Recycling Solar & BESS Summit

Maarten guides companies and governments in realizing their climate and circular economy aspirations. With nearly 20 years of experience in addressing global sustainability challenges, he leverages his expertise in market analysis, policy instruments, and supply chain mapping to help organizations successfully transition toward resource-efficient, circular models. Prior to his current role, he served as the Project Lead for Circular Economy and Plastics at the OECD, authoring critical global reports on extended producer responsibility. Recognized as an expert for the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Maarten actively shapes non-financial reporting strategies, helping stakeholders navigate complex regulatory landscapes and scale sustainable innovation.

Petra Schmigalle is Head of Supply & Sales at SOLAR MATERIALS. Over more than 15 years in the photovoltaic industry, she built sales networks and placed PV solutions in the market, including at Meyer Burger, Q CELLS, E.ON, and solarnova. She now applies this network and market knowledge at SOLAR MATERIALS to establish end-of-life management for PV modules as a standard part of the industry. At industry events, she presents current developments in raw material recovery from solar modules and shows how a functioning circular economy for the photovoltaic industry can be built from it.

Serge Noels is an electronics engineer and independent consultant specializing in standardization for renewable energy and sustainability. With expertise in electrotechnical frameworks, he contributes actively to both IEC and CENELEC Technical Committees. Mr. Noels served as the Project Team Leader within IEC TC 82 (Solar Photovoltaic Energy Systems), where he guided the development of IEC PAS 63525. This critical international Publicly Available Specification establishes a framework for the reuse of PV modules and the advancement of a circular economy.

As Secretary General of EUCOBAT, Eric is a key figure in the implementation of the new EU Battery Regulation, supporting members across Europe as they navigate the new framework. He joined EUCOBAT in 2020, where he was deeply involved in the process of the new regulation, working on a European level with both EUCOBAT and Member States, as well as on a national level as director of two Dutch PROs for batteries. With over two decades of industrial experience in batteries and consumer electronics, including leadership roles at Varta Consumer Batteries and Canon, Eric combines a deep understanding of the market with a strong command of public affairs. His expertise is crucial in shaping Europe's circular economy and advancing battery recycling.

Dan spent over 20 years building solar, wind, and battery storage projects before shifting his focus to the other end of the equation: what happens when those systems are retired. Seeing a massive gap in how the industry handles waste, he built a company dedicated to keeping decommissioned renewable assets out of landfills. Today, his work centers on recovering valuable materials like silicon, silver, and copper using specialized recycling technologies. Beyond the technical side, Dan works closely with regulators, researchers, and industry peers to determine the practical steps needed to make renewable energy fully circular from start to finish.

Jan has a master’s in law and has taken additional courses at the Vlerick Management School and EHSAL in Belgium. For a few years, he worked as a manager in production and logistics in the meat industry and then moved to the waste industry. He worked in various positions at Van Gansewinkel, now Renewi, for 12 years where he accumulated much experience in setting up voluntary and mandatory collection systems for waste such as packaging, electric and electronic equipment, discarded tyres, cooking oil and fat, and waste oil. In 2008, he became the General Manager and, in 2016, a Board Member of PV CYCLE, the first collection system for solar panels in the world. Up to 2014, this system was voluntary and in 2014, it became a mandatory producers’ collective.

As the Managing Partner at StartGreen Capital and Director of Energiefonds Overijssel, Anouk champions impact investing and sustainable infrastructure financing. She relies on her extensive background in the financial sector to structure innovative funding mechanisms that accelerate the energy transition and promote a circular economy. She oversees substantial capital deployments for renewable energy projects, ranging from utility-scale solar and wind to regional heating networks, thereby securing the commercial viability of critical green initiatives. Through aligning public sustainability goals with private capital, Anouk guides developers and stakeholders across complex financial landscapes to successfully scale clean technologies.

Ruiqi Hua is WEEE Manager at JA Solar, where she leads on producer responsibility, product recyclability and end-of-life management across the European market. Her role focuses on translating evolving regulatory requirements for end-of-life management into practical approaches for solar and energy storage products throughout their lifecycle, from design and market placement through to collection, treatment and recycling. She brings a manufacturer’s perspective to the challenge of balancing long product lifetimes, regulatory obligations, circularity and the practical realities of end-of-life recovery in the solar industry.

Lianne navigates the complex legal frameworks of the Dutch energy market, advising developers, operators, and investors on rolling out renewable infrastructure. She focuses on untangling the intricate permitting processes, grid connection challenges, and commercial contracting requirements essential for building and operating solar and storage assets. Her daily work provides the critical legal clarity needed to safely scale renewable portfolios in a rapidly evolving and heavily regulated landscape.

Germain is a Bioengineer specialized in environmental sciences, who brings a wealth of cross-industry experience to the solar sector, having a career dedicated to enhancing environmental performance and embedding sustainability into business strategy. His background includes significant roles at GSK and Etex, where he led corporate-level environmental management and strategic initiatives. At PV CYCLE, he is at the forefront of navigating the complex regulatory landscape, ensuring the solar sector adheres to its obligations under Extended Producer Responsibility schemes. His work is crucial in building a more circular economy for photovoltaic technology, from managing end-of-life solar panels to the recovery of valuable materials.

