Solarplaza Summit | Floating PV

Sofie van den Enk is a journalist and presenter. She is one of the faces of the light hearted - yet razor sharp consumer show Keuringsdienst van Waarde. With a MA in American Studies and a combined academic career in both the United States (Cornell University) and her home country The Netherlands (RuG), she can quickly understand complicated matters. Her added value lies in using her journalistic skills as well as a substantial stage experience - both on and off screen - to make it accessible to a wide audience. She has a passion for subjects that truly matter: the climate, education and good food.

Daniel Garasa works as a Research Analyst at Wood Mackenzie, working in floating solar market research and analysis. He also covers both wind and solar project research in Europe. Prior to joining Wood Mackenzie, he worked in Iberdrola where he was a solar project engineer. In that capacity, he supported analyses on the design and performance of PV arrays, both ground-mounted and floating PV. Daniel studied at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid where he received undergraduate and master’s degrees in Energy Engineering and Renewables Energy in Electricity Systems, respectively.

Shaunagh Moodie is a research analyst in the Clean Energy Technology team at S&P Global Commodity Insights, currently focusing on solar PV, specifically global PV inverter market supply chain trends and demand forecasts for the Middle East and Africa. Prior to joining S&P Global, Ms. Moodie worked as an Economist at the South African Reserve Bank where her research focused on credit risk and the transition toward green finance. She holds a first-class Master of Science in Renewable Energy and Environmental Finance from University College Dublin, Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School; and two degrees in Economics from the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

Vincent graduated from HEI Lille engineering school and from the Polytechnic School of Montreal. Before joining Ciel & Terre in 2016, he worked for 1 year and a half in international cooperation in Haiti as a construction engineer. Starting as a project manager at Ciel & Terre, he is now in charge of managing the EMEA project implementation team and driving the different scopes offered to customers.

After finishing his International Civil Engineering studies, Franz worked in the business development department of a large supplier in the construction industry. In the beginning of 2018 he joined the Zimmermann PV Steel Group and was initially responsible for ground-mounted structures. Since the end of 2018 Franz has been the Technical Project Manager for Floating PV projects of Zimmermann PV-Floating. Since 2020, Franz has also been deeply involved in the development and distribution of our innovative Agri PV systems.

Brigitte Vlaswinkel was awarded a PhD in Marine Geology in 2007 from the University of Miami where she focused on coastal ecosystem dynamics. After her PhD she worked at Shell International in The Netherlands. In 2016 she made a career change to apply her skills to contribute to a cleaner world and a cleaner ocean. While setting up a start-up focused on the innovation of offshore floating solar, together with the founder, she worked in parallel as Environmental Impact Lead at the non-profit organization The Ocean Cleanup. Presently, she is more than busy running the now successfully scaled start-up Oceans of Energy as Director of Research and Offshore Monitoring. The company is working towards the realization of MW-scale floating solar farms within windparks in the high seas of the North Sea. Brigitte is appointed thematic expert 'Marine Sectors and Blue Economy' for the MSPglobal Expert Group of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO.

Tore Hordvik is working as Business Lead - Floating Wind and Solar at DNV. He holds a master degree in Marine Technology with specialization in Hydrodynamics. Tore has 10 years of experience working with mooring system review, analysis and qualification of components. He has vast experience from mooring systems for a wide range of floating structures within O&G, fish farming, floating wind turbines and floating PV. Tore was responsible for Anchoring and Mooring in the development of the recommended practice DNVGL-RP-0584 Design, development and operation of floating solar photovoltaic systems. He is currently involved with several floating PV developments worldwide.

Félix is an offshore renewable engineer with 10 years experience in offshore renewables and solar energy. He is responsible for techno-economic analysis, cost modelling (LCOE) and strategy advisory services. Félix is also representing the LOC Group at the DNVGL Floating Solar JIP.Félix leads floating solar PV development at INNOSEA (>900 MWp of projects to date).

Charles Gery joined Seaflex in 2018 as the Global Sales Manager. Charles focuses on FPV business development as well as development in the marina and floating house applications. Although Charles currently lives in Sweden with his wife and daughter, he has lived and worked in the United States for most of his life. His background in sales, management and business development comes from his experience in various industries including, automotive, environmental testing, government and logistics. Charles has traveled extensively during his tenure with President Clinton, visiting over 25 countries, attending global summits, and developing contacts with governmental and private entities. Charles has received a BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and has also attended North Carolina State University as well as Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX.

