Conference Speakers

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Guido Agostinelli is the Sector Head for Solar Energy in the Global Energy Infrastructure team at IFC, where he deals with the corporation's investments in Solar PV and Distributed Generation solutions. He created investment opportunities and worked on projects for the World Bank Group totaling more than $2 billion. Prior to joining IFC in 2014, Guido has been managing partner at Syntegra Solar, an international business advisory firm, and senior partner in the venture capital team at Good Energies, a fund focused on renewable energies that backed some of the most successful IPOs in the solar sector in the late 2000s. Earlier in his career, he has held managing positions and served in the advisory boards of leading international R&D institutes such as IMEC and CSEM. Guido holds a PhD in engineering from the University of Gent and an MBA from SDA Bocconi in Milan.

Having joined in 2014, Adele's career at Lightsource by includes servicing as our Head of Global Business Operations, leading the business transformation and digitalisation strategy, and prior to that as Director of Asset Management. Under her guidance, we have successfully implemented several digital transformation strategies, steering Lightsource by through a significant period of change with drive, compassion, and determination. Before joining us, Adele was a Senior Manager at Platina Partners, a private equity fund specialised in renewable energy investments across Europe, where she was responsible for the asset management of a portfolio of wind and solar PV assets. At Platina, Adele was also an Investment Manager with responsibilities over the development and acquisition of solar PV projects in Southern Europe. Prior to this role, Adele served as a corporate and investment bank analyst at Citi. Adele chaired the Lifecycle Quality Workstream at Solar Power Europe from 2020 to 2022. She holds an MSc in Economics for Arts, Culture and Communications Summa Cum Laude from L. Bocconi University in Milan.

Dr Julián Ascencio-Vásquez has more than eight years of experience in the field of PV yield and O&M optimization, currently as Senior Staff Engineer at the Solar Centre of Excellence (CoE) of Envision Digital, and is an active member of the International Energy Agency - Task 13 PVPS Programme. His primary R&D activities include designing and implementing performance and risk modelling and assessment algorithms of PV systems operating worldwide. Before Envision Digital, he worked for several renewable energy companies in Chile, Belgium and France. His academic background includes a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, received in 2021, a B.Sc. in Civil Electrical Engineering from the P. Catholic University of Valparaiso, Chile, M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering and Sustainable Development from the ESIEE-Amiens, France, and M.Sc. in Automated Systems Engineering from the University of Picardie Jules Verne, France. He is the first author and contributor of over 30 scientific articles and reports and a participant and speaker at the most prestigious solar R&D international conferences.

PhD in applied Physics at Physics Department, University of Milan. He studied Physics at University of Milano specializing in nanomaterials for energy applications. From 2012 to 2022 he worked at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission and specifically at the European Solar Test Installation (ESTI). His main role was to design and execute experiments aimed to assess the performances of thin film PV devices ranging from single cells to large area modules and estimate the long term lifetime and degradation rate through accelerated stress test (indoor vs outdoor). From Oct 2023 he started to work at TUV Rheinland as global manager in PV sector. One of his main tasks is to maintain the highest quality standard in the testing and inspection services of PV modules, focusing particular attention to the update and development of new measurement procedures. Since 2023 he is official member of the IEC Technical Committee 82 and actively participates to the activity of Working Group 2.

While studying Mechatronics at the university of applied sciences in Ulm, Julius Bäurle works in the research and development of innovative battery management systems at id-eee. His expertise and passion revolves around methodological prototyping, solar power electronics and battery storage systems.

Josefin Berg, associate director in the Clean Energy Technology group at S&P Global Commodity Insights, analyzes the trends and strategies in the downstream photovoltaic (PV) market. Her focus areas include PV demand and forecasts, company strategies (developers and engineering, procurement and construction providers), mergers and acquisitions, costs and the integration of PV in the power generation mix. She has been following the ever-changing PV market since 2010, starting with Europe and now leading a team of analysts around the world. Berg authors reports on PV markets and trends, and she regularly speaks at industry events. She holds a Master of Science in environmental engineering from Uppsala University, Sweden. She speaks English, French, Spanish and Swedish and is based in Barcelona, Spain.

Jessica Berneiser has been working as a researcher in the team "User Behavior and Field Tests" at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE since 2018. In her research, she examines barriers and drivers of the energy transition, the acceptance of renewable energies and environmental policy measures as well as their social and socio-economic impact. One of her research foci is the social acceptance of agrivoltaics in sub-Saharan Africa. The role of efficacy beliefs in the context of rural electrification is also part of her PhD at the University of Groningen. Furthermore, she has been working as a scientific advisor for the German Council of Experts on Climate Change (ERK) since 2022.

