Renewable energy advisory · Est. 2022

Advisory for the decisions nobody everyone gets right the first time.

Zephyr Intelligence partners with developers, IPPs, investors, manufacturers, and O&M service providers navigating the energy transition across Western Europe and CEE — with a home-market advantage in Romania.

Zephyr Intelligence
~10 GW
Renewable projects screened
across Romania & CEE
~5 GW
Under technical & commercial
due diligence
471 MW
Tier-1 IPP wind portfolio
under historical management
15+ yrs
Renewable energy
leadership experience
About Zephyr

A boutique advisory built around operator experience.

Zephyr Intelligence was founded in 2022 to bring a different kind of advisory to the renewable energy sector: one built on operator experience, not slide-ware. Our founder spent over a decade inside Vestas, managing a 471 MW wind portfolio for one of Europe's largest renewable IPPs, before moving into country leadership and advisory roles across solar, wind, and battery storage.

We are intentionally small, deliberately senior, and selective about the mandates we accept. We work directly with our clients' executives and boards — not through a hierarchy of junior associates — and we turn down work we are not best-placed to deliver.

Our strength is where strategy meets execution: understanding which projects are worth pursuing, which partners are worth signing, and which operational decisions actually move the numbers.

We are the team international players call when they need to understand what is actually happening on the ground — not what the press releases say. — Our working definition of status quo
What we do

Six practice areas. One integrated perspective.

Our services are organized around the decisions our clients face most often: whether to acquire an asset, how to enter a market, how to build a pipeline, who to partner with, how to manage the operational lifecycle of wind assets — and how to build the team that will execute. Most engagements combine elements of two or more practice areas.

01

M&A Advisory &
Due Diligence

Buy-side and sell-side advisory on wind, solar, and battery energy storage transactions — from first-look screening to non-binding offer, through to signing and integration.

We deliver technical (yield, grid, construction), commercial (CfD / PPA / merchant revenue modelling), and regulatory due diligence, benchmarked against Romanian CfD auction outcomes and comparable M&A transactions. Our work includes seller credibility and counterparty risk assessment, and investment-committee-ready reporting for international sponsors.

Technical DD Commercial DD Valuation Risk matrix NBO pricing
02

Country Management & Market Entry

End-to-end support for international players entering or scaling in Romania and neighboring CEE markets — from strategy through to operational launch.

We cover market entry strategy, local entity setup, team build-out through our curated network of 200+ local professionals, regulatory navigation (ANRE, ANPM, Transelectrica, DSO), government and industry association relationships, and interim country leadership on a retained or fractional basis.

GTM strategy Entity setup Executive search ANRE licensing Fractional country lead
03

Project Screening &
Pipeline Analysis

Systematic screening of development pipelines, operational portfolios, and greenfield opportunities — combining proprietary databases with on-the-ground intelligence.

Our work includes pipeline mapping by stage, developer, and geography; operational fleet analysis of Romania's ~3 GW legacy wind fleet by OEM, turbine, age, owner, and O&M arrangement; grid capacity and interconnection analysis at substation level; and greenfield opportunity identification through wind resource and permitting feasibility mapping.

Pipeline maps Fleet analysis Grid capacity Greenfield Market intelligence
04

Business Development & Commercial Strategy

Go-to-market design, sales acceleration, and partner sourcing for equipment manufacturers, EPC contractors, and service providers.

We deliver GTM strategy (segmentation, pricing, channels), EPC and O&M partner sourcing, key account development with Romania's top asset owners and utility-scale developers, tender preparation for utility-scale EPC and service contracts, and commercial contract structuring (service, framework, distribution).

GTM design EPC sourcing Key accounts Tender strategy Contracts
05

Wind Turbine Service &
Major Components

Specialized advisory for wind asset owners, IPPs, and service providers across the operational lifecycle — from O&M contract strategy through major component campaign execution. This is where our founder's operator background delivers the most concentrated value.

We cover O&M contract management (strategy, negotiation, and lifecycle management of AOM, SAM, EBL, full-scope, and warranty agreements with major OEMs and ISPs), service contract tendering (end-to-end RFP and evaluation on behalf of asset owners), financial modelling of WTG O&M costs, LCOE impact, and availability-based revenue, supplier and vendor tenders for major components and specialist contractors, execution budgeting for operational fleets, and project management of generator, gearbox, blade, main bearing, and transformer exchanges — including crane logistics, weather-window planning, warranty claims, and post-repair commissioning.

O&M contracts Service tenders Gearbox · Generator · Blade Crane logistics Financial modelling Execution budgeting
06

Head-hunting &
HR Sourcing

Specialized executive search and technical recruitment for the renewable energy sector — from mid-management leadership roles through engineering specialists down to field technicians. Built on fifteen years of direct operational relationships, not a LinkedIn database.

We maintain a curated pool of 300+ renewable energy professionals in Romania and CEE — people our founder has worked alongside, hired, partnered with, or evaluated in the course of a fifteen-year career inside OEMs, IPPs, and service providers. When a client needs a Country Manager, a Senior Technical Director, a lead site manager, or a team of certified wind technicians, we know the individual candidates personally — their track record, their current situation, and whether they are actually open to a move.

