Senior Team

James Armstrong is a Founder and Managing Partner at Bluefield Partners LLP, a renewable energy specialist. In 2013, he led the flotation of the Bluefield Solar Income Fund, now a FTSE 250 company and at the time the first investment company focused on solar PV to be listed on a major stock exchange. This fund has continued to provide sector leading results for its investors since IPO. More broadly, at the time of writing, every strategy launched at Bluefield has exceeded initial return targets. Outside of Bluefield, James has worked in renewable energy since 2006 and has been involved in excess of €1.5bn solar and renewable energy focused deals.

Giovanni Terranova, co-founder and managing partner of Bluefield, brings extensive expertise in energy finance. His career spans banking, advisory services, and private equity since 2000, with a dedicated focus on energy and renewables since 2005. Giovanni has participated in the funding of c.€9.1 billion of energy transactions globally. He has served as board member of various solar energy companies in Italy, France, Netherlands and the UK.

During his career, he has been involved in more than €1.9 billion UK and European solar energy transactions. Giovanni has played a leading role in BSIF (Bluefield Solar Income Fund) strategy since its IPO, with a focus on portfolio management, portfolio financing and investment. Giovanni’s exposure to solar energy dates back to 1998 when working at the Italian energy agency ENEA. Giovanni has as MBA from Luiss School of Management, Rome, and an MSc in Power Engineering.

Neil is a Partner at Bluefield Partners LLP and oversees UK investing, financing, performance and reporting of Bluefield’s solar portfolios and their associated Funds. Since joining Bluefield in 2013, he has been involved in over €800 million of UK solar deals and arranged in excess of €500 million of both short- and long-term 3rd party financing. Neil has responsibility for the Bluefield finance teams’ reporting activity to the Bluefield Solar Income Fund (BSIF.L) board and is part of the senior team responsible for delivering BSIF’s Annual and Interim results. Neil has a BSc in Chemistry from Bristol University, is a Chartered Accountant and has experience in investments, realisations, re-financing and re-structuring.

Alberto Paturzo is Partner, Southern Europe . With advisory, investment and finance experience since 2000, and energy and renewables experience from 2005, Alberto was involved in excess of €1bn solar and renewable energy focused transactions, including project development, construction, M&A and financing deals. Before joining the Bluefield group, in his previous experiences within Martifer Solar, BNP Paribas and MedEnergy, Alberto took leading roles in project development, financing and investment activities in Italy and Southern Europe. As an active member of the main renewable energy associations and representative of both Bluefield and Martifer in different industry conferences across Europe, Alberto has built and maintained strong relationships in Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal, France, Netherlands and in the UK. Alberto has served as sole administrator or director of several energy asset companies and holds an MBA from IESE Business School, Barcelona and an MSc in Economics from LUISS University, Rome.

Rose Deeley is Group Chief Financial Officer of Bluefield, joining in May 2024 from Equitix Investment Management where she was Finance Director for over 10 years. She was responsible for the development and implementation of new Equitix Funds, with a global remit involved in all aspects of Fund launches including the analysis, evaluation and completion of structuring, legal formation and investment analysis, leading key strategic initiatives. Rose studied Philosophy and Theology at the University of Edinburgh, going on to complete the law conversion (CPD/GDL) at City University. She is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.

Andrew is a Chartered Accountant (ANZ) and a CPA (Australia) with over 35 years of experience in finance. Andrew joined Bluefield Partners LLP in August 2024 as Interim Group Chief Financial Officer. In this role, Andrew has overall responsibility for all finance functions within Bluefield.

Prior to joining Bluefield, Andrew worked in a number of finance roles in the UK (primarily in private equity), including HgCapital (where he focused on both the renewable energy and the buyout portfolio) and Development Partners International.

Andrew holds a Bachelor of Business (Accounting) from the University of Technology in Sydney.

Kevin joined Bluefield Partners LLP in September 2020 as Group General Counsel. In this role, Kevin has overall responsibility for all legal and compliance functions within Bluefield.

Prior to joining Bluefield, Kevin worked as a Managing Associate at Addleshaw Goddard LLP. Kevin regularly advised clients in the energy sector such as bp (including advising bp on their investment in Lightsource bp and on their joint venture with Reliance Industries in India), Greencoat Capital and Zouk Capital. He also spent six months on secondment to the bp legal team. Whilst at Addleshaw Goddard, Kevin also advised a number of UK private equity firms including Inflexion and Phoenix Equity Partners.