Jiri Bim is a consultant for several Czech companies that are developing PV and Agri-PV project pipelines in Czechia. He deals with aspects of permitting and zoning as well as grid connection and other technical aspects. He has hands-on experience developing ground-mounted PV projects. He is also PhD. student and researcher at FEE CTU in Prague and his main topic are Economic aspects of renewable energy sources. He has focused on agrivoltaics and is also active in establishing legislation for agrivoltaics in CZ and Central Europe. From January 2022 he is a Head of the agrivoltaics section in the Czech Solar Association. Now he focuses mainly on regulation implementation and development large scale photovoltaics and agrivoltaics installations in the Czech Republic.

Philipp is an international expert in island energy supply and rural electrification. He conducted a PhD in engineering about 'Barriers to implementing renewable energies on Caribbean islands' at the TU Berlin. In 2011, he joined the Reiner Lemoine Institut and he started to develop the Off-Grid Systems Research Unit, which he is currently heading. Within the Unit, he develops and manages projects and strategic processes. In 2019 Philipp was appointed Visiting Scholar in the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL) of the University of California, Berkeley as part of the C-BEAR+ project and he is a selected member of the Arab-German Young Academy of Sciences and Humanities (AGYA) at the Berlin Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Since 2020 he is also leading the RLS-Graduate School on Energy System Transition with currently 6 PhD students.

Isabella Caschetto is Product Manager at SMA Solar Technology AG, where she is responsible for CAMOPO.com - a commercial optimization software for Hybrid Power Plants. Her focus is on developing digital products and business models for energy market integration and optimized plant operation. She has deep exercise in energy market and energy management and formerly served as energy consultant for industrial customers supporting them in optimizing energy purchasing and usage.

Tomaso Charlemont is an executive with four decades of experience in Business Development and Supply Chain. After more than 20 years in the field of data communication, he embraced a second career in renewables in 2008. Over the past 16 years Tomaso developed and consolidated his experience in Solar PV joining inverter OEMs Satcon and Chint Power Systems, French EPC Vergnet and British renewables developer RES. Beginning of 2022 he joined BayWa r.e. where he heads the PV Revamping and Repowering business across the EMEA Region addressing with his strong experience the enormous potential of modernizing underperforming PV assets. BayWa r.e. is Europe's leading revamping and repowering expert. Over the past 5 years BayWa r.e. teams have completed over 100 utility-scale projects in 7 countries for a cumulated installed capacity of over 320MW. BayWa r.e. is trusted in all major European markets, with dedicated multidisciplinary teams in Germany, Italy, Spain, UK & Ireland, and France.

Liam Coman is a solar research analyst within the Clean Energy Technology research team at S&P Global. He researches the global PV inverter market within the solar supply chain. He works with suppliers to analyse trends, produce market forecasts and assess the competitive landscape of the solar inverter industry. Prior to joining S&P Global, Mr. Coman worked for an engineering consultancy specialising in environmental regulation and policy compliance. He holds an M.Eng in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering from Trinity College Dublin.

David Daßler received his M.Sc. degree in Applied Mathematics from the Leipzig University of Applied Sciences (HTWK Leipzig). Since 2012, he has been working at Fraunhofer CSP in the field of reliability and energy yield assessment of solar modules and systems. 2015 - 2021: Scientist with a focus on energy yield evaluation and modelling with a special interest in Big Data, machine learning and statistics. 2021 - today: Head of team "PV System Assessment & Diagnostics" His main area of research is the application of mathematics in the field of photovoltaics, the requirements for data quality of monitoring data, the detectability of defects as well as risk minimisation within portfolio analysis.

Martin Dennenmoser is leading the R&D Team of BayWa r.e. Solar Projects. He is responsible for the technical product development and improvement of utility PV parks and Battery systems. He has deep technical knowledge within Solar PV and Batteries as he is working since 18 years in the field of renewables. He worked in a module manufacture company, in Fraunhofer ISE for battery and off-grid applications, as consultant for business models for batteries, as project engineer for utility scale solar plants, as product manager and RnD engineer.

- Mission: Electrify everything (that can be electrified) with clean and renewable energy. - Bruce Douglas has 25 years' international experience in the promotion of renewable energy and electrification. - He is currently CEO of the Global Renewables Alliance, the single voice for the international renewable energy industry, representing wind, solar, geothermal, hydropower, storage and green hydrogen. - Previously he has held the following positions: Director of Communications and Business at Eurelectric, Deputy CEO of SolarPower Europe, Coordinator of the RE-Source Platform - the European alliance for corporate sourcing of renewable energy, founding Chairman of the Global Solar Council (GSC), Chief Operating Officer at WindEurope for 10 years, founding Secretary General of the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) and Managing Director of FLiDAR, an offshore wind company. - He has a Master degree in renewable energy systems technology and is fluent in English and French.

Sonia Dunlop is CEO of the Global Solar Council, the world solar PV trade association, which represents the whole value chain and every region and market segment in the world. She previously worked for Solar Power Europe, Solar Energy UK and the RE-Source Platform. For five years she was part of the Senior Management Team of global climate politics think tank Third Generation Environmentalism (E3G) and worked for the COP26 Glasgow organising team in the UK government. She also spent five years in the European Parliament in Brussels working on renewables. She has expertise in solar PV, development finance, renewables policy, digitalisation of energy, Multilateral Development Banks climate finance and corporate Power Purchase Agreements. Sonia speaks fluent English, French and Italian as well as basic Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese, has two children and is based in London.

