Business Development Manager

 

  

Vestas' renewable energy development arm in North America, Steelhead Americas ("Steelhead"), is actively seeking a Business Development Manager to join the team reporting to the Vice President of Business Development. Steelhead is a full-suite developer - the business model is prospecting wind energy assets from scratch and developing them to a construction-ready stage at which point they are sold to a long-term owner. Steelhead was founded in 2016 and has developed and sold over 3GW of wind assets to utilities and IPPs and currently has a 5GW pipeline in five ISOs across the US with a team of 50 full time professionals and growing.

 

Responsibilities:

 

The Business Development Manager shall primarily be responsible and accountable for renewable asset growth initiatives in the North American market. This would include sourcing early and mid-stage project acquisitions, financial investment opportunities, providing guidance on greenfield prospecting activities, originating joint ventures with strategic partners, supporting asset divestments, creating business cases for non-core ventures including BESS, solar, data centers and may include corporate-level renewable platform acquisitions. The ideal candidate would have a broad skillset in business, M&A transactions, development, energy markets, and understanding of renewable construction and could include experience in complementary tangential energy intensive industries such as data centers and industrial manufacturing.

 

• Investigate, analyze and execute on attractive growth opportunities for the business which includes renewable project acquisitions (e.g. wind, solar, BESS, other), joint ventures, and strategic relationships with other developers, IPPs, utilities, energy off-takers and load asset owners such as data enters, manufacturers and service providers.

• Creating and maintaining relationships with utility energy offtaker and/or buyers in regulated markets (WECC, SERC, etc.).

• Assessment of new opportunities based on a thorough understanding of the North American renewable energy business, including markets, technology and competitors; able to quickly identify attractive opportunities and decline unattractive ones.

• Work closely and negotiate with commercial counterparties, utilities, IPPs, government entities, and other stakeholders on projects / transactions.

• Advocate internally for growth opportunities, including completion of internal investment approval memos and presentations to the Steelhead investment committee which includes executive management.

• Complete internal corporate requirements for reporting on the development of growth opportunities. Report on project development status to management via written reports and participation in management meetings and calls.

• Support the finance and legal departments during interactions with third parties (tax equity partners, construction financing, etc.) to ensure transaction terms are favorable.

• Coordinate with executive team to devise a strategy focused on identifying favorable markets, commercial strategies.

• Developing business plans and case studies for new growth opportunities.

• Support or manage the asset sales process including creation of sales process letters, teasers, CIMs, data room build-out, bid analysis and commercial MIPA negotiation.

 

Qualifications:

 

• Bachelor's and/or master's degree in engineering, finance, business administration, or equivalent relevant discipline.

• 7+ years of experience in business development, M&A transactions, project development and/or project finance in the renewable energy development industry (data center development industry or management consulting would be beneficial).

• Experience in and understanding of the North American power sector, including legal / regulatory aspects, market environment, competition, stakeholders, counterparties, and other areas that impact growth initiatives.

• Network of commercial relationships among key stakeholders in the industry.

• Knowledge and capabilities in all the aspects of project development, including power sales, commercial markets, construction, permitting, interconnection, transmission, fuel supply, project financing, contracts, land acquisition, and financial analysis.

• Knowledge and experience with key project contracts: Power Purchase Agreements, Generator Interconnection Agreements, Turbine and Equipment Supply Agreements, Partnership and Purchase and Sale Agreements, and Operations & Maintenance Agreements would be of value.

• In-depth know-how in developing, negotiating, and executing complex project agreements. Experience of project structuring including tax and accounting requirements wou