(Bloomberg) -- Clean energy developer EnergyRe LLC is hiring top executives from EDP Renewables as it embraces a new model of bringing wind and solar power directly to cities, according to a release Wednesday.

Miguel Prado has been tapped as chief executive officer and Ryan Brown as its chief operating officer. Prado previously headed EDP Renewables North America, where Brown was an executive vice president. The pair will help EnergyRe develop renewable energy generation, including wind and solar farms, in rural U.S. areas, as well as build transmission lines to carry the carbon-free electricity they produce to cities.

“The amount of land you need for a wind farm or solar farm is very big and isn’t available when you get close to the cities,” Prado said in an interview. “Transmission is the solution for that.”

The company’s founding investors include principals of real estate firm Related Cos. and a team of Related executives led by Glenn Goldstein will manage a New York-based project, according to the release. Some experts have estimated that the U.S. grid needs to be expanded by as much as 60% for wind and solar power to make up half of U.S. electricity capacity by 2030.

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