Solarplaza Summit | Balkans

Vedrana Jelusic Kasic, currently manages the Corporate and Investment Banking Department as the Management Board Member at Privredna banka Zagreb d.d. In addition, she serves as the President of the Supervisory Board of PBZ Leasing since Sept 2022. Previously as the Partner at Deloitte Croatia, she was responsible for all apects of financial advisory services including providing advisory expertise around financial restructurings, debt advisory (raising new loans, working capital, trade finance) and equity funding as well as M&A Transactions. At Deloitte, she also assumed the role of the Private Clients Leader for South Central Europe Cluster and acted as the Corporate Governance Leader for Croatia. She has a BA in Finance from the University of Economics, Zagreb, and a MA in International Economics and Finance from Brandeis University, Boston.

Combing knowledge with a Master's degree in European Public Policy with vast experience in renewables, Elena is working hard for a greener future. CEO and co-founder at Evklips Energy, part of Evklips Group. The installed capacity of over1 GWp places EVklips Energy among the leaders in PV construction in Europe. EVklips has executed Agri-PV in the Netherlands, Germany, and Austria. In Bulgaria, EVklips is developing a 20 MWp Agri-PV project and working together with a local structure producer as it will be a pilot project for the country. Working with the farmer/investor and the manufacturers gives a clear idea of the local needs and requirements, as well as valuable experience in terms of potential for Agri projects across Europe.

Miltiadis Zervas is a consultant at Enervis energy advisors, with a focus on energy policies and industrial decarbonization and South East European energy transition. He holds a M.Sc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), with a strong academic focus on power engineering and energy system modeling. Previously, Miltiadis held various research positions at Siemens AG, Institute of Renewable and Sustainable Energy Systems at TUM, Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER)

Holding a degree in Business Engineering from the TU-Berlin, Julius is a leading expert in energy economics, market design & energy policy, and has been working as an analyst, consultant & senior consultant since 2011 at enervis energy advisors GmbH. Julius has been involved in numerous projects with a focus on large-scale offtake-side PPAs and possesses vast knowledge in Sourcing strategy, procurement & negotiation of buy-side PPAs.

Evangelos Gazis is Aurora’s Market Lead for South Eastern Europe, covering Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia. While at Aurora, Evangelos has gained extensive commercial due diligence experience in energy asset investments in the UK, Ireland and Australia. He managed Aurora’s multi-client study on hydrogen and has also advised major developers and infrastructure funds on the business case of battery, pumped-hydro and compressed-air storage technologies. Before joining Aurora in November 2017, Evangelos spent 4 years at Imperial College London as a Research Associate at the Centre for Environmental Policy and a consultant with Imperial Consultants. He also co-authored the book Energy innovation for the 21st century. Evangelos holds a PhD in Engineering (Energy Systems) and an MSc in Sustainable Energy Systems from the University of Edinburgh, and an MEng in Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Victor Signes is an Analyst in Rystad Energy's Renewable Energy Research team. He focuses on the solar, wind, storage and green hydrogen markets in Europe. His role is to cover European market developments and analyze the future evolution of renewable energy. He has worked closely with clients spanning the entire renewable energy sector, from developers and service companies to government organizations, investors and NGOs. Prior to joining Rystad Energy, Victor was an economics research analyst at EDF, focusing on the renewable energy and nuclear markets. He holds a Master's degree in Engineering from IMT Atlantique (France) as well as a Master's degree in Energy economics from the French Petroleum Institute.

Dr Vladimir Djurdjevic is a full professor of meteorology at the Faculty of Physics, University of Belgrade, Serbia. During his career, he was also a visiting scientist at the NOAA (USA) and CMCC (Italy). His expertise is in the field of climate modeling, climate data analysis, climate impacts, vulnerability, and adaptation to climate change. Besides his career in education and science, he regularly participates in different public eventsdedicated to the problem of climate change.

