Philippe Pontbriand
Boulder,Colorado
Summary
Dynamic Renewable Development expert with a strong track record in greenfield projects, M&A, joint ventures, and financing for utility-scale projects. Expertise encompasses all critical phases of development, including prospecting, permitting, land acquisition, and engineering optimization. Maintains robust relationships with project stakeholders such as owners, investors, and independent engineers while overseeing a balanced 10GW pipeline of solar, wind, and battery projects within a $15M budget. Demonstrated success in achieving 2GW intake and financial investment decisions on approximately 0.5GW annually.
Successful 19 years of wind, solar and battery development/engineering leadership experience recognized by a peer nomination to the CANWEA R.J. Templin Award who highlights an individual whose scientific, technical, engineering or policy work has significantly advanced wind energy in Canada.
Overview
20
20
years of professional experience
Work History
Orsted
Boulder, CO
09.2022 - Current
- Build and retain best-in-class talent to support a 10 GW development portfolio. Grew the team from 5 to 11 developers.
- Accountable for the implementation of Orsted's strategic development plan in MISO, PJM, SERC, ERCOT, New York, and New England.
- Accountable for a $15 million annual budget, with the objective to progress a 10 GW mid-stage project and add 2 GW of wind, solar, and battery in the transmission queue annually.
- Accountable for obtaining the Final Investment Decision on 0.5 GW of projects annually. Successfully obtained FID on 750 MW, ~$1 billion capital investment in solar and BESS projects.
- Responsible for the strategic acquisition of BESS, solar, and wind projects. Successfully supporting the structuring and closing of 1 GW of early/mid-stage renewable projects.
Manager Renewable Development
TransAlta
Boulder, CO
06.2020 - 08.2022
- Build a development team based in the USA, and hire high-quality people to support all the development functional activities leading to the execution of utility-sized wind and solar projects. (Origination, Development, Transmission, Resource, and Engineering.)
- Perform due diligence, evaluate risk/opportunity, and optimize the value of a 1 GW wind and solar US portfolio acquired at the end of 2019, with the objective of delivering $10 to $25 million in free cash flow starting in 2023.
- Receive board approval to execute the PPA contract with AAA-rated clients on 500 MW of wind projects by the end of 2021. (White Rock and Horizon Hill – SPP).
- Lead the preconstruction engineering activities, including the creation of tools and standards for early to advanced development opportunity evaluation: energy production, build-out of capex WBS (up to class III), LCOE, EPC engagement, and engineering (up to 30%). • Accountable for growing the size of the portfolio to 1.5 GW by the end of 2022 by adding acquisition projects and leading the greenfield origination effort.
- Accountable for growing the size of the portfolio to 1.5 GW by the end of 2022 by adding acquisition projects and leading the greenfield origination effort.
- Work with cross functional teams to retrieve key inputs for the financial models in support of project returns evaluation as well as turbine and solar technology review. Support strategic procurement (wind and solar) in Canada and the USA. (TSA negotiations, development of key strategic relationships with major OEMs ).
- Maintain high level relationships with major Independent Engineers and EPC contractors.
Development Director - Energy Resources
RES Americas
Broomfield, CO
01.2017 - 01.2020
- Lead technical due diligence and risk analysis of major transactions including over 2GW of PPA, project closings and tax equity financing in USA. (Resource, market, interconnection, permitting)
- Lead the prospecting effort of more than 3GW of wind and solar projects in USA and Canada.
- Coordinate the effort of civil and electrical engineering and energy resource groups to provide key inputs for the valuation, optimization, and marketing of over 2 GW of wind and solar projects currently in operation in the United States and Canada.
- Lead a team of 18 highly skilled experts in their field (mechanical and civil engineering, energy resources, instrumentation, GIS, and data science).
- Lead the global wind energy continuous improvement and R&D program (30 employees worldwide) that delivered a tangible added value of over $5M in 2019.
- Act as an expert in front of commissions for various hearings on wind turbine noise, shadow flicker.
- Present state-of-the-art technical review in conferences (AWEA, CANWEA, Wind Europe, etc.).
Wind Resource Manager
RES Canada
Montreal, Canada
01.2008 - 01.2017
- Accountable for greenfield origination of roughly 3 GW of wind and solar projects in Canada. Over 1.5 GW of those projects are now in operation.
- Lead a team of 2 instrumentation engineers, 1 energy resource engineer, and 1 data analyst. Supervised contractors for the installation of over fifty meteorological towers.
- Enforced compliance with RES-Canada quality standards, and health and safety program. Successfully managed over $3M of annual budget.
Co Founder
Envert Energie
Montreal, Canada
01.2007 - 01.2007
Renewable Energy Analyst
GPCO (now Hatch)
Montreal, Canada
01.2005 - 01.2007
Education
Master of Science - Mechanical Engineering
McGill University
Montreal, Canada07.2005
Bachelor of Science - Physics Honors
McGill University
Montreal07.2002
Certificate - Financial Modeling And Valuation
Corporate Finance Institute
Corporatefinanceinstitute.com2020
Certificate - Energy Management
HEC Montreal
Montreal01.2016
Skills
- Renewable energy business and portfolio development
- Renewable projects due diligence
- Team building and leadership
- Executive level business unit development, budget and KPI reporting
- Project management: wind and solar energy projects, and continuous improvement
- Techno-economic evaluation
- Financial analysis and valuation of wind and solar project
- Strategic procurement, contract negotiation, and risk evaluation
- Market analysis (Technology and trends)
- Software: ARCGIS, WindPro, PVSyst Programming: Visual Basic, Python
- Engineering: Wind and solar project design/optimization, resource assessment, EPC, and BOP/S
Affiliations
2023 - now - Board Member – Clean Grid Alliance
• Board member of the Clean Grid Alliance C6 trade organization. Advocate for legislative action and regulatory reforms regarding the delivery of a clean energy in the Midwest.
2017-2020 – Founder (www.cfars.org)
• Creation of the Consortium for Advancement of Remote Sensing.
• Lead the activities of the consortium which now includes more than 25 of the most influential wind energy companies worldwide (developers, owners, operators, turbine OEMs and third-party consultants).
• Steer the consortium subgroups and ensure that the CFARS objectives are met by 2021.
• Lead the quarterly updates and steering meetings.
• Responsible for the visibility and marketing of the consortium. Present the consortium activities in various conference (WindEurope, AWEA, CANWEA).
• Identify funding opportunities and leverage the group workforce to ensure success.
2017 Canadian Wind Energy Association: Nomination R.J. Templin Award
• The R.J. Templin Award recognizes an individual or organization whose scientific, technical, engineering or policy work has significantly advanced wind energy in Canada.
Languages
English, French, Spanish (intermediate)
Timeline
Orsted
09.2022 - Current
Manager Renewable Development
TransAlta
06.2020 - 08.2022
Development Director - Energy Resources
RES Americas
01.2017 - 01.2020
Wind Resource Manager
RES Canada
01.2008 - 01.2017
Co Founder
Envert Energie
01.2007 - 01.2007
Renewable Energy Analyst
GPCO (now Hatch)
01.2005 - 01.2007
Master of Science - Mechanical Engineering
McGill University
Bachelor of Science - Physics Honors
McGill University
Certificate - Financial Modeling And Valuation
Corporate Finance Institute
Certificate - Energy Management
HEC Montreal
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