We meet Willy, project development team leader, at his workplace. He has just thrown the ball across the room to Timmy, the office dog, giving him 5 seconds before Timmy happily puts the ball back down in front of him.

Willy! Great that you found the time for the interview. An office dog like Timmy is a great team partner, what do you think?

Hi Philipp! Timmy is the dog of our working student Joleen and therefore an important and fully-fledged member of our team. He provides variety and therefore a good working atmosphere, which in turn reduces stress.

When Timmy isn’t drawing all the attention to himself: What does everyday life in project development look like, what topics do you deal with?

As a project developer, this involves typical development tasks. In most cases, project development means that a suitable and attractive project opportunity must first be identified. This can mean, for example, that during the acquisition process we enquire about sites that meet certain location criteria. However, project opportunities also often arise through cooperation with other companies or existing contacts from previous projects. These project opportunities then all require secured usage rights for the area as well as a grid connection, planning permission, financing, an investor, a marketer, an EPC and an O&M contract. We take care of all these issues during project development in such a way that the result is a ready-to-build project.

This is actually very extensive. You are 3 permanent employees and 2 working students. How do you divide up the work?

First of all, we are currently looking to strengthen our team due to the large number of tasks.

On the one hand, the existing team is divided up in such a way that a project is ideally always managed by two people – thus providing a safeguard in the event of absence due to vacation or illness. On the other hand, we all have different areas of responsibility, e.g. approval planning, financing or maintaining our relationships with investors. This focus is always supplemented by the various tasks that arise in the respective project.

To give you an example: the approval planning is drawn up for project X and I am part of the responsible project team. It is then my job to support our main person responsible for approval planning and to gather all the necessary information. This can be information from the relevant authorities, but also input from other departments. As project managers, we all work on an interdisciplinary basis both inside and outside TRICERA – it can be complex, but it is also very varied and exciting.

Communicating with external services and authorities is certainly not always easy. How do you deal with all the bureaucratic challenges?

The bureaucratic challenges are often based on slow communication because it is not yet digitalized. Direct telephone calls or on-site meetings can help here. Overall, the state-specific building regulations and the associated differences from state to state pose a challenge, because findings from state A cannot always be transferred to state B.

Overall, however, I would like to emphasize that the regulatory framework for battery storage systems has improved noticeably under the current federal government and that these changes have already reached many authorities. Compared to the start of our project development three years ago, parts of the approval process are now more clearly and uniformly regulated, for example the question of whether a development plan is required for projects located in the outer areas of municipalities.

Let’s take a closer look at your personal background. You already worked for a battery storage company during your industrial engineering studies. What was it like at TRICERA?

I joined TRICERA as a working student in project development and was still in the final stages of my studies. I wanted to continue working in the battery storage industry and at the same time learn about renewable energy sources such as PV and wind and the associated business cases – project development was able to offer me this perspective. I then also wrote my thesis at TRICERA and was subsequently taken on.

With more hours per week, I was then able to get to know other areas of work, such as working with investors. The team leader at the time, Sophia (see previous interview), then reoriented herself internally after a few months and I was able to follow in her footsteps. Since then, I have been in charge of Project Development Germany at TRICERA.

If I’ve been paying attention correctly, you have a soft spot for soccer and enjoy watching and playing it yourself. What skills help you on the pitch and at your desk?

First of all, on an individual level, sport offers me a way to balance out everyday office life – which is also a lot of fun. I’ve also been part of the team council for a while now. There we are allowed to organize appointments and events and are available to everyone in the team as contact persons in case of problems. As the link between the team and the coaching team, it’s partly our job to maintain the team chemistry and moderate any problems.

Regardless of this, soccer as a team sport teaches us that the best teams are those that push each other positively and interact constructively. Even if soccer is traditionally more hierarchical, this aspect, for example, can also be transferred very well to a working environment with flat hierarchies.

What do you think makes TRICERA stand out as an employer?

I think TRICERA is characterized by the fact that we are a comparatively young company with many young people. As a result, there is a very large overlap in personal views, interests and hobbies. As many employees are also friends with each other and we have a company sports club, events take place quite frequently alongside work, for example beach volleyball or billiards tournaments or joint participation in the REWE Team Challenge. With a pool table, table tennis table and weekly yoga classes in the office, there is even a bit of a start-up feeling, even if we are no longer really that with around 90 employees.

I also really appreciate the fact that we work together in a spirit of trust and that I can organize my working hours almost freely thanks to flexitime – if my schedule allows.

Speaking of battery storage and recharging batteries: Which location do you recommend in and around Dresden if you want to relax and recharge your batteries?

The Geh8 summer garden in Pieschen is a great place to eat pizza and relax. It is surrounded by a small park, soccer pitches and table tennis tables for a bit of exercise. Otherwise, the culinary offerings in Neustadt are always worth a visit.

Who are you “nominating” for the next interview and why?

I nominate our number cruncher Ralf (CFO). He’s still relatively new to our company and I’m interested in gaining a deeper insight into his day-to-day work.