TEAM
Eduardo Tobias Ruiz
Founder and Managing Partner
Eduardo Tobias Ruiz is the founder and Managing Partner of Watt Capital. A renewable energy investments and finance specialist with over 18 years of professional experience, being 15 of which with renewable energies. He participated in the structuring of several project financing loans, M&A transactions (buy and sell side), greenfield project investment analysis and valuation, power auctions’ bid advisory, project business development, business plans and research in the PV (utility-scale and DG), wind and bioenergy sectors mainly in Brazil, but also in Jamaica, Mexico, and Uruguay.
Leading Watt Capital since its foundation in 2020, he has already advised around 20 national and foreign clients in the renewable energy sector in Brazil, among them: Lightsource BP, Albioma, Echoenergia, SER Energia, Bolt Energia, Gold Energia, Apolo Energia, Infinito Energy, TC Solar, AXS Energia, Renobrax, Sykué Bioenergya, Terral Energia, among others.
Formerly, as Partner and Director of CELA Clean Energy Latin America from 2014 to 2020, he advised local and international clients of the private sector in 5 project financing loans (R$ 971 million), including a wind project bond (BBLN11), 6 M&A transactions (1,003 MW) and bidding in wind and solar PV power auctions. Also, he prepared economic feasibility studies, project financial due diligences, and PV DG business plans. Among its clients at CELA were EDP, EDP Renewables, SunEdison, Martifer Renewables, Voltalia, AES Tietê, Casa dos Ventos, Trina Solar, SunCo, Solatio, ERB Energias Renováveis do Brasil, Odebrecht Energias Renováveis (Atvos), Renobrax, Neoenergia (Iberdrola), Sebrae/IDB/OEI, Statoil (Equinor), GreenYellow, Eólica Tecnologia, STEAG, etc.
Prior to CELA, for more than 4 years, he was responsible for the Project Finance and Business Development departments at ERB – Energias Renováveis do Brasil, leading the structuring of the first wood-to-energy project financing in Brazil. He also worked at Infinity Bio-Energy’s Business Development and M&A departments participating in the acquisition and investment of over US$300 million in sugarcane mills in Brazil and Jamaica. Also worked for a brief period at Bloomberg New Energy Finance in Australia and at JP Morgan Chase in Brazil.
Tobias is a co-founder and the coordinator of the Green Hydrogen Task-Force at ABSOLAR (Brazilian Solar PV Association). He is a member of the Thematic Chamber on Opening and Growth of the Market and Competitiveness under PNH2 (Brazilian Hydrogen Program). He represents Brazil in the Cigré working group for the Certification of the Electricity Used to Produce Hydrogen, coordinated by CCEE. He was also the co-founder and vice-coordinator of the Project Financing Work Group of ABSOLAR (2016-17), a member of the finance expert team at NREL’s Clean Energy Finance Solutions Center (2016-18), and a member of the Brazilian Clean Energy Subgroup of CBI – Climate Bonds Initiative (2017-18).
Tobias is a visiting professor at FGV Management since 2014, currently teaching “Project Investment Analysis in the Power Sector” and “Power Sector Financing” in the “Executive MBA of the Power Industry”; at Head Energia he is teaching “Investment Analysis on Renewable Power Plants”; and at FIA Business School from 2015 to 2020 he taught “Project Finance” in the “Executive MBA in Finance”, and “Financial Calculation and Investment Analysis”.
He is the author of the books “Investment Analysis in Bioenergy Greenfield Projects” (2015) and “Investment Analysis in Photovoltaic Energy Projects” (2021), and of many articles on investments and financing of renewable energy projects in Brazil. Additionally, he spoke and/or moderated 30+ renewable energy conferences in Brazil and Germany. He has a BSc. in Business Administration from FGV-EAESP and an MSc. in Bioenergy from FGV-EESP, USP-ESALQ, and EMBRAPA.
André Contani
Associate
André Contani is an Associate at Watt Capital with over 14 years of experience in business management and consulting. His areas of expertise include finance, strategy, business administration, logistics, operations, planning, consulting, business development, training, and lecturing.
Previously, he worked for construction, manufacturing, and consulting companies. Among them Deloitte, serving organizations in sectors such as logistics/transportation, infrastructure, construction, retail, and beverage industry, and the contractor Terrassis. At Terrassis he was responsible for administrative management, leading planning, procurement, human capital, information technology, accounting, marketing, and internal communication.
André holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration (2024) from the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), with a focus on Strategy and Organizational Analysis, as well as an MBA (2020), a Specialization Certificate in Business Intelligence (2017), a B.Eng. in Mechanical Engineering (2008), all from the same institution, and a BSc. in Business Administration (2023) from the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná (PUCPR). He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Business Administration and Logistics.
Matheus Castro
Consultant
Matheus Castro is a consultant at Watt Capital and an engineer with more than 5 years of experience in renewable energy.
Previously, he worked in construction, research, and project development companies. Among them, Voltxs – formatting businesses in distributed generation by integrating PPAs in retail/wholesale to service photovoltaic plants and financial modeling with investors – and the contractor CET Brazil (State Grid Group). In the last, he was responsible for integrating the teams from Brazil and China, providing relevant information for investment decisions in utility-scale photovoltaic and wind generation projects, and developing new businesses, mainly for public tenders.
Matheus is a Specialist in Business Management for the Electrical Sector from FISUL and holds a Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering (2020) from Centro Universitário SENAI CIMATEC.