Petar is a Partner who heads the regional Energy and Natural Resources Industry Group and the newly established ESG Group at Karanović & Partners. He advises clients in high-profile matters related to the development, operation and financing of new energy projects (with a particular focus on renewables), and capacity-building matters that aim to improve the regulatory framework and energy efficiency in the WB6. Petar is recognised as a top energy lawyer among clients and peers, top ranked in all relevant legal directories and is an active member of all key professional associations in Serbia. Currently, he is a part of the working group of the Ministry of Energy and Mining for preparation of bylaws for implementation of the Law on Use of Renewable Energy Sources, in front of AmCham Serbia.

Erica is a project manager for research and development with expertise in civic engagement, environmental impact, and the use and development of digital technologies for social good. She has extensive experience organizing, facilitating, and executing cultural, educational, and political activities and holds a Master's degree in environmental engineering. As a project manager for the EIT Climate-KIC project "Future cities of South East Europe," she gained experience collaborating with public bodies and other stakeholders to develop innovative approaches to cross-sector city governance and Eco-district methodology in the direction of climate neutrality and energy transition. She has worked on a number of analyses, the most significant being Croatian and EU climate change policy and national climate change legislation, as well as local and regional development strategies. Erica has published articles on the use of blockchain in energy management systems and is currently working on the H2020 project "Compile" for peer-to-peer energy trading research and development, the "Nudge" project aiming to increase prosumers' energy efficiency in self-consumption, and the Google.org-supported "SOL4ALL" project for digitalization of PV services for households and increase in solar literacy.

Saša Jovičić heads the Projects, Infrastructure and Energy practice in the Zagreb office of Wolf Theiss. He has been advising a number of prominent international clients and is currently focusing on energy projects in Croatia and the region. He regularly advises clients on market entry and regulation, all stages of project development (including permitting and environmental topics, financing and project acquisition), commercial contracts and, if need be, dispute resolution in the energy sector.

Konstantinos Mastrogiannopoulos is senior loan officer at the EIB, in the division responsible for the the Bank’s lending operations in the EU Enlargement region, Western Balkans & Turkey. He has been working with EIB since 2016. His experience is focused on the lending activity, from loan origination until post - signature transaction monitoring. He has been leading transactions in a wide range of economic activity, with focus in the region of the Western Balkans and in infrastructure and energy financing. Before joining the EIB, he has been working in the banking industry, where he held various roles on corporate lending, project finance and investment banking. He holds a Bsc. in Business Administration from the University of Piraeus, Greece and an Msc. in Accounting and Finance from Lancaster University, UK. He is a CFA charterholder.

Director of Master Department and Lecturer in Business and Public Law, Tirana Business University (TBU) and Adviser in Energy Policy & Law, Regulation and Infrastructure high-level projects in Albania. The leading professional activities include academic teaching, applied research, strategic consulting, and institutional capacity building. The work focuses on the EU legal framework in Albania and the public policies related to industry and interest groups, international institutions and public authorities. The main activities have been focused on promoting issues related to sustainable growth in Albania as part of the EU integration process within the regional integration of the Western Balkan countries. Higher education is fully attended in Italy, France, Germany, etc. In continuation, he has worked as a researcher, professor, and trainer in various national and international environments. He has been engaged as a legal advisor and consultant to foreign and local companies, public authorities, and international organizations. The activities have been accompanied by the publication of an extensive bibliography, mass-media appearances and participation as a key speaker in many international conferences on the legal and political framework of the EU in Albania, mainly in the energy policy, business field, public policies, etc.

Julije is the Managing Director of the North-west Croatia Regional Energy Agency, a member of the European Covenant of Mayors Board, and the President of the European Federation of Agencies and Regions for Energy and the Environment - FEDARENE since 2013. From 2020, Julije serves in the Office of Croatian President Zoran Milanović as the Special adviser on Energy and Climate. He published over 70 scientific and professional papers in journals or at major European conferences and initiated many essential policy initiatives at the EU or national level in Croatia.

