US Development and Finance Forum 2022
Energy Transition, Origination & Acceleration
NPM’s US Development & Finance Forum 2022 will explore how big energy corporates are adjusting their energy transition strategies, including a significant investment in renewable and alternative companies and technologies. Panelists will discuss how renewable developers are leveraging energy corporate and investor support to build and accelerate their pipelines while hoping to overcome short-term obstacles such as ISO logjams and higher PPA pricing.
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Vinod Mukani is the head of Infrastructure & Power financing group at Nomura. His group is a dedicated platform deploying capital in Infrastructure and Power sector ,through a broad range of tailored financing solutions. Mr. Mukani has over 20 years of finance related experience, including structuring & arranging deals in Infrastructure and Power sector, sourcing/originating investment opportunities, structuring, investing & arranging capital (debt & equity issuances, equity participations, senior secured/second-lien/mezzanine financings), full capital structure advisory, as well as advisory services to multinational corporations and development banks. Over his career he has been involved in all areas and markets related to infrastructure & power including transportation and social infrastructure, power generation, energy infrastructure, logistics and distribution, and renewable energy.
Throughout his career, Mr. Mukani has built a reputation for developing business strategies, incubating new business models/ideas, building and developing teams and being a trusted advisor & solution provider to his clients. He developed and managed profitable businesses/strategies with sustainable performance and discipline around risk taking.
Prior to joining Nomura Vinod spent 7 years at Deutsche Bank where he ran the Infrastructure & Energy group. His group focused on delivering capital solutions for his clients. His efforts on Infrastructure & energy sectors led to Deutsche Bank leadership role in the sector.
Before joining Deutsche Bank, Mr. Mukani spent 3 years at Norddeutsche Landesbank, 8 years at the Fixed Income Division of Goldman Sachs & Co in New York, 2years at Chase Manhattan Private Bank in New York. Mr. Mukani earned a Bachelor of Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Bombay, India and an MBA from New York University
Casey has over 15 years of experience in the energy industry across trading, asset management, and development. Currently, she assists clients with asset management, offtake origination, debt and equity placement, project diligence, project development, and risk mitigation for renewables projects with a focus on energy storage, biofuels, and renewables projects. Previously, she was doing origination and structuring for Able Grid Energy, a battery storage developer and prior to that, she led M+A and asset management for the Power & Infrastructure unit at Sumitomo Corporation. Other jobs include LNG commercial development at GDF Suez, asset manager and developer for Engie's Canadian, Mexican, and U.S. wind/solar/cogen/biomass portfolio, Board member for the Atlantic Centre for Energy, senior consultant at Pace Global, and power trader at Fulcrum Power. Casey graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Texas at Austin with degrees in International Business Honors Program, Finance, and Plan II Liberal Arts.
Carole is Director of Origination at energyRe, where she oversees sourcing, negotiation, and execution of offtake agreements for the utility-scale portfolio.
Carole joined energyRe from Broad Reach Power, where she also worked in origination, negotiating innovative transactions to support an asset base of standalone storage. Carole previously served in several positions over eight years at Calpine, where she led valuation and pricing for acquisitions, divestitures, and project development as a Senior Manager on the Corporate Financial Analysis team and spent time on the structuring and portfolio analysis teams working with wind, solar, thermal, and storage assets.
Carole holds a Bachelor of Arts in Statistics and Philosophy from Rice University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Texas at Austin.
Daniel Murphy is a Director on the Project Finance team at Arevon, where he is responsible for structuring and raising project-level capital for clean energy assets across North America. Prior to Arevon, Daniel spent more than six years in the Finance & Capital Markets team at Invenergy, leading financing transactions for wind and solar power projects. Earlier in his career, he spent two years at GE Energy Financial Services. Daniel holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Georgetown University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.
Matt Fransen is vice president, New Generation Resource Development for Grid Solutions.
He works with the AEP Utilities to meet the company’s targets under AEP’s Future Forward strategy. Fransen focuses on transforming AEP’s generating capacity portfolio from majority-coal to majority-renewable by the end of this decade. He leads the effort to acquire up to 16 GW of new generation – primarily wind and solar renewables – over the next 10 years.
Previously, Fransen was vice president of Renewable Development and Investments for AEP Renewables, where he was responsible for the core business operations of large scale wind and solar generation projects in the U.S. He held leadership oversight responsibility for development, acquisitions, asset and operations management and direct support departments.
Prior to that, he served as a managing director in Strategic Initiatives, supporting corporate strategy development and the evaluation of mergers and acquisitions. Fransen was also a manager in the Treasury organization responsible for the capitalization of AEP’s subsidiary companies, credit rating agency activities and developing strong relationships within the capital markets.
Fransen has testified as an expert witness on the market valuation of power plants, cost of capital and capital structure before various state regulatory commissions.
