Non-Utility Generation: Key Considerations for Utilities

Daniel Potash has over 20 years of experience in power project financing, power sector reform, power project development, renewable energy, financial structuring, business and risk analysis, computer financial modeling, and equity placement, implementing joint ventures.  He has experience financing independent power projects all around the world, completing more than $1 billion of power project financing in six countries, much of that in renewable energy such as solar, wind, and small hydroelectric projects. 

Mr. Potash has financed a wide range of leading edge projects, from conventional power projects using gas and coal which incorporated new, state-of-the-art environmental methods such as fluidized bed combustion and advising on a project using selective catalytic converters in gas-turbines for the first time.  His international financing capabilities included using multi-lateral institutions including the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.  Mr. Potash has consulted and taught classes regarding power project financing at the US Agency for International Development, the US Trade Development Agency, the US Export Import Bank, the California Energy Commission, and the California Public Service Commission.

At Power Project Financing, Mr. Potash founded and led an independent consultancy to help power developers shape projects to enable financing, to locate joint venture partners, and to conduct feasibility studies for conventional and renewable energy power projects worldwide.   He was Financial Advisor to Government of Armenia, and short projects in Nigeria, Turkey, Georgia, Philippines, and Mexico.

Prior forming the Power Project Financing consultancy, Mr. Potash was Vice President at Cogeneration Capital Associates.  He provided financial placement, advisory, and analytical services on $850 million of successfully-completed power projects.  These mostly involved renewable energy: wind, solar, biomass, small hydro, and cogeneration. 

Mr. Potash was also employed by Deloitte Touche Tohamatsu, Emerging Markets Group, Washington, DC.   In that capacity, he was Project Director of World Bank-funded advisory project for Government of Karnataka, India on privatization of 4,000 MW, 10 million-customer power distribution system.  Also Mr. Potash was Chief of Party for USAID-funded program to advise Government of Moldova on privatizing power companies and also provided similar advisory services for the Government of Ukraine.    Mr. Daniel Potash prepared and closed five financing transactions in the former Soviet Union (Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine).  He worked closely with the EBRD and World Bank, and has worked on energy technical assistance in South Asia and Eastern Europe with USAID, TACIS, and PHARE, DFID, SIDA (Sweden), and CIDA (Canada).  

At Credit Suisse First Boston Corporation, Mr.  Potash was a Member, Corporate Finance Department where he as responsible for financial analysis and computer modeling to support corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, and project finance.  

Mr. Potash has published 30 professional articles in Infrastructure Finance, Privatization Yearbook, World Cogeneration, Private Power Executive, Independent Energy Magazine, and European Power News.  Data and comments on securities offering statistics were quoted in Corporate Financing Week, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Forbes, Fortune, Business Week, and Institutional Investor.

Mr. Potash holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering and an MBA in Finance and Marketing, both from Columbia University.   

With over two decades of experience in public policy, communications, and strategy, Christie Gross has developed and led research-driven initiatives for elected officials, political candidates, and clean energy stakeholders nationwide. She has played a critical role in advancing renewable energy policy, including renewable energy standards, clean energy tax incentives, and project labor frameworks that have helped shape the modern clean energy economy.

Christie is the founder of Clean Connect Strategies and creator of the Investment Ready Communities framework, an approach that helps communities and developers build stronger partnerships to support responsible infrastructure development. She has provided strategic guidance to utility-scale renewable energy projects across the country facing permitting challenges, political opposition, and community resistance, helping developers better understand local priorities, reduce project risk, and strengthen long-term outcomes.

Christie holds a Master of Public Administration from the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration and a bachelor's degree in English and Political Science from the University of Delaware.