Don Hoogendoorn works as CTO at SolarDuck. He has over 15 years of experience in developing cutting edge offshore structures and floating solutions. Holds Guinness World record for 1st 3D printed propeller and holds 5 patents to his name. Currently leading the technical development of SolarDuck’s offshore floating solar solution.

Alexander Telje is the Chief Commercial Officer at Ocean Sun AS. Since 2019, he has focused on the further global deployment of Oceans Sun’s innovative solution for Floating Solar. The patented technology mounts solar modules on membranes giving cost and performance benefits. Before joining Ocean Sun, he has more than 10 years of commercial experience as the Managing Director for several countries within the British American Tobacco Group as well as vast experience in operational marketing from Coca-Cola’s operations within the Nordic and Eurasia Division.

Andrés is CEO of ISIGENERE. Born and raised in Colombia, Andrés studied Computer Science and holds an MBA by the Kellogg Graduate School of Business in USA. Andres started his career working in software startups. After his MBA he worked for the consultancy McKinsey & Company in Spain where he advised clients in strategy and technology projects. Later on he moved to Santander Bank where he led the growth of the subsidiary of the bank from 1 country and managing 80 million euros of spend, to 11 countries and 8000 million euros of spend. Now in Isigenere, Andrés is leading the growth of the company in utility scale and self-consumption projects while continuing the innovation by creating new and better versions of ISIFLOATING, its floating solar system. the pioneering company in floating solar systems since 2008 when their first floating solar system was designed and installed in Alicante (Spain).

With a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Porto, Tiago joined Voltalia in June 2020 integrating the Center of Expertise team. His responsibilities mostly included taking the role as a Project Leader for PV commercial opportunities, both within EPC and Development’s scope. Tiago is now responsible for the technical development of various multi renewable technology projects until COD, giving continuous support to the definition of the best technical and economical solution for it.

Christoph Kutter, M.Sc is a Solar Engineer driven by passion for new applications of Photovoltaic Technology. Joining BayWa r.e. in May 2022, he coordinates the research activities for Floating PV Plants. As a scientist in between 2016 and 2022 he developed PV module technologies and later as a project manager was responsible for building up the field of Vehicle Integrated Photovoltaics (VIPV) at Fraunhofer ISE.

Frederik entered the renewables sector in 2018, working for one of the large Germany utilities, managing projects across Europe in different renewable technologies (onshore wind, offshore wind and solar). Since 2020, he is an Investment Manager at Encavis Asset Management AG, managing the acquisition (M&A) of new renewable projects in the Benelux and France markets. As Investment Manager, Frederik leads the contract negotiations (SPA, EPC, Project Financing, etc.), due diligence process and financial valuation of the business case for projects. In this capacity, he also oversaw Encavis's investment in the floating PV park Tynaarlo. Frederik holds a Bachelor in Electrical Engineering and a Master in Energy Engineering from KU Leuven (Belgium), as well as a Master in Renewable Energy from Polytechnique Montréal (Canada).”

Celso is Head of Innovation at Finerge. He has 32 years of experience in the energy sector, and 22 years of experience working at Finerge (Portugal and Brazil-EGP). Previously, he worked in positions such as Project Manager, Head of Business Development, in different departments such as Regulatory Affairs & Energy Management. Celso has over 2 GW developed in his professional career.

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.

Harald has been working as a consultant since 2014, focusing largely on engineering, design and commissioning of solar photovoltaic (PV) powerplants. Since joining DNV Singapore in 2018, he has worked on more than 3000 MWp of floating solar projects, which has encompassed technical due diligence, technology benchmarking, energy assessment, conceptual design, site assessments, monitoring campaigns and installation and operation of a floating PV test bed. Among these projects is the 60 MWp project on Tengeh Reservoir in Singapore where DNV is the technical advisor for the off-taker and the 145 MWac project on Cirata Reservoir where DNV acted as the LTA. Harald was one of the key contributors to DNVs recommended practice for floating solar “DNVGL-RP-0584” managing the section on energy yield analysis and is coordinating the joint industry projects for design standard for anchoring and mooring systems and testing and qualification standard for floats.

