Utility-Scale Solar & Wind, C&I Rooftop, Hybrid RE & Renewable Leadership
Renewable Energy (Solar & Wind)
Executive Search
40+ Renewable Energy Placements — with an average 115 Days time-to-placement and a 12-month candidate guarantee.
40+
Renewable Energy Placements
115 Days
Avg. Time-to-Placement
86%
Offer Acceptance Rate
12 Months
Candidate Guarantee
Specialisation withinEnergy & Natural Resources·Energising the Transition
Renewable Energy (Solar & Wind) is the variable-renewable-generation tranche of India's power sector — the category that combines utility-scale solar, utility-scale onshore (and emerging offshore) wind, hybrid-RE (solar-plus-wind-plus-storage), C&I (Commercial-and-Industrial) rooftop and open-access solar, distributed-solar-rooftop, and the specific MNRE-and-SECI and state-RE-policy stewardship that defines India's 500-GW-by-2030 non-fossil-fuel-capacity-target architecture. The ecosystem spans the flagship private-sector RE IPPs (the listed pure-RE arm of a listed diversified Indian conglomerate — India's largest pure-RE operator with 11+ GW operational capacity and a pipeline scaling towards 45 GW by 2030; a Nasdaq-listed Indian-origin pure-RE operator with 10+ GW operational capacity; the RE arm of a listed integrated-power operator; a historical NYSE-listed Indian-origin RE platform; the privately-held sovereign-and-pension-fund-backed Indian RE-and-pumped-storage platform; the listed green-energy subsidiary of the Maharatna-category integrated-power-generation PSU — listed November 2024; PE-and-sovereign-fund-backed Indian RE IPPs; the RE subsidiary of a listed mid-cap private integrated-power operator; and the Indian RE platform acquired by a global super-major), the C&I-and-open-access-solar specialists (PE-and-sovereign-wealth-fund-backed C&I-focused platforms and the C&I subsidiaries of the listed integrated-power arms of listed diversified Indian conglomerates), the wind-OEM-and-developer operators (India's leading listed indigenous wind-OEM; the India arms of European and North-American global wind-OEMs; and a listed mid-cap Indian wind-OEM), the solar-module-manufacturing tranche (listed Indian solar-module manufacturers post their 2024 IPOs, the solar-manufacturing arms of the listed integrated-power arms of listed diversified Indian conglomerates, and privately-held Indian module-manufacturers), and emerging platforms (green-corporate-PPAs, virtual-open-access, utility-scale-storage-paired-RE, offshore-wind, green-ammonia-linked-RE). Leadership here requires fluency in MNRE / SECI tariff-based-competitive-bidding architecture (for utility-scale), C&I-open-access-and-captive-PPA commercial-architecture, RE-OEM-and-module-supply discipline, CTU / STU (Central / State Transmission Utility) connectivity stewardship, and the specific RE-IPP-and-developer operating rhythm.
Is This Your Situation?
If any of these sound familiar, you're speaking to the right practice.
→Listed pure-RE IPP scaling from 10 GW to 45 GW running Chief Operating Officer succession — search across multi-GW-RE-project-execution credibility and multi-OEM-module-and-inverter-procurement stewardship.
→Overseas-listed Indian-origin RE IPP running Chief Financial Officer succession — search across listed-RE-accounting-and-structured-finance credibility and international-investor IR-architecture stewardship.
→C&I-open-access-solar specialist scaling corporate-customer base hiring a Head of Business Development with green-open-access-PPA architecture credibility.
→Solar-module manufacturer scaling cell-and-module capacity under PLI Tranche-II hiring a Head of Manufacturing with TOPCon / HJT-cell-technology credibility.
Our Renewable Energy Track Record
Situation:
A listed RE IPP scaling from 10 GW to 45 GW operational capacity by 2030 needed Chief Operating Officer succession. The brief required multi-GW-RE-project-execution credibility, module-and-inverter-and-BOS-procurement stewardship, CTU / STU grid-connectivity discipline, RE-project-financial-closure architecture fluency, and the specific RE-IPP operating rhythm.
