EcoFactor, a cloud-based home energy management service startup, named Matthew Plante as CEO. Plante joins EcoFactor from Bidgely, where he served as vice president of sales. Prior to Bidgely, Plante was VP of sales at EnerNOC, where he led various sales teams worldwide. He helped grow EnerNOC from twenty employees and $1 million in revenue to 800 employees and $280 million in revenue.
Ideal Power, a developer of power conversion technology for solar, energy storage and electric vehicle applications, named Ryan O'Keefe as SVP of business development. Previously, O'Keefe was at energy storage developer (and acquirer of Xtreme Power) Younicos.
MJ Maloof, investment director at Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures, has joined the board of directors at Siluria Technologies, a green chemical and fuel startup. Siluria just raised $30 million in a round D led by Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures, the venture arm of Saudi Aramco, along with Bright Capital, Vulcan Capital, ARCH Venture Partners, The Wellcome Trust, Alloy Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, Lux Capital, Altitude Life Science Ventures and Presidio Ventures, bringing Siluria's VC total to more than $93 million.
Annie Henderson has been promoted to VP of programs at Renewable Funding, an energy efficiency program administrator.
Energy benchmarking company Bright Power added Brian Klansky as its VP of sales and marketing at the New York City-based energy management firm. Prior to joining Bright Power, Klansky was VP of sales and marketing at US Energy, a building energy management provider.
Hanwha SolarOne announced that DK Kim will return to the company as chief commercial officer. Kim had previously served as chief strategy officer of Hanwha SolarOne from December 2011 until July 2013 and was a member of the board of directors. Kim is joining from another Hanwha Group solar portfolio company, Hanwha Q CELLS, where he served as chief strategic marketing officer.
Andi Plocek is now the director of marketing and communications at Recurrent Energy, the perpetually-on-sale solar developer owned by Sharp. Plocek was most recently the director of communications at SolarReserve, a CSP aspirant currently commissioning the 110-megawatt Crescent Dunes Project.
Alan Oshima, former executive vice president of Corporate and Community Advancement at HECO parent company HEI, was named president and CEO of Hawaiian Electric Company. In June, HECO announced that CEO Richard Rosenblum "plans to retire within a year." Rosenblum has been HECO's CEO and a member of the utility's board since 2009. "I'm honored to lead Hawaiian Electric at such a critical time," said Oshima in a release. "We have a dedicated team of employees who care deeply about doing the right thing for our customers and for Hawaii. We know the energy environment is changing, and we have to adapt. We need to be more responsive, working collaboratively with our customers and the greater community. I'm confident that together we can achieve the clean energy future we all want for Hawaii." Oshima has been named as one of America's best lawyers in the field of public utilities multiple times.
QBotix, a maker of a robot-driven, dual-axis solar tracking system, named Mike Miskovsky as its new CEO. Miskovsky was, most recently, the CEO of PV mounting systems leader Zep Solar, which was acquired by SolarCity. In May, QBotix announced $12 million in funding from E.ON, Iberdrola and existing investors, New Enterprise Associates, Firelake Capital Management, Draper Nexus and Siemens Ventures.
SolarCity's employee base has grown 67 percent since the end of 2013, with the firm adding 2,900 employees in 2014 to date, according to a statement. SolarCity is the nation's largest solar employer, with more than 7,000 full-time employees in the U.S.