Primary Energy Recycling names new CEO

White Plains, New York-based private investment firm Fortistar has announced that it has appointed Mo Klefeker as CEO of its portfolio company Primary Energy Recycling, Oak Brook, Illinois. Klefeker, who succeeds John D. Prunkl, assumed the role effective Nov. 2, 2015. Primary Energy Recycling helps industrial companies create value from waste energy by building, owning and operating waste-heat-to-power (WHP) and combined-heat-and-power (CHP) plants at their manufacturing locations.

“Mo has significant management, operational and financial experience in energy generation and management services,” says Mark Comora, president of Fortistar, which holds Primary Energy Recycling in its energy portfolio. “He understands how important it is today for energy producers and industrial companies to operate efficiently and capture their waste energy—whether steam or heat—and turn that into a lower carbon energy source. We are excited to have him lead the next phase of growth for Primary Energy Recycling,”

Comora adds, “I want to personally thank John Prunkl who was instrumental in building Primary Energy Recycling. After 12 years of service, John is leaving the company with a solid management team in place and employees who are dedicated to Primary Energy’s mission. The company’s long-term customer relationships, contracts and operations are strong because of John’s effective leadership.”

Prunkl, who stepped down to pursue other opportunities in the energy industry, will continue to serve as non-executive senior advisor until May 2016.

Klefeker, who returns to Illinois from Colorado, most recently served as president and CEO of Denver-based Southwest Generation, which operates natural gas-fired generating facilities in California, New Mexico and Colorado. There he led the growth of the company to $1 billion, expanding the company’s power purchase contracts and embarking upon a strategy to develop wind, solar PV and combined heat and power projects. He also created and drove a culture of employee and workplace safety across the organization. Klefeker has worked in the independent power and utility industry his entire career, including 14 years with the utility that serves Northwest Indiana, where Primary Energy Recycling’s projects are located.

“I’m excited to join Primary Energy Recycling, which has an excellent reputation for identifying and then executing upon CHP and WHP strategies that make energy-intensive companies more competitive. By reducing customers’ energy costs and emissions, Primary Energy Recycling goes beyond just identifying the opportunities—the company delivers bottom-line results,” says Klefeker. “I believe that the company is well-positioned for growth and I look forward to working closely with current customers to reliably meet their energy needs.”

For decades as a privately-owned firm, Fortistar has built, invested in and managed successful carbon-reducing energy initiatives in the U.S. and Canada. In addition to Primary Energy Recycling, the firm’s portfolio includes cogeneration projects, landfill gas-to-energy initiatives, biomass facilities, and TruStar Energy, one of the nation’s leading developers of compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling stations.

Headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois, Primary Energy Recycling creates value for its customers by capturing and recycling waste energy from industrial and electric generation processes and converting it into reliable and economical electricity and thermal energy. The company’s technology also helps organizations reduce emissions and costs, by capturing more heat from blast furnaces and coke ovens, maximizing CHP efficiency and shifting fuel from coke to pulverized coal. By partnering with Primary Energy Recycling, energy producers can increase revenue by selling converted energy and industrial users can reduce energy costs and reduce emissions.

Primary Energy Recycling, a Fortistar portfolio company, owns and operates four recycled energy projects and has a 50 percent interest in a pulverized coal facility. The company has a combined electrical generating capacity of 298 megawatts and a combined steam generating capacity of 1.8 million pounds per hour.