Solarplaza Summit | Finland

Twenty years in the energy/utilities industry. Previous positions include e.g., VP, Head of asset backed trading at Fortum and CEO of Auris Energia (active in gas sales and trading, and energy services). Last two years the CEO of Skarta Energy, currently the largest industrial scale solar producer (IPP) in Finland.

Kyle Barth is a Senior Consultant with Apricum, based in Berlin. Kyle’s focus is on strategy and transaction advisory in all areas of renewable energy, with recent emphasis on battery energy storage, solar PV and energy management and flexibility solutions. Previously, Kyle spent several years at ABB, in progressive strategy and business development roles focused on electrification, digital transformation, and facilitating the acceleration of the energy transition. Kyle has an MBA (from IESE Business School in Spain) and prior studied electrical engineering (at North Carolina State University in the US).

Gabriela is part of the Nordics & Baltics team based in Stockholm, providing advisory services and market forecasts for the energy sector. Over the past year, she has conducted approximately 15 battery valuations to support transactions and debt financing across the Nordics and Baltics. With nearly nine years of experience in the energy industry, Gabriela has been with Aurora Energy Research for over a year, focusing primarily on utility-scale batteries and ancillary markets.

Nils Kernell is the CPTO and co-founder of Qurrent, a market-leading optimization platform for battery storage systems and renewable energy. Before starting Qurrent, Nils spent many years in the technology industry, building and scaling tech-enabled products at a tech unicorn and one of Sweden's largest web platforms.

Kinga brings extensive expertise in financial advisory within the energy and infrastructure sectors. With a career spanning over 20 years, including significant time in investment banking in London and Dublin, she has advised a diverse range of clients on complex domestic or cross-border mergers & acquisitions and debt financings in this sector. She is co-leading EY's Nordic Renewables team and also serves as the Energy & Industrials Leader for EY-Parthenon in Europe Central, demonstrating her deep commitment to accelerating the energy transition. Her insights are particularly valuable in navigating the financial complexities and investment opportunities within the rapidly evolving solar and energy storage landscape in the Nordics and beyond.

Elina Kärkimaa is a known solar PV expert in Finland with over 12 years of experience from large-scale PV and BESS on several markets. She leads a versatile renewable energy engineering team in Finland's largest energy company Fortum Oyj, acts in Solar Power Committee of Renewables Finland, and has worked previously as energy consultant in Etha and leading both multi-GW project development and engineering teams in Ilmatar. Her motto is that all solar and BESS (or wind) that gets built should be built as smartly as possible to maximize its benefits for the society.

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.

Esa Lipsanen is a Senior Sales Manager at Merus Power, responsible for Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) sales in Finland. He has extensive experience in electrical engineering, renewable energy integration, and power system optimization. Esa’s work focuses on enabling a cleaner and more flexible energy future by helping customers deploy advanced Finnish-made energy storage solutions that support grid stability and the efficient use of renewable generation. At Merus Power, he plays a key role in accelerating the adoption of reliable European utility-scale battery energy storages that combine technical performance with strong business value, contributing to the Nordic region’s transition toward a resilient, low-carbon energy system.

Arnaud Defrance is Head of Transactions at Etha, a holistic renewable energy consultancy integrating technical development and engineering capabilities with financial (M&A, project finance, and PPA) and legal expertise. He leads Etha’s advisory across acquisitions, divestments, capital structuring, and long-term offtake arrangements for clean energy assets. Arnaud brings experience from investment banking roles at CACIB, Nordea, and the Nordic Investment Bank, complemented by impact investment at Finnfund and climate-tech advisory at Puro.earth. He has unlocked capital for renewable energy and carbon removal projects across both mature and emerging markets, with a particular focus on optimizing risk allocation and securing bankable structures that deliver durable climate impact. His current work places him at the center of Nordic clean energy dealmaking, where he is recognized for structuring innovative transactions in a rapidly evolving market.

Henry Särkisilta is Sales Manager for Sungrow's Utility PV & BESS segments in Finland. Sungrow is a global leader in renewable energy technology, pioneering sustainable power solutions for over 28 years. The company is recognized as Europe's No. 1 BESS supplier (Wood Mackenzie) and holds an AAA ESG rating from MSCI (Morgan Stanley Capital International).

Susanna Terhivuo is Director of Project Finance at Taaleri Energia Funds Management Oy in Helsinki, where she leads structuring and execution of large‑scale renewable energy investments. Previously, she worked for more than a decade in bank‑side and borrower‑representative roles in project finance transactions across wind, solar and infrastructure. Her financial modelling and transaction execution experience make her a key driver of new clean energy asset deployment in the Nordic region. At this conference, she will bring deep insight into financing models and risk allocation for complex renewables projects.

Even Kvelland is the co-founder and COO of Glint Solar, a Norwegian software company whose platform helps leading solar developers quickly identify and analyze greenfield solar projects for both ground and floating PV. Prior to Glint, Even worked in a number of energy-related functions spanning consulting, business intelligence and diplomacy in Europe, Africa and the US. Even studied energy, economics and international affairs at Macalester College and Columbia University, respectively.