Adrian Ferreira currently works as an electrical engineer in the area of innovation and new products, mainly involving renewable sources and distributed energy resources (DERs). He is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering at Federal University of Uberlândia, Uberlândia, Brazil.

Julian Fleischmann is a doctoral student and researcher at University of Freiburg, TH Cologne, and Reiner Lemoine Institute Berlin. He focuses on open software for facilitating the planning of integrated water-energy-food-environment infrastructure solutions. So far, the research and software approaches have been applied for case studies in Lebanon, Germany, Costa Rica, Colombia, Morocco, South Africa, and Namibia.

Sishir Garemella is head of international business development at Kiwa PVEL, the leading independent lab of the downstream solar market. Sishir leads Kiwa PVEL's international expansion in strategic markets outside the United States. Sishir has over 10 years of experience as a downstream solar player, both as a financier and as an operator. Prior to solar, he has worked in investment banking in the UK and the automotive industry in Canada. He holds a Masters in Accounting and Finance from the London School of Economics in the UK and a Bachelors in Electrical Engineering from the University of Windsor in Canada.

Dan Garlin is COO of Uniper Renewables, where he is responsible for EPC & Operations. Dan joined the energy industry in 2006 and held various positions in E.ON (now RWE) Renewables realizing projects in various European countries and the US. He also gathered experiences in various strategy and engineering services assignments. In 2020 he created Uniper Renewables, which is one pillar of Unipers decarbonization strategy for the future.

Mauricio Garrido has more than 13 years of experience in the energy sector, most of his experienced being focused on Energy Management related activities. In January 2011 he joined EDP Renewables where he is currently Director of PPA Origination for Centralized Generation in Europe. He is responsible for the origination, negotiation and execution of Power Purchase Agreements in the twelve European geographies in which EDP Renewables has presence. Regarding his academic background, Mauricio studied Civil Engineering at Polytechnic University of Madrid and he has an MBA from IESE Business School received in 2007.

M. Eng. David Gögelein is an electrical engineer and PhD student in the field of photovoltaic energy management systems. He is specialized in the design, development, implementation and optimization of algorithms and components for photovoltaic energy systems. He has expertise in system engineering, hardware, software and app development. The current research focuses on the use of artificial intelligence in photovoltaic energy management systems under scarce data conditions.

Ulrike Gunnemann is a passionate advocate of sustainable energies. In her role as Head of Global Hybrid at BayWa r.e., she is dedicated to the development of complex renewable energy projects combining different electricity generators and storage technologies. Before joining BayWa r.e. in April 2022, Ulrike worked as manager and expert for an international engineering consultancy company. Being worldwide active in numerous hybrid and storage projects as well as energy system studies, Ulrike advised governments, investors and project developers in the development of green energy solutions. Ulrike combines engineering, financial and AI expertise with excellent track record in setting up new business fields, strategy and M&A.

Laurene Gusse has extensive experience in engineering and industrial projects. She started her career in ENGIE Networks & Infrastructures, overseeing the construction and the commissioning of gas compressor stations and storage facilities, leading the Industrial Design Department, and contributing to Green Mobility projects. She joined ENGIE solutions in 2016, taking over transformation projects supporting entities in their transition towards a sustainable energy system. After two years spent contributing to the execution of the Group's strategic plan, she recently joined the Management committee of the Renewables Industrial Platform, as Deputy Head of the Quality & Procurement Department and as Head of Quality Department to develop ENGIE's capacity to improve the sustainability of its supply chain.

Walburga Hemetsberger is the CEO of SolarPower Europe since 2019. She has over 20 years of professional experience in Brussels, working for a utility, trade association, the European Parliament and the European Commission. Walburga spent most of her career in the energy sector, covering in particular renewable energies and hydrogen.

Josef Hermann (M.Sc.) is an industrial engineer of Renewable Energies and a professional consultant on a variety of energy-related topics. He worked on numerous rural electrification projects in Ethiopia, Germany, Nepal, Autonomous Palestinian Territories, and Peru. He has diverse expertise in the field of governmental and non-governmental development cooperation. For the last 2 years he was working on a Baseline Study and the Development of a Sustainability Framework as well as Capacity Development Interventions on Solar PV Electrification of public institutions in Ethiopia.

