Solarplaza Summit | Asset Management Japan

Andrew Hughes, Of Counsel in the Tokyo office, focuses his practice on representing international equity investors and developers in the acquisition, financing and development, and disposition of solar and wind energy projects; advising renewable energy operators and energy purchasers on corporate PPAs; and representing Japanese investors in investments in overseas renewable energy projects. Andrew also has significant experience advising on sophisticated real estate and asset finance transactions involving global opportunity funds, banks and other financial institutions. Prior to joining Orrick’s Energy and Infrastructure Group, Andrew was an in-house counsel at GREE Inc. and Electronic Arts where he gained experience in various corporate and commercial transactions, including joint ventures, cross border M&A and general corporate matters.

Izumi Kaizuka - 調査事業部 部長 - Ms Izumi Kaizuka is the manager of Research Division in RTS Corporation, a PV consulting company with more than 30 years history based in Tokyo. She has been Japan’s representative of Task 1, IEA PVPS since 2003 and one of the authors of IEA PVPS Trends Report. She has been conducting various research projects as a PV market and industry analyst for METI and other government organizations, research institutes and PV companies in Japan and overseas. She also regularly writes articles on PV market for professional magazines.

Takuji Okubo is one of Japan's leading business economists. Takuji is Managing Director at Japan Macro Advisors, a boutique consultancy he founded in 2012. He is also the CFO at Zen Place Inc., the largest operator of Pilates Studio in Japan with 110 studios in Japan. After graduating from Tokyo University where he received a prestigious Inoue Scholarship, Takuji began his career in 1997 as an Economist at Goldman Sachs Securities in Tokyo, Japan. After being promoted to a rank of Senior Economist in 2000, he left Goldman Sachs in 2003 to pursue his graduate degrees that include an MBA from INSEAD (France), as well as an MSc in Economics from UPF (Barcelona). He spent two additional years at UPF as a PhD candidate in Finance. While at UPF, he taught graduate level courses in Financial Economics and Investment Theory. He returned to the financial industry in 2007 via Merrill Lynch Japan where he worked as a Senior Economist/Senior Director, until he joined Societe Generale (SG) as a Chief Economist in 2010. He is a frequent contributor to the financial press, business journals, and television media, including Bloomberg and Reuters. He serves as Executive Committee member of British Chamber of Commerce in Japan and as Director for Japan Risk Forum, an association of Chief Risk Officers and sits on the board of Inoue Scholarship Foundation. He teaches Finance for 3 weeks every year at Harbor Space University, a University in Barcelona.

Mr. Mezaki graduated from the Keio University. He holds an M.A. in Social Anthropology, from the University of London (LSE). He worked as a derivatives trader at Merrill Lynch in Tokyo, New York, and London. After leaving Merrill Lynch, he embarked on a nearly 10-year journey to more than 100 countries around the world. With a view to developing sustainable energy business, he started GPSS Holdings, Inc. He is also involved in educational activities to promote natural energy through various media.

Masayuki Sakai is the founder and CEO of CO2O, which is the independent O&M and asset management solution company in Japanese PV market. CO2O is also a technical due diligence company and already has inspected more than 5 GW in Japanese solar power plants. Prior to founding CO2O, he was also an entrepreneur in Japan to set up an entertainment marketing company, DVD verification, and call center business for Hollywood movie companies and major Japanese record companies. Graduated from Waseda University in 1998, GLOBIS University MBA in 2011.

Mr. Martin Stein graduated from Durham University and Cambridge University. After working in acquisition finance for ING Bank in London, he joined Shinsei Bank’s acquisition finance team in Tokyo in 2007. Following the introduction of the FIT program 5 years ago, he worked extensively for Shinsei Bank on energy project finance in Japan. Since 2017 he has been with Amp, a global clean energy developer and investor, based in Tokyo, working on acquisitions and development of clean energy assets in Japan.

Isshu Kikuma is Japan Energy Analyst for BloombergNEF. He supports the BNEF service for Japan’s renewable energy and grid integration. He also has experience in the solar and sustainability fields before joining BNEF. Isshu holds a Masters in Environmental Management from Duke, the U.S. and Bachelors in Economics and Geography from SUNY Geneseo, the U.S.