Outcome:
Placed a COO with prior COO tenure at a competing listed pure-RE IPP (global geography) and subsequent Head-of-Projects tenure at an Indian RE IPP. The operator's commissioning-run-rate and multi-location-project-execution milestones progressed ahead of plan within 18 months.
Situation:
A C&I-open-access-solar specialist scaling its corporate-customer portfolio under the Green Open Access Rules 2022 architecture needed Head of Business Development succession. The brief required C&I-corporate-PPA architecture credibility, green-open-access-and-virtual-PPA architecture fluency, multi-state-STU-open-access stewardship, and the specific C&I commercial rhythm.
Outcome:
Placed a Head of Business Development with prior Head-of-Sales tenure at a competing C&I-solar platform and subsequent VP-Business-Development tenure at a global utility India-operation. The operator's C&I-corporate-PPA-portfolio progressed with material revenue-and-multi-year-contracted-capacity growth within 18 months.
All client details anonymised. Specific mandates available for reference under NDA upon request.
Our Renewable Energy Practice
Renewable Energy (Solar & Wind) is the variable-renewable-generation tranche of India's power sector — the category that combines utility-scale solar, utility-scale onshore (and emerging offshore) wind, hybrid-RE (solar-plus-wind-plus-storage), C&I (Commercial-and-Industrial) rooftop and open-access solar, distributed-solar-rooftop, and the specific MNRE-and-SECI and state-RE-policy stewardship that defines India's 500-GW-by-2030 non-fossil-fuel-capacity-target architecture. The ecosystem spans the flagship private-sector RE IPPs (the listed pure-RE arm of a listed diversified Indian conglomerate — India's largest pure-RE operator with 11+ GW operational capacity and a pipeline scaling towards 45 GW by 2030; a Nasdaq-listed Indian-origin pure-RE operator with 10+ GW operational capacity; the RE arm of a listed integrated-power operator; a historical NYSE-listed Indian-origin RE platform; the privately-held sovereign-and-pension-fund-backed Indian RE-and-pumped-storage platform; the listed green-energy subsidiary of the Maharatna-category integrated-power-generation PSU — listed November 2024; PE-and-sovereign-fund-backed Indian RE IPPs; the RE subsidiary of a listed mid-cap private integrated-power operator; and the Indian RE platform acquired by a global super-major), the C&I-and-open-access-solar specialists (PE-and-sovereign-wealth-fund-backed C&I-focused platforms and the C&I subsidiaries of the listed integrated-power arms of listed diversified Indian conglomerates), the wind-OEM-and-developer operators (India's leading listed indigenous wind-OEM; the India arms of European and North-American global wind-OEMs; and a listed mid-cap Indian wind-OEM), the solar-module-manufacturing tranche (listed Indian solar-module manufacturers post their 2024 IPOs, the solar-manufacturing arms of the listed integrated-power arms of listed diversified Indian conglomerates, and privately-held Indian module-manufacturers), and emerging platforms (green-corporate-PPAs, virtual-open-access, utility-scale-storage-paired-RE, offshore-wind, green-ammonia-linked-RE). Leadership here requires fluency in MNRE / SECI tariff-based-competitive-bidding architecture (for utility-scale), C&I-open-access-and-captive-PPA commercial-architecture, RE-OEM-and-module-supply discipline, CTU / STU (Central / State Transmission Utility) connectivity stewardship, and the specific RE-IPP-and-developer operating rhythm.
We place leaders across private-sector RE IPPs, C&I-and-open-access-solar specialists, wind-OEM-and-developers, solar-module-manufacturers, and emerging green-ammonia-and-offshore-wind platforms. Engagements include CEO / MD / Founder-CEO searches for RE IPPs, Chief Operating Officer placements, Head of Projects / Head of EPC placements, Head of O&M placements, Head of Business Development / Head of PPA-and-Open-Access placements, and Head of Module-Manufacturing placements.
As a specialist CEO mandates in renewable energy, our practice also covers COO placements in RE IPPs, our practice also covers Energy & Natural Resources practice overview, and as a source for Energy — energy storage & green hydrogen.
