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
- Baker Hughes, an oilfield services company, and CGG, a carbon storage and monitoring company, announced a MOU to collaborate on carbon capture opportunities screening, selection, and monitoring.
- Construction for the first EV charging highway to do both passenger EVs and heavy-duty EVs is currently underway in Indiana and expected to be completed in May 2025 by Cummins and Purdue University!
- Spanish developer Solarpack sold 210 MW worth of Environmental Attribute Purchase Agreements (EAPAs) to Meta in Indiana to support Meta’s $800M data center.
- Bard College in NY broke ground on a state-of-the-art geothermal heating and cooling system in May 2024, replacing an oil-based system.
- Coming into effect June 1st, 2024, the State of Virginia will allow 3rd party financing of rooftop solar leasing, waive standby charges for customers with BESS, and prohibit customers from being required to provide proof of liability insurance. The new laws might be good news for US resi’ solar installer Sunnova whose new customer growth has declined three quarters in a row.
- Brookfield Renewable and Microsoft partnered to build 10.5+ GW of solar and wind by 2030, investing over $10 billion to power its data centers in the US and Europe.
- Tesla laid off about 2,700 workers from the gigafactory in Austin with effect from June 14th and its entire Supercharger team which is about another 500 workers.
- UK-based company Weardale Lithium partnered with UK-based Watercycle Technologies to extract lithium from geothermal brine from a well on a former cement plant using a low-carbon, low-water usage technique, reviving a site that had been closed for 20 years.
- Maryland passed the WARMTH Act requiring large gas companies to develop plans for a pilot geothermal energy network system by 2024.
- H2MOF, a solid-state hydrogen solutions company, launched in the U.S. with an aim to reduce energy costs for storing hydrogen based on reticular chemistry and artificial molecular machinery.
Recent Personnel Moves and Promotions
The Chief Executive of Siemens Gamesa, Siemens Energy’s troubled wind turbine subsidiary, will be stepping down as of August 1st, 2024. Jochen Eickholt will be replaced by Vinod Philip who will be stepping up from his current role in the business as Head of Global Functions.
Also in the wind industry, UK-based firm Renewable Parts opened its first US subsidiary, Renewable Parts US LLC, and has appointed its General Manager of Refurbishment to take the role of President of North America Region. Michael Forbes will be responsible for building out the US business for wind turbine component refurbishing and remanufacturing.
Impact investment firm Advantage Capital has selected Steven Lichten to be CEO of their renewable energy development platform, Advantage Renewables which provides solar development and energy efficiency consulting for C&I and residential. He joins from Cypress Creek Renewables where he was VP of Development.
Former UL Solutions Director of Solar for the Americas, Rubin Sidhu, has joined OWC (Offshore Wind Consultants) as Managing Director for Onshore for the Americas, based in San Francisco.
Geothermal Holdings Inc. has recruited Bridget Silva, formerly Head of Commercial Strategy for the Americas with Baseload Capital, to be its new Chief Business Development Officer, based in Houston.
Acknowledging the growth of the community solar sector in the US, Trina Solar has a new Head of Community Solar and Distributed Generation, Michael Frenette, formerly the Director of US Community Solar for paper and pulp company Kruger.
Energy storage and development firm, Convergent Energy and Power, who focused on grid operators, utilities, and C&I customers, welcomes Katlyn Lawver as its VP of Pre-Construction, formerly Director of Development Engineering with New Leaf Energy (formerly Borrego).
Stepping up to a new role Erin Kendrick, was promoted to Senior Director of Development for New England with New Leaf Energy, formerly Project Developer.
Also taking on a new role in large-scale solar project development is Kimberly Wells who has moved from Lightsource BP to Leeward Renewable Energy where she is now Senior Director of Development, based in Houston.
A big move in the legal world, former Partner in Kirkland & Ellis’s litigation practice in Chicago, Wendy Bloom, departed to take on the role of Senior Attorney in the Environmental Law & Policy Center, a non-profit, focused on environmental advocacy in the Midwest.
In Los Angeles, Coast Energy, a C&I and residential solar developer hired Haris Hadzic as its new Director of Construction, formerly with Ameresco in a similar role.
Pineapple Energy, a publicly traded residential solar leasing provider, announced its CEO and Founder, Kyle Udseth, had stepped down and that board member and former founder of SUNation Energy, a residential solar company which Pineapple Energy acquired in November of 2022, Scott Maskin was appointed interim CEO. It also promoted James Brennan from SVP of Corporate Development, who formerly was Chief Growth Officer at SUNation, to Chief Operating Officer.
Market Insights: What We Heard at the Midwest Solar Expo
Don’t hate the player. Don’t hate the game. Learn the rules so you can exploit them.”
-Emmitt Muckles, Program Manager for Operations Training and Technical Support, Omnidian
Omnidian is a residential and commercial solar service and maintenance company that works for business owners and homeowners whose installer is no longer available (ex: went out of business, is unresponsive) or who do not own their panels outright such as those whose panels are owned by a bank or utility company, but need service support.
This was one of many companies at MWSE 2024 that I had never heard of before. The conference was a great mix of panels and presentations as well as networking opportunities. Compared to other conferences I have attended in the past year, I felt this one was structured best for networking. The networking sessions were truly for networking at not overshadowed with speakers, presentations, or other activities where participants were encouraged to listen rather than interact with each other.
The speakers were also top notch. One of the more interesting dialogues was with two leaders at ComEd, the local regulated utility servicing northern Illinois including Chicago, Dan Gabel and Scott Vogt. It is not often that a utility is willing to stand up in front of a room of project developers, EPCs, and consultancies and ask what the biggest pain points are for getting projects online in their jurisdiction. While this could have devolved into a game of bear-baiting, it was a respectful, informative, and productive session that covered issues ranging from funding to communication to critiques of ComEd’s web portals and to surprise upcharges by ComEd derailing projects.
Talent Insights: Navigating Work Visas
We all know that the United States is a hot market for renewable energy right now. There is strong demand from employers for talent within renewable energy and also strong desires from overseas job seekers to apply their experience from abroad to projects in the United States.
However, many of the early stage businesses I work with are hesitant about hiring these jobseekers because the visa process can be intimidating. So, in this month’s Talent Insights section, I would like to highlight some special visa types that make hiring easy.
OPT — Optional Practical Training — Students who complete a master’s or PhD in a STEM field on the DHS designated degree program list at an accredited university can apply for a visa that allows them to work in the U.S. for up to 3 years. Students apply for this immediately upon graduation, not the employer, and can work as soon as it is received. To stay longer than 3 years, the employee would then need a different visa, though many will have applied for permanent residency by then.
TN — Specifically for citizens of Canada and Mexico, this visa allows professionals in specific job fields such as engineers, lawyers, and accountants for up to 3 years with extensions possible. Canadians can show up at a port of entry with their offer letter to get immediate entry while citizens of Mexico must apply in advance of crossing the border. The fee to employers is $460 for the I-129 petition plus a one-time fraud prevention and detection fee of $500 for new employees.
H-1B1 — A special visa for Singaporeans and Chileans in certain specialty occupations such as engineering and computer programming, this allows up to 5,400 Singaporeans and 1,400 Chileans to enter the U.S. annually and must be renewed each year. The fee for this visa is only $750 for employers with less than 25 employees or $1,500 for those with more plus a $500 fraud detection and prevention fee.
Disclaimer: Megawatt Recruitment does not provide legal advice or immigration support services. Please seek professional services for further details.
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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.