Solarplaza Summit | Energy Storage Germany

Right after passing exams as electrical engineer at RWTH Aachen University 1995 Heiner Breuer cofounded abakus solar AG and helped to develop the company from startup to an internationally acknowledged EPC and O&M service provider with a clear focus on high-quality solar PV assets. On the management board Heiner always had a focus on technology-related responsibilities like system development, engineering, quality control and asset management added with entrepreneurial aspects like sales, contract negotiations and stakeholder communication. In 2016 ENcome Energy Performance acquired abakus where he acted as CTO. From 2019 Heiner supported Edify Energy in Australia, focusing on utility-scale solar plus storage plants, as Technical Director. As of 2021 he is engaged as Senior Technical Expert as Obton, where he is leading the efforts to design future-proof “Solar+” power stations.

Susan is a senior research analyst with the Commodity Insights team at S&P Global providing research coverage on energy storage markets across Europe, the Middle East and Africa with a particular interest in emerging technologies and cross-sector integration. Prior to joining S&P Global, she worked as an analyst supporting the policy team at the European Association for Storage of Energy (EASE) based in Brussels. She holds a Doctorate degree from ETH Zurich in the field of electrochemistry, with her thesis focused on flow battery development in collaboration with IBM Zurich.

Dee Yon Chng (pronounced Dion) is a project manager for Solarplaza spearheading the following events in chronological order: Agri-PV 2023, Floating-PV 2023, Energy Storage Spain 2023, Romania 2024, France 2024. Prior to Solarplaza she helped co-found a "floating" coaching company, and worked as sustainability consultant. She is a strong believer in knowledge sharing around sustainability topics, with 10 years of chairman experience in facilitating a collaborative and fruitful discussion.

Mr. Jan Figgener holds a M.Sc. in electrical engineering and economics, received from RWTH Aachen University after studying in Aachen and Istanbul. Since 2021, Jan has been Head of Grid Integration and Storage System Analysis leading a research group of around 15 employees and a focus on stationary storage systems, electric vehicles, charging infrastructure, sector coupling, and battery aging. Besides his work at RWTH Aachen University, he is a Senior Battery Expert at ACCURE Battery Intelligence working on battery state estimates based on field data. Within his work, Jan works closely together with national and international companies, ministries, and agencies on the topic of battery storage.

Claudia is a Senior Associate at Aurora and heads the analysis for the German, Austrian and Swiss power market. Her expertise is the economics of renewables, battery optimization & carbon markets. She has an extensive track record of acting as a market advisor on several strategic studies for developers, investors, utilities, grid operators and policy makers on the national and EU level. Prior to joining Aurora, Claudia worked in the renewables industry and renowned research institutes. Claudia holds an MSC degree in Economics and Management Science from HU Berlin, with a major in Quantitative Methods.

Kilian Leykam is leading Aquila Capital’s battery storage investments in the EMEA region. Prior to that he was responsible for setting up the power markets and hedging activities at Aquila’s Merchant Market Desk. He has worked in the renewable energy sector since 2009. Before joining Aquila Capital in 2020, Kilian held various positions at Vattenfall Energy Trading, most recently he was heading the business development in the trading division, where he was responsible for strategy development, partnership management and corporate PPAs. Kilian holds a bachelor's degree in international affairs and a master's degree in economics from the University of St. Gallen.

Oliver Schmidt is a clean energy expert with a particular focus on energy storage. He published the book Monetizing Energy Storage and launched the online analysis platform http://www.energystorage.ninja/ in 2023. He has previous experience as a project manager at the strategy and financial transaction advisory firm Apricum, where he supported top management with strategic advice in the energy storage, solar PV, and hydrogen industries. Oliver also worked as an energy analyst at the IEA and as a management consultant at E.ON. He has a PhD on the future cost and value of energy storage from Imperial College London.

After completing his doctorate at the Chair of Theoretical Physics I at the University of Bayreuth in 2011, Mr. Bammert worked at the transmission system operator TenneT TSO GmbH in system management in the area of ​​international congestion management. After moving to TransnetBW GmbH at the beginning of 2015, he was responsible for cross-border redispatch in the network industry, among other things, before taking over management of the Non-Standardized Markets team in January 2020.