Anu Sharma: Airtricity Holdings
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This summer I am working as an Associate in the Corporate Finance group at Airtricity Holdings (AHL). AHL’s core business is both the development and construction of wind energy projects and the generation and retailing of renewable electricity. I worked on the financing of a $252 MM (126.5 MW) wind power plant in TX and the recapitalization of a 90 MW distressed project. I really enjoyed working for a small but growing company which gave me the opportunity to work on many different aspects of the business.
During this past summer, I was a World Bank consultant assigned to the Nicaraguan Forest Authority. I provided technical assistance to initiate a series of activities aimed at strengthening the governance and improving the economic, social and environmental sustainability of the forest sector. Specifically, I helped revise the national forest policy and also devised a conceptual framework to promote equitable and efficient partnerships between communities and timber companies. In addition, I collaborated with the International Finance Corporation to incorporate environmental benefits in its traditional cost/benefit analysis of forestry projects in Nicaragua and Bolivia.
The Rocky Mountain Institute is an environmental think tank based in Colorado that focuses on advanced energy efficiency designs and sustainable building. Over the summer I spent time researching and analyzing advanced utility grid design concepts that are to be used in the next generation electric utility, one that heavily draws upon renewable energy sources and maintains exceptional reliability. I also co-authored a paper on the impact that Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) have on the electric utility grid. This included analyzing consumer preferences and trends, and policy objectives and technical feasibility. In researching and constructing this paper I was able to learn a considerable amount about electric vehicles, electric utility grid characteristics and design, and environmental policy design, specifically relating to climate change goals. I was also able to draw upon innovative expertise from niche professionals in the energy and sustainability sectors.
I interned this summer at the California Public Utilities Commission in San Francisco. I was working in their Energy Division, and, more specifically, on the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) team, which is responsible for overseeing the state’s major renewable energy policy initiative. My work consisted mainly of building a mathematical model in Excel (from scratch) to estimate the consumer costs of the RPS, accounting for such things as changes in technology and costs, uncertainty around contracts, environmental benefits, etc. The RPS team members are now using the model as a basis to evaluate proposed changes to the policy, so it could end up playing a role in shaping state law moving forward and possibly serve as a justification for greater use of renewable energy.
I worked at Cherokee Investment Fund, a $1.2b private equity fund, the company’s 4th. The fund buys large, generally urban brownfields (contaminated real estate), indemnifies the sellers against legal action, remediates the property, re-entitles it for high-density mixed uses, and sells the property to vertical developers, often with covenants requiring green building and other sustainable development features. I had three roles: 1) I worked as an associate on due diligence (market studies, residual analysis, financial modeling), 2) I worked on two internal consulting projects — tabulating the firm’s carbon footprint according to EPA Climate Leaders standards, and also putting metrics to the company’s commitment to environmental, social, and financial sustainability, and 3) I worked for the company’s private operating foundation (global orphan care) to establish a revenue stream that would make the foundation financially independent.
I spent ten weeks in Baja California, Mexico, working for the Sonoran Institute, a U.S. conservation non-profit group. As a member of their Colorado River Delta Project, I worked with stakeholders including tourism, development, and resource officials in the Mexican government; local business owners; and community members, to design, market, and implement an ecotourism corridor. Our goal was to integrate the priorities of citizens and businesses while promoting conservation and restoration of the river and watershed. We produced a pamphlet and web site that will be rolled into the Baja California Secretary of Tourism promotions, drafted memoranda of understanding with the tourism delegate and with the owners of tourist camps that line the Hardy River (a tributary of the Colorado), and laid out plans to promote the area and engage in joint eco-friendly tourism practices. I got a real sense of the challenges and satisfaction of working closely with members of the community to find actions that answer their economic and community needs while promoting environmental conservation. The personal relationships that I built were an essential part of the work and allowed me to meet many interesting people with diverse backgrounds; I remain in contact with some of those people. Being one of two people on our staff stationed full-time in Mexico was a unique experience that taught me about working in a small office and adapting to doing business in another culture, both of which were challenging, but great fun.