In response to growing demand for environmental services, Natural Power has announced the appointment of Christine Sutter as Head of Environment in North America. The addition of Crissy will enable Natural Power USA to expand its range of services available to the renewable power industry in North America.

This senior level role is responsible for providing environmental and permitting services and will oversee the growth of a team providing these services for onshore and offshore wind facilities, solar facilities, and transmission lines.

Crissy is trained as a bat ecologist and joins the team with more than 25 years of experience in wildlife advisement and permitting throughout the US and Canada. The last 15 years she has focused almost exclusively on the interactions between wind and wildlife including bats, condors, and eagles. Her work has resulted in patented technologies that reduce the fatality rates for bats and avoid fatalities for condors. She developed the first spatial risk model for eagles collisions in the US (2009), developed the take estimation methodology and compensatory mitigation strategies for one of the first bat and wind Habitat Conservation Plans (2010), lead a team seeking one of the first eagle take permits (2012), spearheaded the development of the first successful smart curtailment system for bats at an onshore wind farm (2015), and regularly serves as an advisor to DOE/NREL on wind and wildlife strategies and technology development.
At Natural Power she will continue to work on innovative strategies and provide advice to clients regarding emerging conflicts between renewable energy and natural resources. Natural Power will provide a broad range of environmental services to renewable energy clients throughout the US and Canada including due diligence review, preconstruction field studies for bats and birds and other protected species, assistance securing ESA and BGEPA take permits, NEPA analysis and documentation, and post-construction fatality studies. Specialised services will include advisement on strategies for reducing wildlife fatalities at wind farms, optimizing energy yield under various curtailment scenarios, and developing technological solutions to wind-wildlife issues.
Crissy said: "Im delighted to be joining Natural Power, the 360 lifecycle of services creates a unique opportunity to comprehensively address environmental issues throughout the projects life and working with such highly capable and experienced staff will ensure quality and innovation."

Jim Adams, President of Natural Power North America, added: "The strategic hire demonstrates a step change in the range and scope of services available from Natural Power in the US. Crissy has an impressive background in the environmental space and is a wonderful addition to our team."

Natural Power has continued to expand across the US from its offices in New York and Seattle. Most recently the business appointed Julius Carter as Head of Operations and Asset Management in North America, expanded the Seattle office to accommodate its growing number of employees, and moved to a new, larger facility at 2701 1st Ave Suite 440, Seattle WA 98121. The business provides asset management services on over 3GW of renewable energy projects, equivalent to the top three US wind owners by capacity (according to AWEA 2015 Market Report figures). Its approach to ‘total asset management on operational projects includes a range of services for owners and financiers alike, including local site management and balance of plant services, advanced performance engineering analysis, remote monitoring services, and operational reporting and analysis.