With more than 10 years of experience in the energy sector; Branimir Beljan currently works as a country manager for several West Balkan Countries and Ukraine at Danske Commodities AS. He has a Master’s Degree in Business from University of Zagreb and before joining the Danske Commodities, Branimir have worked in PwC Tax department. During the years of work in DC, he has changed several positions and headed various markets in SEE. Beljan specializes in cross border trading in South East Europe, Power Purchase Agreements and business development of power trading operations in SEE. Currently; Danske Commodities is the biggest off taker in Croatian PPA market with 7 wind parks in their portfolio.

Mr. Menyhart is a finance professional, experienced in many fields from consulting and project financing to M&A and capital markets. Prior to joining to Electron he worked at various boutique investment banks in Frankfurt, and as advisor at Ernst & Young in Germany. He also spent five years at Grant Thornton Corporate Finance Hungary. Over the five years at Grant Thornton Attila worked as Senior Analyst and later promoted to Director level of the M&A department. Attila Closed transactions close to EUR 100 million in various industries, including automotive, medtech, staffing service and renewable energy. He is working as Head of Capital Markets at Electron Holding where he is responsible for the international and domestic M&A and various other debt and capital market projects. Attila finished his Masters in Finance at EBS Universitat fur Wirtschaft und Recht in Germany in 2015 and his B.Sc. at Corvinus University of Budapest specialized in finance & accounting. Apart from the Hungarian, Attila speaks fluent English and German.

Dragica is currently Member of Montenegrin Parliament, former Minister of Economy of Montenegro, former Deputy minister/Director General for energy efficiency and former KfW. She is trained as a local power engineer, with extensive knowledge in economics, environmental protection, banking, and public expertise in energy, since 2005. She is engaged in very close cooperation with Energy Community Secretariat (cooperation since 2006). Previously also engaged as Chair of EE Coordination Group, Member of PHLG, Chairwomen of Ministerial Council and currently Member of Advisory Body of Just Transition Forum of Energy Community. She is very familiar with various projects of different international financial institutions in the region with extensive exchange and very good communication (European Commission, EBRD, KfW, GiZ, UNDP, WB, EIB etc.). Furthermore, she is Montenegrin Chief Negotiator in Chapter 15 – Energy for a period of 5 years (2013-2018) - Chapter 15 was opened in December 2015.

Throughout his educational path and professional career, from an early start until today, he always gained a true passion for renewable resources and personal awareness towards sustainability in all fields of life, and he built his life path in that direction. Ivan’s professional career is being engaged from the beginning until the present in Electrical engineering, Power generation, Renewable energy sources, Autonomous power supply system, Utility scale solar power plants, Project management and Project development in various large like KONČAR or Energy group companies. Nowadays Ivan is Huawei’s Photovoltaic Solution Manager for Serbia & Hungary Digital Power business department covering countries Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Hercegovina and Montenegro.

Hrvoje Jazvic has 15 years of working experience in the banking sector, he joined the EBRD in 2014 and is currently Principal Banker in the Zagreb Resident Office covering the financing of projects in energy and other sustainable infrastructure. Hrvoje holds Bachelor Degree in Business and a Master’s Degree in Finance from the University of Zagreb.

Rositsa Chopeva is partner in xFigure Finance, a corporate finance practice focused on M&A, project finance and capital raising for RES projects and companies. Rositsa holds bachelor degree in International Finance from the University of Portsmouth, UK and has more than 17 years’ experience in the financial sector. Her background includes roles in project financing for UniCredit Group, investment manager of the largest food holding in Bulgaria, M&A advisor and more. As Rositsa has been working in the RES sector in Bulgaria since 2011, she is passionate about providing sustainable financing solutions and working towards the stable growth of the renewable energy sector in Bulgaria.