Fransen earned both a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in business administration from The Ohio State University.
| Marc-Alain serves as Nexamp’s VP of Utility-scale solar, providing the vision and leadership to drive the company’s growth in this segment of the market. His team is responsible for in-house development and acquisitions of transmission connected solar & storage projects. |
| Previously, Marc-Alain started and led the utility-scale solar business of ENGIE in North America through a period of rapid growth successfully contracting several hundreds of MW with Fortune 500 customers and was previously a management consultant in Booz Allen’s Energy Practice. |
| Marc-Alain holds an MBA from INSEAD and MSc. In Management from HEC Paris. Throughout his career Marc-Alain has been instrumental to the development of over 2GW of now operational solar plants across North and South America. He speaks 5 languages and has lived on four continents. |
As head of AES Clean Energy’s Structured Origination and Key Accounts team, Erica Engle provides integral leadership to AES Clean Energy's efforts to grow the business and accelerate the transition to a 100 percent carbon-free energy future. The scope of her responsibilities includes unique deal structuring, transaction execution, and delivering innovative products to AES’ growing portfolio of clean energy customers. Erica is also responsible for the Key Accounts team's post-execution client management and supporting AES Clean Energy's innovative 24/7 Clean Energy product line.
Ms. Engle has more than 20 years of experience in the energy sector. She began her career in energy trading (power and natural gas) for large investor-owned utilities and investment banks. She has worked for several energy firms and investment banks in marketing and origination roles, including Citigroup Energy, The CME Group, Sumitomo Corporation, Direct Energy, DTE Energy, and AEP. Erica holds a B.S. degree in finance from The Max M. Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University and completed graduate coursework at the C.T. College of Business at The University of Houston.
Sandhya Ganapathy is the Chief Executive Officer for EDP Renewables North America (EDPR NA) and a member of the Management Team of EDP Renewables (EDPR), the fourth largest renewable energy producer in the world. Sandhya joined EDPR in 2012 as Head of Investments and M&A North America. From 2017 to her CEO appointment in early 2022, she served as Global Head of Investments and M&A, responsible for M&A, investment and capital allocation decisions, and asset rotation for EDPR across all of its geographies. She was also a member of EDPR’s investment committee. Sandhya has extensive experience in renewable energy evaluations as well as leading acquisitions and evaluation of investments enabling geographical and asset class diversification. She ran EDPR’s asset rotation or self-financing strategy, thereby being at the helm of one of the company’s core income generators and critical enablers of future growth. Prior to joining EDPR, Sandhya worked as an investment banker for more than a decade with regional and global banks across multiple geographies. She holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Carnegie Mellon and is a Chartered Accountant from India.
EDP Renewables North America LLC (EDPR NA), its affiliates, and its subsidiaries develop, construct, own, and operate wind farms and solar parks throughout North America. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, with 58 wind farms, nine solar parks, and seven regional offices across North America, EDPR NA has developed more than 8,800 megawatts (MW) and operates more than 8,200 MW of onshore utility-scale renewable energy projects. With more than 950 employees, EDPR NA’s highly qualified team has a proven capacity to execute projects across the continent.
Rob Gramlich is Founder and President of Grid Strategies LLC where he provides economic policy analysis for clients on electric transmission and power markets in pursuit of low-cost de-carbonization. He serves as Executive Director of Americans for a Clean Energy Grid, Executive Director of the WATT Coalition, on the board of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy Foundation, on the Advisory Council for the Energy Systems Integration Group, and on the Advisory Board of the National Regulatory Research Institute’s Regulatory Training Institute.
Rob oversaw transmission and power market policy for the American Wind Energy Association from 2005 through 2016 as Senior Vice President for Government and Public Affairs, Interim CEO, and Policy Director. He was Economic Advisor to FERC Chairman Pat Wood III from 2001 to 2005, Senior Economist at PJM Interconnection in 1999 and 2000, Senior Associate at PG&E National Energy Group in 2000-2001, and an analyst at the FERC Office of Economic Policy, ICF Resources, the World Resources Institute, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the 1990s. He testifies frequently before the US Congress, US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), US Department of Energy, and state legislatures and regulatory commissions. He has served on advisory committees for the U.S. Department of Energy and the North American Energy Standards Board, on boards of a number of regional clean energy organizations, as Vice Chair of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, and as Interim Executive Director of the Wind Energy Foundation (now Wind-Solar Alliance).
Rob has received the following awards and recognition:
- Energy Systems Integration Group Award “for contributions to market design and transmission planning for improved system planning and operation.” (2018)
- The Hill magazine: Top Lobbyist each year from 2011 through 2016.
- American Wind Energy Association: Technical Achievement Award “in recognition of significant contribution to articulating how wind can provide 20 percent of US electricity demand by 2030.” (2008)
- US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission: Exemplar of Public Service Award “for a distinguished career in pursuit of the vision, mission, and values of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.” (2005)
In the area of grid integration of clean energy, Rob has:
- Led the development for the wind industry of the 2008 20 Percent Wind by 2030 project with the Department of Energy and wrote the transmission chapter.
- Led negotiations for the wind industry on transmission interconnection standards (low voltage ride-through, reactive power, SCADA) that became FERC Order No. 661.
- Led wind industry negotiations in FERC Order 890 which lessened imbalance charges and created conditional firm transmission service.
- Led multiple coalitions in support of federal transmission policies.
- At FERC, played a key role in the creation of the Southwest Power Pool RTO, Midcontinent Independent System Operator, and the original market designs and structures of NYISO, CAISO, ISO-NE, PJM, SPP, and MISO.
