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Macquarie Capital is hiring a Tesla Inc. business development director to lead the firm’s efforts to expand in the energy storage, electric transportation, microgrid and virtual power plant business.

Greg Callman, who helped direct Tesla’s expansion into energy storage, will join Macquarie Capital -- an arm of Australia-based Macquarie Group Ltd. -- by the end of the month as the global head of energy technology in San Francisco. Macquarie Capital offers advisory and capital-market services.

Callman’s hire comes as banks are increasingly positioning themselves to profit from burgeoning storage and mobility technologies now being commercialized. Surging demand for lithium-ion batteries, particularly from the electric car industry, has created efficiencies of scale that have sent manufacturing costs plunging. Last year alone, the price of battery packs fell 24 percent, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

“What we’re excited about: How to take multiple technologies and put them together,” Callman said in a phone interview.

Earlier this year, Macquarie teamed with a New York-based venture firm to search for the next big thing in energy and infrastructure innovation. It has already helped finance energy-storage projects.

Callman will report to Michael Silverton, head of Macquarie Capital Americas, and Mark Dooley, Macquarie Capital’s global head of green energy. Silverton described the bank’s efforts to expand in energy technology as “more than a business message. We want to be at the forefront of this industry,” he said.

— With assistance by Dana Hull