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Managing Partner — Silverpeak Renewables Investment Partners LP
Santosh Raikar is the Managing Partner of Silverpeak Renewables Investment Partners, responsible for building out the firm’s renewable energy sector platform. He has more than 18 years of experience in energy and infrastructure finance, including renewable energy, oil & gas, power, and midstream infrastructure assets. Prior to joining Silverpeak, Santosh was a Managing Director in the renewable energy investments group at State Street where he was responsible for leading a team in originating, structuring and executing tax equity investments in the renewable energy sector within the U.S. He previously worked at Deutsche Bank and Lehman Brothers in Principal Investment areas. Santosh holds a Master of Science in Technology and Policy Program from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and earned an MS in Electrical Engineering from Arizona State University and a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Mumbai. He also teaches a full-semester graduate level course titled “Renewable Energy Investments” at Carroll School of Management (Boston College). How is your job relevant to the energy transition? For the past 12 years I have been exclusively working in the renewable energy sector. Over these years, I have invested more than $2 bn across more than 30 renewable energy projects. I am passionate about renewable energy for a better future and contributing directly by making capital available for bigger and better things. Please tell us not only what you do now, but also your career trajectory and how it got you where you are now. I got into investment banking by accident and MIT played the critical role for the transition. During my graduate program, I served as a research assistant at Energy Laboratory and my project was sponsored by Goldman Sachs, which really opened the wonderful world of finance for me. After initial exciting eight years, I ran into a series of stumbling blocks -three of my employers went bankrupt and two of them spectacularly! - Lehman, Uni-Solar, and Solyndra. However, the experience taught me a lot of things and I have emerged more energetic and successful than what I strove for.