- At PJM, served as principal market monitor of the PJM capacity market.
- Co-authored Green Power Superhighways report for AWEA and SEIA.
- Published articles on wind integration, wind markets and policy, economic incentives for environmental protection, power market regulation, and electricity market design.
Rob has a Master of Public Policy (MPP) degree from UC Berkeley and a BA with Honors in Economics from Colby College.
Joan Hutchinson is Managing Director, Offtake Advisory, based out of Marathon Capital’s San Francisco office. Ms. Hutchinson advises corporate clients to set and meet sustainability goals, including energy offtake agreements, carbon reduction, and energy transition strategies. She advises developers on physical and financial offtake agreements to support financing and enhance project value. Ms. Hutchinson has advised Nestlé, TC Energy, and Tokyo Gas on recent sustainability initiatives.
Ms. Hutchinson has over 25 years experience in North American energy markets and renewable energy project development. Before joining Marathon Capital, Ms. Hutchinson was Vice President of Origination & Business Development at Ørsted A/S, where she led the origination of wind, solar, and storage projects resulting in over 1600 MW of transactions in three years. Many of the transactions Ms. Hutchinson completed were power purchase agreements with first-time corporate buyers.
Prior to Ørsted, Ms. Hutchinson was SVP Origination & Marketing for Ridgeline Energy, responsible for negotiating contracts for the sale of power and renewable energy credits from renewable projects, leading solar development, and the acquisition of wind and solar projects. Ms. Hutchinson was Director of Origination at Citigroup Energy and held various origination and trading positions with Powerex, Inc.
Ms. Hutchinson received her Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from the University of Victoria in Victoria, B.C., and holds her Series 79 license.
Jeff Bishop is a clean energy entrepreneur and a leader in the US energy transition, focusing on the intersection of finance, commercial, technology and policy.
Jeff is the CEO and co-founder of Key Capture Energy, one of America’s largest owner/operators of stand-alone battery storage projects. Prior founding to Key Capture Energy, Jeff held senior positions at Brookfield Renewable and EDP Renewables – two of the largest renewable energy companies in the United States. In these roles, he was responsible for financial analysis, corporate development, and market design -- focusing extensively on building new markets for renewable energy to compete in. Jeff got his start in renewable energy working for a wind energy developer in Morocco in 2002.
Jeff has served on, and often led, the boards of clean energy advocacy organizations at the federal, regional, and state level -- including the Energy Storage Association, Renewable Energy Northeast, the Mid-Atlantic Renewable Energy Coalition, the Maine Renewable Energy Association, and the Alliance for Clean Energy New York. In addition, Jeff has testified before legislative and regulatory bodies in ten states in the Midwest and Northeast and is a frequent panelist at energy conferences across North America.
Jeff holds a MBA from Chicago Booth and a B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Rice University. He is currently on leave from his Masters in Electrical Engineering degree at the University of Utah. As a Thomas J. Watson Fellow, Jeff spent a year researching renewable energy failures in Uganda and Botswana. Jeff was a Forbes Thirty Under Thirty – Energy award winner in the program’s inaugural year in 2011.
Jeff is a mediocre skier and a tenacious bicycle commuter (and includes in his public transportation advocacy a previous board membership at BikeHouston). Jeff and his partner, Boyu, live in Salt Lake City, Utah. Jeff is active in the broader LGBT equality movement; he served on the board for the Montrose Center, a non-profit empowering Houston’s LGBT community, as well as co-chaired the Rice University LGBT Alumni Association.
Jim Tyler’s unstoppable passion for success has yielded decades of achievement as an engineer, inventor, and visionary business leader. Now at his fourth VC-funded startup, Jim is merging his entrepreneurial background with his long career as a big-business solar executive. Jim has played a key role in the development of some of the world’s largest solar power plants, including the role of Lead Negotiator for First Solar’s 550 MW, $1.96B, Desert Sunlight Solar PV Power Plant. Beyond his ability to close large and complicated deals, Jim’s talents and interests drive him towards revolutionary improvements to the status quo. As the VP of Engineering, Procurement & Construction at First Solar, Jim developed and implemented new and innovative methods to achieve construction velocities never before seen in utility-scale power plant construction. In his role as CEO of Erthos, Jim is now directing the full force of his talents to offering the utility-scale solar market a radical, precipitous, and enduring reduction in the cost of energy.
Frank is a successful entrepreneur and energy executive with over 25 years of experience in the energy industry.
In 2017 he founded Great Bay Renewables (“GBR”), a leading provider of royalty investments in the dynamic renewable energy market. GBR uses a royalty financing structure to satisfy the growing need for innovative and flexible capital in renewable energy. Frank’s deep experience in the energy industry puts GBR in a unique position to offer creative solutions at any stage of a renewable energy project’s life cycle. GBR’s investment support can be applied towards project development, construction, operations, capital improvements, project re-powering, and acquisitions.
Before starting GBR, Frank was the President and CEO of BayCorp Holdings, Ltd., a diversified merchant energy company, since 1998. Under his leadership, BayCorp developed, owned and operated various energy companies and assets including renewable power generation facilities, oil and natural gas reserves, and other energy-related investments. Previously, he was an attorney with Boston-based law firm Hale and Dorr LLP.