The Renewable Energy Landscape Today
India's renewable energy sector has approximately 203 GW of installed capacity (as of early 2025), of which solar is ~100 GW (utility-scale ~74 GW + rooftop ~18 GW + off-grid ~3 GW + hybrid-solar ~5 GW), wind is ~47 GW, biomass-and-small-hydro-and-waste-to-energy is ~16 GW, and large-hydro (sometimes classified as RE under the MNRE architecture post-2019) is ~47 GW. The Government's target is 500 GW of non-fossil-fuel capacity by 2030 — implying 280-300 GW of solar and 100-140 GW of wind capacity. The listed pure-RE arm of a listed diversified Indian conglomerate is the largest pure-RE operator with 11+ GW operational and a pipeline scaling towards 45 GW by 2030 — including the 30 GW Khavda (Gujarat) renewable energy park, the world's largest single-location RE project. A Nasdaq-listed Indian-origin pure-RE operator is the second-largest with 10+ GW. A privately-held sovereign-and-pension-fund-backed Indian RE-and-pumped-storage platform has 7+ GW including India's largest pumped-storage portfolio. The listed green-energy subsidiary of the Maharatna-category integrated-power-generation PSU (listed November 2024) has 7+ GW and 13+ GW pipeline. The RE arm of a listed integrated-power operator has 6+ GW operational. PE-and-sovereign-fund-backed Indian RE IPPs and the RE subsidiaries of listed mid-cap private integrated-power operators form the next tier. The C&I-open-access-solar market is scaling rapidly with the Electricity (Promoting Renewable Energy through Green Energy Open Access) Rules 2022 and the Green Open Access Rules 2023 architecture enabling corporate PPAs for customers with 100+ kW demand. The Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for solar-PV-module-manufacturing (Tranche-I and Tranche-II, cumulative ~₹24,000 crore) has catalysed domestic-manufacturing scale-up — listed Indian solar-module manufacturers, the solar-manufacturing arms of the new-energy and integrated-power arms of listed diversified Indian conglomerates are the principal beneficiaries. The Green Hydrogen Mission (launched January 2023, with ₹19,744 crore outlay targeting 5 MMT green-hydrogen capacity by 2030) is driving dedicated-RE-capacity for green-ammonia-and-green-hydrogen production. Offshore wind is under development with the MNRE's first tranche of 4 GW tenders. The SECI (Solar Energy Corporation of India) is the principal trading-and-intermediary body. The MNRE (Ministry of New and Renewable Energy) is the policy authority. The CERC / SERC tariff architecture governs regulated-RE-PPA pricing. The ISTS (Inter-State Transmission System) waiver (current until June 2025 for projects commissioned) has been a key driver of utility-scale-RE build-out. Leadership compensation is at RE-market-median with material growth-and-commissioning-milestone-linked architecture and significant equity-architecture at growth-stage RE platforms.
Key Leadership Challenges in Renewable Energy
Chief Executive Officer / Founder-CEO succession for RE IPPs — leaders with RE-IPP-operating credibility, MNRE / SECI tariff-based-competitive-bidding architecture fluency, PPA-contract-management stewardship, and the governance rhythm of listed-or-private-equity-backed RE platforms.
Chief Operating Officer / Head of Projects placements — RE IPPs need COOs / Project Heads with utility-scale-solar-and-wind project-execution credibility, module-and-inverter-and-BOS-procurement stewardship, and the specific RE project-execution rhythm.
Head of O&M placements — RE IPPs need O&M Heads with multi-location-multi-GW RE-O&M credibility, module-and-inverter-reliability stewardship, curtailment-and-availability discipline, and the specific RE-O&M rhythm.
Head of Business Development / Head of PPA-and-Open-Access placements — RE operators need BD Heads with DISCOM-PPA-and-C&I-corporate-PPA architecture credibility, SECI-and-state-tender participation stewardship, and the specific RE-commercial rhythm.
Head of Module-Manufacturing placements — solar-module operators scaling under PLI need Manufacturing Heads with cell-and-module-manufacturing-technology credibility (PERC, TOPCon, HJT roadmap), BIS-and-ALMM compliance stewardship, and the specific module-manufacturing rhythm.
