Daniel Szentirmai

Principal

Daniel Szentirmai is a Principal of Renewable Power Capital Ltd. Daniel is responsible for leading the origination, acquisition and asset management of renewable power projects in Northern Europe. Daniel has almost 10 years of relevant industry experience and was a Vice President at GE Energy Financial Services prior to joining RPC, where he led a team of investment professionals on the acquisition and sale of GE EFS’ equity investments. His track record spans across Europe, MENAT and LATAM with 2.5GWs of renewable energy and infrastructure transactions closed worth over €4 billion in combined enterprise value.

Daniel started his career as a Quantitative Portfolio Analyst within GE Capital’s Risk Management Program in London, from where he moved to Abu Dhabi (UAE) to join Mubadala GE PJSC’s regional leveraged finance business, where he supported Mubadala’s regional thermal power investments. Daniel holds a Masters awarded with Distinction in Comparative Business Economics from University College London, and a Summa Cum Laude BA degree from Corvinus University Budapest, Hungary.


What’s your role at RPC?

I am a Principal in the Investment & Execution team, where I am responsible for the origination, acquisition, project financing and asset management through active value creation of our renewable energy investments. As transaction lead I work very closely with almost all other RPC team members, and typically manage our external stakeholders for transaction related matters as well.  

What’s a typical working day for you?

I start my day with skimming through business and more specifically renewable energy investing related news articles. I typically plan my workdays in the morning and check my calendar for upcoming meetings, where I always try to set aside some time to prepare for presentations I have to give, negotiations I am involved in or any external meetings I am involved in.

I spend some time almost every day  building RPC’s network of relationships in an effort to originate new opportunities, create financing relationships with lenders or establish connections with industry players.

I typically have live transactions or financings ongoing, hence I work closely with the team of Associates on the financial models, I run the due diligence workstreams, oversee legal documentation, and spend a fair bit of time negotiating transaction specifics, which I enjoy a lot. 

What have you found during your time at RPC?

As a founding member of the RPC team, I’ve felt this is the place I want to grow my career, mainly because of the (i) people who work here and inspire me, (ii) the culture we have, and (iii) the impact we are trying to make on the European renewable energy transition. 

What’s your proudest career moment?

I am particularly proud that RPC had an amazing kick start from the very beginning and that I managed to contribute to its early success by closing multiple deals and financings and be involved in the formation of our team and company culture. I feel that along with our shareholders support, we are making a positive impact already in the market and the market looks at us as a reputable party to work with. I am particularly proud of the trust and reputation we have built within a short period of time.

What do you do in your spare time?

While I struggle finding the time to practice enough, I recently started to play golf to play with my wife, but we will both put the clubs aside soon as we are expecting a baby. I believe soon all of my spare time will be sent with our baby daughter, which I am very much looking forward!

Where’s your favourite place in Europe?

As a Hungarian I am tempted to say that Lake Balaton, a beautiful lake in the middle of the country, however, I must admit that I am fascinated by the Nordics and particularly enjoy visiting our wind farms in the North of Sweden and Finland. I am also a trained sailor, so sailing in the Hellenic or Adriatic Seas is something I find particularly beautiful.

What’s your favourite clean technology and why?

It is a bit of a cliché, but wind and mainly because I know the most about wind farms and I am fascinated by the rapid technological evolution the wind turbine generators went through the past 10-15 years.