RICHMOND, Va., June 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Urban Grid, a Brookfield Renewable company and leading provider of clean energy, today named Randy Sawyer, formerly of EDP Renewables, as General Counsel. In addition, Jeff Hudson, former Director of Transmission Engineering for the firm, has been promoted to Vice President of Asset Management.

“I’ve spent nearly a decade supporting the hard work of decarbonizing the grid and my passion for it transcends the job,” said Sawyer. “Urban Grid is poised for extraordinary growth and the team is really building something new and that’s so exciting. To provide sound counsel and help guide the business through this phase and beyond is a huge and humbling opportunity.”

Sawyer began his career at the law firms of Holland & Knight and Latham & Watkins before joining EDP Renewables, where he spent 10 years, ultimately becoming Associate General Counsel, overseeing finance and tax equity transactions in addition to a broad swath of legal operations and streamlining processes in order to minimize project risk.

As Urban Grid’s first in-house counsel, Sawyer will develop an internal legal function that allows the team to remain nimble and innovative while navigating compliance and regulatory requirements. Further, he will help to establish processes and strategic relationships as the company forms new operating business units such as asset management under VP, Jeff Hudson. Jeff’s asset management experience at Duke Energy coupled with his leadership at Urban Grid make him a great fit to lead the rollout of this new department with the goal of safely operating our power plants, maintaining high reliability and incorporating an agrivoltaic land management program for world class operations.

“Our late-stage and in-construction projects are rapidly moving towards commercial operations and we’ll be ready to manage power generation by December,” said Peter Candelaria, Urban Grid CEO. “Under Jeff’s leadership, we’re building out operations to fully support our new solar facilities, off-take partners and–importantly–the local community for decades to come. I am honored to welcome Randy and Jeff to the expanding leadership team at Urban Grid.”

In January 2022, Brookfield Renewable U.S. acquired Urban Grid. The acquisition tripled Brookfield Renewable’s U.S. development to 31,000 megawatts of capacity and set Urban Grid on a course for growth. The acquisition has enabled Urban Grid to transition its development assets into operating facilities. Today, the platform spans the lifecycle of solar and energy storage development through project delivery, from site acquisition, community engagement, and development to engineering, construction, and commercialization. Urban Grid is actively preparing for the asset management process as projects enter construction.

Urban Grid
Urban Grid, a leading independent power producer, facilitates a rapid and sustainable energy transition by developing high-quality renewable energy projects, fostering community partnerships, and serving as a good land steward. Our company is positioned to own and operate its facilities while cultivating a land management system that benefits farmers, communities, and the natural world through agrivoltaics. Urban Grid maintains a delivery-focused approach with the goal of being a good neighbor, corporate citizen, and trusted energy solutions partner. Headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, with teams situated strategically throughout the United States, Urban Grid has a long history of contributing to the clean energy economy. In addition to 272.5 megawatts currently under construction, we are actively developing a growing portfolio of more than 15,000 megawatts of solar PV and 7,000 megawatts of co-located and stand-alone energy storage. For more, please visit www.urbangridsolar.com.

Urban Grid is a Brookfield Renewable company. Brookfield Renewable operates one of the world’s largest publicly traded, pure-play renewable power platforms.

Brookfield Renewable
Brookfield Renewable Brookfield Renewable operates one of the world’s largest publicly traded, pure-play renewable power platforms. Our portfolio consists of hydroelectric, wind, utility-scale solar and storage facilities in North America, South America, Europe and Asia, and totals approximately 31,600 megawatts of installed capacity and a development pipeline including approximately 131,900 megawatts of renewable power assets, 12 million metric tonnes per annum (“MMTPA”) of carbon capture and storage, 2 million tons of recycled material, 4 million metric million British thermal units of renewable natural gas pipeline, a solar manufacturing facility capable of producing 5,000 MW of panels annually and 1 MMTPA green ammonia facility powered entirely by renewable energy. Investors can access its portfolio either through Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. (NYSE: BEP; TSX: BEP.UN), a Bermuda-based limited partnership, or Brookfield Renewable Corporation (NYSE, TSX: BEPC), a Canadian corporation. Brookfield Renewable is the flagship listed renewable power company of Brookfield Corporation, a leading global alternative asset manager with over $825 billion of assets under management.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c7093bb6-2fae-49cb-8e42-65de5a00bb3a

Media Contact:

Urban Grid: Val Newcomb: (434) 422-5679, val.newcomb@urbangridco.com

Brookfield Renewable: David Heidrich, Stakeholder Relations Manager; +1-207-755-5608 David.heidrich@brookfieldrenewable.com

Media: Investors: Simon Maine +44 7398 909 278 simon.maine@brookfield.com