Magnus Herz graduated in renewable energies and works as project manager, researcher and developer in the solar team of TÜV Rheinland since 2010. In addition to his consulting work for international PV projects, he is also involved in several R&D projects developing data-driven strategies to improve quality assurance and risk mitigation. As project member of the international expert group IEA PVPS Task 13 and participating in the research project TRUST-PV his focus is on the standardization of failure categories and the evaluation of data analysis techniques.

o Gadi Hirsch is the lead market and policy analyst at SolarEdge Technologies. A part of the strategy group, Gadi is leading the coverage of key market segments, technological trends and policies. He particularly focuses on European distributed energy systems markets - aimed at deriving key insights for business strategy formulation. He holds a BA in economics and has previously led economic analysis and management consulting teams.

Bärbel Höhn is a German politician for Alliance '90/The Greens. Ms. Höhn became State Minister for Environment and Agriculture in North Rhine-Westphalia from 1995 to 2005. In 2005 she was elected to the Bundestag in the 2005 national elections. She first served as chairwoman of the Committee on Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection from 2005 to 2006. Between 2006 and 2013 she was vice chairwoman of the Green parliamentary group in the Bundestag, and as such responsible for the issues of energy, climate, environment, transport, agriculture, nature conservation and construction. From 2014 to 2017 Bärbel Höhn served as chairwoman of the Committee on the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. Having participated in various UN Climate Change conferences, she was a regular speaker at international climate and energy conventions. From November 2017 to October 2023, Bärbel Höhn was acting as unpaid Special Representative for Energy in Africa for the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and since November 2023 she is BMZ Special Representative for Decentralised Energy Supply with focus on the entire global South. In this regard she promotes the importance of Decentralised Energy with her many years of political experience and expertise in renewable energy.

Ulrike Jahn is a graduate physicist and works as a scientific group leader in the Photovoltaic Systems and Integration department at the Fraunhofer Center for Silicon Photovoltaics CSP in Halle, Germany. Her work focusses on the diagnosis and reliability of PV systems. She is project manager of an international expert group, Task 13 of the PVPS programme of the International Energy Agency (IEA), which deals with technical and economic aspects of the reliability and performance of PV systems. She has been coordinating this network of currently 185 international experts in 25 countries since 2010.

Dr Carlos Javier has over 18 years experience in engineering, negotiation and strategic sales across Spain, United Kingdom, Ireland and Italy. Between 2010-2014, Carlos was Head of Engineering at UK construction and development company where he led the design of >500MW of UK solar projects. Carlos holds an executive MBA and has experience in portfolio management and project finance. He was the Technical Director at one of the largest renewable energy funds in the world with over 1GW of assets under management (AuM). In the last 2 years, Carlos has been managing the Asset Management arm of Elgin Energy, a unique and successful development platform recently acquired by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP). Oversight of a large UK based asset base means Carlos is uniquely placed to have a comprehensive understanding of asset performance in the UK and Ireland.

Dr. Christoph Kost leads the department 'Energy System Analysis' and the group Energy Systems and Energy Economics' at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE. His current scientific work includes the topics of policy analysis and financing in the field of energy technologies, the derivation of technology costs and market introduction strategies for renewable energy technologies. He analyses energy technologies and their future use as well as system interactions and sector coupling by applying economic analyses, system modeling and risk analyses. He studied 'Business Engineering' (Diplom-Wirtschaftsingenieurwesen) at the University of Karlsruhe (Germany) and Groningen (Netherlands) between 2003 and 2009. In 2015, he obtained his phd at the Technische Universität Dresden (Chair of Energy Economics, Prof. Dr. Möst).

Jonathan Leloux began his solar energy adventures in 2005 and has since worked in the field of solar photovoltaic energy as an engineer, researcher, consultant, and entrepreneur. His expertise is focused on photovoltaic (PV) system engineering, encompassing residential distributed PV and large-scale PV plants, bifacial PV, agrivoltaics, BIPV, floating PV, CPV, and solar resource assessment. He holds an Engineering Degree in Mining and Geology and a PhD in Solar Photovoltaic Energy Systems. He is a co-founder and the managing director of LuciSun, which provides technical guidance through consulting services and products to actors in the solar energy sector across all project phases, including early design, PV engineering, financing, construction, commissioning, and operation. As part of his role at LuciSun, he is actively involved in several research projects at national, European and international levels, along with other team members, ensuring that the company's initiatives are closely integrated with the latest advancements in solar technology. He participates in the IEA PVPS Programme Tasks 13 on PV System Performance and Task 15 on BIPV.

Helena Li, Executive President of Trina Solar, is a highly experienced senior executive, who has spent more than thirteen years devoting to solar energy development since April 2011. She joined Trina Solar in September 2013 as Managing Director and Vice President for Asia Pacific and the Middle East, and served as Trina Solar's Head of Global Module business and Vice President of Trina Solar from 2019 through early 2022. Trina Solar is involved in the residential, industrial and commercial (C&I), and utility segments of the solar and energy storage markets. Helena oversees Trina Solar's all business units and markets in the three segments globally. Helena has also been tasked with helping Trina Solar position itself as a 'total solutions' provider for solar energy. Before joining Trina Solar, she worked for US semiconductor company Intel, possessing strong technical and global marketing background. She began her career in 1998 with Microsoft.

