Director, Project Development - East

Hanwha Renewables; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Hanwha Renewables, a leader in renewable energy solutions, seeks a Director of Project Development to drive strategic partnerships, acquisitions, and investments across North America. The role emphasizes managing real estate, permitting, and interconnection for utility-scale solar and storage projects, with travel up to 50% and coordination with finance and legal teams.

Qualified candidates will have 8+ years in renewable energy development, a lead-developer track record (50MW+), and a strong

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in a related field.
• 8+ years of renewable energy project development.
• Proven track record as lead developer with 50MW+ projects.
• Strong knowledge of North American energy markets.
• Willing to travel up to 50%.
• Valid driving license and passport.

Responsibilities

• Identify acquisition and greenfield opportunities for utility-scale solar and storage across North America.
• Perform detailed strategic and financial analyses on potential acquisitions.
• Manage real estate, title work, and permits through project closing.
• Coordinate with finance and legal teams for project divestment or debt/equity financing.
• Lead a small development team and engage with external partners as needed.

Skills

Communication

Team leadership

Financial analysis

Project development

Travel readiness

Education

Bachelor’s degree or higher (business, urban planning, engineering, finance)

Job description

Hanwha Renewables, headquartered in Irvine, California, a member of Hanwha Group, a FORTUNE Global 500 firm that is among the eight largest business enterprises in South Korea. Hanwha Renewables designs, builds and manages renewable energy solutions. The company brings a decade of global leadership in renewable energy to North America, combining best-of-world technology, processes, and partnerships to deliver utility-grade energy solutions customized for local energy markets. Hanwha Renewables offers the full spectrum of energy solutions – from power plant development, design, construction, operations, and maintenance. With proven capabilities across the renewable energy value chain, Hanwha Renewables minimizes uncertainty and risk, and helps customers achieve a higher return on their investment in renewable energy.

POSITION OVERVIEW

The Director of Project Development will be responsible for identification, assessment and execution of potential strategic partnerships, acquisitions and investments by the company. This position will also be responsible for managing the real estate, permitting and interconnection aspects of multiple utility scale photovoltaic (PV) solar and energy storage projects in targeted US markets. The Director of Project Development will also assist the Structured Finance team in the divestment of assets as well as in any third-party debt or equity financing. This position reports to the Vice President of Project Development, or another management personnel that the President of the Company may designate. The employee may be required to perform other job-related duties as requested by management. All duties will be assigned in accordance with applicable laws and company policies. This position is expected to travel up to 50% of the time.

The employee may be required to perform other job-related duties as requested by management. All duties will be assigned in accordance with applicable laws and company policies.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Regular attendance, in accordance with company's attendance policy and supervisory assignment, is an essential job duty requirement for this position
• Identify acquisition and greenfield development opportunities for utility- scale solar and battery energy storage projects throughout North America
• Perform detailed strategic and financial analyses, including company evaluations and financial feasibility studies of potential acquisition opportunities
• Acquire and maintain information on market, industry, economic, consumer, and competitive conditions and trends
• Engage in industry groups to identify new market solutions
• Prepare acquisition/divestiture and other strategic transaction summaries and recommendations for Manage all matters related to real estate from initial site control to issuance of the final title policy. Assist in obtaining initial title commitments, assist real estate division to perform all require title curative to achieve the proforma policy in a form acceptable to the financier
• Co-Manage title closing and issuance of the closing letter and final title policy with required endorsements with real estate team
• Co-Manage all changes to the ALTA survey to provide a survey acceptable to the financier and the title company
• Review and manage all lease agreements as well as any required amendments acceptable to the financing parties, including recoding the memorandums
• Manage real estate land purchases and any sale lease backs
• Obtain any needed easements in a form acceptable for financial close
• Perform any subdivisions and or lot line adjustments needed for land acquisitions
• Obtain any required crossing agreements such as, driveway, pipeline, transmission and distribution line, canal, DOT, communications, sewer and water, etc.
• Acquire all permits needed to construct and operate utility scale solar and energy storage projects. Obtain all local land use approvals from the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ), such as Conditional Use Permits, Zoning Authorizations, Zoning Letters, etc.
• Obtain required State siting and or facilities permits, such as Certificates of Public Necessity (CPCN), Electric Merchant Permits (EMP), Electrical Siting Permits, etc.
• Hearing preparation and lead face for the project at all Local and State land use hearings
• Receive all environmental clearances from Local, State, and Federal agencies as applicable, such as CEQA, NEPA, SEQR, etc.
• Perform historic and cultural resource studies and obtain clearance from the State SHPO as required Manage filings with the Federal Aviation Authority and any other effected airports
• Evaluate and obtain any required threatened and endangered species initial screening, protocol surveys, and any required State or Federal take authorizations or permits. This includes consultations per Section 7 of the ESA, Section 10a Take Permits, or any State Take Authorization
• Manage wetland surveys, filing of Preliminary and/or Approved Wetland Jurisdictional Determinations (PJD/AJD), and applying for and receiving approval of Preconstruction Notices (PCN) for issuance of the required Nationwide Wetland Permits
• Manage interconnection applications through the process until commercial operation
• Working knowledge of the ISO/RTO interconnection processes for filing interconnection applications including (CAISO, PJM, ERCOT, SPP, and MISO)
• Make all required security postings and payments in a timely manner
• Review and solicit comments from consultants and internal team on the feasibility, system impact, and facilities studies
• Oversee all agreements needed to construct the facilities including Interconnection agreements, engineering and procurement, and construction agreements
• Manage flow of information between HQC US, project investor, and third-party financing representatives
• Provide support for HQC US Structured Finance and Legal departments during project sale, debt and equity closings
• Prepare projects for debt and equity finance or divestment by addressing low and medium finance risk items identified during acquisition process
• Confirm that project land control documents, easements, right-of-way agreements, etc. meet minimum finance thresholds
• Manage all matters related to real estate for the project closing
• Manage a team developer (Max two)

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s Degree or higher in a business, urban planning, engineering, finance or other related fields
• 8+ years of renewable energy project development, working on behalf of the owner/developer
• A proven track record as a lead developer with a “deal sheet of projects” 50MW+ in size
• Solid understanding of energy markets and renewable energy development in North America
• Ability to communicate effectively with audiences that include but are not limited to management, coworkers, clients, vendors, contractors, and other stakeholders
• Superior preparation, presentation, time management & interpersonal skills
• Willing to travel up to 50% of the time within North America and internationally
• Represent the company with the utmost professionalism with internal and external communications
• A valid driving license and passport

Attention external recruitment firms, we will not accept any unsolicited resumes at this time. Please do not contact any internal member of our company to discuss the position or to solicit candidates.

Hanwha Renewables provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetics.

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in Hanwha Renewables’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy,we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

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A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

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