Steve Hunter
Managing Director, Power Markets and Asset Management
Prior to the founding of Renewable Power Capital, Steve Hunter led the European development team for GE and built their capability to originate, structure and negotiate PPAs across Europe. While at GE, Steve negotiated PPAs supporting over 1GW of new projects including the world’s largest Corporate PPA and contracts with a number of blue chip offtakers. Steve was also responsible for the successful development of over 2GW of onshore wind projects in multiple European markets.
Before GE, Steve was head of investments at Low Carbon and has worked in technical, development and investment roles at a number of multinational developers, IPP’s & OEMs, including AES, Invenergy and Rolls-Royce. Steve holds a BEng (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Strathclyde.
What’s your role at RPC?
I lead the Power Markets team. We provide power price forecasts to the investment team so they can value investment opportunities, build strategies for how we will sell the renewable electricity produced by our assets, then we go out and close those contracts. Once our projects are operating, we quantify and manage the power markets risk that the company has.
What’s a typical working day for you?
My days are very varied, but I always try to keep an eye on what’s happening in the power markets at the start and end of each day. During the day I could be reviewing long-term power price forecasts, negotiating a power purchase agreement, or working out how we can reduce the proportion of our future earnings are at risk from changes in the price of electricity.
What have you found during your time at RPC?
Our approach to investing in renewables, and particularly the market and development risks we take, are quite unusual when compared to other investors. RPC was built to do that, and our days involve looking at these risks in detail, so sometimes it’s easy to forget that others can’t or won’t take them.
What’s your proudest career moment?
The fact that we managed to close our first investment so quickly after RPC’s creation, with a tiny team of people was a huge achievement. As we were in start-up mode, each of us was covering several areas beyond our regular roles. I started my career as an engineer, so I was able to put that experience to good use and lead the technical due diligence and construction workstreams as well as the power markets work.
What do you do in your spare time?
In the summer, open-water swimming, and in skiing in the winter. I’m taking lessons to improve my French language skills and I really enjoy cooking, especially traditional French recipes, and sourdough bread.
Where’s your favourite place in Europe?
I’m lucky enough to live in Evian-les-Bains, nestled between Lake Geneva and the French Alps, and I’m totally in love with the scenery around there. As a proud Scot, I will always encourage people to visit the Scottish Highlands, but only on the 2 weeks of the summer with good weather!
What’s your favourite clean technology and why?
Battery energy storage is an incredible technology – the same Lithium-Ion batteries that are in our phones, computers and electric vehicles are being used to support electricity grids and accelerate renewable integration. These systems can react faster than any other technology today – literally going from standstill to full power in under a second. There is something very space age about them.