Frank holds a joint J.D./M.B.A. degree from Boston College and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Tufts University.
As Senior Director of Developer Services, Gia ensures that renewable energy buyers have access to fresh supply, and developers receive market intelligence to make strategic business decisions. Prior to joining LevelTen Energy, Gia was VP of Development at OneEnergy Renewables bringing her passion for land use planning and thoughtful approaches to sustainable development to the renewable energy industry
Daniel leads NPM’s new product innovation as well as heading up our research and data team. Daniel joins NPM following seven years with a leading global infrastructure product and founding James Street Global, a financial media consultancy.
Andrew Burnes is a reporter with New Project Media for the past two years where he presently covers the East Coast and Northeast power markets and financing and power purchase agreements. Previously, he had also covered major ISOs such as ERCOT and CAISO.
Ken is the Founder of NPM, based in Princeton.
He was previously the Editor-in-Chief of Fixed Income information products globally for Acuris and a Senior Reporter for Refinitiv.
He is an avid Liverpool supporter and an enthusiastic Knicks apologist.
Jon Berke is the managing editor of New Project Media, where he covers capital markets activity across all of the major renewable generation verticals. He has been covering alternative asset classes over the course of his 20-year career in journalism, including of infrastructure and private credit.
Marjorie Hong is Head of Renewable Power Development- Americas at Shell, a core business unit of Shell’s Energy Transition. Marjorie has an extensive 25-year career at Shell, leading efforts toward the pursuit of clean environment and energy, in roles across R&D, environmental operations, strategy development, management consulting, sales & marketing, and business development.
She holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Texas A&M University, and an Executive MBA from Columbia University. Marjorie is passionate about STEM education for young children to build tomorrow’s future leaders.
She is married with two middle school children and resides in Houston. Her hobbies include traveling, hiking and biking with her family. She also plays the piano and violin, and enjoys seeing her children perform in music and theatre.
Joshua Rogol is the Chief Executive Officer of Elevate and has 20 years of experience in energy finance, project development, technology development, and entrepreneurship.
Prior to Elevate, Joshua was President at Strata Clean Energy, where he led origination and development, corporate strategy, and execution across the United States for Strata’s solar and battery energy storage portfolio. Joshua oversaw and directed Strata’s development team that was responsible for contracting 2,500MW of solar and over 4,000MWh of BESS. Before joining Strata, Joshua led global sales and strategy for a leading energy storage technology manufacturer, developing the company’s first utility scale project in Europe, a microgrid facility in Nicaragua, and a behind-the-meter C&I project in the United States. His previous experience also included leading global development for Urban Green Energy (UGE), helping to take the company public in 2014. Joshua was a co-founder of Photon Consulting, a leading renewable energy consulting firm, supporting IPOs, M&A, and business strategy for global leading renewable energy companies and opened their offices in Shanghai. Joshua earned a Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude in International Relations and Economics from Tufts University and completed additional studies at La Universidad de Playa Ancha in Valparaiso, Chile.
Frank Palladino is a Managing Director in CIBC Capital Markets’s Energy, Infrastructure, and Transition Investment Banking team and covers the Renewable Energy industry. He has 16 years of experience in investment banking and M&A advisory.
Prior to joining CIBC in 2020, Frank spent six years at CohnReznick Capital, where he joined as an initial team member and assisted in leading the growth of the team to over 30 people. Frank was a member of that firm’s leadership committee and co-led the West Coast region. Prior to that, Frank spent 10 years at KPMG advising clients on M&A transactions in Renewable Energy and Technology. Frank has executed on over six Gigawatts of Renewable Energy transactions.
Frank has a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Loyola University Maryland and is a CFA Charterholder
| Marc-Alain serves as Nexamp’s VP of Utility-scale solar, providing the vision and leadership to drive the company’s growth in this segment of the market. His team is responsible for in-house development and acquisitions of transmission connected solar & storage projects. |
| Previously, Marc-Alain started and led the utility-scale solar business of ENGIE in North America through a period of rapid growth successfully contracting several hundreds of MW with Fortune 500 customers and was previously a management consultant in Booz Allen’s Energy Practice. |
| Marc-Alain holds an MBA from INSEAD and MSc. In Management from HEC Paris. Throughout his career Marc-Alain has been instrumental to the development of over 2GW of now operational solar plants across North and South America. He speaks 5 languages and has lived on four continents. |
Jon Berke is the managing editor of New Project Media, where he covers capital markets activity across all of the major renewable generation verticals. He has been covering alternative asset classes over the course of his 20-year career in journalism, including of infrastructure and private credit.
Jeff Bishop is a clean energy entrepreneur and a leader in the US energy transition, focusing on the intersection of finance, commercial, technology and policy.
Jeff is the CEO and co-founder of Key Capture Energy, one of America’s largest owner/operators of stand-alone battery storage projects. Prior founding to Key Capture Energy, Jeff held senior positions at Brookfield Renewable and EDP Renewables – two of the largest renewable energy companies in the United States. In these roles, he was responsible for financial analysis, corporate development, and market design -- focusing extensively on building new markets for renewable energy to compete in. Jeff got his start in renewable energy working for a wind energy developer in Morocco in 2002.
