Episode Summary
In this episode of Solar Maverick, Benoy talks with Steve Raeder who is the Founder and CEO at Summit Ridge Energy and Brian Dunn who serves as dual role COO/CFO and co-founder at Summit Ridge Energy. Summit Ridge Energy is the nation’s leading owner-operator of community solar assets, providing energy savings to thousands of customers across the country.
They speak about how they grew Summit Ridge Energy from 5 employees with zero revenue in 2017 to 50 employees and several hundred million in top line revenue. Steve and Brian discuss trends in community solar, energy storage projects that they are developing, and the tax equity market.
Benoy Thanjan
Benoy Thanjan is the Founder and CEO of Reneu Energy, as well as an advisor for several solar startup companies. Reneu Energy is a premier international solar energy consulting firm and developer, and the company focuses on developing commercial and industrial solar, as well as utility-scale solar plus storage projects. The company also sources financing for solar projects and hedges both energy and environmental commodities.
Benoy received his first experience in Finance as an intern at D.E. Shaw & Co., which is a global investment firm with 37 billion dollars in investment capital. Before founding Reneu Energy, he was the SREC Trader in the Project Finance Group for SolarCity, which merged with Tesla in 2016. He originated SREC trades with buyers and co-developed their SREC monetization and hedging strategy with the senior management of SolarCity, to move into the east coast markets. Benoy also worked at Vanguard Energy Partners, Ridgewood Renewable Power, and Deloitte & Touche.
Steve Raeder
Steve Raeder is the Founder and the CEO of Summit Ridge energy, one of the nation’s largest owner/operators of community solar assets. In his role as CEO, Steve leads day to day corporate operations, as well as development and execution of the company’s revenue generation strategies. Prior to launching SREC in 2017, Steve served in multiple roles as SunEdison including Managing Director of Sales and General Manager of its East Coast C&I business unit where his team’s developed hundreds of MWs across multiple solar markets, including pioneering work with off-site “virtual” system that transformed the company’s business model. Steve holds a BA in History and Business Administration from Gettysburg College.
Brian Dunn
Brian Dunn is the co-founder of Summit Ridge Energy and serves as the company’s Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer. A member of the company’s management committee, Brian is responsible for all of SRE’s financial functions including accounting, audit, treasury, corporate finance and project finance. Prior to Summit Ridge, Brian served as Vice President at Hunt Alternative Energy Investments, the energy investment subsidiary of Texas-based Hunt Companies. In this role, Brian managed the company’s investments in distributed solar and combined heat and power projects. Prior to joining Hunt in 2011, Brian developed and financed clean energy projects for a private equity manager and held associate and analyst positions at JPMorgan and American Express. Brian received his B.A. from Bowdoin College in Economics and Government & Legal Studies.
Stay Connected:
Benoy Thanjan
Email: info@reneuenergy.com
LinkedIn: Benoy Thanjan
Website: https://www.reneuenergy.com
Steve Raeder
Website: https://srenergy.com
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-raeder-5283a0/
Brian Dunn
Website: https://srenergy.com
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-dunn-78010115/
Top 5 Solar Energy Podcasts You Must Follow in 2020
Thank you to Feedspot for having the Solar Maverick Podcast as one of the top 5 Solar Energy Podcasts You Must Follow in 2020. Below is the link with more information.
https://blog.feedspot.com/solar_energy_podcasts/
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This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)
SMP 38: Why Commercial & Industrial Building Owners Should Go Solar?
SMP 37: Guest Episode - Making an Impact While Saving the World - Benoy Thanjan on the Create Your Life Series
SMP 36: The State of the Project Finance Market for Solar Energy
SMP 35: Development Capital Funding for Early Stage Solar Projects
SMP 34: The importance of solar estimating in the construction of a solar project
SMP 33: The New York Solar Market
SMP 32: The NJ Solar Market
SMP 31: Why Operations & Maintenance is so important for the useful life of the solar project
SMP 30: How to construct a great solar project
SMP 29: SREC 101
SMP 28: The Virginia Solar Market
SMP 27: How Climate Change has impacted the Economy? The PG&E Example.
SMP 26: A Developer's Perspective on the US Solar Market
SMP 25: Unique Customer Acquisition and Financing Solutions for the Commercial Energy Market
SMP 24: 2019 US Solar and Energy Storage Discussion and Solar Opportunity Zone Investment
SMP 23: Community Solar 101 with Suzanne Waters
SMP 22: US Solar Module Market Discussion and Female Entrepreneur’s Perspective with Lauren Carson
SMP 21: An Investor's Perspective on the US Solar Market
SMP 20: The Solar Intrapreneur Story: How Nate helped IGS become one of the biggest solar asset owners in the US
SMP 19: Customer Acquisition and Billing in Community Solar
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