________________________________________________________________________________________________ Main
Interview
Decarbonizing today while designing tomorrow: Javier Cavada shares his view on meeting energy demand with sustainable technologies
With more than 20 years of global experience and a mechanical engineering background, Javier Cavada currently serves as the President and CEO for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa( EMEA) at Mitsubishi Power( Mitsubishi). As the demand for power continues to increase around the globe, we gain insight into how Javier is leading Mitsubishi’ s efforts in the EMEA region with a goal to decarbonize existing infrastructure and explore advanced technologies that accelerate the energy transition.
“ I’ m a mechanical engineer by training and I started off my career as a technical manager for Bosch prior to entering the energy industry,” Javier begins.“ I joined Wärtsilä as a production manager in 2002, and over the course of 16 years, I worked my way up to being the President of the Energy Solution division, where I oversaw 17,000 employees and an installed capacity of more than 67GW [ as of 2018 ]. I then moved to London and became the President and CEO of Highview Power, an energy storage business, before joining Mitsubishi in my current role as the President and CEO for the EMEA region.
“ I was interested in leadership from a young age, and I started to have leadership intentions and ambitions as a teenager. I loved organizing people and events, but early in my career I realized that I loved spreading my energy and giving people a sense of purpose and belonging. Over the course of my career, I’ ve had some fantastic opportunities to learn, travel, and meet lots of new people, which have both diversified and strengthened my approach to leadership. I’ ve experienced many different cultures, having grown up in Spain, then living in Germany for several years, spending five years working in China where efficiency is the priority, and now residing in the UK. Regardless of culture, I believe a good leader is someone who listens and respects their team but can still be fair and direct when needed.”
Turning to his current position, Javier continues:“ There are several elements to my role, but my main priorities are to oversee the company’ s installed base, as well as focusing on new equipment services and aftersales. Mitsubishi’ s technologies and products are designed to last 20-to-40 years, so maintenance is key to ensuring longterm stability and reliability. As a 160-year-old business, we have a huge installed base across EMEA, with Europe historically boasting the largest base, but we’ re currently experiencing the most demand in the Middle East.
newenergy-today. com 9