Company: RTR Rete Rinnovabile, Rome, Italy
Company Description: RTR Rete Rinnovabile is the largest European power producer from the sun. Founded in early 2011 by the private equity fund, Terra Firma, RTR employees 34 professionals. RTR owns and operates a constantly growing portfolio of 117 photovoltaic power plants located across Italy, corresponding to a total installed capacity of 297,5 MWp and an yearly production of 405 GWh.
Nomination Category: Individual Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Female Executive of the Year – Business Products –11 to 2,500 Employees

Nomination Title: Giovanna Pozzi, VP Business Development and Energy Management

Describe for the judges the activities and accomplishments of the nominated executive since the beginning of July last year (up to 525 words):

Giovanna Pozzi is the VP of Business Development and Energy Management at RTR Rete Rinnovabile and her contribution to the growth and success of the company has been fundamental.

In fact, RTR only started operating in April 2011 and, mainly thanks to Giovanna’s hard work, in less than two years has become the largest European producer of solar energy (source: Bloomberg New Energy Finance – February 2013) with 117 power plants and a total installed capacity of 298MWp.

Giovanna’s main achievements in RTR since July 2012 have been:

1) The acquisition of the Monteboli power plant (24MWp) from the Toto Group for a value of € 82 million. This is one of the 10 largest plants in Italy and Giovanna was able to find this opportunity, negotiate the terms and conditions of the contract with the counterparty and discuss the change of ownership with 3 financing banks – all in less than 4 months.

2) The acquisition of 31 power plants for a total capacity of 32,5MWp from the Rome-based utility ACEA for a value of € 102 million. This was the beginning of November and ACEA needed to sell the plants by the end of the year. Giovanna orchestrated the whole process and succeeded in completing the deal 3 days before the deadline. After closing the deal, she coordinated the integration plan, obtaining all the synergies we had originally outlined.

3) Obtaining project financing for € 81 million with the Italian bank Mediocredito Italiano. RTR did not have the funds to complete the ACEA deal and, while busy conducting negotiations with the seller, Giovanna was also able to find a bank willing to finance the acquisition with very advantageous terms for RTR.

4) The closing of a contract for the sale of all the energy produced by most of RTR plants with the Swiss company EGL-Axpo Group for a total value of € 20 million. All the Italian photovoltaic producers are distributing their electricity via a Governmental Agency (GSE) at a floating hourly market price. Giovanna was the first in the field to have the idea of selling RTR electricity to a reputable private counterparty at a fixed price with no volume risk. With skilled leadership she quickly won over the CEO, the shareholder and the financing banks and signed a contract which created an upside of € 5 million EBITDA over the market price (for this contract she has appeared in articles on newspapers).

5) The development of an algorithm which allows the forecasting of hourly production at all RTR plants 48 hours in advance. In late 2012 the Italian Energy Authority required all the renewable energy players to forecast the hourly production of their plants. While all the players where legally challenging this request, Giovanna used her analytical skills to develop a proprietary algorithm which, taking into account past production data and weather forecasts, was able to calculate the production of a plant with a less than 10% tolerance margin. Thanks to this, Giovanna became a consultant of the Authority and an expert in this field (she is an adviser for the training program of the Italian Renewable Energy Association).

Provide a brief biography of the nominated executive (up to 125 words):

Giovanna Pozzi is the VP of Business Development and Energy Management at RTR – Rete Rinnovabile. Before joining RTR, Giovanna was the Head of Risk Management for Ariston Thermo Group, where she was in charge of overseeing the group's financial and operational risks (currency, interest rates and raw materials). Before this, she concentrated on Business Development and Strategic Planning for the same Group.

Giovanna began her career at KPMG in Audit and Advisory Transaction Services, where she analyzed and audited the accounts of Italian, American and Dutch listed companies. Whilst at KPMG, Giovanna also oversaw several mergers and acquisition processes, working alongside professionals from several sectors.

Giovanna has a degree in Business Administration, with a major in Finance from Milan's Bocconi University.