Solarplaza Summit | Bulgaria

Sevda Yontcheva is a stakeholder engagement strategist at CWP, advancing large-scale renewable projects across Southeast Europe. She works at the intersection of policy, industry, and communities to unlock investment, strengthen public trust, and accelerate the role of wind power in Europe’s clean and secure energy future.

Boyan Karshakov is an established leader with over 15 years of experience in the energy sector. He has held key management positions in companies such as Energo-Pro and United Group. His professional background includes managing companies in electricity production and trading, as well as developing renewable energy projects.

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.

Konstantin Stamenov is one of Bulgaria's leading experts on energy policy and industrial competitiveness. He serves as Chairman of the Bulgarian Federation of Industrial Energy Consumers (BFIEC) and Chairman of the Energy Committee of the Confederation of Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria (CEIBG). Alongside his policy work, he is Authorized Representative and Director of Energy Resources at Stomana Industry, one of Bulgaria's largest industrial companies. He regularly engages with government, regulators, and European institutions on energy market reform, decarbonization, energy security, and industrial competitiveness, and is widely recognized as a leading voice on the future of Europe's energy-intensive industries.

Panu Matilainen is Market Origination Lead at Capalo AI, where he leads the company's long term offtake agreements across 11 countries. In this role, he works to secure the commercial partnerships that underpin Capalo AI's battery energy storage system optimization and trading business across Europe. Since joining Capalo AI, Panu has held several commercial roles, including Business Development Executive and Business Development Manager, before moving into his current position as Market Origination Lead. Across these roles, he has built a deep understanding of how technical energy market dynamics connect with commercial strategies. Before joining Capalo AI, Panu worked as a trainee at eSett in Helsinki, gaining early exposure to the Nordic energy market. He also served as a Sergeant in the Finnish Defence Forces. Panu holds a Bachelor of Science in Technology from Aalto University.

Rositsa Chopeva is Managing Director and Partner at xFigure Finance, an independent corporate finance advisory firm focused on M&A, project finance, debt advisory and capital raising for renewable energy projects across Central and Eastern Europe. With more than 18 years of experience in corporate finance, she advises developers, investors and lenders on complex renewable energy transactions. xFigure has advised on over 1.8 GW of completed and ongoing solar, wind and battery storage mandates, providing clients with end-to-end support from origination and financial modelling to financing and transaction execution.

Rafał is a seasoned investment bank expert with over 25 years of professional experience in strategy consulting, mergers and acquisitions, debt advisory as well as equity capital markets. He leads the Energy and Infrastructure CEE Team at Jones Lang LaSalle where he specializes in cross border M&A transaction across the whole CEE region. By combining deep local market knowledge with international investors’ framework, he helps developers and investors securing the capital necessary to develop, build and operate renewable energy projects across the region. He focuses on onshore wind, BESS and solar PV technologies with over 3 GW of various projects transacted so far.

Mariyana is Vice Chair of the Association for Production, Storage and Trading of Electricity (APSTE) in Bulgaria as well as Chief Operating Officer (COO) at International Power Supply (IPS) – an energy technology company with 36 years of experience in R&D and manufacturing of power conversion systems, battery energy storage systems (BESS) and micro-grid technologies. To date, Mariyana has over 15 years of experience in various leadership roles within business development and investment market research for wind, solar, energy storage and smart grids. In all her roles, she works tirelessly to bridge the gap between technology, regulation, and finance — and foster collaboration across sectors to accelerate the clean energy transition.

Rosemary is a Lead Consultant at Clean Horizon with a strong technical and analytical background in the energy storage sector. Her expertise focuses on the profitability assessment of storage projects and conducting in-depth market analyses across various European countries. She specializes in dimensioning energy storage projects using optimization models to dispatch assets effectively on energy and ancillary services markets. Rosemary holds an engineering degree from Institut d'Optique Graduate School and a Master of Science in physics from Imperial College London, combining her academic foundation in science and engineering with practical commercial and regulatory insights to support project developers and investors.

Valery Drenikov is Regional Manager for Bulgaria at GEN-I and Chairman of the Management Board of ATEB (Association of Traders with Energy in Bulgaria). With more than 10 years of experience in electricity trading and market development, he specializes in Southeast European power markets, cross-border trading, renewable integration, battery storage (BESS), balancing and ancillary services, and energy market regulation.

Severin Vartigov is an experienced energy sector professional with over 15 years in finance, capital markets, and project development. As Chief Commercial Officer at Enery, he leads commercial strategy, negotiates with offtakers, and supports the financing and development of large-scale renewable projects. Previously, he served as CFO of the Independent Bulgarian Energy Exchange and Deputy CEO of the Bulgarian Energy Holding, contributing to strategic decision-making, financial planning, and engagement with the European Commission on energy policy. Earlier in his career, he built strong expertise in corporate finance and capital markets, including structuring major bond issuances and developing partnerships with international financial institutions and investors.

Yuri Katanov has over 20 years of experience in corporate finance, investment structuring and the delivery of large-scale energy projects. He has played an active role in landmark renewable energy initiatives across Southeast Europe and contributes to the transformation of the region’s energy sector by connecting renewable generation, battery storage, aggregation and balancing services with advanced digital energy solutions.