Before joining Addleshaw Goddard, Kevin worked at Pinsent Masons LLP, where he advised clients such as BayWa and Global Risk Partners. Kevin’s earlier experience includes roles at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and Linklaters LLP. Kevin holds a BA in Modern History from the University of Oxford.

Debra Russell is our Group HR Director and has over 20 years’ experience in human resource management (HRM).

Debra leads the HR team and is responsible for the development of the Group’s people strategy to ensure Bluefield provides the right conditions so that each team member can achieve their potential.  Debra is passionate about employee well-being and people development and has been integral to the development of the Group’s learning culture. Debra also leads the Group’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) strategy.

Debra has worked in several industries prior to joining Bluefield and completed her Masters in HRM at the University of the West of England in 2011. Debra is a member of the chartered institute of personnel development (CIPD).

Emma Silcocks is the Group Head of ESG at Bluefield, having joined in 2018. Emma is responsible for overseeing the incorporation of ESG into Bluefield’s portfolios, from pre-investment due diligence, operational management through to end-of-life, as well as leading on Bluefield’s wider ESG strategy. Following a degree in Zoology from the University of Manchester, Emma is passionate about biodiversity, including the potential of renewable portfolios to generate Biodiversity Net Gain as an additional way to mitigate the climate crisis.

Rob is Managing Director of Bluefield Operations. He has worked in the solar O&M sector since 2014, initially working on large commercial rooftop portfolios before moving into Utility Scale solar O&M in 2018.

His management experience has developed over 30 years covering 2 Utility sectors, both of which have a huge bias on the management and control of Health and Safety of Operational Personnel. Rob has previously been instrumental in successfully implementing ISO9001:2015 accreditation for a previous business as well as the continued successful audits for ISO9001, ISO14001 & 18001 for a large Civil Engineering and Support Services company.

Jonathan Selwyn is the Managing Director of Bluefield Renewable Development (BRD), part of the Bluefield Group. The company develops large-scale solar and battery storage projects in-house and works with development partners in the UK and across Europe.

To date, BRD and its partners have achieved planning permission for over 450MWp of UK solar projects and have a late-stage development pipeline of 500MWp of solar projects and 350MW of battery storage projects.

Jonathan is one of the most experienced solar developers in the UK, having previously worked together with Bluefield’s Development Director, Alan Connolly, in the successful development of 350MWp of projects for Lark Energy and 150MWp of projects for Lightsource bp.

Prior to joining Bluefield, Jonathan chaired Downing LLP’s Indian funds which invested £35m in the development, construction, and operation of 4 solar farms in India. He also advised an investor on the development of a portfolio of Ukranian solar assets. Jonathan is the former Chairman of Solar Energy UK, the solar industry trade body, and is also a Director of FVEnergia, a Polish solar developer.

Juliet Drinkwater joined Bluefield in 2022 and is responsible for leading its global business development and investor relations activities. Her focus is on developing solutions to support new and existing clients, client relations and fundraising across all types of professional investors.

Juliet has 9 years of experience with a focus on supporting clients with infrastructure investments. Most recently she was an infrastructure specialist at IFM Investors, successfully fundraising and managing relationships throughout the UK and Europe to support the growth of one of the largest global infrastructure funds of its kind. She started her career in banking at Royal Bank of Scotland where she qualified as a Chartered Accountant, has since been accredited as a Mental Health First Aider and sits on Bluefield’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) Committee. She holds a First-Class Honours degree in Mathematics from Durham University.

Joe is the Head of Construction at Bluefield. He is an accomplished renewable energy professional, technical engineer and solar specialist with deep knowledge, skills and experience spanning the entire solar energy supply chain. Joe’s career over the last 18 years has been to fully grasp the technical and commercial dimensions of the energy industry with a strong focus on renewables, decarbonising transport, and energy storage. He has fulfilled roles in R&D, manufacturing and distribution, design & installation at residential and industrial scale. He has managed the design, construction, operation and maintenance of assets of >£800M portfolio value and managed relationships and contracts with public and private stakeholders, clients and suppliers across Europe, China, Africa and the UK. 
Skills and qualifications in construction, engineering, environmental management, agriculture and Health and Safety have equipped him with strong technical acumen and on-site expertise. 

Alan Connolly BSc (Hons) MRICS is the Development Director of Bluefield Renewable Developments (BRD).

Working through his consultancy services company, Connolly Land & Developments Ltd, Alan’s focus is on UK development, with 14 years’ experience in Large Scale Solar and Battery Storage development and more than 17 years’ experience in Residential Development.

