Solarplaza Summit | Finland

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.

Ville is the founder of Biosolar which develops agrisolar projects in Finland.

Ville Hailikari heads Krogerus’ Energy practice. He assists clients in M&A, projects and other transactions in the energy sector with a particular focus on the renewable energy. Ville has vast understanding of specific features of the sector through regularly advising foreign and domestic investors and sponsors within this field. Ville has been ranked as a leading expert within his field of expertise for many consecutive years by all international vetting institutes such as Chambers Europe and IFRL1000.

Ghada Alafranji is a seasoned technical sales professional working alongside the business team at RatedPower, a deep tech company that offers a cloud-based software to instantly carry out the design and engineering of solar plants and reduce energy costs, ultimately maximizing project profitability. With a background in sustainable and renewable energy engineering, Ghada blends her business acumen with solid technical knowledge. At RatedPower, she is responsible for the Nordics region (Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden), ensuring exponential growth within these markets and the development of RatedPower’s technology.

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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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.

Alexander Esser founded and heads the dedicated Nordics & Baltics team based in Stockholm with 15 team members, offering advisory and forecasts for energy markets in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, and Norway. He has been with Aurora for 7 years and Previously, he led the continental commercial team and was part of the initial team building up the Berlin office. In his currently role, he oversaw more than 30 transactions and debt financing of wind, solar, battery and electrolyser assets and portfolios, as well as strategic projects such as the first project finance of an electrolyser for green steel in Sweden and the evaluation of capacity markets for Finland.

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.

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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.

Jaakko Poutanen is the Sales Manager of Energy Storage for Europe at Merus Power. With a Master's degree in Energy and Process Engineering, Jaakko has an expert role in advancing battery energy storage solutions across the region. Leveraging his expertise and close collaboration with Merus' electricity market analytics team, he helps deliver tailored energy storage projects that align with market demands. Jaakko and the team deeply understand the Nordic energy storage landscape, enabling them to provide innovative solutions to meet evolving energy needs.

Emma Hellström, Chief Strategy Officer at Flower, has played an important role in driving the company's growth over the past three years. With deep expertise across the entire battery ecosystem, she excels in areas ranging from procurement to multi-market trading. Her extensive knowledge of the renewable energy sector keeps her at the forefront of industry innovation, helping to position Flower as a key enabler of the energy transition. Flower is a Swedish greentech scale-up enabling the energy system of tomorrow. Founded in 2020, Flower is backed by senior and well-known investors, such as the venture capital firm Northzone, distribution system operator Ellevio, and H&M chairman Karl-Johan Persson. Flower's flexible asset portfolio combined with the in-house machine learning-based optimization platform enables a reliable and fossil-free energy system. As one of the leading Nordic flexibility providers, Flower participates in a variety of ancillary service markets as well as wholesale trading by taking on the Balance Responsible Party (BRP) role for solar power and other asset types, while also being a PPA off-taker.

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Nicola Kopij Zanin is an Independent Consultant at Solarplaza. He covers the role of Chief Financial Officer at Solartech, a Polish-based solar & storage EPC, development & investment company. 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 1 Certificate.