Bluestar Energy gains Aust Managing Director

Bluestar Energy Capital has announced the appointment of Steve Jackson as Managing Director of its Australian renewable development platform, Bluestar Energy Australia Pty Ltd. Jackson has over 30 years of experience in all facets of the Australian power industry, holding executive positions with leading private and public electricity companies. These included prior positions as Vice President (APAC Regional Manager) at First Solar and Head of Development at FRV Australia.

Jackson will be based in Bluestar’s Sydney CBD office.

“Steve has a proven track record in establishing and scaling leading platforms in the Australian energy transition,” said Declan Flanagan, Founder & CEO of Bluestar. “I am delighted to have such an accomplished energy executive build on our business in Australia.”

“Bluestar has such a high-calibre team with a fantastic track record of success in developing renewable energy projects globally,” Jackson said. “I’m fortunate to hit the ground running with great resources, one permitted wind project and other projects having commenced development with an established developer here in Australia.

“I look forward to building another high-performing team of Aussie industry professionals to develop more wind, solar and storage projects. The challenge of meeting Australian decarbonisation targets is considerable, creating a huge opportunity to build a globally significant platform, and I look forward to helping achieve this.”

Since the completion of its US$100 million initial fundraising from Flanagan and investors S2G Ventures and Great Bay Renewables in 2022, Bluestar has been scaling its global presence. The company now has offices in Chicago, Austin, Dublin and Sydney. Its fast-growing team consists of more than 30 professionals, and its project development pipeline already exceeds 1 gigawatt (GW), including Bluestar’s first fully permitted project in Australia, which is on track to enter construction next year.

“I am very pleased with the progress we have made in a short period of time. It’s a testament to the great group of professionals at Bluestar,” Flanagan said.

“But this is a long-term and patient plan. There are plenty of challenges to the global energy transition as well as undisciplined capital chasing investments, which makes Bluestar’s greenfield development-focused strategy especially important.”

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