COMPANY

ABOUT US

IPPsolar is an independent solar power company that develops, finances, builds, owns and operates solar power plants to supply energy to electric vehicles, commercial, industrial, and nonprofit customers.


Since its inception in 2008, IPPsolar has completed dozens of solar projects, representing multiple megawatts of installed systems.

IPPsolar has been developing both net-metered projects (on-site generation to offset site load) and wholesale projects (solar farms) selling power to the grid on a merchant basis.


IPPsolar is headquartered in New York and is 100% owned by its founding members and employees.

Our Core Expertise

  • Solar project finance, structuring and development (distributed generation and wholesale) 
  • Solar fund management
  • System design, engineering, procurement and construction 
  • Parallel management (logistics and installation) of multiple commercial projects 
  • Structuring and management of tax-optimized solar investments (3+ year track record) 
  • Proprietary efficiency and monitoring software platform 
  • Installation and operation of DC FastCharge station network for electric vehicles

Our Mission

IPPsolar's long term mission is to bring affordable solar electricity to businesses, governments and individuals. IPPsolar intends to achieve its mission by abiding by a set of values: integrity, teamwork, cultural diversity, relationships, innovation. (See our Corporate Values)

Watch video: What we do and what sets us apart

LEADERSHIP

MAZIAR DALAELI

Maziar comes with 25 years of experience in financial services, energy and renewable energy. He leads business development, sales and marketing at IPPsolar.


Maziar completed financial advisory work for a number of energy and alternative energy companies (e.g., NanoPV Technologies, an equipment manufacturer of thin film photovoltaic solar panels based in New Jersey and DBP Exploration, an oil and gas exploration company based in Texas). Maziar has advised several institutional investors including the second largest insurance company in Korea on their investments in hedge funds. He also led the assembly of a portfolio of hedge funds for a family office client.


Maziar has held leadership roles in large financial services firms. He was Chief Operating Officer of the New Business Group at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, the second largest German bank. The New Business Group led the e-initiatives of the bank by investing in companies like Capital IQ, FxALL, Creditex, and others, and by developing the bank's internal electronic trading systems. Prior to that, he was a derivatives trader and ran the Brady bond options portfolio of Chase Manhattan Bank in London.


Maziar holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BS from Universite Paris-Dauphine in applied mathematics and statistics.

PAUL JEUN

Paul has over 25 years of experience as a corporate attorney and investment advisor. He leads transaction structuring and financing at IPPsolar.

Previously, he was president of AIAS Group, LLC, an investment advisory firm that represented institutional investors and family offices in connection with alternative investments such as hedge funds and private equity funds. The firm was responsible for allocations of over $150 million in various alternative investments. The firm's representation also included financial advisory work for a number of energy and alternative energy companies.


Prior to that, Paul was a senior attorney at Curtis Mallet-Prevost Colt & Mosle LLP, a leading international law firm based in New York City, where he specialized in the representation of private investment funds in transnational settings.


Prior to Curtis, Paul was an attorney at Hawkins Delafield & Wood LLP where he focused on the representation of issuers and underwriters in connection with tax-exempt financing of power and environmental projects.

Paul holds a JD from Fordham University Law School and a BA from Northwestern University.

DAVID PICARD

David Picard has over 20 years of experience in IT systems and has run operations in several start-up environments. He leads operations and project implementation at IPPsolar.


Between the years 2004 and 2008, in the context of investment advisory to institutional investors, David developed from the ground-up a proprietary database platform to store, organize, and distribute complex hedge fund research collected from over 600 hedge fund managers. He has also developed several advanced portfolio construction and management tools.


In 2000, David co-founded and was Director of Technology at bCorner, a leading online provider of private-labeled e-commerce solutions.He oversaw the start-up's launch and independently developed bCorner's full-featured “cash-back marketplace” engine to implement a completely managed system including 500 of the web's most popular retailers on any client's website within a few hours. 


He also led the design and implementation of Pinoy Dolyar, a bCorner spin-off company providing an online money remittance system for overseas workers through a web-based transfer system using ATM cards.

