Fernando Rodriguez Alvarado

Senior Analyst

Cubico Sustainable Investments | Madrid, Spain

Technologies

Pushing for improvements in solar PV analysis on the daily.

DataCamp Course Completion

Take a look at all the courses I’ve completed on DataCamp.

My Work Experience

Where I've interned and worked during my career.

Cubico Sustainable Investments | Nov 2023 - Present

Senior Solar Performance Analyst

- Led a team in selecting a global asset management and analytics platform, negotiating contract pricing reductions and contractual terms to meet our needs. - Led the creation of an investor-facing document which outlined the historical performance and improvement plans for a high-visibility portfolio. - Currently in the implementation phase of the monitoring platform for the worldwide assets, leveraging my background in networking, SCADA, and data to support this process. - Developed an API connection to Solcast and SolarGIS together with a data structure and storage to be implemented in Databricks as the next step. - Developed an API connection to query and process historical time series data from the BaxEnergy. - Developed an API connection to query and process historical time series data from Isotrol. - Implemented a new format and work process to change and record justifications for changing of each asset's availability budgets. - Developed a visualization tool in Shiny for quick visualization and efficient communication of inverter and inverter module problems. - Created training materials and tools for efficient detection of inverter module downtime. - Developed a codebase to calculate site, inverter, and underperformance losses in R, resulting in more accurate KPIs. - Engaged with independent engineers to quantify the effects of operational improvement plans. - Mentored local resources on best practices for daily monitoring tools to maximize uptime and performance, improving their day-to-day work and allowing them to work independently.

Greenbacker Capital | Dec 2021 - Nov 2023

Vice President of Engineering

Technical leader of a team providing support to monitoring, troubleshooting, onboarding of solar, wind, and storage assets. My primary goal is to provide excellent, timely, and informed technical support to the internal Greenbacker team while supporting our partners to ensure that our assets continue to perform. My vision for the team and Greenbacker as a whole is to build and deploy tools that leverage the data produced by our assets to drive well- informed, data-driven decisions. - Integrated site performance data into PowerBI, creating sustainable views of fleet performance history. - Transformed a simple monitoring organization into one with strong troubleshooting and diagnostics capabilities. - Participated in wind farm analysis for the bat and other environmental related impacts. - Developed an analysis and brokered an agreement between the company and an offtaker to quantify and refund curtailment impacts on a MISO wind farm. - Created a connection to the RaptorMaps API to showcase trends in module health across multiple inspections. - Developed and implemented a program to gain and secure remote access to all of our assets with modem-based communications, including technical documentation to guide my team on managing the process independently. - Developed a weather alerts dashboard to inform operations managers of weather risks. - Implemented a structured underperformance review process for documenting performance issues and suggested improvements. - Developed multiple guides for remote access, troubleshooting, and software tools developed throughout my tenure.

Cypress Creek Renewables | Jul 2020 - Nov 2021

Senior Director of Control Center Operations

Technical leader in charge of the performance and reliability in nearly $3.5B in solar PV assets. Teams managed include operations engineering, control center operations, planning/scheduling, and reliability engineering. - Subject matter expert on hurricane response. Created a Docker-based tool that took in CMMS data together with the NHC KML for wind speed probabilities to quickly determine the list of affected sites. - Implemented a field self check in project to reduce related inbound calls to CCR's control room by 33%, improving operator focus. - Implemented a R-driven PowerBI dashboard for internal teams to analyze OEM and site trends for thermal imaging defects on PV solar modules. - Implemented an R-driven PowerBI dashboard for tracking our control room and field teams' response times to work orders. - Implemented an R/Shiny tool for quickly visualizing combiner box data for outage identification and troubleshooting. - Implemented an R-driven API interface to Canary historians to save 100s of engineer-hours annually from data extraction tasks.

Cypress Creek Renewables | Jan 2019 - Jul 2020

Director of Control Center Operations

Technical leader in charge of the performance and reliability in nearly $3B in solar PV assets. Teams managed include operations engineering, control center operations, and planning/scheduling. - Led, recruited, and developed control center, engineering, planning & scheduling, and reliability engineering teams. - Developed a leaner monthly performance process, automating work detail transfer and adding executive summaries. - Developed automated means of calculating inverter availability and contractual exclusions. - Developed a web-based graphical user interface for remote diagnosis and troubleshooting of Solectria central inverters. - Published guides for documenting technical knowledge and transferring it to individual contributors.

Cypress Creek Renewables | Jan 2018 - Jan 2019

Operations Engineering Manager

Technical leader in charge of the performance and reliability in nearly $3B in solar PV assets. Teams managed include operations engineering, ensuring that contractual obligations and performance targets were met. - Led, mentored, and recruited a team of 8 engineers to optimize the performance of a fleet of 2.6 GW of solar PV assets. - Revamped the monthly maintenance reporting process, improving content and quality while reducing per-report time by more than 50%. - Collaborated on a deep-dive investigative process to resolve issues on underperforming sites. - Focused remote access programs to previously inaccessible equipment for remote diagnosis.