Mr Ilya Likhov - Hi-tech entrepreneur, founder and CEO of Neosun Energy - is a distinguished authority in the field of Solar Energy, and international business strategy with over 20 years of hands-on experience. His innovative business model has the potential to revolutionize the solar energy market. In 2015, Mr. Likhov embarked on a groundbreaking venture, establishing his own production of power equipment in China. Since then, he has held the esteemed position of General Manager at NEOSUN Energy, a forward-looking manufacturing enterprise that specializes in crafting solar panels, next-generation lithium-ion batteries, and other pioneering energy solutions.

Johannes Linder is Director of System Design & Innovation at BELECTRIC, one of the leading EPC service providers in the development, construction and operation of solar power plants in Europe. His department calculates the basis for a large number of design and technology decisions - including for new photovoltaic applications such as agrivoltaic or hybrid systems. Before joining BELECTRIC in 2013 as an International Project Manager delivering utility scale projects in Europe, Australia and India, Johannes Linder worked for several start-up-companies and developers in the industry and was a certified PV expert by TÜV Rheinland.

Co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) at the Brazilian Solar Photovoltaic Energy Association (ABSOLAR - Associação Brasileira de Energia Solar Fotovoltaica), the national association representing companies and professionals from all segments of the solar PV value chain with operations in Brazil. Co-founder and member of the board of directors at the Global Solar Council (GSC), the global entity unifying and representing the solar power sector at the international level. Has a Ph.D. with honours in Engineering and Materials Technology from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil), with international collaboration at the Fraunhofer Institut für Solare Energiesysteme (Fraunhofer ISE, Germany), M.Sc. with honours in Renewable Energy from the EUREC Master Program, with international collaboration at the ETH Zürich (Switzerland), and B.Sc. with honours in Chemistry from the University of São Paulo (Brazil).

Atse Louwen is a Senior Researcher at Eurac Research, Institute for Renewable Energy. His main research interests include the performance and reliability of Photovoltaics (PV), modelling and machine learning of PV performance and solar irradiance, and the sustainability of PV. He is team leader in Performance, Reliability and Sustainability of PV. Currently, he is involved in the numerous European projects. In Horizon Europe projects NEXUS and PILATUS, he is leading the evaluation of performance and reliability in outdoor testing and contributing to the assessment of sustainability and economics of novel and existing PV technologies. In MC2.0 Atse is coordinating the sustainability assessment of integrated PV products. In the Horizon 2020 project TRUST-PV he analysed the long-term performance of a large fleet of PV systems and is contributing to the ongoing digitalization of the PV sector along the value chain. Before joining Eurac, Atse worked at Utrecht University's Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, where he attained his PhD performing multi-disciplinary assessment of PV technology, including Lifecycle Assessment and performance analysis1. As a Post-Doc at the Copernicus Institute, Atse was a work package leader in the EU H2020 project REFLEX, examining technological learning and experience curves for a variety of renewable energy technologies.

Aquin Magnus is a research engineer at ENGIE Laborelec, the research and innovation expertise centre for electric energy of the ENGIE Group. At Laborelec, he is active as project manager and project engineer contributing to research projects aimed at improving the design and performance of PV or PV-BESS hybrid assets. He holds degrees in renewable energy engineering from Uppsala University and IST Lisbon.

Stanislas is a Business Developer and Senior Solar PV Consultant in Multiconsult, Norway, with over 15 years of experience. Stanislas has been one of the founding members of Multiconsult's solar energy advisory team, specializing in solar PV projects in emerging markets. Focusing on floating solar PV since 2016, he has extensive international experience from solar projects ranging from Eastern/Southern Africa to Central/Southeast Asia.

Deepak Mohapatra works as the Senior Officer - Business & Market Development at the Alliance for Rural Electrification (ARE), a leading global business association representing the decentralised renewable energy (DRE) sector for provision of energy access in developing and emerging countries. He works closely together with more than 200 ARE Members, as well as international and local partners to improve market conditions, facilitate capacity building, and establish favourable environment enabling business for private sector companies in DRE space across the globe. Previously Deepak worked at a German NGO called 'Lernen - Helfen - Leben e.V. as a Project Coordinator. He holds MSc. in Renewable Energy Management from Technical University of Cologne (TH Köln), Germany and B.Tech. in Electrical & Electronics Engineering from Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT), India.

Juan is a principal analyst on Wood Mackenzie's Power and Renewables team covering distributed solar market developments across Europe. He also coordinates Wood Mackenzie's global solar market outlook update report every quarter. Prior to his current role, Juan was a senior conference content manager, leading content development for Wood Mackenzie/Greentech Media's energy transition conference portfolio in collaboration with our global research practice heads. He has also published research on renewables and green hydrogen development in the Middle East and Africa. Juan holds a master's in media and communications from Goldsmiths, University of London, and a bachelor's degree in journalism from the Complutense University of Madrid.

