What interviewers actually evaluate

AES sales interviews test whether candidates understand how selling renewable energy and utility services differs from industrial or commercial sales – where corporate power purchase agreement sales for AES Clean Energy require financial and technical sophistication that exceeds standard consultative selling (buyers are treasury executives, sustainability directors, and procurement professionals evaluating 15 to 25 year financial commitments that require credit analysis, basis risk assessment, and alignment with corporate Scope 2 accounting frameworks that determine whether a PPA structure qualifies for RE100 renewable energy reporting), where utility renewable procurement sales require understanding of state renewable portfolio standard mandates, PJM interconnection queue dynamics, and project delivery certainty that determines whether AES Clean Energy proposals advance in formal utility RFP evaluations over competing developers, where AES Indiana and AES Ohio commercial account management involves rate case education and distributed energy solution selling within the regulatory constraints that govern what vertically integrated utilities can offer commercial customers without PUC approval, and where development-stage origination requires landowner option negotiation and community relationship building that establishes the social license wind and solar projects need before permitting can begin. Sales at AES spans corporate renewable PPA sales to Fortune 500 companies pursuing RE100 commitments (where the commercial conversation involves virtual versus physical PPA structure selection, basis risk explanation for treasury counterparts, and credit support negotiation for counterparties whose ratings determine whether AES can offer unsecured 15-year terms), utility RPS procurement sales (where state renewable portfolio standards drive competitive solicitations that AES Clean Energy participates in across PJM and other wholesale markets, requiring development certainty documentation and offtake flexibility that utility IRPs require), commercial and industrial account development at AES Indiana and AES Ohio (where large commercial customers evaluating time-of-use rates, demand response, and behind-the-meter distributed energy solutions require account management that understands the regulatory boundaries on what AES can offer and the load analysis that demonstrates DER product value), and development-stage project origination for AES Clean Energy's renewable pipeline (where identifying viable sites, engaging host landowners in option agreements, and building early community relationships in target geographies represents the first commercial act before interconnection queue entry).

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What interviewers actually evaluate

Corporate PPA Deal Structure, Utility RFP Positioning, and C&I Account Development

AES sales interviews probe whether candidates understand how energy sales differs from general commercial sales in the buyer sophistication requirement (corporate renewable PPA buyers include treasury professionals who understand basis risk between the PPA settlement hub and the buyer's actual load location, sustainability executives who know the difference between market-based and location-based Scope 2 accounting, and procurement teams negotiating contract terms that will govern a 15 to 25 year financial relationship – candidates who describe PPA sales as consultative selling without engaging with the financial and technical sophistication of corporate renewable procurement will not be credible in these buyer conversations), the utility procurement process formality (utility RFPs are structured evaluation processes where AES Clean Energy must demonstrate interconnection queue position, project development milestones, and contract term flexibility that satisfies the utility's IRP compliance timeline – sales professionals who approach utility RFP response as relationship selling rather than as a technical and financial proposal process will not advance in competitive evaluations), and the regulatory constraint on utility commercial sales (what AES Indiana and AES Ohio can offer commercial customers is bounded by PUC-approved tariff schedules and interconnection standards, requiring account managers who understand what solutions are available within the regulatory framework and which customer requests require new tariff development the PUC must approve before AES can deliver).

The development-stage origination dimension requires understanding that the commercial value of a renewable site depends on resource quality, transmission access, and community acceptance that must be assessed before AES commits development capital – and origination professionals who approach landowner engagement as standard real estate transactions without understanding interconnection queue strategy and community acceptance factors will not serve AES's development economics. AES's Fluence joint venture with Siemens creates additional storage product sales opportunities that require technical fluency around capacity market participation, ancillary services revenue modeling, and the dispatch rights structures that determine how storage value is shared between AES and the storage buyer.

What gets scored in every session

Specific, sentence-level feedback.

Dimension	What it measures	How to answer
Corporate renewable PPA structure and buyer financial analysis	Do you understand how to structure a PPA proposal for a corporate renewable buyer – how to present the VPPA versus physical PPA trade-off, explain basis risk to a treasury counterpart, and assess what credit support structure AES would require given the buyer's credit profile and the 15-year payment obligation? We flag sales answers that describe corporate PPA sales as relationship management without engaging with the financial structure and credit analysis that sophisticated corporate renewable buyers require.	VPPA versus physical PPA structure comparison for buyer RE100 compliance, basis risk explanation for treasury counterpart, credit support structure for investment-grade versus below-investment-grade buyer
Utility RFP response strategy and development certainty positioning	Can you describe how to develop AES Clean Energy's competitive position in a utility renewable solicitation – how to document project development certainty through interconnection queue position and permitting milestones, what contract term flexibility positions AES favorably against competing developers, and how to address a utility's questions about delivery timeline certainty given AES's development stage at RFP submission? We score whether your utility sales approach engages with the RFP process formality and development certainty documentation that distinguish competitive utility procurement from direct customer sales.	Interconnection queue position and permitting milestone documentation, contract term flexibility for utility IRP compliance timing, development certainty competitive differentiation against other solar and wind developers
C&I commercial account development within utility regulatory constraints	Do you understand how to develop commercial accounts at AES Indiana and AES Ohio – how to identify large commercial customers whose load profile creates value for time-of-use rate participation or behind-the-meter DER solutions, what the regulatory constraints are on what AES can offer under current tariff schedules, and how to structure the economic analysis that demonstrates DER value for a specific customer's demand charge profile? We detect sales answers that describe utility commercial account management as key account relationship management without engaging with the regulatory boundaries that define what AES can actually offer commercial customers.	Commercial customer load profile analysis for TOU and DER value identification, regulatory constraint review for current versus new tariff product availability, demand charge reduction economic analysis for C&I DER proposal
Development-stage origination and renewable project pipeline building	Can you describe how to build AES Clean Energy's renewable project pipeline through development-stage origination – how to identify target geographies with favorable renewable resource, transmission access, and permitting environment, what the landowner option agreement negotiation involves including payment structures and development timeline contingencies, and how to develop early community relationships that create project acceptance before formal permitting begins? We flag sales answers that describe origination as site identification without engaging with interconnection queue strategy and community acceptance development that determine whether identified sites advance to commercial operation.	Target geography selection based on resource, transmission, and permitting environment, landowner option agreement structure and development timeline contingencies, early community relationship building before opposition organization

