leading lady

Houston-based female business leader named changemaker amid energy transition

EDP Renewables North America announced its CEO Sandhya Ganapathy has been named to CNBC’s inaugural Changemakers: Women Transforming Business list.

A Houston renewable energy developer CEO has scored a prestigious spot on a list of changemakers.

EDP Renewables North America announced its CEO Sandhya Ganapathy has been named to CNBC’s inaugural Changemakers: Women Transforming Business list. Ganapathy was recognized for ESG and ED&I Initiatives while helping to advance the clean energy transition.

The new list recognizes female leaders at companies and philanthropic organizations that have achieved impactful financial and business milestones.

“Thank you to CNBC for recognizing the leadership and groundbreaking initiatives the women on this list have achieved,” the company said in a statement on LinkedIn. “As our renewable energy market sector continues to progress and expand, we will need everyone in our industry to be a #changemaker to ensure #reliable, #costeffective, #homegrown energy is accessible to all.”

EDPR NA has developed 9.9 GW of renewables projects to date and operates close to 9 GW of renewable energy across North America under Ganapathy’s leadership. EDPR NA has won various ESG and ED&I-related awards including A Word About Wind’s ED&I Award, CohnReznick’s Gamechanger in ESG Award, Ally Energy’s GRIT Awards for both Best Energy Workplace and ESG & Climate Change Champion, Top Workplace in the USA and Top Workplace in Houston Awards, the Global Energy Transition Award for Excellence as a Community Leader. EDPR NA also made the Corporate Knight’s 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World, and was also a finalist for S&P Global’s Energy Company of the Year Award for 2023.

Headquartered in Houston with 60 wind farms, 12 solar parks, and eight regional offices across North America, EDP is a top five renewable energy operator in the U.S. EDPR NA has developed more than 9,600 megawatts (MW) and operates more than 8,900 MW of onshore utility-scale renewable energy projects.

The full 2024 CNBC Changemakers list is available at cnbc.com/Changemakers.

Trending News

A View From HETI

SLB and Nevada-based Ormat Technologies are aiming to scale enhanced geothermal systems. Photo courtesy SLB

Houston-based energy technology company SLB and renewable energy company Ormat Technologies have teamed up to fast-track the development and commercialization of advanced geothermal technology.

Their initiative focuses on enhanced geothermal systems (EGS). These systems represent “the next generation of geothermal technology, meant to unlock geothermal energy in regions beyond where conventional geothermal resources exist,” the companies said in a news release.

After co-developing EGS technology, the companies will test it at an existing Ormat facility. Following the pilot project, SLB and Nevada-based Ormat will pursue large-scale EGS commercialization for utilities, data center operators and other customers. Ormat owns, operates, designs, makes and sells geothermal and recovered energy generation (REG) power plants.

“There is an urgent need to meet the growing demand for energy driven by AI and other factors. This requires accelerating the path to clean and reliable energy,” Gavin Rennick, president of new energy at SLB, said in a news release.

Traditional geothermal systems rely on natural hot water or steam reservoirs underground, limiting the use of geothermal technology. EGS projects are designed to create thermal reservoirs in naturally hot rock through which water can circulate, transferring the energy back to the surface for power generation and enabling broader availability of geothermal energy.

The U.S. Department of Energy estimates next-generation geothermal, such as EGS, could provide 90 gigawatts of electricity by 2050.

Trending News