People on the move: Anovion, OIC, Thornova and more

Anovion Technologies, a synthetic graphite materials company, appointed Dr. Vikram Rao as chief technology officer and to the company’s advisory board. Dr. Rao remains an executive director at the Research Triangle Energy Consortium (RTEC), which he has led since retiring as its chief technology officer after a 34 year-career at Halliburton, an oilfield services technology company.  

Dr. Rao currently leads the effort at RTEC to address national and global energy priorities. His technology leadership at Halliburton was pivotal in facilitating U.S. energy independence, insulating the country from the recent energy shocks faced inEurope. He is also an advisor to several start-ups and later-stage companies across the energy transition and biotech market. Dr. Rao is the author of more than 40 publications, including five books on energy, has been awarded over 40 U.S. patents, and holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University and an undergraduate engineering degree from the Indian Institute of Technology. 

In 2022, Anovion was awarded $117 million in federal grants from the U.S. Department of Energy to rapidly scale production capacity to meet growing demand with the construction of a large-scale factory in the southeastern U.S., as well as its relocated advanced technology center in Sanborn, NY. Anovion is now commencing a multi-year expansion program of 150,000 metric tonnes of annual capacity for anode-grade synthetic graphite that can be used in the domestic production of EV batteries, among other storage solutions. 

Dr. Ghazal Izadi was promoted to chief operating officer at XGS Energy, a geothermal energy company, from vice president, reservoir management and market strategy. In her new role, Dr. Izadi will manage XGS’s day-to-day operations, drive technology development and execute strategies to dispatchable geothermal energy to more locations, including water-scarce regions. Her initial focus in the role is to accelerate deployment of the company’s scalable, no-water, carbon-free, and closed-loop heat-harvesting geothermal technology. 

Before joining XGS in April 2022, Izadi spent nearly a decade with oilfield services company Baker Hughes, where she held roles in research and engineering management related to pressure pumping, geosciences, and petroleum engineering. Her last Baker Hughes assignment was as Global Discipline Lead for Unconventionals and Geothermal in the Reservoir Technical Services team. 

XGS Energy, formerly Geothermic Solution, is a closed-loop geothermal technology start-up company which raised $19 million in Series A funding earlier this year from Anzu Partners and Helmerich & Payne.  

Thornova Solar, a bifacial PERC solar module brand operated by Sunova Solar Technology, appointed Ken Oatman as senior sales director. He joins the Vietnamese upstream solar company after nearly two decades in senior sales roles for ET Solar, Adani Solar, Vikram Solar, VSun Solar and HT Solar Energy.  

Lance Weinkamer was promoted to vice president, project operations at DEPCOM Power, from director of project engineering Lance. Weinkamer joined DEPCOM, a Koch Engineered Solutions business, in July 2014 and in addition to leading the Project and Field Engineering Teams, also manages its Interconnection Team. Weinkamer’s teams oversee permitting, compliance, and the coordination of DEPCOM’s in-house engineering group on each project as well as executing project substations and generation tie-lines utilizing preferred partnerships with vendors and sub-contractors. 

Orion Energy Capital (OIC), a New York-based infrastructure investment firm, announced the expansion of its Infrastructure Growth team with one promotion and the hiring of a managing director and associate.  

Jeremy Glick was promoted to investment partner & head of infrastructure growth at OIC to reflect his leadership and building the firm’s Growth investment strategy since joining in May 2021. Glick is responsible for originating, evaluating, structuring, and monitoring growth-stage investments.  

Drew Karian was hired by OIC as managing director & investment principal on the infrastructure growth team. He is responsible for originating, evaluating, structuring, executing, and monitoring investments for the Infrastructure Growth platform. He brings over 14 years of experience in private investing, previously as a managing director with Riverstone, an energy private equity firm. At Riverstone, Karian co-led investments in the decarbonization, power, infrastructure, upstream and midstream energy markets.  

Ryan Davidson was hired by OIC as associate in the infrastructure growth team, responsible for investment efforts within the strategy. Prior to OIC, Ryan worked at TD Securities in sustainable debt origination and advisory. 

 Additional job moves provided by EnergeiaWorks: 

Naveed Mikhail Hasan was promoted to VP of strategy and marketing, Americas at Sungrow Power Supply. 

Eric Paul started a new position as VP, partnership development at Nautilus Solar. 

Nina Madanat started a new position as director, conference & event revenue at American Clean Power Association. 

 Senior Project Developer, Solar & Storage, Chicago, IL 

As Senior Project Developer, you will lead the day-to-day management of Solar and Solar plus Storage projects under development in the U.S. and Canada, including: HS&E, procurement, scheduling, and budget accountabilities; communication with key stakeholders, project partners, and regulators; coordination of subject matter experts and contractors; and support of debt financing up until the start of construction. 

Responsibilities: 

• Lead project development and project management activities from project conception to start of construction, working to proactively identify project barriers and implement strategies to overcome such barriers, including preparation of annual development budgets for projects at various locations in the United States and Canada. 
• Manage and work with the engineering team on project interconnection applications with the utilities to secure queue positions. 
• Prepare and participate in required transaction approval documentation and presentations for senior management and the Board. 
• Support Junior Development Staff. 
• Site identification and assessment. Utilize various siting tools to identify and review greenfield opportunities to support the company’s greenfield pipeline goals. 
• Develop, clarify, and manage project scope, project execution plans, track and manage contract deliverables, HS&E requirements, insurance needs and QA/QC plans. 
• Work with Director of Land to pursue site control. Meet and negotiate with potential project landowners to acquire site control where needed and to provide project information and support when needed. 
• Support technology selection, procurement initiatives, and project dependencies to ensure targeted development and construction outcomes are achieved (i.e., projects delivered safely, on-time, and on-budget). 
• Support or lead construction projects and project delivery efforts. 
• Assist in RFP responses and/or sales processes. 
• Support efforts to negotiate and sign PPA’s for late-stage project opportunities. 
• Manage and/or Lead public consultation and stakeholder engagement efforts with local communities, landowners, and leaders. 
• Manage and/or Lead agency consultation efforts with local, state, and federal regulatory bodies and decision makers. 
• Coordinate project specific tasks including, permitting and approvals, project communications, engineering and design, procurement, and construction review processes as well as providing an effective transitional basis into construction. 
• Support continuous improvement of key development principles as well as identifying new opportunities to improve project execution and operational efficiencies 

Requirements: 

• Undergraduate degree in Engineering, Planning, Environmental Science, or related field.  
• Minimum 6+ years of project development and/or project management experience in power generation or similar industry. 
• Land acquisition experience. 
• Experience dealing with Federal, State, and local regulators, agencies, and regulatory processes. 
• Experience with utility interconnection processes including PJM and MISO. 
• Possess excellent, hands-on project management skills and demonstrated efficiency in providing project development support on multiple concurrent projects. 
• Successful experience with all aspects of project development, permitting, consultation, construction, and integration to operations. 
• Extensive knowledge of renewable technologies and energy storage. 
• Existing network of contacts and partners in the solar market preferred 
• Knowledge of MS Office, including Project, Word, Excel, GIS/mapping systems and document management systems. 
• Willingness to learn standard commercial contract language to eventually become comfortable reading, interpreting, and enforcing contract terms 

Apply here.