Alan is one of the UKs most experienced solar developers, having developed the UKs first large-scale solar farm to be energised (5MWp, energised in 2011) together with the first large solar ROC project (35MWp, energised in early 2013). To date, he has developed approximately 1 GWp of solar and battery storage projects for Bluefield and other developers.

Alan holds a Bachelor’s degree in Planning and Residential Development (2005), is a qualified Residential Land Buyer (2007) and also a Chartered Planning & Development Surveyor (2012) with a core background in both Residential Development and Large Scale Solar PV.

Prior to working in renewable energy, Alan worked for several national PLC UK house builders and subsequently set his up his own Chartered Development Consultancy in 2009. He has since acted on multiple land acquisitions and general development for various national PLC and regional UK house builders and also a number of leading solar developers.

Martin is a Chartered Accountant with over 25 years’ experience.  He worked in investment banking and corporate broking before latterly holding senior executive positions with two listed companies with international operations.  He has worked on a wide variety of corporate transactions including M&A and fundraisings.

Catherine Brennan joined as Legal Director of Bluefield Services in 2022.  In her role, Catherine also advises across the wider group including Bluefield Operations Limited and Bluefield Renewable Developments Limited.  Prior to joining, Catherine worked both in private practice (practising as a real estate finance and project finance lawyer) and in house within the financial services sector.  Catherine has wide ranging in-house legal expertise including financing arrangements (including green loans), corporate acquisitions, outsourcing and SaaS contracts, legal risk management, supplier due diligence and supplier contractual management with a focus on ESG principles, corporate governance and regulatory compliance.

Catherine has a Law Degree (LLB Hons) from Birmingham University.

Baiju joined Bluefield Partners LLP in March 2020 as UK Investment Director. In this role, Baiju is responsible for leading investment activity in the UK across a range of technologies including solar, onshore wind, hydro and energy storage. During his time at Bluefield, Baiju has led on circa £400m of solar and wind transactions.

Baiju has worked in the renewable energy industry since 2008 and has been involved in over £900m of renewable energy transactions. Prior to joining Bluefield, Baiju held the role of Investment Director at Ingenious (2013-2020) where he was responsible for managing Ingenious’ Renewable Energy Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) funds as well as a number of joint ventures with renewable energy developers. Baiju led Ingenious’ onshore wind transactions including the development and financing of one of the UK’s largest Feed in Tariff Wind Portfolios.

Prior to the role at Ingenious, Baiju worked in the commercial team at one of the largest global renewable energy developers, Renewable Energy Systems (RES). Baiju’s earlier experience include roles at HM Treasury where he has a member of the macroeconomics team and Deloitte where he qualified as a chartered accountant. Baiju holds a MA in Economics from the University of Cambridge.

Paula Naranjo is a Head of Engineering, with circa 10 years’ worth of energy industry experience, 8 of these years focused on renewable energy projects, gaining professional experience in multinational companies. Expertise in design review for solar and battery storage projects, performance review, EPC and O&M contract negotiation, portfolio acquisition of operating assets including risk assessment for the investment party, EPC tender process management including technical review of the tender results.

Acting mainly as Technical Advisor and Owner’s Engineer roles Paula has been involved in a total of 1.3GW transactions in Bluefield, with previous experience running asset management services during the post construction warranty period, which included managing punch-list, raising defects and negotiating mitigation actions with the EPC Contractors. Prior to joining Bluefield, Paula has worked in ATA Renewables as Technical Advisor for the utility scale solar plants, involved in more than 10 GW assessment including, among other activities, Lender’s Technical Due Diligence in Southern Europe and South America, Product Due Diligences for equipment manufacturers’ including factory visits to China, Owner’s Engineering Services during EPC negotiation, O&M and EPC Contracts Review for Asset Owners.

Paula has an MSc in Renewable Energies in Energy Networks and a BSc in Industrial Electrical Engineering from the Carlos III University of Madrid. It is worth mentioning that she is heavily involved in the Diversity strategy of Bluefield.

Francesco Girardi is Senior Technical Director, Southern Europe. Francesco has led Bluefield Services Ltd and Bluefield Operations Ltd which he founded respectively in 2015 and 2017.

Francesco is a seasoned executive and has worked in the solar industry since 2005 gaining professional experience in multinational companies operating in the renewable energy sources sector where he assumed roles with increasing responsibilities. He has proven experience and track record in start-up activities of NewCos operating in renewables, mainly photovoltaic and has been involved in over €800m solar asset transactions.

Francesco holds a MEng in Electronics Engineering from Polytechnic University of Bari and is Chartered Engineer.

