA is still in draft. |
| Q&A private to that bidder | A published answer reaches only that audience. | A shared Q&A spreadsheet, or answering in email. |
| Watermark and page log | Preview and download carry the viewer. The log shows who opened which page. | A forwarded PDF with no trace. |
PF Nexus says exclusivity often runs one to three months against a US$10-50k escrow. Norton Rose says signing and closing can split, with conditions precedent in between, and that the seller represents tax-credit construction facts so the buyer can draw its own conclusion. Ask your tax advisor. Have counsel review. See What is Cashpian?, and pricing.
FAQ
How many bidders see the full room at once?
Every NDA'd bidder in round one sees the same first-look package.
After the shortlist, each remaining bidder has its own audience.
A published answer reaches only that bidder.
What does NTP mean in this process?
Notice to proceed authorises specified contractual work.
SurgePV says read the contract before treating NTP as a payment trigger.
Norton Rose treats NTP and COD as the bookends of construction.
Have counsel review.
How long does exclusivity last?
PF Nexus, June 2024, says exclusivity is often one to three months, sometimes against a US$10-50k escrow.
Have counsel review. This page is not a template.
What if a bank already runs the auction?
Use that banker's room, usually Datasite or Intralinks.
A second room in parallel is how versions drift.
Sources
- PF Nexus, Renewable Energy Deals: Typical process and timeline (Developer’s perspective), 13 June 2024, retrieved 2026-10-02. About 26 weeks. Teaser. NDA then room. NBOs. Shortlist of one to three. Exclusivity one to three months, often with US$10-50k escrow.
- Norton Rose Fulbright, Renewable project sales: Established tactics and emerging trends, 10 February 2020, retrieved 2026-10-02. NTP and COD bookend construction. Exclusivity or LOI then PSA. Milestone payments. Seller represents tax-credit construction facts.
- SurgePV, NTP, PTO and COD in Solar: Meaning and Project Handoffs, updated 30 September 2026, retrieved 2026-10-02. NTP authorises specified contractual work. Read the contract. Have counsel review.
If the files are already in a folder, grade which row they are on. Cashpian is a gated room for that packet. It is not a listing portal. It does not sell the company or run the deal.