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 the Market is Talking About
Sunnova, the second largest solar financier in the country, issued a “going concern” on its earnings call this month saying there is “substantial doubt” about its ability to continue operations for the next year. Is bankruptcy around the corner?
TPG announced it will take a majority stake in Siemens Gamesa’s onshore wind turbine generator manufacturing business in India and Sri Lanka through its TPG Rise Climate platform and will create a new, independent company.
Distribution center builder, owner, and lessor, Prologis, aims to have 1GW of solar and BESS by the end of 2025 as both standalone projects as well as installed on its own properties, and currently has the 55MW Wallace Energy Storage Project underway in Southern California. It also aims to be net zero by 2040.
A Canadian bitcoin mining company, Bitfarms, is expected to acquire 165MW of coal-fired power plants in Pennsylvania by the end of March. The purchase would also allow sale of excess power back to the grid, a trend across digital asset developers.
Via the California Public Utilities Commission’s $200M Microgrid Incentive Program, utility PG&E announced awards of up to $43M for nine microgrid projects.
California is also fast-tracking BayWa r.e’s 300MW solar + storage project by routing challenges to the project to a court required to complete determination within 270 days.
President Trump rescinded the Defense Production Act designation for solar, fuel cells, electrolyzers, and other renewable power generation equipment manufacturing which included a $500M appropriation but included stipulations for investment in low-income communities, community benefit agreements, local labor hiring, and other labor requirements that prioritized unions such as apprenticeship programs.
Solar module manufacturer T1 Energy (formerly FREYR Battery), executed a lease and purchase option for 100 acres of land in Milam County, TX (northeast of Austin) for its planned 5GW solar cell manufacturing plant.
New York State regulators approved the draft Bulk Energy Storage Program Implementation Plan for projects over 5MW wherein NY plans to award another 323MW of storage. The Plan aims to give developers and investors revenue certainty.
In the previously reported transaction of taking French developer Neoen private, CalPERS joined Brookfield and other investors in completing the transaction (full story behind Paywall)
Recent Personnel Moves and Promotions
JERA Nex bp, which is a planned 50/50 JV between bp and JERA announced its planned leadership team including Nathalie Oosterlinck, currently CEO of Jera Nex in Japan, Richard Sandford as Chief Development Officer (currently bp’s SVP of Offshore Wind), Erin Eisenberg as Chief Financial Officer (currently CFO of Low Carbon at bp), Zlati Christov as Chief Investment Officer (from Morgan Stanley in London), Eric Antoons as Chief Operating Officer (Co-CEO of JERA’s Parkwind project in Belgium), and Alfonso Montero Lopez as Chief Technical Officer (with bp in Spain).
Skycharger, a leading provider of electric vehicle (EV) charging solutions, announced the appointment of John Friedrich as its new Chief Development Officer. He was previously a Strategist at Momentum.io, a company that helps finance and commercialize advanced energy solutions.
Clean Energy Associates (CEA) named Jeffrey Burkett as the new Chief Operating Officer. Burkett was previously Vice President.
SUNation Energy, Inc., a provider of sustainable solar energy and backup power solutions for households, businesses, and municipalities, announced that Chief Operating Officer James Brennan assumed the title and additional responsibilities of Chief Financial Officer. He replaces Andy Childs who was Interim CFO since the previous CFO, who had served since the company’s founding (SUNation is one brand under the Pineapple Energy umbrella) retired in 2024. Andy is a member of Conduit Capital whom has been providing working capital to SUNation Energy since 2024.
SolarEdge Technologies, a specialist in smart energy technology, appointed Asaf Alperovitz as Chief Financial Officer and is based in Israel. Former CFO Ariel Porat has taken a personal decision to step down from the role, and will remain with the company for a transition period.
SolMicroGrid, an Energy-as-a-Service microgrid company focused on the commercial and industrial market and portfolio company of Morgan Stanley Energy Partners, announced the appointment of David Klein as vice president of finance and administration. Klein joins the firm from PBF Energy.
The board of Mainstream Renewable Power, a global wind and solar company majority-owned by Aker Horizons, announced the appointment of Morten Henriksen as Group CEO, effective April 1, 2025. Henriksen is currently CEO of Gassnova, the Norwegian state enterprise for carbon capture and storage. He was also a board member of Scatec from Apr 2023 until Feb 2025 & NorSun, an ingot and wafer manufacturer from Aug 2022 – until Sep 2023.
Prologis, a distribution center developer, owner, and operator hired Rob Grant as Project Manager for Construction. Rob joins from Brookfield Distributed Generation backed Luminace, a developer of ESS, EV charging, and on & off grid solar, where he was Senior Project Manager.
Don Buchholz joined Pivot Energy as Director of Emerging Markets, based in Denver, from Korsail Energy, a utility-scale solar developer, where he was Principal and Head of Development.
After departing Nalco Water, an Ecolab Company, in February 2025, Mathieu Gonin joined Energy Smart Group, an EV charging seller, installer, and maintainer, as Head of Sales Engineering, based in California.
Hot Jobs!
- Director of Business Development, Solar Consulting Services — Remote from TX
- Head of Engineering, Solar C&I and DG — Remote from Northeast to Mid-Atlantic
- Design and Repowering Engineer — C&I and DG Solar Developer — Hybrid, CT
- Solar Site Superintendents, C&I Solar EPC — On sites in NJ, multiple openings
- Community Solar & DG Developer — Remote — multiple openings nationwide
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.
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