Kazuhisa Yurita - 副社長 兼 戦略責任者 - Over 12 years of experience within the PV industry, he has worked both in the upstream (trading raw material: SI-wafer, production equipment and PV module) and in the downstream (developing & investment in solar plants) of the solar sector. After joining ORIX Renewable Energy Management in 2013, he has successfully produced results in value engineering of the solar plant construction, and is currently working to maximize the productivity of internal portfolio by revising contracts with manufacturer, EPC and O&M service providers, and establishing O&M centered asset management company (OREM/CSO).

Mr. Yoichiro Mizuta Graduated from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Tokyo. Since 2005, he worked at Mitsubishi Corporation, where he was involved in company-wide portfolio management, investment management of IPPs, ship and aircraft leasing, and asset management of a large-scale petrochemical plant in the Middle East, one of Mitsubishi Corporation's portfolio companies. He joined Pacifico Energy in 2019 and has been in his current position since 2020. As head of Asset management, building/managing teams and AM systems for PV portfolio (1.4GW).

Tatsuto has been acting as Owner’s Engineer and Independent Technical Advisor, covering Energy Yield Assessment, Design Review, Construction Monitoring, Performance test and monitoring, and EPC/O&M contract management, mostly for Solar PV plant but including wind farm and BESS plant.

Lars Weber is a veteran of the renewable energy sector. In his current role, he is spearheading the worldwide expansion of Yggdrasil, the parent company of Valhall. In Japan, he and his team are introducing innovative and symbiotic partnerships with renewable generators under FIT and FIP. Before his current role, he has occupied various roles as trader of renewable electricity and certificates in various European countries for Centrica and Neas Energy. In addition, he was active as Originator where his main task was the establishment of a portfolio of PPAs with over 5000MW of various technologies such as large-scale Solar, Onshore and Offshore Wind. Transactions include Offshore Parks in the UK and Belgium, as well as Solar Farms and Onshore Wind in Germany, the Netherlands and the UK.

Taylor Grafton is the Renewables Product Manager at AlsoEnergy where she focuses on edge-to-cloud data delivery and solar asset performance management solutions. Prior to joining AlsoEnergy, Taylor worked in consulting where she focused on process improvement and strategic planning for utilities. Taylor is passionate about analytics and believes that a data driven approach to asset management is critical for optimizing portfolio performance.

Martin designed several large power plants for Pacifico Energy and GSSG Solar in Japan. He has 24 years of experience in the PV industry, including PV System design and optimization, power plant development, components design and technology evaluation, negotiating with suppliers and training engineers.He started his solar career analyzing the first HIT cells manufactured at Sanyo Solar in Hirakata. He served as a technical advisor to Intel Capital for photovoltaic investments, built the US PV engineering team for Siemens, and developed E.On’s PV engineering division in San Francisco. He oversaw the technical design, negotiation, and implementation of over 240 MW of PV plants in Japan for leading IPPs.Martin pushed for 1500V before it was fashionable both in the US and in Japan.

Akihiro Morimoto is General Manager at CO2O. After his experiences with electric power civil engineering, construction supervision and real estate property management, Mr. Morimoto established an after-sales support system for a major solar cell module manufacturer. As General Manager of CO2O, he oversees the business cases of O&M, evaluation and asset management of solar power generation. He is Chairman of the Japan Asset Management Association Solar Power Generation Guidelines Development Subcommittee and of the Association of Solar Power Generation Electrical Engineering.

Mao Ito joined Goldman Sachs Japan Co., Ltd. in 2014 . As Vice President of the Investment Banking Division, he engaged in fundraising related to structured finance for domestic and overseas clients. He has a background in Business Economics from the Dublin University Trinity College.

Naoki Sato joined Daiwa Energy & Infrastructure Co., Ltd. in 2022, and he is responsible for financing and execution of exit strategies for domestic and overseas power generation projects and related assets. In 2008 he joined a megabank, working at a branch office, and worked in project finance lending, advisory, syndication, and bond sales for over 10 years in Tokyo and London.

