Solarplaza Summit | Floating PV

For 3 years Christoph Kutter has been an R&D Engineer at BayWa r.e. EMEA, driving innovation in Floating-PV system technology. With prior experience at Fraunhofer ISE, he steered the development of vehicle integrated PV-System technologies and PV solar module designs. Christoph holds degrees in Renewable Energy and Environmental Engineering and is an active voice in the PV research community.

Roberto Ardissone holds a MSc degree in Energy Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Torino. After 7 years in the PV sector, he is currently the Energy Manager at SMAT SpA, the public Company responsible for the integrated water service in the Turin metropolitan area for over 2.2 million inhabitants. Here, he manages contracts for the supply of electricity and natural gas, tenders for the maintenance of MV electrical systems, efficiency projects and renewable energy production plants (hydro, PV and biomethane).

John Meng currently working as the oversea system solution director of SUNGROW FPV SCI. & TECH.CO., LTD. has over 5 years of experience in the FPV industry. He also participated in the formulation and review of multiple industry standards and played lead role in a number of key scientific and technological projects. He has leading experience in the system solutions and applications

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.

Queen Mary, University of London and King's College London graduate, after post-graduate course at the Sorbonne, Elena began her career as a business analyst at American Express (UK). Before starting the "Evklips Energy" adventure, Elenagained valuable experience at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, where she worked as a financial analyst. The dream of a "greener future" becomes a driving force for the transition from large corporations towards the establish of company. To date, Evklips Energy is among the leaders in the construction of photovoltaic plants throughout Europe. In the last 6 years, the company has over 1 gigawatt of installed capacity. Evklips Energy is the investor and owner of 4 solar power plants in Bulgaria (18 MWp). With a team of over 250 professionals, Evklips Energy also offers full EPC services in Bulgaria.

Dr Sacha de Rijk is a senior researcher at Deltares, a Dutch research institute for water management, and an expert in water quality and water-related biodiversity. At Deltares Sacha is coordinating a team of experts working on the environmental impact of floating solar, both onshore and offshore. Furthermore, her research focuses on lake restoration and the impact of climate change on water quality and biodiversity. The research is done is strong cooperation with experts from other knowledge institutes, governments, private companies, and NGOs. In her work, she strives to find practical applications of scientific-based knowledge to contribute to more sustainable use of water resources and the protection of biodiversity.

Jan-Phillip is part of Encavis AG’s investment team and based in Hamburg, Germany. Since joining the German IPP in 2020 he has lead PV transactions in Germany, The Netherlands and Spain where he was responsible for contract negotiations (SPA, EPC, Project Financing, etc.), due diligence process and financial valuation. Jan-Phillip is particularly interested in creating client-driven, subsidy-free business cases for renewables.

Dr. Jan Kroon studied chemistry at the University of Amsterdam and received his Ph.D. in the field of Physical Organic Chemistry. He joined ECN Solar Energy in 1996 where he worked as project and program manager of Organic based PV technologies until June 2013. Since then and after the merge with TNO in April 2018, he has been active as a senior project manager at TNO Energy Transition in the PV module technology and reliability group and coordinated the R&D activities on back contact x-Si cells and modules. Since January 2019 he is coordinating the Floating PV program at TNO Solar. He is an experienced coordinator and manager of several national and international (European)  projects.

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).

Zaid Mansour is a member of the Energy & Infrastructure Team at Clifford Chance. He specialises in advising on infrastructure and energy projects as well as regulatory matters. A key aspect of his work is the advice with respect to M&A and project financing transactions in the energy and infrastructure sector. He has in-depth experience in drafting and negotiating project related contracts and represents clients in proceedings with public authorities and legal disputes before courts. Zaid also has a broad public law practice and advises on public law and regulatory matters with a particular focus on the energy, gambling, automotive and banking sector.

After completing his International Civil Engineering degree, Franz Krug began his career in the Business Development department of a major construction industry supplier. In early 2018, he joined the ZIMMERMANN PV-Steel Group, initially focusing on ground-mounted structures. By the end of that year, he had taken on the role of Technical Project Manager for floating PV projects at ZIMMERMANN. Since 2020, he has also played a pivotal role in developing and introducing the company’s innovative agri PV systems to the market. He now leads the project management team for PV-Fixed Tilt, PV-Agri and PV-Floating solutions, and is responsible for product strategy and development in his role as product manager.

Vincent Grumetz graduated from an international business school and a mechanical engineering university which enabled him to be a sales expert in technical industries. In 2006, he started working for Airmat Technology as an Export Sales Manager and in 2011 he joined Pronal (in rubber products industry) where he became Sales Director. Looking for new challenges, more in line with his spirit and convictions, he joined Ciel & Terre as EMEA Managing Director to follow the growth of the floating solar market in Europe.

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Michele has been working for 5 years on Solar PV and Energy Storage projects, with a particular focus on Floating Solar PV projects. Michele holds a BSc degree in Energy Engineering from Alma Mater University of Bologna (Italy) and a MSc degree in Sustainable Energy Technology from TU Delft (Netherlands).

