Solarplaza Summit | Energy Storage Germany

Dr.-Ing. Christian Folke (born 1 st July 1971), is an innovation manager at Uniper Energy Storage GmbH. He has a PhD in energy supply technologies and energy economics from the University of Essen, Germany, and has extensive experience in various fields of energy engineering, such as CHP (combined heat and power), CCS (carbon capture and storage), renewables, and energy storage. He has worked for different E.ON subsidiaries since 1999, holding various positions such as team leader, portfolio manager, technical officer, and technical coordinator. He has been involved in several European and international research projects and initiatives. He has also published numerous papers and reports on topics such as CHP, CO2 emissions avoidance, advanced cycle technologies, and power-to-gas. Christian lead battery storage projects that support renewable energy integration. Since May 2023 he is Head of Technology & Innovation at Uniper Renewables GmbH. He is fluent in German and English, and has elementary knowledge of French and Dutch. Christian lives in Germany, is married and has three daughters.

J. Badeda was working as research associate for the Institute of power electronics and electrical drives (ISEA) from 2012 to 2017. During the last two years she headed the department of grid integration and storage systems analysis within the chair of Prof. Dirk Uwe Sauer. This research section is focusing on the possibility to integrate renewable energies in the future electricity grid through energy storage options. She has furthermore gained experiences with diverse testing of batteries in stationary and automotive applications. From May 2017 until December 2019 Ms. Julia Badeda lead the business development for stationary storage systems within the BatterieIngenieure GmbH and was general manager within the company. Since 2019 she heads the department for hybrid and battery storage systems within ABO Wind AG, where she develops technical and economic solutions for off-grid as wells as grid-tied renewable energy generation coupled with storage systems.

Anna von Bremen is Head of Energy Innovation at Osborne Clarke. She advises companies in the energy industry on regulatory and energy law issues and aspects of digitalisation in the energy sector. She also conducts complex regulatory litigation. Her clients include energy producers, energy trading houses, industrial offtakers and utilities.

After completing his doctorate at the Chair of Theoretical Physics I at the University of Bayreuth in 2011, Mr. Bammert worked at the transmission system operator TenneT TSO GmbH in system management in the area of ​​international congestion management. After moving to TransnetBW GmbH at the beginning of 2015, he was responsible for cross-border redispatch in the network industry, among other things, before taking over management of the Non-Standardized Markets team in January 2020.

Right after passing exams as electrical engineer at RWTH Aachen University 1995 Heiner Breuer cofounded abakus solar AG and helped to develop the company from startup to an internationally acknowledged EPC and O&M service provider with a clear focus on high-quality solar PV assets. On the management board Heiner always had a focus on technology-related responsibilities like system development, engineering, quality control and asset management added with entrepreneurial aspects like sales, contract negotiations and stakeholder communication. In 2016 ENcome Energy Performance acquired abakus where he acted as CTO. From 2019 Heiner supported Edify Energy in Australia, focusing on utility-scale solar plus storage plants, as Technical Director. As of 2021 he is engaged as Senior Technical Expert as Obton, where he is leading the efforts to design future-proof “Solar+” power stations.

Florian Mayr, partner at Apricum, is an expert on strategy, business development and transaction advisory in the global renewable energy markets, including energy storage. Florian leads Apricum’s energy storage, green hydrogen and digital energy activities. In particular, he supports Apricum’s clients in successfully accessing new markets and seizing attractive business opportunities. He is also active in advising cleantech companies on corporate and project financing, including M&A, fund raising and due diligence. In addition, he is a regular contributor to external publications and a frequently booked speaker on the topic of energy storage. Prior to Apricum, Florian spent a decade in senior positions at McKinsey & Company and RWE, where he was mainly involved in strategy development projects both in the conventional and renewable energy sectors. Florian holds a master’s degree in engineering from the Technical University of Berlin, and an MBA from the Technical University of Berlin and the University of Mannheim.

Philipp Kalt holds an M.Sc. degree in Engineering and Economics from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, specializing in energy economics and technology. His academic focus included the integration of large-scale energy storage systems within electrical grids. At Kyon Energy, Philipp is part of the Business Development and Regulatory Affairs team, where he is responsible for grid economics, site analyses for future projects, and grid connection planning. He focuses on nationwide greenfield development in Germany, with a particular emphasis on grid topology considerations and optimizing energy storage site selection.