Head of Hybrid-and-Storage / Head of Green-Hydrogen placements — next-generation platforms need Hybrid / Storage / Green-Hydrogen Heads with hybrid-RE-plus-storage architecture credibility, green-hydrogen-electrolyser commercial architecture fluency, and the specific hybrid-and-storage rhythm.
What We Look For in Renewable Energy Leaders
Across mandates, renewable energy leadership tends to cluster into a small set of archetypes. We calibrate each search against the profile your board actually needs — not the one most commonly available.
The RE IPP CEO / Founder-CEO
Executive who has run a listed-or-private-equity-backed RE IPP or the India operations of a global RE operator — fluent in RE-IPP-operating credibility, MNRE / SECI tariff-based-competitive-bidding architecture, PPA-contract-management stewardship, and the governance rhythm of listed-or-growth-stage RE platforms.
The Head of Projects / EPC
Projects-and-EPC leader with utility-scale-solar-and-wind project-execution credibility, module-and-inverter-and-BOS-procurement stewardship, CTU / STU grid-connectivity discipline, RE-project-financial-closure architecture fluency, and the specific RE project-execution rhythm.
The Head of O&M / Asset-Management
O&M-and-asset-management leader with multi-location-multi-GW RE-O&M credibility, module-and-inverter-and-wind-turbine-reliability stewardship, performance-ratio-and-availability discipline, and the specific RE-O&M rhythm.
The Head of Business Development / PPA
Commercial leader with DISCOM-PPA-and-C&I-corporate-PPA architecture credibility, SECI-and-state-RE-tender participation stewardship, green-open-access-and-virtual-PPA architecture fluency, and the specific RE-commercial rhythm.
The Head of Module-Manufacturing
Manufacturing leader with cell-and-module-manufacturing-technology credibility across PERC, TOPCon, HJT roadmap, BIS-and-ALMM (Approved List of Module Manufacturers) compliance stewardship, scale-up-CapEx-and-ramp-up discipline, and the specific module-manufacturing rhythm.
The Head of Green-Hydrogen / Hybrid-and-Storage
Next-generation specialist with green-hydrogen-electrolyser commercial architecture credibility, hybrid-RE-plus-storage architecture fluency, Green Hydrogen Mission scheme architecture stewardship, and the specific hybrid-and-storage-and-green-hydrogen rhythm.
Regulatory & Compensation Context
Regulatory Backdrop
Renewable energy operations sit at the intersection of the Electricity Act 2003 (as amended), the MNRE policy architecture (including the Guidelines for Tariff Based Competitive Bidding — TBCB — for Procurement of Power from Grid Connected Solar PV Power Projects and the equivalent Wind-and-Hybrid guidelines), the National Solar Mission (JNNSM), the National Wind Mission (as proposed), the Green Hydrogen Mission 2023, the Electricity (Promoting Renewable Energy through Green Energy Open Access) Rules 2022, the Green Open Access Rules 2023, the CERC Indian Electricity Grid Code (IEGC) including the Deviation Settlement Mechanism, the Inter-State Transmission System (ISTS) Waiver architecture (current until June 2025 for commissioned capacity), the Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) architecture and the Renewable Energy Certificates (REC) scheme, the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) architecture for solar-PV-modules, the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for solar-PV-module-manufacturing (Tranche-I and Tranche-II), and the Basic Customs Duty (BCD) architecture for imported cells and modules. SECI (Solar Energy Corporation of India) under the MNRE is the principal inter-state trading-and-intermediary body. NISE (National Institute of Solar Energy) and NIWE (National Institute of Wind Energy) provide technical support. The BIS Act 2016 and BIS solar-PV specifications (IS 14286 / IEC 61215 and IS 16171 / IEC 61730) govern module-quality; the ALMM List-I (cells) and List-II (modules) govern government-tender-eligibility. For wind, the CEA certification architecture and the state-wind-power-policy architecture apply. For offshore wind, the MNRE Offshore Wind Policy 2015 and the associated SeaGIS-cleared-zones architecture apply. For green-hydrogen, the Green Hydrogen Mission guidelines, the SIGHT (Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition) scheme, and the electrolyser-and-green-hydrogen-production PLI architecture apply. The CERC and SERC tariff architecture governs regulated-RE-PPA pricing. The Companies Act 2013 and SEBI LODR apply to listed operators; SEC and Nasdaq architecture apply to Nasdaq-listed Indian-originated RE operators.