Executive search Technical specialists Wind technicians 300+ candidate pool Direct relationships
Track record

Selected engagements & career highlights.

We work under strict confidentiality with most of our clients. The examples below are a mix of publicly announced work, career milestones under previous employers, and anonymized case studies representative of our practice.

Wind O&M Vestas · Tier-1 IPP client 471 MW

Major IPP portfolio renewal & exclusivity agreement

Led the Vestas-side commercial team on the renewal of the company's entire Romanian service portfolio with a tier-1 European IPP — 170 turbines totaling 471 MW — in a competitive tender against two independent service providers.

What began as a renewal of two expiring contracts was expanded through negotiation into an exclusivity agreement across the client's entire Romanian fleet, requiring coordination across CRM, Service Sales, Operations, Global Service, KAM, and Legal with negotiation rounds in the IPP's HQ city and Bucharest.

→ Multi-year exclusivity agreement · 98.7% availability delivered
Wind O&M Major components Portfolio-wide

Major component campaign execution

Over eight years managing Vestas' service relationships with Romanian IPPs, oversaw execution of major WTG component exchanges across the operational fleet — gearbox, generator, blade, main bearing, and transformer replacements on V90 and V100 platforms.

Scope included crane mobilization planning (LTM heavy-lift units), weather-window scheduling, crew logistics, warranty claims handling, and commercial negotiation of service contract renewals with CAPEX/OPEX modelling and multi-year fleet budgeting.

→ 93% hit rate on new & renewed contracts over 5 consecutive years
Solar PV & BESS Market entry Greek distributor

Romanian market entry for a Greek equipment distributor

Designed and executed the Romanian market entry for an official Trina Solar distributor and Huawei/CATL partner with 700+ MWp of modules and 400+ MWp of inverters delivered in home markets.

Deliverables included full GTM strategy, proprietary database of 55+ Romanian EPC contractors with decision-maker contacts, outreach templates, and pricing competitiveness analysis across Trina, Huawei, Sungrow, KOSTAL, CATL, Pylontech, BYD, and Dyness platforms.

→ Trina + Huawei + CATL bundle identified as primary differentiator
Onshore wind M&A 76.6 MW portfolio Buy-side DD

Wind portfolio acquisition due diligence

Conducted buy-side due diligence on a 76.6 MW onshore wind portfolio in Brăila County. Work covered seller corporate background, wind resource benchmarked against comparable assets, CfD strike price analysis across three auction rounds, and LILO grid connection risks.

Identified a material seller credibility issue — an ANRE suspension of a related project — and reframed it as the lead risk item in the final recommendation.

→ €15–21M NBO valuation range delivered with structured risk matrix
Utility-scale wind Turkish IPP Strategy & CfD

Romania strategy for a Turkish IPP

Advising a Turkish energy group on its Romanian renewable strategy, including a ~42–50 MW CfD-backed wind project in Vaslui (€72.89/MWh, COD target 2028), CfD positioning for subsequent auction rounds, hybrid wind+BESS co-location, and offshore consortium strategy for the Black Sea.

Produced chairman-level strategic briefings, grid curtailment analysis on the 110 kV corridor, and regional expansion recommendations into the Moldova corridor and Banat.

→ Three-phase portfolio strategy: 2026–2028–2032
O&M / ISP Spanish sponsor Market thesis

O&M provider Romania market strategy

Advised a Spanish ISP on Romanian market entry, leveraging the thesis that the country's ~3 GW legacy wind fleet is entering the ISP transition window with no established competitor at scale — compounded by a solar boom and battery storage commissioning wave.

Delivered a proprietary database of operational wind assets by OEM, turbine, owner, and contract status, plus utility-scale solar and BESS pipeline mappings and a three-phase market entry plan.

→ Key account strategy across Romanian IPPs and international developers
Drone inspection NearthLab · EU ops 40+ operators

Cross-border renewable asset inspection operations

Led drone-based inspection operations for renewable infrastructure across multiple EU countries for a Korean-headquartered autonomous inspection technology company — managing 40+ field operators and coordinating cross-border campaign logistics.

Oversaw full P&L and post-campaign reporting, interfaced with national aviation authorities for HSE and flight compliance, and delivered regulatory certification for field operations across jurisdictions.

→ Multi-country renewable inspection delivery programme
Operational scale-up Intero / The Sniffers €5M contract

Country operations scale-up for an international energy services group

Led Romanian operations for Intero – The Sniffers, the European leader in emission measurement and pipeline integrity services for oil & gas, through an accelerated scale-up phase. Grew team from 13 to 33 FTEs, secured and delivered a €5M national service contract, and oversaw ISO 17025 compliance for laboratory operations.

Implemented risk-reduction and compliance processes that reduced operational risk by 27%, and established national-level client delivery with top-tier Romanian energy operators.