Legal counsel at Interenergo, an international energy company based in Ljubljana. As one of the core members of a group legal team responsible for legal support and development of energy trading, investments in renewables and energy services (ESCO), she is experienced in M&A transactions, development and operation of renewable energy projects, especially solar and wind, energy efficiency projects, PPA and trading regulations. In addition to the extensive field of legal support she provides in the rapid development of Interenergo in the area of Southern and South-Eastern Europe, Megi is completing her second Master's degree as part of The North Sea Energy Law Partnership in Advanced LLM in Energy law program.

Alma has extensive banking experience (20+) with multi-faceted background encompassing international experience. In 2002 she joined Erste team and started her journey within Erste Group encompassing various responsibilities within corporate frame. In 2010 she joined Erste Montenegro as Executive director in charge for Corporate, Treasury and Marketing as well as Member of the Board of Directors. As of 2012 she takes over the CEO responsibilities for Erste factoring d.o.o. for 8 years. Currently, Alma is acting in a role of Head of Large Corporates encompassing public, large corporates, real estate, project and corporate finance.

Slaven is a dynamic Project Finance Specialist with over 12 years of working experience in the banking sector. Diverse experience covering both Retail and Corporate banking including international experience. He joined the UniCredit/Zagrebačka banka in 2011 and is currently Head of Transactions in Project and Structured Finance in the Zagreb covering Project Financing of Renewable energy, Infrastructure, Acquisition Finance, Syndication, and Club Financing. Slaven holds a Master’s Degree in Finance from the University of Zagreb.

Antun Andric is at Croatian Transmission System Operator Plc., currently as head of the market department. Actively participates in the green transition of the power system, mostly through flexibility market development, R&D projects, participation in regulatory framework creation processes, and implementation of the new technologies/processes in the regular TSO operations. He has been a member of various national and international working groups (ENTSO-E Market committee – member, ENTSO-E subgroup Annual report on load- frequency control - convenor, CORE groups, National CIGRE committee C5 – Electricity markets, etc.) and also involved in the preparation of many national and international R&D projects (e.g. FP 7 framework, Horizon 2020 framework). In the last period, his focus is on the flexibility market development in Croatia.

Ivan is the Deputy Managing Director of the North-west Croatia Regional Energy Agency, a renewable energy and energy efficiency professional involved in creation of national energy strategies & policies (focused on buildings, infrastructure, and energy). Ivan is an expert in solar PV, PPA, funding and financing. For last couple of years working on national programme called PVMax for triggering more than 150MW of integrated PVs. Delivers technical advisory services in support of projects preparation in the field of energy and infrastructure and is actively involved in strategic planning and improvement of the REGEAs work.

As the long-term CEO of one of SEE’s leading companies for integrated energy services, Luka Komazec is dedicated to developing energy efficiency solutions that suit the needs of all sectors and industries, both public and private. Well versed in the fields of energy and ecology, he uses his ability to think ahead and identify trends and potentials in order to grow profitable and environmentally conscious businesses. Focused on strategic development, he is always on the lookout for new opportunities and ways in which Resalta can serve clients and help them reduce their carbon footprints as well as their energy costs. He thrives on expanding Resalta and making sure it remains at the forefront of what is possible in terms of sustainability, renewables and energy efficiency.

Mislav Slade-Šilović is a seasoned consultant with more than 15 years of experience in strategy and transformation projects. He is head of Croatian consulting practice and leader of PwC South East Europe energy, utilities and resources practice. Mislav has led and delivered some of the biggest transformation projects in SEE energy space and contributed to the development of few national energy strategies and energy and climate plans in CEE. In recent period he is putting lot's of focus on energy transition topics, serving vertically integrated power utilities as well as oil & gas clients on their path towards the "new energy". On PPA front, with his team, Mislav has pioneered design and implementation of the first virtual corporate PPA commercial term sheet in Croatia.

