Interconnection: Renewable Energy USA
Welcome to Megawatt Recruitment’s monthly newsletter to keep you connected to what’s going on in the renewable energy industry in the United States and provide more insight, knowledge, and connection to the people and companies who drive our industry.
What People Are Talking About
- Sungrow live-streamed to select stakeholders four containerized 20-foot PowerTitan battery storage units totalling 2.75MW/10MWh being set ablaze with no external fire control measures employed.
- According to the American Geophysical Union, by pumping ground water, humans have shifted Earth’s rotational pole 31 inches east between 1992 to 2010, another source of sea level rise globally with the Western US and NW India as the largest offenders.
- NYPSC’s and NYSERDA’s Energy Storage Roadmap 2.0 was approved by the Governor, targeting 6 GW of ESS by 2030, a big leap from today’s 396 MW of operational storage.
- The BOEM gave Orsted final approval for the Sunrise Wind project, an 880 MW offshore wind project located near MA and RI.
- With companies needing to meet eligibility requirements by July 15th, 2024, the window is closing for companies to get involved in NY state’s large-scale renewables solicitation (RES 2024).
- With Amazon as the offtaker and AES Inc as the developer (with Steelhead America’s, Vestas North America’s development arm as the original developer), the State of Mississippi now has its first utility-scale wind farm at 184MW.
- Belgium is creating the world’s first artificial energy island using 2.3 million square meters of sand to create a nearly 15-acre site and a nature-inclusive design. It is strategically positioned to handle power exchanges between countries bordering the North Sea and become an interconnection point for offshore wind further into the sea.
- In its first update since 2017, the International Ground Source Heat Pump Associate Standards Committee voted to sunset the 2017 Design and Installations Standards when the next edition of the ANSI/CSA/IGSHPA C448 Design and Installation standards come out including updates on new piping materials, new heat transfer solutions, new section on heat pumps connected to energy foundations, and a new annex for wastewater energy transfer systems. Public review runs through August 6th, 2024.
- INEOS Olefins & Polymers USA and NextEra Energy Resources began construction on a 310 MW Solar farm in Bosque County, TX, with a target COD of Dec 2025.
- UW-Madison researchers make publicly available the most detailed map of abandoned farmland in the USA.
- Founded in 2013, residential installer Titan Solar Power shuttered its doors. As of 2022, it had over 1,400 employees across 14 states.
Recent Personnel Moves and Promotions
Former CEO of Vestas Asia Pacific and former Chief Investment Officer for ACWA Power in Dubai, Clive Turton has been appointed as Executive Chairman of MET Group in Switzerland, an integrated energy company active in wind power development, natural gas, and conventional power wholesaling and trading.
After serving as interim COO of Lightsource BP for the last 9 months and having formerly worked as SVP for BD and M&A from 2021—2023, Emile Wangerman was officially confirmed as COO in May 2024.
Nicole Tomasin took over as Head of Sales for the US with SolaX Power, a solar inverter, battery storage, and EV charging product development company holding over 40 patents. She joined from Suntuity where she was VP of Channel sales.
Following the closure of EmPower Energies, many employees were swooped up by Catalyze, another community, C&I, and DG solar including Michael Williams as SVP of Sales, Daniel Smith as Director of Development Engineering, Oran Arms as Director of Business Development, Barrett LaRussa as Sales Analyst.
Separately, Catalyze also hired Steve Guzda as Senior Project Manager, previously in a similar role at DSD Renewables.
New Energy Equity, a financier for C&I solar and multifamily residential solar, hired Jacqueline Chambers as Chief Investment Officer from Nexamp where she was Director of Corporate Relations, and promoted Tyrone (Ty) Bacille from Director of Permitting and Development to Director of Development.
Acciona welcomed a new Manager for Power Origination, Evan Racine-Johnson, from American Electric Power where he was formerly a Market Analytics Manager.
Solaris Energy, a C&I and ESS financing and development firm, bid farewell to Alex Blackmer, Founder and CEO, while co-owner Nick Perugini will step up as CEO, formerly VP.
Following the sale of Wood Mackenzie from Verisk to Veritas Capital in February, Xizhou Zhou was appointed as EVP and Head of Power. He joined from S&P Global where he was VP of Commodity Insights for Global Power and Renewables including Climate Solutions.
