Grid Infrastructure & Connection

Ran the interconnection and transmission-planning function at a regional ISO through the shift to cluster studies, so she can read which projects in a queue are real and how Order 2023 reform actually re-times contractor and equipment backlog. That is the single most decision-relevant signal for underwriting backlog quality across the theme.

Sits on the buy-side of the exact assets this theme covers: greenfield development platforms, operating IPP portfolios, and the trackers/modules that drive capex per MW. Underwrites the questions that actually move returns — interconnection queue position and conversion timing, merchant vs contracted revenue mix, basis risk, and how IRA tax credits flow through the capital stack post-transferability. Has repriced deals through cost-of-capital shocks, supply-chain tariff overhangs, and the shift from yieldco-style aggregation to disciplined platform M&A, so he can separate developers with a real pipeline from those selling a slide of MW that will never reach NTP.

Has led transmission and grid-services platform deals at an infrastructure fund, so he knows current entry multiples, where strategics are paying up, and which sub-niches are getting crowded by infra capital. That is the direct read on valuation discipline and exit paths for this theme.

Spent his career inside a state PUC and then FERC staff on rate cases and interconnection-cost-allocation rulemakings, so he can tell you which utility capex actually clears prudency review and gets into rate base versus what gets disallowed. That determines whether the super-cycle spend is fundable.

Sits on the deal flow that defines entry multiples for the whole T&D and grid-equipment complex. Has run sell-side processes for line-construction contractors and metering/AMI assets, and advised on transformer and switchgear manufacturer carve-outs — so he can map where strategics versus infra funds are actually clearing, what backlog-quality adjustments buyers demand, and how lenders are underwriting interconnection-queue-dependent revenue. The right person to pressure-test a target's valuation bridge and to read whether the current bid/ask in grid equipment reflects durable demand or a transformer-shortage spike that mean-reverts. Limited diligence value on engineering or operational reliability — his lens is capital, not copper.

A dedicated water-infra investor who has underwritten the same theme from the LP/GP side: which sub-segments compound, where moats are real (regulatory approval, installed base, data) versus narrative, and how exits actually clear. Brings a portfolio-pattern view across metering, treatment, and analytics software, plus a sober read on entry multiples after the recent ESG-driven run-up in water equities. The fund-partner perspective for thesis triangulation and downstream co-invest/exit mapping.

Designed and commissioned HVDC converter stations and FACTS installations at a global EPC contractor, so she can assess the real engineering risk, lead-time drivers, and the genuinely short vendor list capable of delivering converter equipment. She separates marketing claims from deliverable capability on the highest-value projects.

Lived the grid-edge software thesis end-to-end: built a DERMS/distributed-energy-resource orchestration platform, signed utility pilots, fought through interconnection and telemetry-standard friction, and sold into a hardware-heavy OEM acquirer. She can tell you which DERMS revenue is real recurring SaaS versus pilot-ware that never scales past a single utility, why utility sales cycles kill most grid-edge startups, and how AMI/metering platform incumbents are or aren't extending into the orchestration layer. Strongest on the software/data and go-to-market side of the grid edge; weaker on bulk-power transmission economics and on the heavy-equipment supply chain.

the purest large-cap play on the T&D super-cycle, where the moat is owning trained linemen rather than equipment. Thesis to test is whether multi-year MSA backlog converts at expanding margins as labor scarcity lets them price work, versus margin give-back on fixed-price legacy jobs.

equipment OEM levered to the same constraint as the contractors — multi-year lead times on transformers and switchgear are a demand signal disguised as a supply problem. The question is how much of the order book is data-center pull versus utility grid spend, and whether that backlog is real demand or double-ordering.

one of a short list of vendors that can deliver HVDC converter stations and large-scale grid integration — a genuine oligopoly with multi-year project backlog. The grid segment is the asset here; the thesis is whether grid-solutions margins re-rate as the mix shifts to high-voltage and software.

the asset-light counter-trade to the steel-and-labor names — grid-edge software and DERMS let utilities defer distribution capex, which is both a tailwind and a competitive threat to the contractors. Thesis is the mix shift from hardware to higher-margin recurring software and whether DERMS becomes a standard utility line-item.

A pure-ish public proxy for the 'pick-and-shovel' grid-hardware and grid-automation build-out: connectors, insulators, arresters, enclosures, and distribution/metering-communication gear that every line-hardening, electrification, and interconnection project consumes regardless of which contractor wins the EPC scope. The Utility Solutions mix gives exposure to both commodity-like grid components and higher-margin grid-automation/communications, which sets up a margin-mix and pricing-durability question as the post-shortage cycle normalizes.