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The Interview
BRAD NORDHOLM CEO of
“Our approach to the market has been yielding excellent results, so we intend to continue what we are doing and focus on value-add opportunities in power generation and transmission, ultimately creating well-structured investments with contracted cash flow and predictable yield.” Starwood Energy Group’s CEO, Brad Nordholm, discusses the company’s plans following the success of their second energy infrastructure fund.
and organizational development activities. A
Prior to joining Starwood Energy in 2006 as its first CEO, Mr. Nordholm was a co-founder of Tyr Energy Inc., where he helped grow the company into one of the leading power plant asset management firms in North America. During that time, Mr. Nordholm also served as Chairman of Tyr Capital, LLC., a fund that invested in power plants managed by Tyr Energy Inc. Prior to founding Tyr Energy Inc., Mr. Nordholm was a senior executive at Aquila, Inc. where he was responsible for the development, acquisition, management and daily optimization of more than 30 power plants, natural gas storage facilities and natural gas pipeline assets in North America and Europe.
What more can you tell us about Starwood Energy?
Starwood Energy is a private equity investment firm based in Greenwich, Connecticut that specializes in energy infrastructure investments, predominately in North America. We are an affiliate of Starwood Capital Group, a leading real estate private investment firm founded in 1991 by Chairman and CEO, Barry
s CEO of Starwood Energy Group Global, LLC.,
Brad Nordholm
oversees all aspects of the company’s investment, asset management, capital raising
Sternlicht. Since its inception the firm has raised nearly $24 billion of equity capital and acquired $47 billion in assets. Starwood Capital Group currently has $33 billion of assets under management. Mr. Sternlicht is also Starwood Energy’s Founder and Chairman.
Starwood Energy invests through its existing general opportunity funds, which include the Starwood Energy Infrastructure Fund, L.P. (SEIF), Starwood Energy Infrastructure Fund II (SEIF II) and other affiliated investment vehicles. Starwood Energy manages equity commitments of approximately $2 billion from pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies and other institutional investors.
Our main objective is to invest the funds in natural gas-fired power plants, renewable energy and transmission systems.
Starwood Energy and its
affiliates have committed to energy infrastructure transactions totaling approximately $3.8 billion in enterprise value to date. Select transactions which illustrate the breadth of the asset class include investments in a 272 MW combined cycle power plant in Colorado, 69 MW solar power projects in Ontario, Canada and interests in two biomass projects recently constructed in the eastern United States comprising 175 MW of generation capacity. Our most recent transaction is an investment in Stephens Ranch, a
377 MW wind farm under construction in Texas. Approximately 75% of Starwood Energy’s investments are in late stage development or at the initiation of project construction.
Can you tell us more about your current role within the group?
Since founding Starwood Energy, we have built a team of highly seasoned professionals, and raised two funds. In addition, I have overseen the completion of approximately two dozen highly-structured, value-add investments in power generation and transmission projects in North America. These investments have included solar, wind, natural gas and biomass power generation projects, as well as high-voltage transmission projects. We have worked hard to build a team with extensive experience in engineering, development and construction. The team’s skill set has played and will continue to play an important role in being an active investor in the significant repowering currently underway in North America. The repowering opportunity is driven by several factors, including a shift from coal to natural gas power plants, a drop in the cost to build and operate solar and wind power projects, and the prospect of more distributed power generation, as well as state-level regulatory drivers.
I strive to
provide overall leadership to the team as we work through the opportunities, and serve as a Director of Starwood Energy’s portfolio companies.