This year, IJGlobal is pleased to announce a new category for Latin America and the Caribbean – the Latin American & Caribbean Council on Renewables and Energy Transition (LAC-CORE) Clean Energy Award for an individual that has made a positive impact on the development of renewable energy, sustainability, and reduction of the carbon footprint in the region.

The nominees can come from the public, private or non-profit sectors and may hold public office or have done so in the past.

This year’s winner – selected by our independent panel of judges – is Carlos ‘Ucho’ Barrera, CEO of Atlas Renewables, a leading regional Latin American Renewable Energy company that is currently one of the largest solar IPPs in the region.

Since inception, Barrera has led Atlas to create the second largest independent renewables developer in Latin America with 3.0GW of installed capacity, across Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Uruguay, growing by 5x in 6 years and reaching an Enterprise Value more than $3 billion. He also led Atlas in its initial MBO backed by Actis and its sale to Global Infrastructure Partners.

Before becoming CEO of Atlas, Barrera was VP and managing director of SunEdison for Latin America, responsible for the company’s Latin America business unit and with overall accountability for the commercial strategy, operational execution, P&L and regional corporate results. He oversaw the contracting, construction & execution of over 500MW and an overall investment sum of $1bn structured with project finance.

Prior to this role with SunEdison, Carlos undertook numerous executive positions such as general manager for South America in SunEdison where he grew the company’s entry into Latin America from the ground up. He also held the role of development director for Europe, Latin America, North of Africa and Middle East where he was responsible for solar project development and M&A.

Before joining SunEdison, Barrera began his career at BP working on:

• conventional oil & gas
• hydrogen power & carbon capture and storage (CCS) focused on development and strategy in Australia, USA and the EU
• carbon trading segment, mainly focused in China and India
• development of new markets for large-scale projects where he led a number of successful solar project sales to institutional investors across Europe