28 min
SMP 70: Insights and Perspectives from the CEO of Canadian Developer that is developing large number of solar projects in the US Solar Maverick Podcast
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- Natural Sciences
Episode Summary
In this episode of Solar Maverick, Manish Nayar, the founder and managing partner of OYA Solar, shares his entrepreneurial experience and perspective with Benoy and discusses how a Canadian company made its home in the United States solar market. Whether you are in the research stage or a veteran business owner, this episode is a ray of light for solar entrepreneurs.
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. Reneu Energy has brokered $27 million in environmental commodity transactions.
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.
Manish Nayar
Manish Nayar is the founder and Managing Partner of OYA Solar. Manish has led the growth of the company and its resulting 1000MW+ North American development pipeline. Manish has developed, constructed or transacted on over 500MW of solar assets in the last 10 years. Prior to OYA, Manish was with the investment banking group at Merrill Lynch & Co. where he focused on corporate finance, M&A and restructuring of companies in the diversified industrials group. Prior to Merrill, he was CEO of Judricks Enterprises Ltd, a global tier 1 supplier of powertrain and transmission components to the automotive and heavy equipment industries. He holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management with majors in Analytical Finance and Strategy as well as a B.E.Sc in Computer Engineering and a B.Sc in Applied Mathematics from the University of Western Ontario. He is also a licensed Professional Engineer in the Province of Ontario.
Insights from this episode:
Details on OYA Solar, the reason Manish founded the company, and what their plans are for future growth.
Benefits of not having a government-sponsored Investment Tax Credit.
Strategies for finding solar markets to focus on in the United States and where OYA Solar is developing projects.
How development in community solar and utility-scale projects have matured.
Benefits of extending access to the solar market to include low-to-moderate income (LMI) communities.
How OYA Solar approaches different solar trends, including storage and electrification targets.
Details on what it takes to be an entrepreneur in the solar industry and key traits that will help you succeed.
Quotes from the show:
On switching from Canada to a United States solar market: “We foreshadowed that the market would slow down and ultimately close as the government incentives were starting to step down pretty drastically. That’s when we pivoted to the US [United States].” 一 Manish Nayar, Episode #70
On the Investment Tax Credit: “If we’re putting the economics aside, I think it would be more beneficial for us, as developers and owners, but perhaps less-attractive for tax-equity investors.” 一 Manish Nayar, Episode #70
On OYA Solar’s projects in New York: “For us, we felt that size and the scale of the market were really attractive and we felt that we had a good differentiating factor in our development process.” 一 Manish Nayar, Episode #70
“I think developers have gotten much better at anticipating the needs of the c
Episode Summary
In this episode of Solar Maverick, Manish Nayar, the founder and managing partner of OYA Solar, shares his entrepreneurial experience and perspective with Benoy and discusses how a Canadian company made its home in the United States solar market. Whether you are in the research stage or a veteran business owner, this episode is a ray of light for solar entrepreneurs.
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. Reneu Energy has brokered $27 million in environmental commodity transactions.
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.
Manish Nayar
Manish Nayar is the founder and Managing Partner of OYA Solar. Manish has led the growth of the company and its resulting 1000MW+ North American development pipeline. Manish has developed, constructed or transacted on over 500MW of solar assets in the last 10 years. Prior to OYA, Manish was with the investment banking group at Merrill Lynch & Co. where he focused on corporate finance, M&A and restructuring of companies in the diversified industrials group. Prior to Merrill, he was CEO of Judricks Enterprises Ltd, a global tier 1 supplier of powertrain and transmission components to the automotive and heavy equipment industries. He holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management with majors in Analytical Finance and Strategy as well as a B.E.Sc in Computer Engineering and a B.Sc in Applied Mathematics from the University of Western Ontario. He is also a licensed Professional Engineer in the Province of Ontario.
Insights from this episode:
Details on OYA Solar, the reason Manish founded the company, and what their plans are for future growth.
Benefits of not having a government-sponsored Investment Tax Credit.
Strategies for finding solar markets to focus on in the United States and where OYA Solar is developing projects.
How development in community solar and utility-scale projects have matured.
Benefits of extending access to the solar market to include low-to-moderate income (LMI) communities.
How OYA Solar approaches different solar trends, including storage and electrification targets.
Details on what it takes to be an entrepreneur in the solar industry and key traits that will help you succeed.
Quotes from the show:
On switching from Canada to a United States solar market: “We foreshadowed that the market would slow down and ultimately close as the government incentives were starting to step down pretty drastically. That’s when we pivoted to the US [United States].” 一 Manish Nayar, Episode #70
On the Investment Tax Credit: “If we’re putting the economics aside, I think it would be more beneficial for us, as developers and owners, but perhaps less-attractive for tax-equity investors.” 一 Manish Nayar, Episode #70
On OYA Solar’s projects in New York: “For us, we felt that size and the scale of the market were really attractive and we felt that we had a good differentiating factor in our development process.” 一 Manish Nayar, Episode #70
“I think developers have gotten much better at anticipating the needs of the c
28 min