Ms. Richter-Kuhnert joined the Energy Community in 2016 as an Energy Lawyer, mainly dealing with issues of competition and State aid law, dispute settlement cases, assistance to national competition and State aid authorities and training activities. Her previous professional experience consists of different legal positions as legal associate, consultant and legal clerk. Ms. Richter-Kuhnert holds a Master’s (2008) and a PhD degree (2011) from the Faculty of Law, Vienna University where she was also Assistant Professor in the period 2009-2011. She has also published several legal articles.

Pranvera Dobruna Kryeziu is an energy expert with over 30 years of experience in the industry, enriched through numerous institutional engagements, expertise on private project development and academia. Appointed by the Prime Minister’s Office, Pranvera served as Head Negotiator for Kosovo concerning its transmission system dispute and a member of the negotiation process for the establishment of the Energy Community Treaty in Brussels. In an executive capacity, Pranvera currently serves as CEO of Energy Legacy LLC, and has previously served as the first woman CEO of Kosovo’s Power Company (KEK). Some years later, she served as a member of KEK’s Board of Directors -responsible for the regulatory and tariff issues for energy balance. Throughout her institutional experience, she has monitored the implementation of major projects in the sector and has professionally supported the implementation of energy sector reforms for the unbundling of KEK. For several years she has been engaged in academia, as a lecturer of energy policy, energy storage, and geothermal energy and heat pumps. Furthermore, Pranvera is a Certified Energy Auditor for buildings and public lighting. Pranvera is the Chairperson and founder of the National Committee CIGRE Kosovo, a global and regional organization for power sector expertise and active in the Net Zero initiative task force (CIGRE Woman in Energy forum).

Vladimir Sabo is a graduate economist at the Faculty of Economics, University of Osijek, with additional training in technology, innovation, business development, investment and project management. He took over management positions in companies very early, including the position of head of the test program at the Croatian Institute of Technology and head of evaluations at the Croatian Agency for Business Innovation. He then continued his career in the energy sector as the head of the business strategy development department at HEP. The next career step forward and experience was gained by the leading department of energy sector, as well as innovative business models and digitalization at Petrol Croatia. E.ON joined late last year as Director of Customer Solutions where he heads the department responsible for selling gas and electricity to households and businesses, home solar power plants and innovative energy solutions.

Dusan has been working at the Montenegrin electricity transmission system from 2015 to 2017, and since 2017 at the Montenegrin electricity market operator - becoming the head of the department of Renwable Energy Sources since October 1st. He holds a Master of electrical engineering in the field of transmission and distribution power systems and renewable energy sources and published numerous papers on this topic.

Zeljko is the Founder & CEO of IE-Energy, where he is focussing on the development of BESS project - making it the largest of South East Europe - and development of the Virtual Power Plant. Zeljko holds a Master f Law at University of Rijeka - Law School

Edwin founded Solarplaza company in 2004. He is a senior PV expert and started in the photovoltaic solar energy business in 1994. He has experience as a solar energy consultant and project developer in more than 200 PV projects. Edwin holds a Master’s degree in Chemical engineering and previously worked in the Chemical industry before starting his first consultancy company in PV in 1994.

Ramses Struijker Boudier is a Project Manager at Solarplaza, focussing on projects in France, Agrivoltaics and Africa. In the past, he worked for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Vietnam, focussing on promoting sustainable development alongside the food-water-energy nexus. He holds a bachelor's degree in Economics and International Relations from the Erasmus University Rotterdam, and a master's degree in Climate Change and Environmental Sciences from King's College London.

Nicola Kopij Zanin is a Project Manager for Solarplaza, part of Finance & Innovation team, contributing to the company's growth in markets worldwide. Prior to joining Solarplaza, he gained experience with EU development financing, having set up his own organisation. In the past, he held positions in different industries across Italy, Poland and the UAE. Nicola holds a bachelor's degree in Economics and Business from LUISS University in Rome and a Master's degree in Finance & Investments from Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University.