SMA America Welcomes Senior Business Development Manager for Utility-Scale Systems
SMA America LLC, the North American arm of SMA Solar Technology AG, has expanded its Key Accounts team by adding industry veteran Elie Nasr as its senior business development manager in charge of utility-scale PV.
In this role, Nasr will develop new opportunities for the company in the utility-scale PV market segment and serve as an advocate to national regulatory officials and regional transmission organizations. He will also analyze, monitor and report on potential business partnerships and develop new opportunities with both public and private organizations.
"Elie’s technical background and extensive knowledge of the utility power market, network analysis, interconnection requirements, grid stability and SCADA operations will allow SMA to extend its leadership position in the largest PV inverter categories," said Dave Wojciechowski, Director of Sales at SMA America. "We are excited to have him and feel he will be a valuable resource for our customers."
Most recently, Nasr worked as a consultant at Xtensible Power Technology Inc., a self-founded company which provided a variety of executive-level advisory services to utilities and companies servicing utility transmission and distribution.
Before that, Nasr served as the Vice President of Business development for the utility segment of Satcon Technology Corp., a provider of renewable energy solutions for distributed power markets. There, he led the company’s new business objectives for utility-scale PV.
"SMA has recently attracted a number of top industry talents to help us serve the North American market even better," said Jurgen Krehnke, President and General Manager at SMA America. "By employing the most seasoned PV professionals we are investing in the belief that our partners benefit directly through an exceptional customer experience."
Nasr’s utility-related career spans almost 25 years. He began as a power systems engineer at GE Energy, where he held increasing levels of responsibility in power engineering software development and analysis, SCADA project engineering and technical sales. Nasr then transitioned to Siemens Power Technology International, a division of Siemens Energy, where he led the go-to-market strategy and promotion of Siemens PTI common information modeling/analysis (CIM) software. He also served as a company consultant for utility transmission and distribution planning, real-time operations, interconnection studies and stability analysis.
