October 7, 2022
Over the past few months, Empower Energies has been growing its leadership team in response to increasing demand for renewable energy projects. The company today is pleased to highlight two key recent Vice President hires: Michael Williams, VP of Sales, and Christopher Lee, VP of Project Finance.
Michael Williams – VP, Sales
As VP of Sales, Mike is responsible for leading our sales and development team. Mike has over 22 years’ experience in senior sales and development executive positions both internationally, and in the US.
Mike has secured and developed over $550MM in energy projects, with a strong emphasis on distributed energy solutions. He has broad experience in MUSH and C&I markets, and expertise in a variety of contracting mechanisms (EPC/ESPC/PPA/EaaS). Prior to joining Empower Energies, Mike held senior development and leadership roles at E.ON UK, AECOM, NORESCO, Centrica Business Solutions, and GreenStruxure. At GreenStruxure he led development of “behind-the-meter” microgrid solutions, containing multiple subsystems (Solar/BESS/CHP/Genset), and delivered them through an outcome-based Energy as-a-Service agreement.
Christopher Lee – VP, Project Finance
Chris leads project finance for Empower Energies. He is responsible for all financing activities as Vice President of Project Finance. Chris’s finance roles span over 30 years of experience as a renewable energy developer, infrastructure investor, and advisor. He has worked on over $70 billion of financing in a leading role throughout his career. His expertise includes renewable energy infrastructure project finance in the C&I, governmental, and nonprofit sectors.
Chris was previously a finance director at Ameresco, a clean energy integrator, where he worked closely with technical teams and customers on renewable energy and EPC/ESPC/EaaS projects. His experience also includes roles as Vice President of Credit at Key Bank, where he helped grow the business to record levels, and as Portfolio Manager at Capital One, where he was a leading team member that launched and managed a new business unit.
Empower Energies is enthusiastic about the expertise and vision Mike and Chris will bring to the leadership team as the company strives in its mission to become the leading nationwide provider of turnkey clean energy solutions for the Fortune 500, regional corporations, and public organizations.
Empower Energies has completed over 200 MW of clean energy projects nationwide, with over 800 MW of solar and storage projects currently in development. These include some of the largest commercial solar canopies on the planet for its Fortune 100 clients. Their leadership team, which include alumni of SunEdison, SolarCity, NRG and Tesla, represent a combined 1.7 GW in clean energy project experience.