Molly is a Senior Research Analyst in the solar PV team at Exawatt (part of the CRU Group). Molly oversees Exawatt's tracking and forecasting of PV module efficiency and architecture. In addition, she undertakes analysis of capacity, production and financial data for PV manufacturers. Molly joined Exawatt as an analyst in 2020 whilst finishing her studies. Molly has an undergraduate degree in Physics and postgraduate masters degree in Solar Cell Technology from the University of Sheffield.

Dr.-Ing. Björn Müller has been Managing Director of Enmova GmbH since 2021. Mr. Müller studied economics at Otto von Guericke University in Magdeburg from 1991 to 1998 and graduated with a degree in business administration. From 2004 to 2006, he studied energy management at the University of Koblenz-Landau and graduated with a Master of Science. In 2018, the University of Kassel awarded him the title of Doctor of Engineering (Dr.-Ing.). Mr. Müller worked for a large international auditing company in Freiburg from 2000 to 2005. After working as an independent consultant for 2 years, he held various positions at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Freiburg from 2007 to 2021. His last position there was as group leader of the "Photovoltaic Power Plants" group. In 2021, he founded Enmova GmbH from Fraunhofer ISE. Mr. Müller has many years of experience in business and technical issues relating to the planning, construction and operation of PV power plants. He also has in-depth knowledge in the field of energy meteorology and climatology.

Stefan Müller is co-founder, shareholder of Enerparc AG and since end of 2008 as a board member responsible for international and operational business for the group. He worked over 25 years for larger players in the photovoltaic industry in Europe and Asia. Enerparc is an international specialist in the whole value chain of large-scale photovoltaic power plants, from greenfield development to EPC, O&M and energy trading. The company was founded in 2008 and has 500 internationally experienced employees with offices in Hamburg, India, Australia, France, Spain and a number of registered partners in various regions. In the last years Enerparc Group successfully connected globally more than 4.500 MW to the grid and it meanwhile operates 3.500 MW of own PV power plants.

Growing up on a family-owned farm Fabian Neu was able to gain a deep understanding of farming practices and suitable crop rotations. With several years of expertise in both the agriculture and renewable energy sectors, he has cultivated a deep understanding of sustainable farming practices and clean energy. Following his university degree in Agricultural Science and Economics from the Universities of Bonn and Göttingen, he pursued an internship at a large agricultural enterprise in Australia, notable for its pioneering work in large-scale drip irrigation for crops. Afterward he held a position as a speaker at the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture for over two years, focusing on innovation and digitalization. In addition to gaining political expertise in European funding programs and contributing to guidelines, he was involved in evaluating research proposals in the field of innovative and sustainable agricultural concepts, including Agri-PV. Passionate about integrating agricultural practices with innovative technologies to advance sustainable and efficient agriculture, paired with clean energy, he has been active in the Agri-PV sector for over 3 years now. In 2023 Fabian Neu joined RWE Renewables as a Senior Expert for Agri-PV. He supports the global Agri-PV market development and effectively capitalizes on the synergies between the agricultural and energy industries. He is a Member of the consortium defining livestock-specific guidelines for Agri-PV in Germany under DIN SPEC 91492.

Started professional career as a Chemical Engineer at Galp in 2010, starting in Sines' refinery Technology department. Moved to the Lubricants department where in 2014 took the lead of the Product Development. In 2017 changed to the Planning and Technology Department to lead the Refining Analysis and Development unit. In the beginning of 2020, became the Head of Midstream (& Refining) Innovation Center, developing projects around circular economy and low carbons fuels. In 2021, lead the development of the Galp strategy for hydrogen and joined the team created to execute it, becoming Head of Technology. In mid of 2022 joined EDP as Head of H2Tech department and in the beginning of 2023 embraced a new challenge as Innovation Director of EDP Produção, developing projects around energy transition and renewable energies. MSc and PhD in Chemical Engineering from Instituto Superior Técnico. Loves to travel, backpacking style, probably the reason for being passionate about energy efficiency and sustainable mobility.

Dr. Benedikt Ortmann is Global Director for Origination & Business Development Projects for the BayWa r.e. Group. He has more than 20 years of extensive experience in the renewable energy sector. Before joining the BayWa r.e. team in 2011, he was CFO at S.A.G. Solarstrom AG in Freiburg and built up the international project business of SOLON SE in Berlin, developing it into a successful and highly profitable division. At BayWa r.e., his current focus is on the origination and development of new markets, technologies and on sales for the entire projects business, including wind, solar and new technologies. BayWa r.e. is one of the key companies driving renewable energy development worldwide. The company provides end-to-end project solutions, ongoing operations management and is an Independent Power Producer with an expanding energy trading business. The company has installed solar, wind and battery capacity of more than 6 GW. BayWa r.e,'s joint shareholders are BayWa AG, a globally successful business with revenues of €23.9 billion, and Energy Infrastructure Partners, a market leader in energy infrastructure investment that manages over €7 billion from global investors.