Dan started Shulman Advisory after nearly 15 years of experience with the Japanese energy market in a wide variety of roles, all of which were heavily focused on analysis of policy and regulation. He has consulted for a variety of major Japanese electric power companies, government agencies, industry organizations, and heavy industry companies including TEPCO, KEPCO, Chubu Electric Power Co., Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the Federation of Electric Power Companies, Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry, and the Japan Nuclear Energy Safety Organization.

Joined Kansai Electric Power Company in 1991. Since then, he is working mainly in power transmission and distribution.

Since registering as a lawyer in 2005, Mr. Misawa has been involved in various domestic and cross-border M&A cases, as well as several legal and voluntary liquidation cases. After obtaining LLM and MBA degrees in the US, he was stationed at local law firms in Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia for a total of five and a half years where he advised many Japanese companies on their overseas operations. He also worked as general counsel at the Japan office of a US-based renewable energy investment fund, and has experience as an in-house lawyer as well.

After working at a financial think tank, an American consulting firm, and a renewable energy business company, Mr. Kayo assumed his current position at Deloitte. He leads a team of experts in new decarbonization themes such as renewable energy, hydrogen, storage batteries, provides support for emerging countries in the public sector division, and develops consulting services that incorporate policies into business strategies. He is specialized in renewable energy, and provides a wide range of services from government policy planning to business strategy, project development, and overseas expansion. Mr. Kato is also Deloitte Tohmatsu Group Climate & Sustainability Consulting Leader.

At the end of 2012, Aon Japan started a service for the renewable energy market. As a market leader, PVSQ provides insurance consulting and insurance arrangements for power plants such as solar power plants for a total of 5 GW or more. Mr. Tanaka Joined PVSQ Management in 2021. In his role, he aims to realize a one-stop service from evaluation, research, technical consulting to risk management for scaling up solar power generation systems

Graduated from Keio University, Faculty of Law, and joined The Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance Company, Limited in April 1997. In 2004, Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance and Nichido Fire & Marine Insurance merged to form Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co. He belonged to the Sales Planning Department. Subsequently, he served as Manager of Sales Section 1, Information Industry Department, Manager of NTT Office, Information Industry Department, Manager of Financial & Public Affairs Section, Hiroshima Branch, and Manager of Sales Section, Hiroshima Branch. Since April 2020, he has served as General Manager of the Head Office Sales Department No. 6 and Manager of Sales Section No. 1.

Mr. Nagasawa is a PV Professional with 15 years of experience, including PV module certification at TÜV Rheinland. He acted as technical lead at SunPower Japan, and technical marketing at SolarEdge Technologies Japan. He started acting as independent technical advisor, sharing his deep knowledge about PV modules and inverters. He has worked for international companies since the very beginning of their entry in Japan, and now he is helping other companies go through this market entry process.

José Antonio Millán Ruano joined the renewable energy sector 17 years ago, being executive of companies such as Valfortec and Univergy Solar where he has managed Project Development and Business Strategy in more than 16 countries, winning with his teams PV Solar auctions in 5 countries and leading the creation of the companies Nara Solar and Hinode Energy , Joint Ventures between GIG/Macquarie and Univergy Solar. Jose Antonio began to develop projects in Japan in 2012, being one of the pioneers in this market where he has great experience, he has been based as well in United States and UK. Jose Antonio has extensive experience in Renewable Energy Management, and he has received various international awards related to his extensive career.

Since 2012, he has been in charge of site acquisition and project management of mega solar power plants at SB Energy. Since 2006, he has been in charge of asset management of about 50 power plants. Currently, he is in charge of liaison for the overall decarbonization system and focusing on power supply through corporate PPA and FIP to expand renewable energy power generation business after FIT.

Takeru Yamamoto is in charge of asset management for renewable energy power plants. He handles asset acquisitions, sales, and interim management. He has vast experience with managing solar power plants with a total of 43 sites and approximately 150 MWDC.

Manoela is originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she started to develop her career in event management. Now based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Manoela holds a master's degree in Cultural Economics and Entrepreneurship from the Erasmus University Rotterdam and carries vast experience in organizing large-scale events. She has dedicated her career to helping professionals realize their entrepreneurial projects and develop successful business plans, and now focuses on connecting experts and market leaders in renewables and sustainability.