After finishing his International Business Management studies Willem worked as a product & project manager across different countries in Europe in Consumer Goods and Telecommunications. After an epic life-changing sponsored cycling journey through South America Willem set foot in Melbourne, Australia where he spent 13 years with the two biggest energy retailers gaining broad experience in (renewable) energy. With this experience he moved back to his Dutch roots in 2017 and after a short Fintech adventure ended up at GroenLeven where he joined as a project manager for the implementation of floating solar. Since then his passion, knowledge and experience has grown for floating solar solutions.

Michel Chatelin heads the competition & regulatory practice and co-heads the Eversheds Sutherland Energy group. He is specialised in EU, anti-trust, commercial and energy law, and has a special focus on energy transition and renewable energy projects. Michel advises both national and international clients, as well as governmental bodies and utilities, and has a very wide experience in the renewable energy sector and ESG related matters. He also helps companies with commercial contracting, competition compliance and procurement matters. Michel is consistently acknowledged by both the Chambers & Partners and Legal 500 directories as being a leading practitioner in his field. Michel has been recognised as a Global Leader Energy – Renewables 2023 by Who’s Who Legal.

Eelco Hoogduin is managing director of Zonnepark Services Nederland B.V. After his studies in aquatic ecotechnology and industrial ecology, he started his career in C&I solar PV in 2012. After some years of working for a large C&I EPC, as a business developer and project manager, he organized worldwide business events on solar asset management for Solarplaza. In 2017 he became director of asset management at Rooftop Energy, where he was responsible for more than hundred C&I and utility scale solar assets. This company has been acquired by a large private equity firm, and has rolled out a successful buy and build strategy, including acquisitions of two solar developers and several companies in the broader electricity landscape. Since 2021, he is managing director of Zonnepark Services Nederland, a joint venture between GOLDBECK Solar and Chint Solar, which is the leading solar O&M provider in The Netherlands with over a gigawatt of contracted capacity.

Jason has over 7 years of experience in the renewable energy sector, including 2 years working with floating solar projects. In Jason's career, 20 years were dedicated to supply chain management and international trading especially between China and European countries. He has been working to reduce the cost of supply chain and establish long term relationships with EPCs, developers and asset managers to develop durable, efficient, high quality floating solar projects.

CEO & Founder of Solarif Group. Industry leader & expert in the world of insurance, banking, sustainable energy and investments.Harry Wolkenfelt is a worldwide known entrepeneur, investor, speaker and trade missionary. His major contributions to the solar industry and smart, solid insurance solutions are greatly appreciated by a wide range of business organizations, governments and the larger society.Due to his broad experience in investment banking he has a solid background in finance. Over the decades, he managed several large teams and businesses in order to keep growing and conquer both large scale & niche markets.The Solarif Group is unique and known for its excellence and variety in service.By prodiving smart solutions for large scale solar investments, a connection is made between sustainability and economic growth. Whether you are in need of a professional, specialized Solar Insurance, Risk Management of your products & projects, finding the right amount of investments or by Smart Financing your project: we are here to help you grow!

Matthias Schuerch has been with Stäubli Electrical Connectors, headquartered in Switzerland, for over 5 years. He holds a Master's degree in Business Administration and already has many years of industry experience. Schuerch i Head of Global Product Management for Renewable Energy and responsible for the development of our eBOS portfolio around our core product family MC4. The Original MC4 is the world's leading PV connector, developed by our in-house experts more than 20 years ago.

Romain Gourmet has been part of the SolarCleano team for four years as commercial director. Having a passion for international business, robotics and the impact of our solutions on the energy world, this is the reason why Romain is part of the SolarCleano team and the reason why he travels around the world to share the importance of cleaning solar panels when it comes to maintenance, and even more the importance of working with robotic solutions.

Manoela is originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she started to develop her career in event management. Now based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Manoela holds a master's degree in Cultural Economics and Entrepreneurship from the Erasmus University Rotterdam and carries vast experience in organizing large-scale events. She has dedicated her career to helping professionals realize their entrepreneurial projects and develop successful business plans, and now focuses on connecting experts and market leaders in renewables and sustainability.