→ Team 13 → 33 FTEs · €5M contract secured · −27% operational risk
Sectors

Deep expertise across the renewable value chain.

Onshore Wind

From legacy-fleet O&M transition to greenfield development and CfD-backed construction. Deep familiarity with Romania's Dobrogea and Moldova corridors, and with the operational realities of an aging fleet entering its post-warranty phase.

Platforms Vestas · Enercon · Goldwind · GE · Nordex · Siemens Gamesa

Solar PV

Utility-scale, C&I, and residential segments. Module technology (TOPCon, HJT, ABC), inverter platforms, and EPC ecosystem mapping across Romania's top contractors. Active across the full pipeline from CfD auction through commissioning.

Platforms Trina · AIKO · LONGi · JA · Canadian Solar · Jinko · Huawei · Sungrow · KOSTAL · SMA

Battery Storage

Co-located and standalone BESS across residential, C&I, and utility scales. Tracking Romania's rapidly growing BESS pipeline — including the landmark 1 GWh agreements and PNRR-financed projects — through to commissioning and grid services registration.

Platforms CATL · Pylontech · BYD · Dyness · Sungrow PowerTitan · Huawei LUNA

Geographic reach.

Home market: Romania, Bucharest-based. Active mandates and project experience across Western Europe and CEE. Working languages: English and Romanian.

RORomania BGBulgaria HUHungary PLPoland GRGreece TRTurkey ITItaly ESSpain DEGermany UKUK
Founder

Led personally. Executed senior.

Andrei David · Founder & Managing Director
Andrei David
Founder & Managing Director

Andrei is a renewable energy executive with over 15 years of experience across wind, solar, and energy storage — spanning OEM leadership, country management, and strategic advisory. He founded Zephyr Intelligence in 2022 to apply his operator's perspective to the decisions that define international players' success in the Romanian and wider CEE energy transition.

He spent eight years at Vestas as Key Account and Portfolio Manager, leading commercial operations for a 471 MW wind portfolio and negotiating multimillion-euro service contracts with Romania's largest IPPs. He achieved a 93% hit rate on new and renewed client business over five consecutive years, delivered €25M in annual turnover, and was part of the team that captured the full Romanian service portfolio of a tier-1 European IPP — 170 turbines, 471 MW — in an exclusivity agreement. His Vestas tenure gave him hands-on commercial and technical depth across wind turbine service contract management, major component campaigns (gearbox, generator, blade, transformer), and fleet-wide execution budgeting — the foundation of Zephyr's specialized wind service advisory today.

Since founding Zephyr, Andrei has led country development for multiple international players. As Senior Project Manager, EU Operations at NearthLab, he ran drone-based inspection operations for renewable infrastructure across multiple EU countries — managing 40+ field operators, cross-border logistics, full P&L, and national-authority interfaces for flight and HSE compliance. As Country Operations Manager at Intero – The Sniffers, he led the Romanian scale-up of the European leader in emission measurement and pipeline integrity services, growing the team from 13 to 33 FTEs, securing and delivering a €5M national contract, overseeing ISO 17025 compliance, and reducing operational risk by 27%.

He has also held country roles for a Central European renewable sponsor (+500 MW Romanian pipeline), for a Greek solar equipment distributor active in Romania, and as senior business development lead for a Chinese OEM in the CEE market.

Andrei holds a BA in Business Administration from the Bucharest University of Economic Studies and is currently pursuing an Executive MBA at the London School of Management (75% scholarship). Certified Business Coach (PwC Academy Romania), Prince2 Foundation & Practitioner. Based in Bucharest. Works in English and Romanian.

Connect on LinkedIn
Why us

Four reasons international players choose Zephyr.

i.

Operator experience, not slide-ware.

Our founder has carried P&L, negotiated multi-million euro contracts, managed major turbine component campaigns, and built teams inside one of the world's largest wind OEMs. We know what actually happens after the deck is approved — and we advise accordingly.

ii.

Home-market advantage in Romania.

Romania is one of Europe's most dynamic renewable markets, and also one of the most opaque to outsiders. We have direct relationships with the developers, IPPs, EPCs, regulators, and technicians who make the market work — built over a decade, not over a quarter.

iii.

Proprietary data assets.

We maintain internal databases covering Romania's entire operational wind fleet by turbine, solar and BESS project pipelines, EPC and O&M contractors, and substation-level grid capacity. When we advise, we draw on data most competitors cannot access.

iv.

Senior-only engagement.

Every client engagement is led personally by our founder. We do not use engagements as training grounds for junior consultants. We take fewer mandates and deliver more depth.

Get in touch

Let's discuss your next move.

Whether you are considering an acquisition, entering a new market, managing a wind fleet transition, or looking for the right partner to execute on the ground — we welcome the conversation. Initial discussions are always confidential and obligation-free.

Office · General enquiries
office@zephyrintelligence.com
Direct · Andrei David
david@zephyrintelligence.com
LinkedIn · Founder
linkedin.com/in/david-andrei
Based in
Bucharest, Romania

Start a confidential conversation.