Solarplaza Seminar | BESS Ireland

Cormac Gilligan is a director with the Technologies and Supply Chains team focused on global cleantech and renewables. He is currently responsible for researching the global cleantech and energy storage supply chain innovation trends, supplier landscape overview, and market outlooks from supply side. Other focus areas relate to hot topic themes such as innovation in power conversion and grid (2kV, grid forming (GFM)), cybersecurity in energy, transformers and grid enhancing technologies. Mr. Gilligan has accumulated more than 15 years in the cleantech industry, with his analysis and commentary regularly published by leading PV and energy storage industry media and the global press. He has also presented at many leading industry events and conferences.

With a background in mechanical engineering and previous leadership roles in construction across six European markets, Sebastiaan combines technical insight with commercial leadership to accelerate energy transition efforts globally. Sebastiaan drives international expansion and investor engagement for ion Ventures to scale clean energy solutions with a particular focus on Europe.

Pat helps lead the policy work of Energy Storage Ireland, focusing on energy storage policy, market design and industry engagement across Ireland and Northern Ireland. He works closely with ESI members and key stakeholders across the energy sector on the development of markets and policy frameworks that support the growth of energy storage across the island of Ireland.

Pablo Muñoz is Business Development Director at Maxxen Energy, a Swiss battery energy storage manufacturer, where he leads the company's push into behind-the-meter and grid-scale BESS applications across Europe. A versatile engineer with a career built around the energy transition, Pablo has spent years working across solar, storage, and rural electrification — from technical support and product engineering to marketing leadership and business development. Before joining Maxxen, he was a Field Application Engineer at Enphase Energy, supporting the sales organization with battery and PV technical expertise, and spent seven years at Studer Innotec, where he led global marketing and communications and helped establish the company's Australian subsidiary as COO of Studer Oceania. He also sits on the advisory board of dSYDE, a Swiss engineering and project management company focused on smart energy solutions. Based in Valais, Switzerland, he brings a rare combination of hands-on technical depth and commercial strategy to every project he takes on.

Sophie Horak specialises in digital solutions for asset and performance management in the renewable energy sector, with more than 8 years of experience working across international solar and storage markets. She advises IPPs, asset managers, and O&M providers on the use of cloud‑based software to support both technical operations and commercial asset management throughout the operational phase of photovoltaic and battery energy storage projects. Her work focuses on the interaction between technical performance, availability, and financial outcomes, including KPI‑driven asset management, revenue transparency, and the use of operational data to support commercial decision‑making. Sophie actively contributes to discussions on how digitalisation can support investment performance, risk management, and long‑term value creation in renewable energy portfolios, and is deeply committed to advancing professional asset management practices across the energy transition.

Tom Birney has worked in the renewable energy sector for over 13 years, specialising in the development, delivery and integration of energy storage and grid projects in Ireland and Northern Ireland (ISEM). In his current role of Interim Head of Grid Services, Tom is leading the grid services team at Statkraft Ireland, supporting the delivery of critical infrastructure that enables the transition to a low-carbon energy system. He has been involved in many industry firsts - delivering the first grid-scale half hour battery project on the Irish network, which was co-located with a wind farm. More recently, Tom was involved in development and delivery of the country's first 4-hour battery project to go into operation on the Irish grid. He was also directly involved in developing four 2000MWs synchronous condenser projects across the island of Ireland which secured contracts in the LCIS Phase 1 auction and are currently under construction. Tom is the industry representative for energy storage on the Eirgrid Grid Code Review Panel since 2020 and has been Chair of the ESI Grid Integration Working Group since 2021.