JAMES FELIX COOK, chief development officer

James Felix Cook is responsible for leading Candela’s development activities. Under his leadership, Candela’s developers and subject matter experts developed 2 GW of projects under construction, in operations or sold, plus a 3 GW platform of mid- to late stage projects and an early siting portfolio of 5 GW.

With 32 years of development and construction experience, James was Regional Director of Project Development at First Solar, leading project development in the Western USA and Latin America. In this role, he was responsible for all aspects of project development from siting strategy/acquisition, permitting, interconnection, development engineering, up to start of construction.

Prior to his role with First Solar, James held a similar position at OptiSolar. Some of the projects he has developed include the 550 MW Topaz Solar Farm (co-lead) in San Luis Obispo (the largest solar project in the world at the time), the 150 MW Copper Mountain II Project in Boulder City, Nevada, and the 139 MW Campo Verde Solar Project in Imperial County, California. All of these projects are fully operational.

James served on active duty in the United States Marine Corps from 1992 through 1996. Also, he has served as a commissioner and three-time former Chair of the Palo Alto Utilities Advisory Commission (UAC) from 2010-2017. James earned an MBA at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and a BA at Harvard College.