Solarplaza Summit Energy Storage The Netherlands

The Industry Advisory Board empowering the event

The combined wealth of knowledge, years of experience, and high-level network of our expert advisory board members help shape our program and enhance our event. Their involvement guarantees the practical and inspirational relevance of our event in the dynamic and ever-evolving solar landscape.

Ruud Nijs

CEO

Giga Storage

I’m Ruud Nijs, the CEO of GIGA Storage. I’m a former banker with ABN-AMRO and Rabobank. I was responsible there for the intercompany payment infrastructure set up and with Rabobank I have set up the sustainability department. In-between the 2 banks I was leading the Europe and Mid East desk of an artificial intelligence company – Nasdaq listed and San Diego based - focusing on neural networks. After leaving Rabobank I was entrepreneur for 10 years, in the board of some regional investment funds and assisting small and medium enterprises to search for funding. In 2017 I met Maarten Quist and Lars and never left. Jointly we started GIGA Storage.

Jan Willem Zwang

Energy Trendwatcher

Stratergy

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.

Koen Broess

Segment Leader Energy Storage

DNV

Dr. Koen Broess has a PhD in biophysics and a master’s degree in chemistry. He is responsible as segment leader energy storage EVs for business development in North Europe. He is also key account manager. He has more than 11 years of experience in energy storage projects, new services and business models in the energy market and has set up and coordinated several (inter-)national projects. He is responsible for quality control of proposals and involved in the development of the battery safety test center. On national level, he was involved in the Dutch climate agreement, roadmap energy storage and the roadmap of electric vehicle batteries for the Dutch government. He is a member of the working group for the Dutch ministry of Infrastructure and water management for battery safety and regulations. Koen is a member of the executive board of the European Association for Storage of Energy (EASE).

Jacob Jan Stuyt

Commercial Director

Return Energy

Nienke Rijpstra

Investment Director

StartGreen Capital

Nienke Rijpstra works as an Investment Director at StartGreen Capital, where she manages the team of Energiefonds Overijssel. This fund has €330 million in assets under management and provides both entrepreneurs and project owners financing for the energy transition and the circular economy. Her personal focus is on solar, battery storage systems, energy infrastructure, and geothermal energy. Nienke is responsible for the acquisition, deal execution, and portfolio management.

Jesse Hettema

Head of NLD & BEL

Aurora Energy Research

Jesse heads Aurora’s Research and Advisory team for the Dutch and Belgian markets. His expertise is the economics of renewables, flexible technologies, and energy policy, with a proven track record as a market advisor on several strategic studies and transactions for developers, investors, and policy makers. Prior to joining Aurora, Jesse worked for Eneco in Rotterdam.

Program Overview

Sharing knowledge and network in Energy Storage

Fueled by market research, inspired by local consultation, and tailored for our professional audience, the content-rich event program takes stock of the challenges and opportunities of the Energy Storage sector.

Conference Program Solarplaza Summit Energy Storage The Netherlands

Session 1 Market Overview and Evolving Landscape of Storage

Session 2A Technological Innovation

Session 2B Trading

Session 3A Benchmarking & Financing

Session 3B Business Case & Workshop

Session 4 Practical Business Cases

Speakers

Joost Samsom

Partner & Co-Founder

Joost Samsom

Partner & Co-Founder

Voltiq

Joost Samsom is partner and co-founder of Voltiq. Voltiq is a boutique investment banking firm specializing in energy transition. Joost has 25 years of experience in the development, acquisition and management of renewable energy projects and companies. He has been leading numerous equity and debt raisings for solar and wind developers throughout Europe and Latin America. Before co-founding Voltiq in 2009, Joost was an Executive Board Member at the clean energy branch of global retail and distribution company SHV. Prior to working for SHV, Joost worked for Dutch utility Nuon (nowadays Vattenfall). From 2002 – 2006 he was responsible for Nuon’s investments in Spain based in Seville. Joost has served as an executive and non-executive director on the board of renewable energy companies in the United Kingdom, Germany, Chile, Mexico, Spain and The Netherlands. He has in-depth knowledge of wind, solar, bio-energy, battery storage and hydrogen. Joost is a graduate in European Studies at the University of Amsterdam and is fluent in Dutch, English, Spanish and German.

Bert van der Toorn

Senior Investment Officer at EIB

Bert van der Toorn

Senior Investment Officer at EIB

European Investment Bank (EIB)

Bert is structuring financial products to bridge the gap between equity and commercial bank debt for innovative scale ups in the clean tech energy sector, such as storage. With EIB he recently concluded a EUR 30m venture debt facility for LeydenJar and a EUR 20m facility for GDI, both seeking to upgrade the anode of batteries. Before joining EIB in 2021, Bert worked in the energy sector at ING, EBRD, ABNAMRO and Shell. He also supported an advisory boutique for solar roof panels as Vice Chair of Kennemer Energie in his spare time.

Simon Langbroek

Asset Manager

Simon Langbroek

Asset Manager

Return Energy

Simon Langbroek has managed the storage assets of Return since 2022. Previously, he pioneered residential energy modeling with The Sustainables/HomeQgo. He holds an MSc in Economics. Return provides large-scale energy storage systems that deliver flexible, smart, and efficient power solutions, with currently 70MW of assets live and 370MW under construction, and 43.000+ operational hours. With his team, Simon maximizes the value that Return’s clients can generate with the provided storage solutions. During SolarPlaza, Simon will give his view on the advancements in battery technologies and energy management systems.

Martien Visser

Lector Energy Transition at Hanze Hogeschool

Martien Visser

Lector Energy Transition at Hanze Hogeschool

Hanze University

Martien Visser works as part time professor at Hanze University where lectures on energy transition, with specialisation energy systems and energy infrastructure. Martien publishes daily graphs about the energy market on "X" under @BM_Visser. He has a monthly blog on Energiepodium about Energy Policy (in Dutch). Martien has another part time job at Gasunie, the public Dutch gas infrastructure company, where he acts as manager strategy. Martien is fellow of the Centre of International Energy Policy (CIEP) in The Hague.

Nienke Rijpstra

Investment Director

Nienke Rijpstra

Investment Director

StartGreen Capital

Rianne 't Hoen

Projectleider

Rianne 't Hoen

Projectleider

Green Energy Storage

Rianne 't Hoen is Project Manager at Green Energy Storage, based in the Netherlands. She is responsible for the development and realization of Battery Energy Storage System sites, both co-located as stand-alone systems. Rianne has a technical background, she holds a PhD in Physics. She has been working in the renewable energy sector and battery energy storage systems for 10 years. Her experience ranges from battery safety testing, market studies, technology assessments and technical due diligences.

Program Overview

Sharing knowledge and network in Energy Storage

Speakers

Resources

Conference Venue

Kit Royal Tropical Institute

Partners

Media Partners

Solarplaza Summit | Energy Storage The Netherlands

Program Overview

Sharing knowledge and network in Energy Storage

Speakers

Resources

Conference Venue

Kit Royal Tropical Institute

Partners

Media Partners