Jeff has served on, and often led, the boards of clean energy advocacy organizations at the federal, regional, and state level -- including the Energy Storage Association, Renewable Energy Northeast, the Mid-Atlantic Renewable Energy Coalition, the Maine Renewable Energy Association, and the Alliance for Clean Energy New York. In addition, Jeff has testified before legislative and regulatory bodies in ten states in the Midwest and Northeast and is a frequent panelist at energy conferences across North America.
Jeff holds a MBA from Chicago Booth and a B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Rice University. He is currently on leave from his Masters in Electrical Engineering degree at the University of Utah. As a Thomas J. Watson Fellow, Jeff spent a year researching renewable energy failures in Uganda and Botswana. Jeff was a Forbes Thirty Under Thirty – Energy award winner in the program’s inaugural year in 2011.
Jeff is a mediocre skier and a tenacious bicycle commuter (and includes in his public transportation advocacy a previous board membership at BikeHouston). Jeff and his partner, Boyu, live in Salt Lake City, Utah. Jeff is active in the broader LGBT equality movement; he served on the board for the Montrose Center, a non-profit empowering Houston’s LGBT community, as well as co-chaired the Rice University LGBT Alumni Association.
Andrew Burnes is a reporter with New Project Media for the past two years where he presently covers the East Coast and Northeast power markets and financing and power purchase agreements. Previously, he had also covered major ISOs such as ERCOT and CAISO.
William “Bill” Caesar is the President of Generate Upcycle, a business platform within Generate Capital that oversees the company’s waste-to-value assets. Bill joined Generate after serving as the CEO of WCA Waste for 7 years. Prior to WCA, he was the Chief Strategy Officer for Waste Management (WM) and then the President of WM Recycling where he oversaw WM’s organics business plus early-stage technology and services investments for four years. Before entering the waste management space, Bill was a principal at McKinsey & Company in Atlanta. During his 13-year tenure at McKinsey, Bill advised clients across a broad spectrum of industries on corporate strategy, growth initiatives, and performance improvement. Earlier in his career he also served as a Russian analyst at the U.S. State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency. Bill holds a BA in Russian Studies from Colgate University, an MA in Russian Studies from Georgetown University, and an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, where he was awarded a Keller Scholar Fellowship and graduated as a Fuqua Scholar.
As Senior Director of Developer Services, Gia ensures that renewable energy buyers have access to fresh supply, and developers receive market intelligence to make strategic business decisions. Prior to joining LevelTen Energy, Gia was VP of Development at OneEnergy Renewables bringing her passion for land use planning and thoughtful approaches to sustainable development to the renewable energy industry
Daniel leads NPM’s new product innovation as well as heading up our research and data team. Daniel joins NPM following seven years with a leading global infrastructure product and founding James Street Global, a financial media consultancy.
As head of AES Clean Energy’s Structured Origination and Key Accounts team, Erica Engle provides integral leadership to AES Clean Energy's efforts to grow the business and accelerate the transition to a 100 percent carbon-free energy future. The scope of her responsibilities includes unique deal structuring, transaction execution, and delivering innovative products to AES’ growing portfolio of clean energy customers. Erica is also responsible for the Key Accounts team's post-execution client management and supporting AES Clean Energy's innovative 24/7 Clean Energy product line.
Ms. Engle has more than 20 years of experience in the energy sector. She began her career in energy trading (power and natural gas) for large investor-owned utilities and investment banks. She has worked for several energy firms and investment banks in marketing and origination roles, including Citigroup Energy, The CME Group, Sumitomo Corporation, Direct Energy, DTE Energy, and AEP. Erica holds a B.S. degree in finance from The Max M. Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University and completed graduate coursework at the C.T. College of Business at The University of Houston.
Matt Fransen is vice president, New Generation Resource Development for Grid Solutions.
He works with the AEP Utilities to meet the company’s targets under AEP’s Future Forward strategy. Fransen focuses on transforming AEP’s generating capacity portfolio from majority-coal to majority-renewable by the end of this decade. He leads the effort to acquire up to 16 GW of new generation – primarily wind and solar renewables – over the next 10 years.
Previously, Fransen was vice president of Renewable Development and Investments for AEP Renewables, where he was responsible for the core business operations of large scale wind and solar generation projects in the U.S. He held leadership oversight responsibility for development, acquisitions, asset and operations management and direct support departments.
Prior to that, he served as a managing director in Strategic Initiatives, supporting corporate strategy development and the evaluation of mergers and acquisitions. Fransen was also a manager in the Treasury organization responsible for the capitalization of AEP’s subsidiary companies, credit rating agency activities and developing strong relationships within the capital markets.
Fransen has testified as an expert witness on the market valuation of power plants, cost of capital and capital structure before various state regulatory commissions.
Fransen earned both a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in business administration from The Ohio State University.
