Solarplaza Summit | Energy Storage Spain

Catalina Bauza Llinas holds a degree in Law, a Master’s in international Relations and Foreign Trade, a MBA in International Management and an Executive Development Program (PDD) at IESE Business School. Catalina is an accomplished professional with 20 years of experience in international business development, consultancy & advisory, and project management in several countries: including 12 years in the renewable energy sector. She has combined her legal background and her commercial intuition to create networks of key players and build strategic alliances & partnerships in the renewable energy and sustainability markets, with a strong emphasis on digitalization, innovation, disruptive technology, and ecological transition.

Electrical Engineer from INSA Lyon with a Specialized Master’s Degree in New Energy Management of AMPT Lille, with over 10 years of experience in the Renewable Energy sector. At DNV, Valentin works as Principal Consultant in the Energy Market Analytics team, covering Southern Europe and Latin America Energy Markets. Additionally, he has a Global Practice Lead role for Power Price Forecast (PPF), where he coordinates the PPF activities across regions, driving innovation and promoting best practices. Prior to DNV, Valentin was Head of Quantitative Research at Antuko, where he led the areas of Market Intelligence, Market Modelling, Risk Management and Asset Management. Valentin is a specialist in Smart Grid and Energy Management with knowledge of modelling electrical transmission grid, renewable energy and storage systems. He also worked as a Research Engineer at the Lille L2EP Laboratory to develop methods and solutions for optimization of renewable energy production, storage, and consumption.

Dr. Hilton joined IHS Markit (now S&P Global) in 2020 and has eight years of experience in the clean energy sector. He focuses on clean energy technologies in Europe, Middle East and Africa and has a particular interest in how energy storage integrates with other industries. He has recently published work on recycling, energy storage for EV charging, vehicle-to-grid technologies, second life batteries and the use of batteries in hydrogen production. He leads the global forecast for energy storage. He has published articles in multiple well-respected journals, responded to government calls for evidence on energy storage and electric vehicles (EVs), and has been quoted in a range of media outlets. Dr. Hilton holds a first-class Master of Engineering degree in mechanical engineering and a PhD in energy engineering with a focus on energy storage integration with renewable energy and EV infrastructure, both from the University of Southampton, United Kingdom.

Tomás García is the lead Senior Director of the Energy & Infrastructure Advisory practice in Spain & Portugal at JLL (Jones Lang LaSalle) since April 2020. In this role, he leads the team providing transactional and financial advisory services for renewable energy assets in Iberia. Prior to this, Tomás was the Managing Director of the Solar & Wind Projects business in Spain & Portugal at BayWa r.e. (2019). Prior to this role, he was the Head of Business Development EMEA, Energy Group at Canadian Solar (2017-2018). Before that he served at SunEdison as General Manager, Rural Electrification EMEA (2014-2015) and as Head of Strategy & Market Development EMEA & LATAM (2011-2014). Before that Tomás was Market Strategy Manager at First Solar (2008-2011) and a Strategy Consultant at the Monitor Group (2004-2008). Additionally, he has also worked as a Venture Capitalist, Research Scientist (doing science on solar PV materials), University Teacher and FX Trader. Tomás was a PhD student at Florida International University, earned his MSci at King’s College London and his Masters degree in Physics at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. He is fluent in Spanish and English and functional in Italian.

Alberto brings a decade of international expertise in the energy sector, covering different angles of the value chain including clean technology projects development, open innovation, corporate venture investments, and energy policy advocacy. Prior to joining Breakthrough Energy, he advised Iberdrola´s CEO as a Senior Business Specialist. From the Chairman Office, he controlled worldwide business operations, supported Executive Committees and Boards of Directors, and developed special analysis relevant for strategic corporate decisions. He was also part of the Corporate Venture Capital arm, where he managed investments in disruptive clean technology start-ups focused on the decarbonization of the power, heat, and transport sectors. He also spent several years of work in Qatar, where he built Iberdrola´s Innovation Hub for Open Innovation and managed technical consultancy projects for Utilities in the Middle East, including power grids digitalization, renewables integration, and energy efficiency programs. He also worked at the International Energy Agency, where he co-authored several flagship publications including the World Energy Outlook (WEO) and World Energy Investment (WEI), being responsible for power sector market investments analysis for IEA scenarios. He also developed economic models for networks, renewables, and energy storage analysis. Outside of work, Alberto loves traveling and meeting people. He cares for sea life where he enjoys doing two of his hobbies, surfing, and scuba-diving. He holds three MSc in Industrial Engineering, Renewable Energy and Energy Business, and a PMP Certificate from the Project Management Institute.

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.

Joshua is a renewable energy professional with over 12 years of commercial and technical experience in utility-scale battery storage and solar technology. Joshua is the Head of Storage at Econergy, a renewable energy IPP that operates across 6 different regions with over 450MW of solar, wind and battery storage projects under construction and 155MW of operation solar PV. He joined in 2021 to head the technical, commercial, and strategic aspects of the company’s stand-alone and co-located storage projects in the UK and also developing the overseas storage strategy. Econergy is currently building over 100MWh of battery storage projects in the UK and has a further 1GW of storage projects nearing ready to build. Before joining Econergy, he worked for a leading German inverter manufacturer, SMA Solar Technology, where he served as the technical expert for the UK and Ireland. He has been involved in the design and delivery of over 800MW of utility-scale solar and storage projects.

Civil Engineer from Alfonso X “el Sabio” University of Madrid, Master in Renewable Energy and Energy Market from Escuela de Organización Industrial and Executive MBA from IESE Business School. He has developed his professional career in the area of infrastructure and energy, participating in civil works construction projects, renewable energy business development, electricity transport infrastructure concessions and renewable energy asset management, work carried out mainly in the Elecnor Group in the markets of Spain and Chile. Due to his career, he has experience in the complete development of projects, from their origin with the location of locations and administrative and environmental processing to their commercial operation and sale, through construction, financing, commissioning and operation. He is currently Director of ASEALEN, Spanish Association of Energy Storage, having previously held the position of Secretary General of PROTERMOSOLAR, Spanish Association for the Promotion of the Solar Thermal Industry.

Mr Kim Keats is a Director at K4K Training & Advisory. Kim started his career in economic consulting at London Economics in 1995 and joined the new London office of ICF International in 2000. Joined IPA Energy + Water Economics in 2007 developing and leading the transaction team based in London until the end of 2014 when he relocated full time to Madrid. Set up the market advisory team at K4K (www.k4kadvisory.com). His primary focus on the preparation of market studies to support and inform financing, refinancing, IPOs and M&A of power, fuel and water desalination projects in Europe, Middle East, North Africa, Asia and the Americas covering both conventional and renewable generation technologies on behalf of major international project developers, financiers and fuel suppliers. Over the past 17 years, Kim has supported the successful completion of 47GW and 471MIGD of capacity with a transaction value of more than USD32 billion. He has worked in Spain since 1998 advising on a variety of thermal and renewables projects and for different clients.

Mikel Pino is a chemical engineer, master in renewable energies and PhD into battery energy storage with more than 12 years fully devoted to energy storage and new energy businesses. He has participated in the whole value chain of BESS from new battery technologies R&D, up to business modelling, procurement and contracting. Additionally, he overseed market price forecast modelling for renewable assets market risk assessment, revenue stacking definition both for BESS and ancillary services qualified RE assets, renewable project hybridization (PV + wind + BESS) and new business origination (green hydrogen, electro-intensive business, etc). He worked for reference energy companies as Qualitas Equity and Statkraft, and recently joined Exus Renewables as Head of Energy Storage for Europe.