THE WOODLANDS, Texas, Nov. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Talen Energy Corp. ("Talen" or the "Company") today announced it has elevated Alejandro ("Alex") Hernandez to the role of Chief Executive Officer ("CEO"). In this expanded role, Mr. Hernandez will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of the Company's long-term strategy and overall performance, including leadership of the Company's wholesale power generation business and its Cumulus Growth carbon-free renewables, battery storage and digital infrastructure platform. Mr. Hernandez will continue in his current role as President and member of the Company's Board of Directors.
As part of this leadership transition, Talen also announced today that Ralph Alexander will assume the role of Executive Chairman of the Board. In his expanded board leadership role, Mr. Alexander will ensure an orderly and successful CEO transition while continuing to oversee the Company's federal and state regulatory relationships, including as Chair of the Company's nuclear oversight committee.
"It has been an honor and privilege to lead this Company as CEO for the last five years, and I am pleased to now serve as Executive Chairman to help oversee the next chapter for Talen," said Mr. Alexander. "Alex has been my business partner since the take-private of Talen five years ago as we have successfully executed the operating turnaround and transformed the legacy culture of the Company. Given Alex's demonstrated track-record and capabilities, the Board and I have full confidence in his leadership of the Company as we embark on the next chapter," continued Mr. Alexander.
"I am honored to serve as Talen's next CEO," said Mr. Hernandez. "Our Company is at an important inflection point as we transition from the operational turnaround to strategically re-positioning Talen for long-term value creation. Our efforts have placed Talen at the epicenter of key global trends, including benefiting from recent commodity market cyclical strength, while anchoring our long-term future to energy transition, decarbonization and digital infrastructure growth. Talen's strategic transformation, as outlined during our ESG Equity Investor Day in May, creates significant opportunities for growing Talen's enterprise value. This transformation must also address the balance sheet with capital to drive the long-term success of the Talen-Cumulus platform and our people," continued Mr. Hernandez.
Mr. Hernandez was appointed President of Talen and a member of Talen's Board of Directors in August 2019, having concurrently served as chief financial officer since the Company's acquisition and take-private transaction in December 2016. Prior to joining Talen, Mr. Hernandez served as chief financial officer of TerraForm Power, Inc. ("TerraForm"), a contracted renewable power infrastructure company. He was instrumental in the company's formation, IPO and in driving its growth and ultimate sale to Brookfield (NYSE: BEP). TerraForm generated total shareholder returns of over 340% in its initial 2017 sale to Brookfield and over 890% by the time of its 2020 merger with BEP.
Before creating TerraForm, Mr. Hernandez was a managing director in the Investment Banking division of Goldman Sachs, joining the firm in 2005. During his time at Goldman Sachs, Mr. Hernandez provided strategic and capital markets advice to management teams and boards of directors. He was actively involved in building, growing, and selling several power, technology, renewable energy, and infrastructure platforms including Horizon Wind, First Solar, Enviva, and Talen, among others.
Mr. Hernandez serves as an Advisory Board member of BlueVoyant, an enterprise cybersecurity technology company backed by the Pritzker Organization. He also serves as a Roundtable member of the James A. Baker, III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, Houston.
About Talen Energy Corporation
Talen, through its subsidiary, Talen Energy Supply LLC ("TES"), is one of the largest competitive power generation and infrastructure companies in North America. TES owns and/or controls approximately 13,000 megawatts of generating capacity in wholesale U.S. power markets, principally in the Mid-Atlantic, Texas and Montana.
Through its subsidiary, Cumulus Growth, Talen is developing a large-scale portfolio of renewable energy, battery storage, and digital infrastructure assets across its expansive footprint. For more information, visit https://www.talenenergy.com/esg-focused-future/
About Cumulus Data
Cumulus Data, a subsidiary of Talen, is developing a 475-Megawatt hyperscale data center campus located outside Berwick, PA, with the potential to expand operations to other sites across the United States. The flagship Susquehanna campus will be powered by >1 Gigawatt of reliable, carbon-free, 24×7 nuclear power with the lowest total cost of ownership (TCO) for cloud data center customers in the United States. Cumulus Data is also expected to offer customers the ability to supplement its carbon-free offering with 400 Megawatts of new solar generation capacity under development. Cumulus Data has broken ground on its digital campus and anticipates having its first data center available for lease in the second half of 2022. For more information, visit: https://cumulusinfra.com/
About Cumulus Coin
Cumulus Coin, a subsidiary of Talen, is driving the convergence between blockchain applications and carbon-free electricity. Cumulus Coin intends to create sustainable bitcoin at industrial scale by mining zero-carbon coins with the appropriate regulatory overlay in a secure location in the United States. The first two Cumulus Coin mining facilities, totaling 300 Megawatts, will be located at the flagship Susquehanna digital campus powered by >1 Gigawatt of reliable, carbon-free, 24×7 nuclear power. The first Cumulus Coin mining building is anticipated to commence operations in the second half of 2022. For more information, visit: https://cumuluscoin.com
Investor Contact
Olivia Sigo
Director, Finance, Investor Relations & ESG
281-203-5387, investorrelations@talenenergy.com
Media Contact
Taryne Williams
Director Corporate Communications
610-601-0327, Taryne.Williams@talenenergy.com
SOURCE Talen Energy Corp.