Other recent hires by WoodMac include Jason Liu as new CEO in May, Amy Altman as SVP of Engineering and Chief Technology Officer in March, and Kelsey Coffman as VP of Supply Chain Consulting in January.
Troubled solar financer, Sunnova, whose stock plummeted in February following the company’s announcement of a stock offering plan to raise capital, appointed a new CFO Eric Williams, who comes from the oil & gas industry.
Market Insights: Half Year Review
We have already passed the halfway point of 2024 and have a lot to show for it! In total, the U.S. added around 5.58 GW of utility-scale wind and solar in the first half of the year.
Despite struggles earlier this year for offshore wind with projects such as Commonwealth Wind, Community Offshore Wind, Excelsior Wind, and Park City Wind getting canceled, the South Fork Wind project is now supplying power to the grid and Sunrise Wind is on track for completion in Dec 2025. BOEM is also moving forward with the Gulf of Maine auction which could add up to 15 GW of clean energy, Oregon lease sales, a second Gulf of Mexico auction, and environmental review off California’s coast for offshore wind development.
However, the predictions that residential services would falter also proved true with layoffs from companies such as Sunrun, Tesla, Sunpower, and Dandelion Energy as well as closures of companies such as Titan Solar Power and EmPower Energies. There were also a number of solar companies that declared bankruptcy for branches in certain states including Pink Energy (multiple states), MC Solar (FL), (CA) MN Solar Group (NM), ADT Solar (multiple states), Vision Solar (multiple states), and a slew in California including Harness Power, Kubbix Energy, Infinity Energy, Suntuity Renewables (CA, NJ, and TX) Sunworks, and iSun,
Community solar also seems to be on track to add another 1 GW of capacity in 2024.
What other trends are you seeing? Share with us!
Talent Insights: What happened to Summer Fridays?
With summer officially in full swing, many employees are wondering what happened to Summer Fridays?
Before COVID, nearly 55% of employers reported giving their employees Summer Fridays according to a Gartner survey. If you are part of the other 45% and are unfamiliar with this benefit, allow me to explain: Organizations allow employees to leave the office early on Fridays, typically from Memorial Day through Labor Day. When I lived and worked in Houston, this was a common practice cherished by employees like myself, who wanted to head out of the city early to beat traffic down to the beaches of Galveston where many people keep summer homes and spend their weekends boating, barbecuing, and cooling off with the ocean breeze.
Now, with many companies using hybrid work models, companies are forgetting about Summer Fridays with the assumption that employees will simply work remote on Friday. However, remote work is not quite the same benefit. Whereas Summer Fridays make it easy to leave because the office closes and no meetings are scheduled, general remote work can keep employees in front of their computers with Zoom meetings dragging on to the end of the day.
It may seem counterintuitive to suggest that part of a company’s culture is established by not having employees at work, but Summer Fridays are one of those benefits that show a company’s culture is to prioritize work-life balance. It is one of many retention tools companies can offer. Flexible work environments are still key to attracting and maintaining top talent.
Unfortunately, we have heard in the market a recent example of a company in our industry that did the opposite and experienced a mass exodus. Rumors have it that the new CEO of Fluence, the JV between Siemens and AES, mandated 100% return to office earlier this year, and possibly even more shockingly, rescinded offers from candidates who had accepted jobs in remote positions or who were too far to commute to a physical office.
While it seems many companies talk about employees returning to the office, most are not. Take as an example that earlier this month, Coach USA, one of the largest commuter bus companies in the U.S. with over 2,250 buses and 38 million passengers yearly, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It reported that ridership had only recovered to about 45% of pre-pandemic ridership levels due to remote and hybrid work. Not only that, but according to the CEO of the American Bus Association, nearly half of the U.S.’s 3,000 bus companies have closed since 2019.
So, to the employers out there, remember that maintaining workplace flexibility is a way to remain competitive and attractive to potential employees and retain your current talent.
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Thank you for joining us for another issue of Interconnection: Renewable Energy USA. We hope you enjoyed it and we look forward to keeping in touch and exchanging ideas, insights, and opinions. If you are a company considering hiring, we welcome the opportunity to present our services and capabilities. If you are a candidate, please check our jobs page or reach out to us to discuss your background, skills, and future aspirations.