Jim Howell
President, Strategy
Jim Howell is President of Strategy at Copia Power, where he drives long-term strategy, the launch of new assets and solutions, and the positioning of the company’s portfolio in the changing energy and digital infrastructure markets. He works across the full project lifecycle, advancing large-scale infrastructure projects and supporting Copia’s partners in meeting growth objectives over the next decade.
With more than 15 years of executive leadership experience, Jim has been at the forefront of the Energy Transition as a serial founder of multiple infrastructure companies. He co-founded and served as CEO of Birch Infrastructure, created on the conviction that the digital economy would outgrow the grid and require a new model of development and site selection. Under Birch, he assembled gigawatt-scale portfolios of energy assets capable of meeting hyperscaler needs of new sources of generation and co-founded Rowan Digital Infrastructure, advancing campus-scale projects that delivered hyperscale data centers with new approaches to site selection and bespoke power solutions.
Earlier in his career, Jim co-founded Silverado Power in 2010, where he secured more than 400 MW of utility-scale solar contracts and helped establish one of the earliest large portfolios of solar PPAs. Silverado later evolved into sPower, where Jim served as Chief Development Officer and contributed to the company’s growth into one of the largest independent renewable energy platforms in the U.S. The company was acquired in 2016 by AIMCo and AES and today forms the foundation of AES Renewables.
Jim holds a Bachelor of Arts in Finance from Santa Clara University.