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An internet search changed Art Del Rio’s life.
He was a young professional from East Los Angeles (LA) when the Great Recession of 2008 hit. He was not only suddenly out of a job, but also watching long-tenured veterans struggle to find work, too. That’s when Del Rio heard something about former President Barack Obama’s plans to elevate renewable energy in the United States. So, he completed a web search, exploring “renewable energy in San Diego, California,” and found a role as a contract manager at enXco, which later became EDF Renewables.
After a career in mortgage banking where he climbed the corporate finance ladder for eleven years, Del Rio hit the reset button on his career and took the entry-level position. Although the move was a calculated risk, Del Rio remained unfazed. After all, he’s spent most of his life and career defying norms and challenging perceptions, getting him to where he is now—the vice president of technical services at EDF Renewables North America.
Del Rio, who was born in Spain to Cuban parents, immigrated to Southern California in the late 1970s. No stranger to overcoming challenges, his blue-collar parents worked hard to earn an income and shield their children from the drugs and violence that ran rampant in Southeast LA. Like many of his peers, Del Rio saw education as a way out.
“I make supporting others a game. I try to see how many times I can help a young person achieve their goals and dreams.”
Art Del Rio
Still, he admits that he didn’t originally take college seriously enough. He was coasting through an inexpensive community college, studying criminal justice so he could join the Los Angeles Police Department. When he met and started to pursue a young woman with a full scholarship to one of the region’s top liberal arts schools, though, things changed.
“This woman told me to find a different way to use my education to help people, and she pushed me to start taking school more seriously,” Del Rio explains. He followed her advice, and the two are now married.
Fifteen years after his professional reboot, Del Rio has seen the small organization he joined grow to become a leader in global renewable energy. Today, the company produces and delivers wind, solar, and energy storage-generated power across North America, holding 18 gigawatts (GW) of developed projects and 14.6 GW under service contracts.
As VP of technical services and chief technical officer, Del Rio searches for new renewable energy technologies that help maximize performance, energy production, and safety while driving the cost of energy down. He manages teams that deal with engineering, geographical information systems, strategic procurement, measurements and testing, wind/solar/energy storage product management, energy assessment, and innovation. In total, Del Rio leads about ninety-five people across US, Canada, and Mexico.
Managing a large team can be a challenge, but Del Rio navigates it by relying on two things: exposure and access. The executive reserves time for each person he works with, making the commitment to each of them that within twelve months, they will all have a personalized career development plan.
“If people want face time with me, they get it, and I allow everyone to showcase their work and share what they’ve accomplished,” he says.
So, why does Del Rio take such an interest in the success of his employees? Because he knows what it’s like to need support. “I want those aspiring to grow in a career or transition to another industry to know that it is possible. If I did it as a poor kid from Southeast LA, they can do it, too,” he encourages.
Being exposed to the Southeast LA environment marked Del Rio definitively. “People’s expectations of you are often very low because they make assumptions based on where you come from,” he says. He can remember noticing a perceptible shift in early career conversations any time he mentioned his childhood. In fact, Del Rio once quit telling his story for a time, choosing to stay quiet so others wouldn’t lower the bar for him.
“I want those aspiring to grow in a career or transition to another industry to know that it is possible. If I did it as a poor kid from Southeast LA, they can do it, too.”
Art Del Rio
The experience has motivated Del Rio to do all he can to help other overlooked and underrepresented individuals within EDF. “I make supporting others a game,” he says. “I try to see how many times I can help a young person achieve their goals and dreams.”
His efforts compel employees to give their very best and succeed even on tough projects like the Arrow Canyon solar and storage facility in Clark County, Nevada. The site features 275-megawatt (MW) peak of solar power and a 75 MW-five-hour battery storage system, located on land leased from the Moapa Band of Paiute Indians.
EDF Renewables started construction at Arrow Canyon just after the pandemic lockdowns ended. Del Rio and other EDF leaders leaned on their partners to mitigate delays and problems associated with procurement, manufacturing, construction, and logistics, finding success in innovative team preparation. Arrow Canyon became operational in 2022, generating enough energy for up to 76,000 Nevada homes; it also powered Super Bowl LVIII between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers.
“People talk about perseverance in crisis, but you really need an empowered team,” he explains. “It’s in our DNA to take creative approaches to solve problems, and we give our people the tools, resources, and freedom to make the decisions they feel are right.”
With the Inflation Reduction Act and other legislation providing tax credits for wind, solar, and energy storage projects, industry insiders are forecasting exponential growth for renewables over the next decade. In response, EDF is adding jobs and partnering with suppliers to ramp up manufacturing in the US for the future.
As Del Rio thinks about what’s next, his mind is on raising awareness for careers in engineering, environmental law, applied mathematics, sustainable construction, renewable energy development, and adjacent fields. He remembers what it was like to lack mentors and role models as a young Latino. At age fourteen, he found his way to a vocational school located in downtown LA (Abram Friedman Occupational Center) despite not feeling passionate about skilled labor, because he couldn’t envision anything else.
“If someone would have just stepped into that classroom at any point in time and showed me all that was possible, it would have totally transformed my life,” he says.
Now, Del Rio wants to be that person for the next generation.
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