SMP 87: How Summit Ridge Energy became one of the largest owners of community solar projects in the US?

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)