How a session works

Step 1: Choose an AES sales scenario – corporate renewable PPA structure and buyer financial analysis, utility RFP response strategy and development certainty positioning, C&I commercial account development within utility regulatory constraints, or development-stage origination and renewable project pipeline building.

Step 2: The AI interviewer asks realistic AES-style questions: how you would structure the PPA proposal for a Fortune 100 technology company seeking RE100 compliance in PJM, including whether to recommend a VPPA or physical PPA given the buyer's load in multiple PJM zones, how to explain settlement basis risk to the buyer's treasury team, and what credit support AES would require given the buyer's A- credit rating and proposed 20-year term; how you would develop AES Clean Energy's response to a Midcontinent ISO utility solicitation for 350 MW of solar to meet a 2030 RPS milestone, including how to document development certainty for a project in the interconnection queue at the feasibility study stage, what price structure positions AES competitively, and how to handle the utility's question about delivery timeline risk; or how you would approach commercial account development for a 3 MW peak demand manufacturing facility in AES Indiana's service territory that wants to explore behind-the-meter solar plus storage, including what the interconnection tariff constraints are on exporting generation and how to structure the demand charge reduction economic case.

Step 3: You respond as you would in the actual interview. The system scores your answer on PPA deal structure, utility RFP positioning, C&I account development, and origination pipeline strategy.

Step 4: You get sentence-level feedback on what demonstrated genuine energy sales expertise and what needs stronger corporate PPA financial analysis engagement or utility procurement process specificity.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does AES Clean Energy sell and who buys it?
AES Clean Energy develops and sells electricity from wind, solar, and battery storage projects through long-term power purchase agreements. Buyers are primarily large corporations with renewable energy commitments (Fortune 500 companies pursuing RE100 goals or Scope 2 emission reduction targets), electric utilities seeking to meet state renewable portfolio standard requirements, and municipalities and cooperatives procuring renewable capacity for local grid needs. PPAs typically run 15 to 25 years and require buyers who understand long-term energy contract financial obligations and basis risk.

How does a virtual PPA differ from a physical PPA for corporate buyers?
A physical PPA delivers electricity at a specified delivery point, with the buyer taking the generation output. A virtual PPA settles financially – AES sells the power into the wholesale market and pays the buyer the difference when the market price exceeds the agreed PPA price, or collects when the market price is below. Virtual PPAs allow buyers to support renewable development in any grid region without being in that region's service territory, but they expose buyers to basis risk between the project's settlement hub and the buyer's actual electricity purchases. Which structure works best depends on the buyer's load location, renewable energy accounting goals, and risk appetite.

What makes utility renewable procurement different from corporate PPA sales?
Utility renewable procurement is typically a formal RFP process where the utility evaluates multiple developers against published criteria including pricing, project development certainty, contract flexibility, and counterparty financial strength – often tied to state RPS obligations with specific delivery timelines. Corporate PPA sales involves a more relationship-driven process where AES identifies companies with sustainability commitments and structures proposals around specific energy and accounting goals. The utility buyer is regulated and accountable to a state PUC for its procurement decisions; the corporate buyer answers to sustainability commitments and financial return on renewable investment.

What role does development-stage origination play in AES's sales function?
Development-stage origination is the first commercial activity in AES Clean Energy's project development process – securing rights to develop renewable energy through option agreements with host landowners before the project enters the interconnection queue. Without an origination pipeline, AES has no projects to bring to utility or corporate buyers. Origination requires understanding of renewable resource quality, transmission access and interconnection queue strategy, land use and permitting environment, and community acceptance factors that determine whether a project can obtain local permits and zoning approvals.

How do AES Indiana and AES Ohio commercial accounts differ from AES Clean Energy's customer base?
AES Indiana and AES Ohio commercial and industrial customers are captive ratepayers within regulated utility service territories – they cannot choose a different electricity supplier, so AES's commercial account function focuses on rate product education, demand response enrollment, and distributed energy product development rather than competitive acquisition. AES Clean Energy's customers choose AES over competing renewable developers in a competitive market, making deal structure, pricing, project delivery certainty, and relationship credibility the key differentiators.