Shell | Nov 2015 - Dec 2017

Maintenance Engineer

• Transformed KPIs into trusted insights into maintenance at one of Shell’s largest facilities, tracking performance at the individual contributor level. • Created maintenance and financial dashboards to inform management decisions through concise data storytelling. • Introduced machine learning concepts applied to machinery failures to move from reactive to predictive maintenance. • Dove deep into maintenance incidents to inform the site of the root causes and recommended sustainable solutions. • Developed time-to-repair analysis for pumps to decrease wasteful practices and reduce repair timelines by 4X. • Created best practices in the management of site data to simplify future analyses and elucidate true asset metrics.

Universidad Politécnica de Madrid | Aug 2014 - Jul 2015

Master's Student - Solar Photovoltaic Energy

The Technical University of Madrid is the country's eminent technical research institute. The Master's program in Solar Photovoltaic Energy is administered by the Solar Energy Institute (IES). The IES is a pioneer in the research and deployment of solar energy throughout Spain and is a respected institution in the photovoltaic industry. The goal of the Master's program is to create industry leaders that will continue the practical application of solar energy. My studies were focused on the engineering side of PV technologies. This focus influenced my choice of a subject of my Master's thesis, which focused on the deployment of field system while simultaneously driving me to learn heavily about electronics. After the completion of the Master's program, I have in-depth knowledge of the following: - Shading and its effects on PV generator performance - Estimating and predicting the solar resource - Prediction of long-term PV generator performance - Design and evaluation of building-integrated photovoltaics - Design and evaluation of off-grid and on-grid systems - Analysis of DC and AC electrical systems - Electrical safety in AC and DC systems - Inverters - Batteries and charge controllers - NEC 690 - Analysis of renewable energy systems with HOMER - Fabrication of Si-based and III-V semiconductor photovoltaic devices - Understanding of physics of photovoltaic devices - Characterization of photovoltaic devices and solar simulators

Shell Oil Company | Dec 2012 - Aug 2014

Production Team Support Engineer

• Developed and executed projects of up to $2MM, including catalyst changes, unit decontamination, and reactor refurbishments • Led crisis teams to develop and implement mitigation plans during unit downtime. • Led teams to design and commission equipment changes, and co-authored a new procedure for simplifying catalyst sulfidation. • Integrated causal reasoning for identifying, documenting, and mitigating root causes of threats to production unit availability. • Acted as an interim reliability engineer, leading risk assessment sessions to mitigate threats to unit availability.

Shell Oil Company | Jul 2010 - Dec 2012

Rotating Equipment Engineer & Contract Holder

• Authored a site process to streamline design of temporary pump systems, reducing engineering review while increasing safety. • Authored maintenance procedures for refrigeration systems to comply with EPA regulations and ensure reliable systems. • Managed a $500K/year maintenance contract, improving relationship & understanding between Shell and the contractor. • Planned and managed maintenance for screw compressor overhauls with budgets of up to $300K.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) | Apr 2007 - Dec 2009

TechCaller

The TechCaller organization is a part of the MIT Alumni Fund which oversees the fundraising efforts directed towards MIT alumni. As part of the Fund, it employs student callers in an effort to have a deeper conversation with an alumni, which in turn results in a more successful fundraising campaign. As a trainer and caller I completed the following: - Trained incoming callers in the operation of telemarketing software and calling protocol - Performed public relations and fundraising by communicating directly with alumni - Raised $21K in 2007, placing amongst the top callers in the program - Represented the student body in a meeting of several company executives and formed part of the Undergraduate Giving Committee for the Class of 2010

Politecnico di Torino | May 2009 - Aug 2009

Design Intern

The TTW team is an Italian startup designing designing a vehicle that incorporated the benefits of a city car with the fun of riding a motorcycle. The goal of the team was to build a working prototype to compete in the X-Prize race in the US. TTW operated within a startup incubator at the Politecnico di Turino (Polito), the premier technical university in Italy. As an intern, I completed the following: - Designed, implemented, and verified a nested loop control system for a test rig on an active vehicle tilting system. - Designed test rig parts in CAD, specified critical dimensions, and created of wiring and signal diagrams while completing FEA to ensure that the design met the vehicle's requirement. The arm design was incorporated into the final working vehicle.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) | Feb 2007 - Dec 2008

Undergraduate Researcher

The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program provides an opportunity for undergraduate students to participate in groundbreaking research at MIT. Through this program, I worked with the Buehler Laboratory within the Civil Engineering Department at MIT. The research focus of this group is to simulate the mechanical properties of novel materials through molecular dynamics simulations. My project was to characterize the T4 bacteriophage needle under varying compression conditions. As an undergraduate researcher I completed the following: - Created a set of molecular dynamic simulations to study protein mechanical behavior in compression - Developed and validated a continuum-based material mechanics model to predict the critical protein buckling force - Confirmed that triangular cross-sections are the optimal distribution of material to increase system stiffness under compression - Co-authored a scientific article to publish the simulation and model results

My Education

Take a look at my formal education

Master of Business Administration (MBA), Business Administration and Management, GeneralQuantic School of Business and Technology | 2017

Master's degree, Solar Photovoltaic EnergyUniversidad Politécnica de Madrid | 2015

Bachelor of Science, Mechanical EngineeringMassachusetts Institute of Technology | 2010

About Me

A solar performance nerd pushing for every asset to perform its best.

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