Heikki Tervanen is the Head of Procurement at Olana Energy, leading the negotiation and contracting of utility-scale BESS. Before Olana Energy, Heikki worked in electricity and natural gas procurement, trading on the electricity/natural gas market and optimizing energy supply. Heikki holds a background in sustainable energy systems and energy economics.

Ossi Ikonen is a Client Executive at Alight, responsible for delivering power purchase agreements (PPAs) from Alight’s Finnish solar projects to corporate clients. With over 15 years of experience in the Finnish energy market, he has held key roles in energy operations and strategy at UPM, Stora Enso, and Neste. Ossi was selected as a participant in the World Energy Council’s Global Future Energy Leader cohort (2021–2023) and holds a Master of Science in Energy Technology from LUT (Lappeenranta University of Technology).

With extensive international background in Supply Chain management and Procurement, Mr. Vikmanis is currently leading Renewable Energy transformation at Autoliv AB globally. Autoliv AB has developed Renewable energy Strategy back in 2022 with ultimate goal of full transition to Renewable energy sources by 2030. Pan European Virtual PPA is among first major steps in this transformation.

Joar af Ekenstam brings a decade of expertise in the energy sector, with the past eight years dedicated to Alight. At Alight, Joar has played a key role in leading the customer dialogues and successfully identifying and securing offtakers for several 100MW of projects. Prior to joining Alight, Joar accumulated 15 years of valuable experience in management consulting and the banking sector. Joar holds a double Master’s degree in Engineering Physics and in Business and Economics from Uppsala University in Sweden.

Francisco Estela, an engineer with more than 25 years in the solar industry, has developed his activity in different areas such as R&D for balance of systems, solar cell manufacturing, large grid-connected photovoltaic projects in private investment funds, and self-consumption RCI photovoltaic systems. He joined LONGi Solar in 2020 as Technical Director for the Middle East, and currently is the CTO for LONGi Utility Europe.

Eero Oksanen is the CEO and founder of Forus. Oksanen has worked his whole career with sales of electricity and is an entrepreneur since 2007. Forus is one of the leading solar consultancy companies in Finland. Besides solar energy, Forus sells and develops financial services that can stop climate change profitably.

Amanda has over 10 years of experience as an energy consultant, energy analyst and economist with expertise in power markets and trading strategies for new energy types in Australia, Europe and the US. Amanda provided power market and energy risk management training to over 100 energy stakeholders throughout Europe, Australia and Asia. Amanda joined Ingrid Capacity to build the commercial steer of the business. Amanda has worked previously at BKW, a Swiss Utility, to build the PPA business across Europe. Previously, Amanda also worked for Pexapark as a Senior consultant specialised in commercial energy risk management.

Tuomas Suurpää is a Senior Banker at Nordic Investment Bank’s project finance team. He has 25 years of experience in project finance, having worked globally as an external advisor, offtaker, EPC provider, and investor in relation to renewable energy and, more widely, clean transition transactions.

Juan Andrés Gracía is an Industrial Engineer with over 18 years of professional experience in Business Development and Project Management within the renewable energy sector for leading clean energy companies such as Acciona and FRV. He has had the opportunity to coordinate large wind, solar, and interconnection projects across Europe and Latin America, managing them from initial promotion to COD and achieving successful results. Currently, Juan focuses on leading Europe Business Development within FRV. His responsibilities include identifying new opportunities, originating projects, acquiring projects (M&A), establishing partnering structures, and developing and consolidating the company's pipeline.

Jaani Pietikäinen holds a Master of Science degree in economics (Aalto University School of Business, Finland) and is a graduate (MBA) of INSEAD, Fontainebleau. He joined the European Investment Bank in 2003, where he worked in the Operations Directorate as a banker until 2015. From September 2015 to November 2020, he worked as Head of Office to EIB Vice-Presidents Jan Vapaavuori, Alexander Stubb and Thomas Östros. He was then nominated Head of Division, Governing Bodies Secretariat Division in December 2020. Jaani Pietikäinen moved to Finland in August 2021 to head the EIB Group Office for Finland. As Head of the Office, he is responsible for institutional relations with Finnish counterparts and coordinates the operations of the EIB Group in Finland.

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Matti is the CEO and co-founder of Will & Must Ltd, which was founded to do more & talk less about advancing green transition and stop climate change. Since 2022, W&M’s focus has been on launching an industrial-scale solar power industry in Finland. Before entrepreneurship, Matti has gathered extensive experience as an executive, board member and consultant both in private and public companies and institutions. A graduate of Aalto University School of Business and Harvard Kennedy School of Government, he’s well versed to navigate complex challenges in the public-private interface.

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.

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Nicola Kopij Zanin is an Independent Consultant at Solarplaza. He covers the role of M&A Director at PST, a Polish-based IPP & developer. Nicola holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics and Business from LUISS University in Rome, a Master's degree in Finance & Investments from Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, and has obtained the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Level 2 Certificate.