David studied Applied Physics at Concordia University (Montreal, Canada).

MICHAEL LATEFI

Mr. Latefi started his career in 1996 at BNP Paribas/Nazem and Company Transatlantic Ventures, a private equity fund dedicated to health care and biotechnology investment, where his responsibility was to support the entrepreneurs of portfolio companies as an operating member, often serving as Chief Financial Officer or Chief Operating Officer. During his tenured at BNP Paribas/Nazem and Company Mr. Latefi was promoted from a Junior Analyst to Investment General Partner. 


In 2006 Mr. Latefi joined Bank of America Securities as Private Equity Senior Vice President (equivalent to Partner) under Growth Markets and Strategic Investment Group.


From 2008 to 2016 Mr. Latefi was recruited as Special Senior Advisor to Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi Royal Family, Senior Advisor to the Central Bank of UAE, Interim CFO of Al Bawardi Enterprises, and by extension its subsidiaries Emdad LLC (the leading oilfield services company in the Middle East) and ITQAN LLC (the leading IT services company in the Middle East), Senior Advisor to the Board and Vice-Chairman of the Transformation Committee of the Commercial Bank of Qatar, and Senior Advisor to the Board of Alternatif Bank of Turkey. While in these leadership positions Mr. Latefi played a key role in a number of high profile transactions including £7.3 billion investment in Barclays Bank PLC, $5.4 billion investment in Barclays Bank PLC, $280MM investment by AABAR PBS for 32% of Virgin Galactic, formation of joint venture between UK-based Sky plc and Abu Dhabi Media Investment Corporation (ADMIC), $5.3 billion investment in China Construction Bank and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, in addition to many other un-disclosed transactions.


Since April 2016 Mr. Latefi is serving as Chief Executive Officer and is a cofounder of Applied Biological Laboritories, a biotechnology company committed to research, development, manufacturing and distribution of scientifically validated natural products.


Mr. Latefi holds a BS from Columbia University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

WHY US

WHY IS IPPSOLAR THE RIGHT PARTNER?

The challenges described here show how critical it is to select the right partner in solar power plant development.


IPPsolar is the right partner because we have extensive expertise in project/structured finance, and tax/regulations relating to solar incentives. We also possess comprehensive knowledge of solar technologies, construction processes, logistics and extensive relationships with suppliers and distributors. We also "eat our own cooking", deploying our own capital alongside our customers and partners.


But most importantly, our expertise and experience is demonstrated by the 50+ projects completed with numerous partners that encompass some of the leading institutional real estate firms and operating businesses in the nation. We are particularly proud that we have completed multiple projects with each partner.


We also leverage innovation, technology and creative thinking in all aspects of our project development. Whether it is the deal structuring, technology implementation or growth strategies, we have met client satisfaction despite difficult market circumstances.

We believe that our combination of knowledge, expertise, experience and forward thinking positions us among the nation's top solar power providers. 

HISTORY

IPPsolar was founded in 2008 during the middle of the Great Recession with the world financial system teetering on the verge of collapse.


The founding team of IPPsolar first started working together in 2004 when Paul Jeun, Maziar Dalaeli and David Picard joined to launch an investment advisory practice (AIAS Group), advising institutional investors (pension funds, insurance companies, etc.) and family offices. The advisory work consisted in providing independent advice to investors looking to deploy capital in alternative investment vehicles such as hedge funds, funds of hedge funds, private equity funds, CTAs, commodity funds, etc. During the course of four years, AIAS performed due diligence over 600 alternative managers and thus assisted its clients in the deployment of over $150 million of capital. In addition, AIAS built a portfolio of hedge funds for a family office based in New York.


2005: While AIAS was growing its activities and given its relationships with numerous sources of capital, AIAS was approached by developers of traditional power plants (gas-fired and hydro-electric plants) in Latin America. Those developers were looking to gain access to financing sources in large money centers like New York and London for their projects. Hedge funds and private equity funds were deemed to be sophisticated investors best positioned to understand the investment risks in power projects in Latin America. Thus, in parallel to its alternative manager due diligence activity, AIAS began activities to raise financing for energy projects. 

