People on the Move: Viride Parente, Hydrostor, Knobelsdorff Enterprises, and more

Shailesh Sahay joined Foley Hoag LLP as counsel in its energy & climate practice, resident in the Washington, D.C. office. Prior to joining Foley Hoag, Sahay was senior regulatory counsel at POET, a producer of biorefined products. Prior to his time at POET, Sahay spent eight years in private practice as an environmental lawyer at multinational law firms. He earned a BA degree in Earth and Planetary Sciences from Harvard College and his JD from Harvard Law School.

Battery technology developer Viridi Parente named Dennis Elsenbeck as president, responsible for the strategic direction and alignment of products and services for Viridi’s subsidiaries, Volta Energy and Green Machine, and for representing Viridi in legislative and regulatory interests and energy policy. Earlier, Elsenbeck established and led the Phillips Lytle LLP energy and sustainability group, and spent most of his career with National Grid.

Long-duration energy storage provider Hydrostor named Guy Bentinck as CFO and Dean Comand as COO.  Bentinck has more than 25 years of experience across the natural resource and power generation sectors. He has previously been CFO for Fairfax Africa, Sherritt International Corp., and Royal Utilities Income Fund. Comand has 25 years of experience as an executive with construction, energy, manufacturing, mining, telecommunications, and utilities experiences, in both start-up and growth organizations. He previously was president and CEO of Hamilton Utilities Corp. Earlier, Comand was the VP of operations for Ambatovy Minerals S.A.

Array Technologies made two additions to its executive team, appointing Erica Brinker to chief marketing officer, a newly created role, and Tyson K. Hottinger to chief legal officer.

Brinker joins Array from Honeywell International, where she served most recently as CMO, Vice President Marketing & Sales Excellence. Brinker also led business development for the Services, Software and Connectivity business of Honeywell Aerospace.

Hottinger joins Array from Maschoff Brennan, where he represented technology and manufacturing companies while serving as a member of the executive management committee, as well as deputy general counsel and a managing shareholder since 2011.

EnergiaWorks promoted Victoria Waye to director of customer success. In her role, she is responsible for recruitment and client success management. She joined the firm in 2016 as a renewable energy account manager.

Knobelsdorff Enterprises said that Jason Thompson, COO and Aaron Pyfferoen, SVP of operations joined the company in two new roles. Thompson earlier worked at CE Power where he served as VP of operations for the last eight years. Pyfferoen spent 16 years at Blatter Energy where he served in a a variety of roles including manager of procurement, solar. Earlier, the company promoted Shane Matthees to director (electric); Rich Kuechenmeister to director (engineering); Jason Grahek to director (business development); and Melanie Peterson to controller. The company also added the following roles and team members: John Krautkramer, operations manager (electric); Kyle Weber, pre-construction manager (electric); Aaron Wood, O&M manager (energy); Neil Van Berkum, construction manager (energy); and Ben Sherman, senior electrical engineer.

Sponsored: Senior Wind Permitting Manager, San Diego

The Senior Permitting Manager works within the Development department, leading and directing discretionary permitting, permit compliance, and environmental survey activities in support of the full project lifecycle from origination to post-construction permit compliance and monitoring.

The Manager will lead and provide oversight in the development and acquisition of discretionary land use permits, and environmental assessments and surveys completed in compliance with local, state and federal regulations. Further, they will provide permitting expertise for entire portfolio of projects in development, construction, and operation ensuring continued compliance in construction and post construction phases.

In partnership with the development team, review zoning, floodplain, biological resources, wetlands, permitting fees, entitlement processes and other site-specific considerations to support project development. This position will also manage the entitlement process, including day-to-day interaction with city and county planning boards and state and federal permitting agencies, working with external consultants as needed.

• Requirements:
  BA/BS degree (Master’s preferred) in applicable field of study such as natural sciences, land use planning, or related field;
• Minimum five years’ experience in environmental consulting, land use planning or site land development experience within renewable energy industry or related field, with demonstrated prior expertise in leading or reviewing discretionary permitting activities for large capital projects.
• 5-10 years of progressively responsible project management experience
• Knowledge of general development, planning, and construction requirements
• Experience in obtaining land use permits (including conditional use permits, special use permits, coastal zone consistency and zoning amendments), and environmental approvals and permits pursuant to state and federal law
• Familiarity with federal permit processes including Section 106 NHPA, Section 7 and 10 Endangered Species Act, and BLM and/or Forest Service Right-of-Way Grants
• Prior experience and exposure to as many of the following is strongly preferred: National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA); California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and other state-specific environmental requirements; Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA); Bald and Golden Eagle Act (BGEPA); USFWS and state endangered species protection policies and programs;
• USFWS Land-Based Wind Energy Guidelines; Section 404 Nationwide Permit Program, Section 401 Water Quality Certifications, Section 10 Rivers and Harbors Act, and state-jurisdictional wetlands permitting; Agricultural contracts, including but not limited to Williamson Act Contracts, Farmland Security Zone contracts, Conservation Reserve Program
  Ability to travel up to 20%-30% of time (air and land); valid driver’s license required. More information is here.