Sandhya Ganapathy is the Chief Executive Officer for EDP Renewables North America (EDPR NA) and a member of the Management Team of EDP Renewables (EDPR), the fourth largest renewable energy producer in the world. Sandhya joined EDPR in 2012 as Head of Investments and M&A North America. From 2017 to her CEO appointment in early 2022, she served as Global Head of Investments and M&A, responsible for M&A, investment and capital allocation decisions, and asset rotation for EDPR across all of its geographies. She was also a member of EDPR’s investment committee. Sandhya has extensive experience in renewable energy evaluations as well as leading acquisitions and evaluation of investments enabling geographical and asset class diversification. She ran EDPR’s asset rotation or self-financing strategy, thereby being at the helm of one of the company’s core income generators and critical enablers of future growth. Prior to joining EDPR, Sandhya worked as an investment banker for more than a decade with regional and global banks across multiple geographies. She holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Carnegie Mellon and is a Chartered Accountant from India.
EDP Renewables North America LLC (EDPR NA), its affiliates, and its subsidiaries develop, construct, own, and operate wind farms and solar parks throughout North America. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, with 58 wind farms, nine solar parks, and seven regional offices across North America, EDPR NA has developed more than 8,800 megawatts (MW) and operates more than 8,200 MW of onshore utility-scale renewable energy projects. With more than 950 employees, EDPR NA’s highly qualified team has a proven capacity to execute projects across the continent.
Frank is a successful entrepreneur and energy executive with over 25 years of experience in the energy industry.
In 2017 he founded Great Bay Renewables (“GBR”), a leading provider of royalty investments in the dynamic renewable energy market. GBR uses a royalty financing structure to satisfy the growing need for innovative and flexible capital in renewable energy. Frank’s deep experience in the energy industry puts GBR in a unique position to offer creative solutions at any stage of a renewable energy project’s life cycle. GBR’s investment support can be applied towards project development, construction, operations, capital improvements, project re-powering, and acquisitions.
Before starting GBR, Frank was the President and CEO of BayCorp Holdings, Ltd., a diversified merchant energy company, since 1998. Under his leadership, BayCorp developed, owned and operated various energy companies and assets including renewable power generation facilities, oil and natural gas reserves, and other energy-related investments. Previously, he was an attorney with Boston-based law firm Hale and Dorr LLP.
Frank holds a joint J.D./M.B.A. degree from Boston College and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Tufts University.
Rob Gramlich is Founder and President of Grid Strategies LLC where he provides economic policy analysis for clients on electric transmission and power markets in pursuit of low-cost de-carbonization. He serves as Executive Director of Americans for a Clean Energy Grid, Executive Director of the WATT Coalition, on the board of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy Foundation, on the Advisory Council for the Energy Systems Integration Group, and on the Advisory Board of the National Regulatory Research Institute’s Regulatory Training Institute.
Rob oversaw transmission and power market policy for the American Wind Energy Association from 2005 through 2016 as Senior Vice President for Government and Public Affairs, Interim CEO, and Policy Director. He was Economic Advisor to FERC Chairman Pat Wood III from 2001 to 2005, Senior Economist at PJM Interconnection in 1999 and 2000, Senior Associate at PG&E National Energy Group in 2000-2001, and an analyst at the FERC Office of Economic Policy, ICF Resources, the World Resources Institute, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the 1990s. He testifies frequently before the US Congress, US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), US Department of Energy, and state legislatures and regulatory commissions. He has served on advisory committees for the U.S. Department of Energy and the North American Energy Standards Board, on boards of a number of regional clean energy organizations, as Vice Chair of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, and as Interim Executive Director of the Wind Energy Foundation (now Wind-Solar Alliance).
Rob has received the following awards and recognition:
- Energy Systems Integration Group Award “for contributions to market design and transmission planning for improved system planning and operation.” (2018)
- The Hill magazine: Top Lobbyist each year from 2011 through 2016.
- American Wind Energy Association: Technical Achievement Award “in recognition of significant contribution to articulating how wind can provide 20 percent of US electricity demand by 2030.” (2008)
- US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission: Exemplar of Public Service Award “for a distinguished career in pursuit of the vision, mission, and values of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.” (2005)
In the area of grid integration of clean energy, Rob has:
- Led the development for the wind industry of the 2008 20 Percent Wind by 2030 project with the Department of Energy and wrote the transmission chapter.
- Led negotiations for the wind industry on transmission interconnection standards (low voltage ride-through, reactive power, SCADA) that became FERC Order No. 661.
- Led wind industry negotiations in FERC Order 890 which lessened imbalance charges and created conditional firm transmission service.
- Led multiple coalitions in support of federal transmission policies.
- At FERC, played a key role in the creation of the Southwest Power Pool RTO, Midcontinent Independent System Operator, and the original market designs and structures of NYISO, CAISO, ISO-NE, PJM, SPP, and MISO.
- At PJM, served as principal market monitor of the PJM capacity market.
- Co-authored Green Power Superhighways report for AWEA and SEIA.
- Published articles on wind integration, wind markets and policy, economic incentives for environmental protection, power market regulation, and electricity market design.
Rob has a Master of Public Policy (MPP) degree from UC Berkeley and a BA with Honors in Economics from Colby College.
Marjorie Hong is Head of Renewable Power Development- Americas at Shell, a core business unit of Shell’s Energy Transition. Marjorie has an extensive 25-year career at Shell, leading efforts toward the pursuit of clean environment and energy, in roles across R&D, environmental operations, strategy development, management consulting, sales & marketing, and business development.
She holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Texas A&M University, and an Executive MBA from Columbia University. Marjorie is passionate about STEM education for young children to build tomorrow’s future leaders.
She is married with two middle school children and resides in Houston. Her hobbies include traveling, hiking and biking with her family. She also plays the piano and violin, and enjoys seeing her children perform in music and theatre.
Mr. Hughes served as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Prisma Energy Capital, a private entity focused on investments in energy storage, from December 2017 to July 2019. He served as CEO of First Solar (NASDAQ–FSLR) from May 2012 to June 2016.Prior to joining First Solar, Mr. Hughes served from October 2007 until April 2011 as Chief Executive Officer and a Director of AEI Services LLC, which owned and operated power distribution, power generation (both thermal and renewable), natural gas transportation and services, and natural gas distribution businesses in emerging markets worldwide.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Hughes was President of Prisma Energy International and spent almost a decade with Enron Corporation in positions that included President and Chief Operating Officer of Enron Global Assets, President and Chief Operating Officer of Enron Asia Pacific, Africa and China and as Assistant General Counsel of Enron International.
Mr. Hughes is a Director of TPI Composites, Inc. (NASDAQ–TPIC), which is the world’s largest independent manufacturer of wind turbine blades with operations in the U.S., China, Turkey and Mexico. He is a Director of Alcoa Corporation, (NYSE–AA) which was spun out from Alcoa, Inc. in late 2016. Mr. Hughes is also a Director of PNM Resources, Inc.(NYSE–PNM) an investor-owned utility with operations in Texas and New Mexico. He is the former chairman and currently serves as a member of the board of directors of the Los Angeles branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. He is also a member of the Energy Advisory Board of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank.
Mr. Hughes holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Texas at Austin School of Law, a Certificate of Completion in International Business Law from Queen Mary’s College, University of London, and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Southern Methodist University
Joan Hutchinson is Managing Director, Offtake Advisory, based out of Marathon Capital’s San Francisco office. Ms. Hutchinson advises corporate clients to set and meet sustainability goals, including energy offtake agreements, carbon reduction, and energy transition strategies. She advises developers on physical and financial offtake agreements to support financing and enhance project value. Ms. Hutchinson has advised Nestlé, TC Energy, and Tokyo Gas on recent sustainability initiatives.
Ms. Hutchinson has over 25 years experience in North American energy markets and renewable energy project development. Before joining Marathon Capital, Ms. Hutchinson was Vice President of Origination & Business Development at Ørsted A/S, where she led the origination of wind, solar, and storage projects resulting in over 1600 MW of transactions in three years. Many of the transactions Ms. Hutchinson completed were power purchase agreements with first-time corporate buyers.
Prior to Ørsted, Ms. Hutchinson was SVP Origination & Marketing for Ridgeline Energy, responsible for negotiating contracts for the sale of power and renewable energy credits from renewable projects, leading solar development, and the acquisition of wind and solar projects. Ms. Hutchinson was Director of Origination at Citigroup Energy and held various origination and trading positions with Powerex, Inc.
Ms. Hutchinson received her Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from the University of Victoria in Victoria, B.C., and holds her Series 79 license.
Omar joined Apex Clean Energy in 2020 as VP of Finance & M&A. At Apex, Omar is focused on spearheading energy transition development efforts as well as traditional M&A and project finance activities. He has 16 years of experience focused in advising, investing and structuring renewable energy companies, projects across various energy technologies. Prior to Apex, Omar was an Executive Director at Moelis & Company where he advised various renewable energy, power, and utility clients on M&A and capital formation. Earlier in his career, he worked as an Investment Manager at Leaf Clean Energy Fund and began his career at JP Morgan in the Energy Investment Banking Group. He earned his BA from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Carole is Director of Origination at energyRe, where she oversees sourcing, negotiation, and execution of offtake agreements for the utility-scale portfolio.
Carole joined energyRe from Broad Reach Power, where she also worked in origination, negotiating innovative transactions to support an asset base of standalone storage. Carole previously served in several positions over eight years at Calpine, where she led valuation and pricing for acquisitions, divestitures, and project development as a Senior Manager on the Corporate Financial Analysis team and spent time on the structuring and portfolio analysis teams working with wind, solar, thermal, and storage assets.
Carole holds a Bachelor of Arts in Statistics and Philosophy from Rice University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Texas at Austin.
Allan Marks is a partner at Milbank LLP and a member of the firm’s Global Project, Energy and Infrastructure Finance Group, as well as the firm’s Private Equity, Renewable Energy, Latin America, and Global Risk & National Security practices.
Mr. Marks is one of the world's leading project finance lawyers, with deep expertise for over 30 years across many sectors: power and renewable energy, transportation, airports, rail, port terminals, water, fuels, social infrastructure, and telecommunications and digital infrastructure. Many of his matters for clients focus on the energy transition, clean and renewable power, advanced transportation, alternative fuels, ESG and sustainability.