Tim Moolhuijsen is a sustainability professional specializing in circularity and climate strategy in the energy sector. At Eneco, he shaped the development of the company's circularity policy, targets, governance framework, and CSRD reporting approach, bringing circularity to the next level as a strategic topic. His work spans decarbonization, climate risk integration, and sustainability strategy development.

Thies works at the intersection of industry, policy and the transition toward a resource-efficient and resilient economy. His work focuses on analysing public support mechanisms and identifying what is needed to move sustainable technologies, circular business models and critical raw materials value chains from innovation to industrial scale. By assessing business cases, financing needs, market conditions and the effectiveness of policy instruments, he identifies where government support can help overcome barriers to investment and accelerate industrial scale-up.

Elina Bosch holds a Master’s degree in Energy Engineering and has been working since 2019 as a Senior Analyst at the Becquerel Institute, a Belgian consultancy company specialized in solar photovoltaics. Her expertise spans key aspects of the solar PV sector, including market dynamics, regulatory frameworks and techno-economic analysis for conventional and emerging solar PV applications. She is actively involved in research and consultancy projects, supporting research centers, organizations, and companies across various countries by providing strategic insights, analyzing the competitiveness of PV business models, and tracking regulatory developments affecting the sector.

Ullrich drives the development of circular economy frameworks and end-of-life strategies for the European solar and electronics sectors. A pioneer in the e-waste recycling industry since the early 1990s, he built and managed one of Germany’s first specialized recycling firms before transitioning to strategic consulting. As Lead Auditor at WEEELABEX and active contributor to CENELEC standardization committees, he shapes the technical guidelines governing material recovery and waste compliance. Ullrich helps solar stakeholders navigate complex environmental regulations, ensuring utility-scale assets meet rigorous end-of-life sustainability metrics.

Johan brings decades of hands-on expertise to the European battery recycling and waste management sectors through his advisory firm, Doorveen. As the founder and former owner of Van Peperzeel B.V., he built one of the Netherlands' leading battery and non-ferrous metal collection companies, specializing in the complex logistics, sorting, and safe processing of end-of-life lithium-ion batteries. After successfully overseeing the acquisition of his family business, Johan transitioned to independent consulting to share his deep industry knowledge. Today, he advises organizations and policymakers on the evolving regulatory and technical challenges in battery disposal, championing the safe, circular recovery of critical energy storage materials.

Malte oversees the day-to-day industrial processes required to recover valuable materials from end-of-life solar assets. Specializing in PV recycling, he focuses on optimizing the mechanical treatment and physical separation of decommissioned modules. His daily work ensures that high volumes of glass, aluminum, and critical raw materials are efficiently extracted and safely fed back into the circular economy. By bridging the gap between high-level circularity concepts and practical, on-the-ground plant management, Malte helps establish the robust, industrial-scale recycling infrastructure necessary to support the long-term sustainability of the European solar market.

A physicist by training, Michiel has spent more than three decades in the solar sector. Over his career, he has co-authored national subsidy programs, established industry standards committees, and managed complex international market introductions. Beyond his commercial work as managing director of SOLARWATT, Michiel is a leading advocate for end-of-life management in the Dutch solar market. As Board Member of OPEN, he represents the Dutch solar sector to achieve compliance with recycling law at manageable costs. Today, he continues that as chairman of the new to-be-established foundation for industrial batteries in the Netherlands - a joint effort of Holland Solar, SolarNL, BMWT, and OPEN - ensuring the industry's rapid growth in batteries also remains environmentally responsible from production to recycling.

Pratik bridges the gap between rigorous sustainability science and boardroom strategy as the Sustainability Strategy Enablement Lead at Ecochain. Armed with a PhD in circular economy and eight patents in renewable energy technology, he advises Fortune 500 companies on decarbonization, Life Cycle Assessments (LCA), and ESG compliance. He actively translates evolving EU frameworks like CSRD and CBAM into actionable corporate strategies, ensuring accurate carbon accounting across complex global supply chains. As a contributor to UN and WBCSD forums, Pratik equips organizations with the audit-ready data and strategic insights needed to navigate regulatory shifts and scale their sustainable impact.

Christina Maria Huber is a Senior Policy Advisor on Sustainability at SolarPower Europe. She leads the association's work on product sustainability bringing together stakeholders from across the solar and BESS value chains to engage on policy topics from circular economy and recycling of solar PV and battery technologies to Ecodesign, carbon accounting and other product frameworks.

Stefan has spent over a decade building circular business models for the European solar market. In 2010, he co-founded what is now Europe’s largest online marketplace for new and used photovoltaic products, facilitating the trade of PV modules, inverters, and spare parts to keep existing solar assets running longer. Starting his career as a Product Recall Manager, Stefan combines a sharp commercial focus with a commitment to reducing electronic waste, ensuring that valuable solar components are reused across Europe rather than prematurely discarded.

Victor is a Program and Event Manager at Solarplaza. With long-standing experience in public speaking and in organizing B2B events, he enjoys bringing together industry leaders to share insights and drive the energy transition. Victor is dedicated to creating dynamic platforms that foster knowledge sharing, networking, and productive discussions among peers.