Kelcy Pegler Jr. resigned as CEO of NRG Home Solar, according to sources close to the company. With former CEO David Crane gone, there was little appetite for residential solar at NRG Energy, which acquired Pegler's 475-employee firm Roof Diagnostics Solar in April 2014. Sources also tell GTM that NRG Home Solar just laid off its San Diego solar installation crews. GTM covered the resignation of NRG Energy CEO David Crane earlier this year, when he stepped down from a post he’s held since 2003. Also resigning from NRG recently was Robyn Beavers, the "founder and leader of the newly formed Station A Group, a microgrid skunk works within the power company." Tom Doyle, the CEO of NRG Renew, has left that firm. Recently, GTM also reported that Steve McBee, CEO at NRG Home for a little more than a year, will be leaving NRG. According to Power Finance & Risk, Denise Wilson, the executive VP and president of Alternative Energy Services, recently left the firm as well.
As GTM's Stephen Lacey just reported, Rhone Resch, the man who's steered the U.S. solar industry's top lobbying group for a dozen years, is leaving his position at the end of May. Resch led national advocacy efforts during some of the most important moments for the American solar industry, including the passage of the eight-year federal Investment Tax Credit in 2008, passage of the stimulus package in 2009, and the most recent renewal of the Investment Tax Credit last December. Be on the lookout for an in-depth GTM interview with Resch later this week.
Darren Hammell has once again assumed the roles of president and CEO at the power electronics company he founded -- Princeton Power Systems.
Advanced Microgrid Solutions named Alain Steven as CTO, overseeing the development and scale-up of the firm's software and services for its behind-the-meter storage systems. Prior to joining AMS, Steven served as CTO and co-founder of Viridity Energy, which focuses on advanced demand response and dynamic load management. He has also served as CTO and VP of the PJM Interconnection, the operator of one of the world's largest wholesale electricity markets.
Geli announced that Dan Loflin, president and COO, will take over as CEO from co-founder Ryan Wartena, who will become company president. As we reported, the energy storage software startup just closed a $7 million round of funding from Shell Technology Ventures and other investors.
SimpliPhi Power hired Dean Middleton as VP of sales. Middleton joins SimpliPhi from lead acid energy storage manufacturer Trojan Battery. SimpliPhi uses a lithium ferrous phosphate battery chemistry to create scalable on-demand power solutions for residential, commercial, military and film markets.
James Holmes, former VP of commercial solar at Sungevity, is now VP of commercial solar installations at SolarCity.
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Electrek has learned that Tesla hired a former member of SunEdison’s grid solutions team -- Mohammad Bozchalui. Bozchalui led business development and engineering at SunEdison’s Energy Storage Center of Excellence. He is joining Tesla Energy's grid solutions team.
Tesla CIO Jay Vijayan left the firm in January to launch a stealthy startup in the Bay Area, according to Silicon Valley Business Journal. Vijayan "is credited with creating Tesla’s resource management system, used to manage all aspects of selling its cars online, servicing its own cars and issuing over-the-air updates to customers." Before joining Tesla, Vijayan held executive roles at Oracle and VMware.
From last week's column:
Energy storage startup LightSail Energy let go of 15 people, one-third of its workforce this month. The layoffs were generally on the non-tank side of the firm. According to a February article in the Wall Street Journal, LightSail's business now "consists of two main elements: an energy-storage component, for which the product is still in development; and high-pressure-storage tanks for natural gas and industrial gases, which it plans to sell primarily to logistics companies that distribute and recover natural gas and to compressed-natural-gas refueling stations. LightSail expects to ship its first such tanks in the next few months." LightSail has raised more than $70 million from the venture arm of French Energy giant Total, Peter Thiel, Bill Gates, Khosla Ventures, and Innovacorp, in pursuit of a CAES system that doesn’t rely on underground caverns as a storage medium. This is the second round of layoffs at the firm in two years.
SolarCity named former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Jon Wellinghoff as its chief policy officer. Wellinghoff was the longest-serving chair in FERC's history, leading efforts to integrate solar and wind resources into wholesale electric markets and ensure that resources like demand response and DG were given an opportunity to participate. Wellinghoff also served as General Counsel at the Nevada Public Utilities Commission, as well as serving two terms as the state of Nevada's first Advocate for Customers of Public Utilities. Wellinghoff most recently served as a partner at the law firm Stoel Rives. Wellinghoff is still finishing up at Stoel Rives, but we'll speak with him about his new role later this month. UBS writes, "We think this move demonstrates SolarCity’s renewed commitment to a more mainstream and credible policy effort after recent setbacks in Nevada."