Jan is Sr Policy Advisor at SolarPower Europe. He's responsible for rooftop solar, prosumers, and digitalisation in the EU's solar PV trade body. He leads the advocacy based on product and market trends in EU countries and legislation. He also consults members on regulatory developments. In the past, he has worked as a product and project manager for Pulse of Europe.

José Queirós de Almeida - CEO Greenvolt Communities. Founder and CEO of Greenvolt Comunidades (Greenvolt Group), national and international leader in solutions for Energy Communities and Collective Self-Consumption of Energy. More than 20 years of international experience in renewable energy (Greenvolt Comunidades, Ideatest, Eesti Energia, EDP Energias de Portugal, OMIP/MIBEL), in different markets (Portugal, Spain, Estonia, Sweden, Finland, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania), including Distributed Solar, Electric Mobility, Energy Efficiency, IoT Platforms, etc.. Degree and postgraduate degree in Business Law (Coimbra University). MBA from LisboaMBA/UCLA Anderson Management School. DBA (PhD) from Nottingham Trent University in Management.

Juan Rivier, Electronic Engineer and Ph. D. in Electrical Engineering by Comillas University, is currently Head of Global Regulation within Iberdrola Renewables, with a global responsibility (geographies and renewable technologies) on Renewables Regulation. He is a SolarPowerEurope and WindEurope Board Director. He has now more than 30 years of experience in the energy sector, beginning as an academic during 15 years at the Institute for Technological Research (IIT) of Comillas University, and joining Iberdrola in 2007 where he has been global responsible for Renewables Regulation and also global responsible for renewables PPA structuring.

Mr. Kyle Ryan is a Senior Solar Engineer of RWE Renewables. He is responsible for coordinating project engineering activities and expertise during Development, Construction and Operation of solar photovoltaic plants, in Europe and Australia. He is also responsible for creating and maintaining specifications and processes to ensure quality and best practice in solar photovoltaic projects, across the international team. He has actively contributed to solar photovoltaic growth for the company, especially in the United Kingdom and Spain. He is now also the solar lead for hybrid plant design.

Victoria Santos is a research associate in the Power and Renewables team at Wood Mackenzie, with a keen focus on the dynamic solar and storage markets in Europe. Her energy sector experience includes forecasting and analysis related to all aspects of onshore wind, solar PV and storage on which she has published various reports during her time at Wood Mackenzie. She also contributes towards Wood Mackenzie's global analysis and monitors project development, asset transactions and policy updates across the region.

Since 2021, Christian Schill is group manager of 'Photovoltaic Power Plants' at Fraunhofer ISE, Germany, after stations at Freiburg Material Research Centre (FMF), PSE GmbH and the University of Freiburg. He is an alumni of the Sustainability Center Freiburg. He works in the fields of quality of PV power plants, outdoor weathering of PV modules, climate data and spatial analyses, with a focus on integrated PV and digitalization in the PV sector.

Michael is Executive Advisor to the CEO and a member of the leadership team. Alongside his business development work, Michael heads SolarPower Europe's award-winning market intelligence team. He is lead author of the annually published Global Market Outlook and EU Market Outlook, and works closely with Policy Analyst Raffaele operating the Solar & Storage workstream. Michael has been working in solar for over 20 years. After co-founding Photon-Magazine in 1996, he served in various positions within the Photon group, primarily as Editor-in-Chief of Photon International. In 2014, Michael started MISCHCO, a company offering strategy consulting and communication services to solar companies. In 2016, TaiyangNews, a digital news platform for the solar industry that Michael founded, went online. Michael studied Geology/Palaeontology at Bonn University, Geology at RWTH Aachen, and Mineralogy at Frankfurt University. He speaks German and English.

Emilien Simonot is Head of Agrivoltaics for the EMEA and APAC regions at Lightsource bp, one of the leading solar PV project developers worldwide. Emilien is a seasoned senior executive working at the crossroad of energy sector, sustainability and innovation. With over 15 years of experience in renewables and innovation management, he has been involved with agrivoltaics since 2015, first from a venture capitalist perspective and then leading groundbreaking projects for large energy companies globally.

Multi-lingual (Chinese, English, French) female leader with ten+ years' international professional experience in Asia, Europe and Middle East related to ESG, Project Management, Energy-sector Planning and Analysis, Liaison and Outreach in both private and public sectors (UNESCO, Deloitte, Jinko Solar, etc.). Lin Sun holds Sciences Po Paris master degree and Fudan Univ. Bachelor degree, known for results-oriented analytical methods that blend in-depth awareness of international affairs, business acumen and industrial sensitivity in renewables. During the journey in Jinko Solar, Lin Sun leads Sustainability Development Department in the headquarter, taking charge of managing and coordinating ESG, GHG-emission, 'Green transition' activities, in close collaboration with divisions in charge of Supply Chain, Operation, IT, Legal affairs as well as bankability such as project financing, scaling-up renewable and energy transition in various regions. Lin Sun had experiences in conducting market and industrial research that contributes to the green transition and sustainable development strategies. Lin Sun also acted as corporate representative to deliver speech and/or to participate in COP27, COP28, IRENA General Assembly, Sofia Economic Forum and other international summits for ESG and sustainability presentation, while as maintaining close relations with key shareholders in international and regional multilateral organizations, multi-development banks (IFC, EBRD, EIB, AfDB, ADB, etc.), research institutions and industry associations. In 2023, Lin Sun participated in EBRD annual meeting as business representative.