Compensation Architecture
Renewable energy leadership compensation is at RE-market-median with material growth-and-commissioning-milestone-linked performance architecture and significant equity-architecture at growth-stage RE platforms. Listed / growth-stage RE IPP CEO / Founder-CEO compensation ranges ₹8-22 crore fixed with multi-year ESOP architectures (often with 0.5-3% equity for founding or strategic-CxO hires); Chief Operating Officer / Head of Projects compensation ranges ₹4-10 crore; Head of O&M ranges ₹3-6.5 crore; Head of Business Development / PPA ranges ₹3-7 crore with commissioning-and-PPA-milestone-linked variable; Head of Module-Manufacturing ranges ₹3-6 crore; Head of Green-Hydrogen / Hybrid-and-Storage ranges ₹3-7 crore; CFO (Listed / Growth-Stage RE IPP) ranges ₹5-12 crore. Nasdaq-listed RE operator senior-leadership compensation operates at global-market architecture with USD-denominated base-and-stock components, frequently in the USD 500,000-1,500,000 equivalent range. C&I-open-access-solar specialist CEO / MD compensation ranges ₹3.5-8 crore. Wind-OEM India-operations MD compensation operates at global-market architecture, frequently in the ₹6-12 crore equivalent range.
Roles We Typically Place
Why Gladwin International Leadership Advisors for Renewable Energy
CEO / Founder-CEO / MD searches for listed-and-private-equity-backed RE IPPs.
Chief Operating Officer / Head of Projects / Head of EPC placements.
Head of O&M / Head of Asset-Management / Head of Performance placements.
Head of Business Development / Head of PPA-and-Open-Access / Head of C&I placements.
Head of Module-Manufacturing / Head of Cell-and-Wafer / Head of Inverter-and-BOS placements.
Head of Wind / Head of Solar / Head of Hybrid-and-Storage / Head of Green-Hydrogen placements.
CFO and Head of IR placements with RE-accounting-and-PPA-commercial-and-structured-finance credibility.
Organisations We Serve
The listed pure-RE arm of a listed diversified Indian conglomerate, a Nasdaq-listed Indian-origin pure-RE operator, a privately-held sovereign-and-pension-fund-backed Indian RE-and-pumped-storage platform, and the listed green-energy subsidiary of the Maharatna-category integrated-power-generation PSU
The RE arms of listed integrated-power operators and the RE subsidiaries of listed mid-cap private integrated-power operators, PE-and-sovereign-fund-backed Indian RE IPPs, a historical NYSE-listed Indian-origin RE platform
PE-and-sovereign-wealth-fund-backed Indian RE IPPs (Blackstone-backed, NIIF-GCF-backed, EQT-Temasek-backed) and the Indian RE platform acquired by a global super-major
C&I-open-access specialists — PE-and-sovereign-wealth-fund-backed C&I-focused platforms and the C&I subsidiaries of the listed integrated-power arms of listed diversified Indian conglomerates
Wind operators — India's leading listed indigenous wind-OEM, the India arms of European and North-American global wind-OEMs, and a listed mid-cap Indian wind-OEM
Solar-module manufacturers — listed Indian solar-module manufacturers post their 2024 IPOs, the solar-manufacturing arms of the new-energy and integrated-power arms of listed diversified Indian conglomerates, and privately-held Indian module-manufacturers
Green-hydrogen-and-green-ammonia developers — the new-energy arms of India's largest listed private energy-and-petrochemical and infrastructure conglomerates, the green-hydrogen subsidiary of the Maharatna-category integrated-power-generation PSU, and PE-and-sovereign-fund-backed Indian green-ammonia developers
Infrastructure-and-RE-focused PE / strategic investors and InvITs — listed RE InvITs, green-tranches of listed infrastructure InvITs, and PFC / REC-financed platforms
Renewable Energy leaders assessed on the Energy “VERTEX” framework
Eight dimensions calibrated for energy and natural resources leadership. Dimensions are calibrated for renewable energy mandates where relevant.
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