Kirk leads Hayes Energy Consulting, a boutique firm focused on improving Operational Excellence & Strategy within sustainability, renewable energy, solar, battery storage and emerging technologies. Most recently, Kirk led McKinsey & Company's Cloud Control Tower solution, a group dedicated to revolutionizing the construction industry by enabling transparent communication to quickly surface problem areas, improve communication and drive significant production results.
In addition to McKinsey experience, he was the Director of EPC, SunEdison, and Utility Scale Installation Program Manager, Tesla Motors/Energy.
A veteran of the USMC, Kirk was honorably discharged as a Sgt. (sergeant) after having participated in operations in Iraq and Somalia during the '90's.
Kirk then began his Silicon Valley career in semiconductors and disk media capital equipment, journeying into solar startup technology, followed by solar utility scale power plants and battery storage.
An active member of the Stanford TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy think tank, which funds start-up companies in the energy sector. He also holds a patent related to thin film photovoltaic cells.
Kirk has provided counseling to young entrepreneurs that have successfully exited via acquisition. Has co-led funding through series C for a total of $50 million.
Kirk spearheaded the only profitable division of the worlds largest renewable company during a bankruptcy by strategically structuring joint venture entities for customer assets in development.
Has led teaching globally for Project Management College and Lean Construction Institute around best practices for operations and execution.
Electrical engineering background combined with mechanical aptitude and software development enables Kirk to quickly lead diverse teams during New Product Introduction.
Having been a semiconductor customer service engineer as well as leading his own boutique development firm has given Kirk a broad multi cultural customer experience lens to draw from during strategy, product development, team building, and negotiating.
Kirk holds an active Project Management Professional certification (PMP)®, the most important industry-recognized certification for project managers. When more than one-third of employers project managers are PMP-certified, organizations complete more of their projects on time, on budget and meeting original goals. (Pulse of the Profession® study, PMI, 2015.)
Lean Champion: the requirements of such a role are to provide not only technical expertise in the implementation of lean manufacturing initiatives, performing high level analysis such as FMEA's and delivering efficiencies across the value stream, but also educating and imparting knowledge to members of their team.
More than 1.0 GW of utility scale renewable projects totaling $1.7 billion in value. Leverage my "lessons learned" for a succesful project!
Think you can do better, but not sure where or how? Let my team help! Popular topics are typically Engineering and Supply Chain.
Are you an owner looking for an experienced "owners rep"? Interested in how the "Best in Class" folks run their teams?
From EPC due diligenece, to "what does it cost to manufacture a module", or should I invest in this portfolio? We can help! We have experience and a deep network of friends across the industry. Supply chain, development, engineering, construction, private equity.
The Lean Coffee format is both easy to follow and effective at facilitating learning and collaboration through group discussions. Although the name combines ‘Lean’ (eg. Lean Thinking, Lean Startup, etc.) and ‘Coffee’ (implying casual morning sessions), neither the topics nor the meeting times need be so rigid.
Behind schedule, over budget, putting out fires every day? I can help. My team and I can provide an audit, identify areas for process improvement and implement proven strategies that delivered 20-30% gains in previous projects we have been involved with.
Kirk continues Capital Projects productivity improvement with a focus on clean technology industries.
2016-2018
Kirk heads the development of McKinsey's proprietary cloud based Capital Projects productivity tool. In addition to being a Project Controls and KPI expert, Kirk is one of McKinsey's "go to" renewable energy experts and has participated in numerous client facing studies in Europe, Middle East, South East Asia, and North America on topics ranging from strategy, technical feasabiliy, and portfolio due diligence to O&M optimization leveraging machine learning and A.I. (artificial intelligence).
2012-2016
Director of EPC for the worlds largest renewable developer
Kirk delivered over 1GW of utility scale solar projects with a 1BN capex responsibility. During this period Kirk also honed the Lean Construction skills of a major EPC partner and realized a 20% reduction in EPC services.
Kirk also deployed multiple commercial generation Tesla Energy projects (behind the meter) in California in PG&E and SCE territories, while also responding to a battery storage SDG&E RFO.
2012-2015
Reverse Stack Structures for Thin-Film Photovoltaic Cells
A method for manufacturing a photovoltaic cell, comprising: depositing a photo active layer onto a first substrate; depositing a contact layer onto the photo active layer; attaching a second substrate onto the contact layer; removing the first substrate from the photo active layer, contact layer, and second substrate; depositing a buffer layer onto the photoactive layer on a side opposite from the contact layer after removing the first substrate from the photo active layer; and forming a semiconductor material in the buffer layer from the photo active layer and the buffer layer.
2010-2012
Leveraging skills learned in semiconductors and disk media, Kirk optimized and built a solar cell manufacturing line. Kirk also pioneered a unique solution for manufacturing CIGS solar cells on glass which was awarded a patent in 2015.
1996-2010
Kirk launches a semiconductor career following an honorable discharge from the Unites States Marine Corps. Spending time in both semiconductors and disk media, Kirk held various leadership positions in customer service, operations and manufacturing, and quality.
Supports Intel, IBM, Hitachi, Chartered, TSMC, Samsung, Siltera, UMCi, Western Digital, Seagate, TDK
Kirk Hayes
Issaquah
WA