There were clear synergies between both activities because a recipient of capital could later deploy that capital in power projects.

In the following three years, AIAS became involved in several projects including in one of the largest power plant projects in Latin America, a 1.2 GW gas-fired plant in Peru and several hydro-electric plants in Panama. In 2007, AIAS was first exposed to the solar energy space by advising a company based in New Jersey that was selling manufacturing lines of thin film modules. That assignment was key in accelerating the team's upcoming focus on solar energy and the genesis of IPPsolar.


2008: Across the planet, 2008 was an inflection point for many industries and companies. It was also when a confluence of factors drove the AIAS team to form IPPsolar and was a natural fit for our team's extensive experience in energy project finance. The financial markets had witnessed extraordinary disruption, especially with extreme volatility in the price of oil. At the same time, very favorable legislation was passed by Congress to support and promote renewable energy. Those factors led the AIAS team to launch IPPsolar with the belief that there is no contradiction between building a profitable energy company and making the world a better place.


2009: After its first year of operation, IPPsolar assisted its first client EDiS in the financing and construction of a 40 kW system at their company headquarters in Wilmington, DE.


2010: IPPsolar assisted Urstadt Biddle Properties (NYSE:UBA www.ubproperties.com), a relatively large REIT holding about 5 million square feet of commercial real estate, in the financing and installation of two projects at UBP sites in Wayne, and Emerson, New Jersey.


2011: The two projects in Wayne (260 kW) and Emerson (285 kW) were successfully completed as planned. IPPsolar completed the financing (Power Purchase Agreement) of a first site for Boscov's department store (www.boscovs.com ) in Vineland, NJ with capacity of 962 kW.


2012: The IPP team broadens its scope of activity by launching a proprietary fund vehicle to finance commercial solar projects. In addition, the team founds its own EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) activity through an affiliate and becomes a more vertically integrated enterprise.


2015: IPPsolar completes the development and installation of a dozen DC Fastcharge stations in New York and Connecticut, selling the entire network to NRG's Evgo unit.


2017: IPPsolar increases its market penetration by developing and installing projects within several new segments such as the industrial and not-for-profit customer space.

VALUES

Our values are the most critical component of who we are and what we do. By abiding by a few simple yet essential principles, we strengthen the foundations of our culture in order to secure sustainable growth over the long term and add value to our clients and partners.

INTEGRITY

Integrity is our guiding principle. We are committed to following the highest standards of ethics in all our business dealings and everyday activities, whether internally or externally with clients and partners.


"The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office." - Dwight D. Eisenhower

TEAMWORK

Teamwork is our keystone. We believe strongly that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. By subordinating the needs of the individual for the good of the collective, we achieve what no individual can do singly.


"Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships."

- Michael Jordan

CULTURAL DIVERSITY

Diversity is our core strength. We are proud of the multi-cultural background of our team. Diversity enriches our everyday thinking and makes us adept in seeking and exploiting opportunities presented by globalization.


"Diversity: the art of thinking independently together." - Malcolm Forbes

RELATIONSHIPS

At core, our business is making connections among people that produce value for each party. Therefore, relationships are our most valuable asset. We do our best to maintain every relationship and view each one as a long-term commitment. Experience has shown us that a simple acquaintance of today can become a life-long partner of tomorrow.


"I have found no greater satisfaction than achieving success through honest dealing and strict adherence to the view that, for you to gain, those you deal with should gain as well." - Alan Greenspan

INNOVATION

Innovation is our obsession and a constant in our industry. Not one day passes without incremental innovation in our business. We also embrace technology to bring innovation to our business. We firmly believe that those that do not innovate are bound to disappear.


"An important scientific innovation rarely makes its way by gradually winning over and converting its opponents: What does happen is that the opponents gradually die out." - Max Planck

IPPSOLAR LLC

38 W 32nd St, ste 1004

New York, NY 10001

Tel: (212) 791-2100

Fax: (347) 486-4009