Twenty years from the field to leading Operations and Maintenance in Southern Europe

When Fran Hernández joined RES two decades ago as a Health & Safety Technician, the largest turbines going up were 1.5 MW and 2 MW machines. He was in the field, working alongside the technicians keeping those early projects running – learning the business where the work actually happens.

He has now been appointed Regional Director of O&M for Southern Europe.

A career built across the business

Fran’s route has taken him through most of the operational side of RES. From his early years in Health & Safety, he moved through construction and commissioning, developed maintenance procedures, and later spent more than a decade in Supply Chain and Spare Parts. Each transition added a layer that the next would build on.

That depth matters in a business like O&M, where circumstances shift constantly, across new countries, new technologies and situations nobody planned for. For Fran, the most important thing he gained from those years was not technical knowledge alone, but a clear understanding of what it actually takes to keep an operation working.

“Being out in the field, trying to support colleagues from a safety perspective as they faced the day-to-day challenges of operating and maintaining these assets, gave me first-hand insight into their role and the great work they do.”

Understanding the need before the solution

His time in Supply Chain added a different kind of perspective. After years of working to keep assets operational from the logistics side, Fran arrived at a conclusion that shapes how he thinks about leadership today: before you can find efficiency, you first need to understand what people actually need.

“I believe the most important thing for an operation to work well is to listen to and understand the needs of both internal and external customers. From there come efficiency, structure and service excellence.”

That clarity of focus extends to customers too. For Fran, a customer relationship is not a transaction – it is something built over time, grounded in trust and transparency.

“Clear communication and transparency with the customer make the relationship stronger. We should not think about the relationship only in the moment, but rather take a longer-term view.”

The same business, a different world

The O&M environment Fran entered in the early 2000s bears little resemblance to the one he leads today. The technology has transformed from those first 1.5 MW machines to turbines of 8 to 9 MW, offshore wind, large-scale solar, hydro refurbishment and the arrival of battery energy storage (BESS) in new markets. But one thing has not changed.

“In renewable energy O&M, we have always been in a state of continuous evolution.”

For Fran, that evolution means staying close to the people doing the work. Geography changes. Climate changes. Working conditions and risks change. The organisation needs to adapt so that technicians have everything they need to do their jobs safely and effectively – and that starts with understanding their reality.

“The most important piece of advice is to put yourself in the shoes of the technician who is facing the challenge of delivering the service in the field.”

What comes next

Southern Europe is entering a new chapter, with new BESS contracts and solar portfolio growth adding to an established wind fleet across an increasingly complex and technically demanding environment. For Fran, RES is approaching it from a strong position.

“The advantage we have as a company is that we have faced these challenges before. Decades of operating in complex environments has taught us a great deal, and we can apply all of it here.”

His ambition for the next three years is straightforward: to make RES the benchmark for technical capability in O&M, while also being the place where people most want to build their careers.

That second part is personal. After 20 years growing within RES, Fran sees in the younger professionals starting out today the person he once was.

“I look back 20 years and think that we need to be able to help them grow professionally so that they can have opportunities like the one I am taking on today.”

Interested in a career in renewable energy O&M? See our current vacancies Current opportunities – RES