He recently closed the project financing of the $9.5 billion New Terminal One at New York’s JFK International Airport and is working on several large offshore wind projects in New York and Massachusetts. He also handled the construction financing of the $1 billion Vista Ridge Water Supply Project in Texas. In Los Angeles, he has worked on the financing of the Port of Los Angeles Fenix Marine Terminal and several airport improvement projects at Los Angeles International Airport: LAX ConRAC/Consolidated Rental Car Facility; the Automated People Mover procurement; and the Tom Bradley International Terminal Baggage Handling System. Some of his other California projects include Presidio Parkway in San Francisco, SR 125/South Bay Expressway Toll Road in San Diego, the Oakland Airport Connector for BART, and water supply and water treatment projects in Santa Paula, Rialto and Carlsbad.
Mr. Marks is consistently ranked as one of the world’s leading project finance lawyers by Chambers, Who’s Who Legal, IFLR1000, and Legal 500 and was named one of California’s “Top 50 Development Lawyers” by the Daily Journal.
Mr. Marks created and hosts the podcast Law, Policy & Markets: Milbank Conversations. He is a regular contributor to Forbes and frequently speaks and publishes on infrastructure, renewable energy, cross-border transactions, public-private partnerships, risk management, climate impacts, ESG and sustainability, capital markets, and economic and regulatory policy.
Ken is the Founder of NPM, based in Princeton.
He was previously the Editor-in-Chief of Fixed Income information products globally for Acuris and a Senior Reporter for Refinitiv.
He is an avid Liverpool supporter and an enthusiastic Knicks apologist.
Daniel Murphy is a Director on the Project Finance team at Arevon, where he is responsible for structuring and raising project-level capital for clean energy assets across North America. Prior to Arevon, Daniel spent more than six years in the Finance & Capital Markets team at Invenergy, leading financing transactions for wind and solar power projects. Earlier in his career, he spent two years at GE Energy Financial Services. Daniel holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Georgetown University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.
Frank Palladino is a Managing Director in CIBC Capital Markets’s Energy, Infrastructure, and Transition Investment Banking team and covers the Renewable Energy industry. He has 16 years of experience in investment banking and M&A advisory.
Prior to joining CIBC in 2020, Frank spent six years at CohnReznick Capital, where he joined as an initial team member and assisted in leading the growth of the team to over 30 people. Frank was a member of that firm’s leadership committee and co-led the West Coast region. Prior to that, Frank spent 10 years at KPMG advising clients on M&A transactions in Renewable Energy and Technology. Frank has executed on over six Gigawatts of Renewable Energy transactions.
Frank has a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Loyola University Maryland and is a CFA Charterholder
Joshua Rogol is the Chief Executive Officer of Elevate and has 20 years of experience in energy finance, project development, technology development, and entrepreneurship.
Prior to Elevate, Joshua was President at Strata Clean Energy, where he led origination and development, corporate strategy, and execution across the United States for Strata’s solar and battery energy storage portfolio. Joshua oversaw and directed Strata’s development team that was responsible for contracting 2,500MW of solar and over 4,000MWh of BESS. Before joining Strata, Joshua led global sales and strategy for a leading energy storage technology manufacturer, developing the company’s first utility scale project in Europe, a microgrid facility in Nicaragua, and a behind-the-meter C&I project in the United States. His previous experience also included leading global development for Urban Green Energy (UGE), helping to take the company public in 2014. Joshua was a co-founder of Photon Consulting, a leading renewable energy consulting firm, supporting IPOs, M&A, and business strategy for global leading renewable energy companies and opened their offices in Shanghai. Joshua earned a Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude in International Relations and Economics from Tufts University and completed additional studies at La Universidad de Playa Ancha in Valparaiso, Chile.
Matthew Runkle is a Senior Managing Director and Head of Renewables and Midstream within the Infrastructure Group. Since joining Blackstone in 2017, Mr. Runkle has been involved in the execution of Blackstone investments, including Invenergy Renewables, Cheniere Energy Partners, and Tallgrass Energy.
Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Runkle spent 15 years at ArcLight Capital Partners, a private equity firm focused on energy infrastructure investments. While at ArcLight, Mr. Runkle sourced, executed, and actively managed investments in assets and companies across the power and midstream sectors. Prior to that, Mr. Runkle began his career at The NorthBridge Group as an Analyst, where he focused on corporate strategy for vertically integrated utilities.
Mr. Runkle received a BS in Geology and Geophysics from Yale University. Mr. Runkle serves as a director of Tallgrass Energy and Cheniere Energy Partners, L.P. He also serves as chair of the Brooklyn Community Board of the Jeremiah Program, a non-profit social services organization.
Jim Tyler’s unstoppable passion for success has yielded decades of achievement as an engineer, inventor, and visionary business leader. Now at his fourth VC-funded startup, Jim is merging his entrepreneurial background with his long career as a big-business solar executive. Jim has played a key role in the development of some of the world’s largest solar power plants, including the role of Lead Negotiator for First Solar’s 550 MW, $1.96B, Desert Sunlight Solar PV Power Plant. Beyond his ability to close large and complicated deals, Jim’s talents and interests drive him towards revolutionary improvements to the status quo. As the VP of Engineering, Procurement & Construction at First Solar, Jim developed and implemented new and innovative methods to achieve construction velocities never before seen in utility-scale power plant construction. In his role as CEO of Erthos, Jim is now directing the full force of his talents to offering the utility-scale solar market a radical, precipitous, and enduring reduction in the cost of energy.