Ferruccio Leandro is Investment Director of Bluefield Southern Europe, where he is responsible for origination, commercial structuring, transactions of renewable energy projects across South of Europe in different stages from greenfield to operative status. As Country Manager of Smartenergy Italy he has originated and developed more than 1GW of solar and green hydrogen projects. Ferruccio is a professional on M&A transactions with experience in renewable energy of more than 13 years and real estate with focus on special situations, having performed different roles at Martifer Solar, Smartenergy and Prelios S.p.A. On his professional activity he managed and lead several transactions in different geographies. Ferruccio started his professional activity as a lawyer. He is alumnus of Bocconi Business School and Universidade Catolica Portugesa, where he got respectively Executive MBA and LL.M degrees.

Jonathan is Director of Asset Management for Bluefield Services, joining the business in 2024.

With 12 years’ experience in the renewables sector across Asset Management and Operational functions, he brings experience of implementing a solutions-focussed approach to maximising the generation of operating assets across their full life-cycle, as well as developing teams and individuals to achieve their goals and objectives.

Jonathan is responsible for the design and delivery of robust annual budgeting across the asset portfolio including annual CAPEX programmes, management of key stakeholder relationships, trend analysis and reporting, and procurement of services and strategic spares.

With a focus on lean processes and operational efficiency, he will oversee the project to achieve ISO:55001 accreditation for asset management excellence, delivering both a long-term strategy as well as a framework for quick decision-making to maximise generation

Nicholas Burridge is Managing Director of Asset Management, Southern Europe and holds up the asset management function of Bluefield-owned solar assets in Europe. Nicholas possesses 12 years of operational and asset management experience in the renewables sector and has been involved in the technical management of ca. 1GW across 150+ assets in the UK. Nicholas’ experience is centred on optimising operational assets by developing and executing strategies to maximise asset performance and reduce operational spend, with a particular focus on turnaround and value-add activities.  He has a history of successful recruitment, training and the development of effective and operational asset management teams.  Nicholas also gained professional experience in multinational companies within the renewable sector with a focus on O&M and Asset Management activities. Nicholas holds a MEng in Mining Engineering, specialty in Renewable Energy from the Polytechnic University of Madrid.

Laura Barrett is the Senior Fund Accountant of the Bluefield Solar Income Fund and has worked in Bluefield since 2015. Laura is a Chartered Management Accountant, certified in 2009, and has been working in investment and fund accounting roles since 2005. At Bluefield, Laura is responsible for supporting all aspects of financial reporting on the Bluefield Solar Income Fund, now a FTSE 250 company.

Julie Rankin is Programme Director for Bluefield Renewable Development (BRD), part of the Bluefield Group. The company develops large-scale solar and battery storage projects in-house and works with development partners in the UK and across Europe.

Julie has over 10 years’ experience of working in the renewable and waste management sectors and before joining Bluefield worked with both Jonathan Selwyn and Bluefield’s Development Director, Alan Connolly, in the successful development of 350MWp of projects for Lark Energy.

Julie has a strong track record in environmental policy, compliance and sustainability working for a wide range of government agencies, local authorities and private sector businesses.

Ben Packham is a Programme Manager at Bluefield Renewable Development. Ben has a wealth of experience working on development projects for several years across a variety of technologies including Solar, Battery, Wind, Anaerobic Digestion and Hydro. Ben has been an integral member of successful development teams contributing to planning applications for renewable technologies and has taken a leading role in identifying suitable locations for the deployment of renewable technologies and design and feasibility work. While working as a consultant, Ben performed a series of data analysis exercises for local authorities to encourage developers to investigate renewable technology deployment, with the ambition of achieving net zero and to contribute to the decarbonisation of the energy industry.

Cris joined in 2022 and is responsible for the commercial management of the operating portfolios. She works closely with the Bluefield Group companies and external stakeholders to maximise fund performance, enhance corporate cash flow and mitigate investment risk. Her role spans across Bluefield’s value chain from investor liaison, contract negotiation, targeted investment programs through insurance, the sale of power and project finance compliance.

Cris brings over 14 years of special project company management experience to the team and is passionate about contributing to the UK’s decarbonisation and energy transition agenda. During her career in investment management services, Cris held commercial and operational responsibility for a number of renewable energy assets and led on the management of PFI/PPP schemes across various sectors including healthcare, education and student accommodation.

Cris holds a BA in Marketing in Advertising and Publicity from the Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie, Brazil.