After a BSc in Energy Engineering at University of Bologna and a MSc in Sustainable Energy Technology at TU Delft, specializing on Solar PV & Energy Storage, Michele worked first as a Technical Consultant and Project Manager at DNV, leading technical advisory and certification firm in the Energy space, and since September 2022 as Head of Product Management Floating-PV at BayWa r.e., international developer and IPP with a strong leading position and the highest track record in Europe (300 MWp) for Floating-PV projects. Michele has been working for more than 6 years in the interesting and booming industry segment of Floating-PV, covering key responsibility roles and pushing the international agenda in the field, including managing international projects towards standardization. He is now responsible of supporting BayWa´s strategy, development and expansion in the Floating-PV space.

Laurent Talbot is Head of Energy Storage Germany at Statkraft, based in Düsseldorf. The Energy Storage teams develops battery storage systems for the German market, both stand-alone and co-located. Laurent led the feasibility study for Project Zerbst, Statkraft's first hybrid PV-BESS project in Germany, which was awarded a CfD at the Bundesnetzagentur's 'Innovation Auction'. He joined Statkraft in 2017 to set up the market access and PPA business for French PV & Wind project developers. Prior to Statkraft, he held business development, sales and origination roles in market access, PV modules manufacturing and sustainability strategy, in Germany, the UK and Spain. He is passionate about accelerating the energy transition through innovation, and is a member of the Steering Committee of the German-French Office for the Energy Transition (DFBEW/OFATE). Laurent studied international business in France and in the US, and holds an MBA from the European School of Management and Technology in Berlin.

Stefan Trittler has been active in the off-grid market for 15 years, during which he has held a number of roles including engineering, project management, sales and R&D. Prior to his current position as Head of Innovation / Project Principal at Asantys Systems GmbH, he was employed as Project Principal and Engineering Manager at PowerGen Renewable Energies Ltd, active as mini-grid developer and operator in East and West Africa. Previously, Stefan Trittler was Technical Expert Hybrid Systems at juwi AG, responsible for system design, engineering and project management of various international off-grid systems. Before that, he gained experience in technical sales of off-grid systems at Energiebau Solarstromsysteme GmbH and HAWI Energietechnik AG. In addition to his off-grid experience, he has travelled to numerous countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America and has a special focus on rural electrification in these regions.

As Head of Public Affairs of Amarenco, Eva Vandest elaborates and operates an influence strategy to boost Solar Energy deployment, the most sustainable and affordable Energy to date. As chair of the "Agrisolar" now "Land-Use and Permitting" workstream at SolarPower Europe, she promotes synergies between Agricultural and Solar sectors to tackle climate change adaptation. She stands for ecological transition promoting regenerative agriculture solutions combined with Solar Energy production in rural areas. Since 2022 she is also Vice-Chair of Global Solar Council. Before being certified in Public Affairs, Strategy and Influence at Sciences-Po Paris, she completed a Master's degree at Sorbonne Law School. She started to work at Amarenco in 2016 after an internship at French Conseil d'Etat.

Electrical engineer. Founder and current President of ITALIA SOLARE association, the main Italian PV association with more than 800 members. A pioneer of photovoltaics since the early 1990s, in 2001 he founded Enerpoint, one of the leading companies in the sector active in asset management, projects development, distribution and EPC.

Vegard Vollset is Vice President and is leading the EMEA part of Rystad Energy's Renewable & Power Research team, with more than a decade of experience working within the energy industry. He has broad experience in energy modeling, M&A, and strategy work, and has worked closely with clients spanning the entire energy sector, from renewable energy companies and service companies to governmental organizations, investors, and NGOs. Prior to joining Rystad Energy, Vegard worked in Engie, Total Energies, and Equinor. He holds an MSc degree from the Norwegian University of Science & Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim and an MSc degree from the University of Stavanger.

David Wedepohl, Managing Director International Affairs David Wedepohl is a radio journalist by training who studied and worked on both sides of the Atlantic. He holds a master's degree in Journalism and Public Affairs which he achieved as a Fulbright scholar. His professional experience included working for the German embassy in Washington, DC as a senior press and public diplomacy officer. He first came in touch with the solar industry while working for an American consulting company before taking up his job as director communications and markets at the German Solar Association, also serving as the organization's spokesperson. He now holds the position of managing director international affairs and is responsible for the association's international activities.