Kilian Leykam is leading Aquila Capital’s battery storage investments in the EMEA region. Prior to that he was responsible for setting up the power markets and hedging activities at Aquila’s Merchant Market Desk. He has worked in the renewable energy sector since 2009. Before joining Aquila Capital in 2020, Kilian held various positions at Vattenfall Energy Trading, most recently he was heading the business development in the trading division, where he was responsible for strategy development, partnership management and corporate PPAs. Kilian holds a bachelor's degree in international affairs and a master's degree in economics from the University of St. Gallen.

Corentin graduated in engineering at an engineering school in Paris (Ponts et Chaussées) and studied his master in sustainable energies at the Imperial College in London. Corentin has joined Clean Horizon in 2016 and is now partner, he is heading market analysis activities. As such, he acts as project manager on key market analysis projects as well as price forecasts efforts of the company. Additionally, Corentin is the commercial director of Clean Horizon.

Jan Willem has over 20 years of experience in the energy market and worked for some of the larger utilities. Early 2020, Jan Willem sold his previous companies Greenspread and Greencrowd to private equity concern NPM Capital. Since his departure in October 2020, Jan Willem works as an independent consultant at Stratergy. Stratergy advises funds, banks, utilities, and large consumers and producers of energy and specializes in maximizing asset value and minimizing financial risk.

Susan is a senior research analyst with the Commodity Insights team at S&P Global providing research coverage on energy storage markets across Europe, the Middle East and Africa with a particular interest in emerging technologies and cross-sector integration. Prior to joining S&P Global, she worked as an analyst supporting the policy team at the European Association for Storage of Energy (EASE) based in Brussels. She holds a Doctorate degree from ETH Zurich in the field of electrochemistry, with her thesis focused on flow battery development in collaboration with IBM Zurich.

Oliver Schmidt is a clean energy expert with a particular focus on energy storage. He published the book Monetizing Energy Storage and launched the online analysis platform http://www.energystorage.ninja/ in 2023. He has previous experience as a project manager at the strategy and financial transaction advisory firm Apricum, where he supported top management with strategic advice in the energy storage, solar PV, and hydrogen industries. Oliver also worked as an energy analyst at the IEA and as a management consultant at E.ON. He has a PhD on the future cost and value of energy storage from Imperial College London.

George is a Manager in JLL’s Energy & Infrastructure Advisory team specialising in M&A and capital raising across EMEA. Primarily focused within the UK & Ireland and Germany, he has advised on over 2GW of transactions across the asset lifecycle including BlackRock's maiden investment into a battery storage platform and the largest operational BESS disposal in Europe. This has led to the opportunity to work with clients such as Shell, Gresham House, SUSI Partners, Omers, Railpen, and Total Energies.

Christoph Gardlo is the Co-Founder and COO of ESFORIN (Energy Services for Industry). The company’s core business is algorithm trading in intraday markets with clients’ flexibilities – helping companies to optimize energy costs and reduce significant amounts of CO2. Before becoming an independent energy entrepreneur, Christoph gained profound experience in the energy markets in various companies. In the 2000s he joined E.ON with focus on Marketing, later becoming Account Manager Power Station Sales. In 2010 he was Head of Gas Sales Germany at Cargill, then Head of Key Accounts Portfolioservices & International Sales at natGAS AG, before he became COO and Co-Founder of ESFORIN.

Mr. Jan Figgener holds a M.Sc. in electrical engineering and economics, received from RWTH Aachen University after studying in Aachen and Istanbul. Since 2021, Jan has been Head of Grid Integration and Storage System Analysis leading a research group of around 15 employees and a focus on stationary storage systems, electric vehicles, charging infrastructure, sector coupling, and battery aging. Besides his work at RWTH Aachen University, he is a Senior Battery Expert at ACCURE Battery Intelligence working on battery state estimates based on field data. Within his work, Jan works closely together with national and international companies, ministries, and agencies on the topic of battery storage.

Philipp is an Associate at Aurora Energy Research, where he is responsible for the analyses of the German flexibility and battery markets. He worked as a market advisor on numerous strategic studies for developers, investors, utilities, grid operators, and policymakers and played a crucial role in developing Aurora’s flexibility product for Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium Before joining Aurora, Philipp worked in power market analytics. He holds an MSc degree in Industrial Engineering from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, with a focus on energy economics.

Dee Yon Chng (pronounced Dion) is a project manager for Solarplaza spearheading the following events in chronological order: Agri-PV 2023, Floating-PV 2023, Energy Storage Spain 2023, Romania 2024, France 2024. Prior to Solarplaza she helped co-found a "floating" coaching company, and worked as sustainability consultant. She is a strong believer in knowledge sharing around sustainability topics, with 10 years of chairman experience in facilitating a collaborative and fruitful discussion.