Pacific Green bolsters leadership team for European energy storage platform

Pacific Green today announces the appointment of Ben Fawcett as Chief Operating Officer (COO) of its Pacific Green Energy Parks Europe division, a wholly owned subsidiary of Pacific Green.

Ben has a 20+ year track record in European energy and battery energy storage system (BESS) development. He joins Pacific Green from Exagen, a UK-focused developer, where he was Commercial & Development Director. 

Prior to Exagen, Ben worked as Head of Solar for EDF Renewables UK, where he led the acquisition of battery storage platform Pivot Power in 2019 and set up the UK Solar team, which was responsible for over 4GW of utility-scale, Commercial and Industrial and solar-plus-storage projects. 

Ben brings this significant commercial experience to Pacific Green’s European leadership team as it expands its presence in the UK, Italy and Poland, and continues to assess opportunities for pipeline growth across the continent. 

In the UK, having commissioned the 100MW/100MWh Richborough Energy Park for investor Sosteneo, Pacific Green is progressing towards delivery of its 249MW/373.3MWh Sheaf Energy Park. In 2024, Pacific Green began the second phase of its UK BESS strategy with the launch of a dedicated Development Team in Edinburgh, tasked with the origination of further UK projects.

In Italy, Pacific Green is targeting 3.2GWh of energy storage capacity, having acquired a five project pipeline from development partner Sphera Energy in late 2023.

Meanwhile, in Poland, the European team is progressing a pair of 50MW BESS projects with 400MWh of total storage capacity as it seeks to reach a 1GWh target. In December 2024, Pacific Green and its international development partner secured a first Polish capacity market contract - for the 50MW / 200MWh Platerowka project - which is now targeting a commissioning date in 2028.

Dane Wilkins, Pacific Green’s Managing Director for Europe, said: 

“We are delighted to have Ben join Pacific Green as we rapidly roll out our energy parks business throughout Europe, to enable and facilitate the energy transition. Building on the success of our market-leading UK projects – and our first auction win in Poland - we are making tangible progress towards building a substantial European platform as a core pillar of Pacific Green’s global ambition.”

Ben Fawcett, Pacific Green’s new Chief Operating Officer for Europe, added: 

“I have been impressed with the skills and experience that Pacific Green brings to the battery energy storage and wider renewable sector and am delighted for the opportunity to contribute to the next phase of the company’s growth. It’s a privilege to join the Pacific Green team at this exciting time.”