Will joined Bluefield Partners in LLP in November 2022 and is an Associate Commercial Director. Will brings a wealth of experience working in the renewables sector and has held operational at Foresight Group, Downing and Lightsource. 9 years of working in both Technical and Commercial Asset Management have given Will a well-rounded experience across solar, BESS and gas peaking assets.

As Associate Commercial Director, Will’s key responsibility is to optimise and drive the commercial performance of the underlying portfolio. His focus is to drive value through a strong power sales strategy, the negotiation of strong operational contracts and critical data analysis on portfolio performance.

Sam Allen is Bluefield Operations O&M Land Manager. He initially entered the solar industry in 2017 designing PV systems across domestic & commercial projects in the UK, before joining Bluefield in 2020 as Portfolio Manager. Sam is responsible for all ground maintenance responsibilities across our portfolio, ensuring landscape and ecology compliance, monitoring biodiversity metrics and delivering continuous improvements to sites through ecological enhancements. Sam has an Undergraduate in BSc Physical Geography and a Masters in MSc Environmental Management, following his passion for the preservation and enhancement of the environment to promote biodiversity.

Mónica is the Operations Manager of Bluefield Operations. She joined us in 2021 after starting her solar O&M career in 2014.

Her previous roles in portfolio and client management, plus her success coordinating site onboarding, WC, and FAC, have given her a full overview of all areas involved in the operations and maintenance of our sites, being now able to deliver improvements in client and contract management, quality, and processes.

Mónica is originally from Colombia where she got her 5-year degree in Government and International Relations. She lived in the USA and Spain before relocating to the UK.

Alex has served in the Solar PV industry since 2007, he brings a wealth of knowledge from 15 years of renewables experience, fulfilling multiple roles from Installation Electrician installing and commissioning domestic and commercial solar PV systems, project management and design as a Senior Project Engineer, operations and logistics, technical fault finding, repair and commissioning of commercial, utility scale and battery storage inverters to now leading a team of Engineers on a diverse national portfolio of solar assets as Field Service Manager for Bluefield Operations Ltd. His multi-role background has been key in bringing technical expertise, reducing Health and Safety risk and an inclusive management style which brings the best out of the Field Service Team.

Ben has been in the UK solar industry since 2011, initially working in procurement & logistics for an installer, and later spent time with a wholesaler, designing and selling systems up to 50kV to other installers.

In 2013 Ben joined the newly formed O&M team at Lightsource Renewable Services, initially as a maintenance planner and latterly as Operations Manager, during this time the company grew from 3 to over 140 full time employees, managing 300 sites totalling 2GW.

Ben joined the Bluefield Operations team in 2018, initially as Portfolio Manager, but is now Head of Service Delivery. On joining, Bluefield Operations totalled a handful of sites and 5 staff, it now manages 72 sites totalling 655MW with 36 staff. Ben’s current role includes trouble shooting, Health & Safety, inventory/purchasing, operational support to the portfolio management team, plus many other operational functions.

Previous to his time in the solar industry, Ben’s original mechanical engineering bias led him to roles in technical support, technical sales & marketing and logistics.

Nafsika joined Bluefield Partners LLP in May 2023 as Head of Project Delivery within the investment team to support the commercial aspects for ready to build projects. Nafsika’s main duties and responsibilities include the ongoing EPC engagement and commercial contracts negotiation, lead all the necessary implementation workstreams and the grid connection requests, ensure new built projects comply with planning permissions, agreed timelines and budgets and investigate if new projects are ESG compliant.

She has more than 10 years of experience in the engineering procurement and construction of renewable energy projects. Prior to joining Bluefield, Nafsika worked at Metka, a world-class EPC contractor, and e-Storage, a world class energy storage solution provider and subsidiary of Canadian Solar, where she was involved in development and construction of solar power plants & BESS with capacity of more than 1GW, leading projects with a total budget of more than £500m across Europe (France, Spain, Italy, Greece) and the UK.

Nafsika holds a M.Eng. (5 years diploma) in Civil & Structural Engineering from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.

Rose Rusbridge is the Planning & Design Manager at Bluefield Renewable Development. Rose has worked in the Renewables industry for the last 10 years, focusing on Solar PV, Battery and Low Carbon Glasshouse design for large scale projects across the UK and abroad.

As well as leading on project design, she has also worked closely with Communities, Local Planning Authorities and Stakeholders at all stages of Project Development, to facilitate smooth running of the planning process.

Rose has a background across various disciplines in the renewables industry, having worked as a consultant in energy yield and irradiation assessments, as well as project compliance and due diligence.