Bob Hanes’ career in the electric power industry spans more than 30 years and includes experience in fossil, hydroelectric and nuclear generation, as well as industrial cogeneration. Mr. Hanes has also worked extensively with environmental compliance issues from green field plant siting to emissions control. Mr. Hanes has demonstrated skills of applying creative and innovative approaches in developing projects, spearheading new business strategies, and is adept at finding the competitive edge in a difficult and volatile business climate. Over the years, he has built and maintained a substantial number of relationships with major energy firms, electric and gas utilities, and independent power operators and developers.

Mr. Hanes is currently consulting with one of the largest private equity energy venture capital firms and their portfolio companies. He is providing leadership pertaining to the screening and pursuit of new investments in power generation projects, specifically coal-related opportunities, from the mine to the stack, that enable units to be more efficient, increase capacity, and address environmental compliance. In addition, Mr. Hanes is exploring opportunities in energy storage, distributed generation, and emerging transmission technologies.

Mr. Hanes is also retained as a consultant to an engineering firm who specializes in high level service to fossil and nuclear utilities, as well as independent power companies in the areas of owner’s engineering, asset due diligence, plant optimization and value enhancement.

Prior to starting his own consulting practice, Mr. Hanes was Vice President of Tejas Power Corp. (TPC) before it was merged into PacifiCorp. While at TPC, he was responsible for the development strategy to explore synergies of electric storage through compressed air energy storage (CAES) as a complement to their industry leading position with natural gas storage in salt domes. He led the formation of the team which started the development of CAES projects, formulated strategy for pursuing projects, and produced the marketing campaign aimed at investment bankers and utilities. While at PacifiCorp, Mr. Hanes was Vice President in the Mergers, Acquisitions, and Domestic Business Development Group. He was specifically focused on forming strategic alliances, and led teams looking at asset acquisition and power marketing. He represented PacifiCorp in their alliance with ABB (Alstom), known as Energy Pact, which offered self-funded upgrades of coal-fired plants, combining the strengths of both organizations in a non-traditional service.

Earlier in his career with Brown & Root Power, Mr. Hanes provided leadership in re-establishing their role as an engineering, procurement, and constructor (EPC) for electric utilities and major independent power companies. This included spearheading their first international IPP project, obtaining a strategic partner, and negotiating the final agreement. He was also successful in obtaining new business for construction of flue gas desulfurization (FGD) systems, and system-wide maintenance for a major utility. Prior to this, Mr. Hanes started a regional office for an energy consultant specializing in a unique technology for extending remaining useful life for generation equipment, power plant condition assessment services, and leading edge equipment for extending plant life.

Mr. Hanes began his career with Babcock & Wilcox as a field service engineer gaining his professional foundation with in-depth experience in boiler applications utilizing coal, natural gas, oil, black liquor, bark, coffee grounds and refinery or other waste streams. Following this experience, Mr. Hanes rounded out his power background with NUS Corporation, a nuclear and environmental consultant, and then with Charles T. Main (Parsons), an internationally prominent hydroelectric and thermal power architect/engineer. During that tenure, he conceived, coordinated, and served as Chairman of the Gulf Coast Lignite Conference.

Mr. Hanes holds a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Management from the University of Arkansas.

See who else makes up the ENERGY ADVISORY GROUP team.