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Polina, an environmental entrepreneur with dual Masters degrees in Chemical Technology and Renewable Energy (Ocean), possesses over 20 years of experience in the energy sector and is the solo-female founder of a hardware startup. As an active traveller (exploring 71 countries) and deep-sea diver (reaching depths of 100 metres), Polina saw many beautiful places ruined by negative anthropogenic impacts and based on her inner feelings, she decided to change her life. After a successful 14-year career in the oil & gas industry (ex-Schlumberger), Polina made a fundamental career move from the "black" side of fossil fuels to the "green" side of renewables. Guided by her academic background and extensive professional journey, she founded HelioRec, an innovative company focused on floating solar technology for near-shore locations where half of the global population lives.

Stanislas is a Senior Solar PV Consultant in Multiconsult, Norway, with more than 10 years of experience. He is currently undertaking an Industrial Ph.D. (2019-2022) together with Multiconsult and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology on the design and optimization of hydropower-connected floating solar PV plants. Stanislas has been one of the founding members of Multiconsult’s solar energy advisory team, specializing in solar PV projects in emerging markets. He has extensive international experience from solar projects ranging from Eastern/Southern Africa to Central/Southeast Asia. He has been awarded the prizes ‘Norway’s Young Consultant of the Year’ by the Norwegian Association of Consulting Engineers in 2017 and ‘Europe’s Young Professional of the Year’ by the European Federation of Engineering Consultancy Associations in 2018.

Stefan works in the Photovoltaic Power Plants group at Fraunhofer ISE. He obtained his physics PhD at the University of Lisbon in 2013 and continued research as a postdoc on modelling cortical networks (at BCCN Berlin) as well as on input fluctuations in power grids (at CEA Saclay). Since 2018, he’s been working at ISE – first in energy system analysis, and since 2020 on PV yield simulations and failure detection, solar potential studies, economic analysis and FPV-lake interaction. Currently, he leads the PV2Float project, a national research effort aimed at economical floating PV installations at the megawatt scale.

For 15 years, Andrea has been committed to the purpose of the transition towards sustainable energy generation. He has gained professional experience in the photovoltaic business, working internationally for different tier-one manufacturers and consultancy firms in the PV industry. He holds a master’s degree in Materials Engineering from the University of Padova and has thorough know-how about the PV market, technology, and quality aspects. Pursuing his way in the solar industry, he participates regularly in roundtable discussions and various public events, sharing his knowledge with the objective of supporting the safe development of the solar PV industry.

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.

Valentino Piana graduated from Bocconi University (Milan - Italy) in 1994. From 1994 to 1999 he taught at the University of Economics in Cracow (Poland) disciplines including Macroeconomics and Microeconomics. From 2000 to 2008 he was a Senior consultant at a strategic consulting boutique firm in Rome (Italy). Since 2000 he has been leading the Economics Web Institute, providing support to policymakers on a large number of issues. In February 2018 he joined the Smart Infrastructure Lab of the Institute of Information Systems at the University of Applied Science Western Switzerland (HES-SO Valais-Wallis). In February 2020 he became Senior Research Associate at the Institute of Sustainable Energy.

Stefano Lucarini is an Equity Partner of Tonucci & Partners Law Firm, and he is working in the renewables since 2004. He has strong experience in advising domestic and foreign clients in contractual matters related to the development of energy plants. He also assists the clients in the entire range of the M&A transactions (seller and purchaser’s side), including those promoted by Real Estate Funds, in respect of which also grants assistance in regulatory matters, and also experienced a significant number of banking & finance transactions, (lender and borrower side) both in the form of project finance and leasing (or sale and lease back), dealing with the drafting and negotiation of the contracts and with the Due Diligence process. Currently, he advises on regular basis various Italian and foreign companies, as well as certain Italian SGR managing Real Estate Funds, a Danish private equity Fund, and financial institution as leasing companies and Italian banks, as well as developers and producers. He is also part of the expert group of the Italian Association for Energy Renewable Offshore (AERO).

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Charles Gery joined RWE in 2023 as a Senior Floating Solar Expert in the department of Product Development and New Technologies. He is currently the Project Manager for RWE’s PV2FLOAT research project located in a former mining quarry in Eastern Germany. Charles has specialized experience in mooring and anchoring specifically for FPV installations. Formerly, Charles worked for Seaflex AB in Umea, Sweden since 2018 as the Global Business Development Manager for FPV. Charles is a contributing member to a number of FPV publications including: SERIS FPV Handbook for Practitioners, FRESHER EU Research project, and two DNV JIP projects including FPV Recommended Practices Guide and the ongoing JIP for Anchoring and Mooring as well as Floats. Although Charles currently lives in Sweden with his wife, daughter and son, 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.

Rossana’s role as Business Development in Italy is to seize business opportunities for the team, fostering strategic partnerships with key stakeholders for the development of wind and solar plants, nationwide. Rossana has over 10 years of experience managing a vast spectrum of projects, from institutional trade relations in the diplomacy arena in the field of advanced technologies to supporting companies internationalize their business abroad. In addition, she has led several stakeholder engagement and outreach campaigns in the field of sustainability and nature conservation.

Rosa-Clot Marco has accomplished his studies in Scuola Normale with 110/110 et laude in 1966. After one year of fellowship as researcher at Columbia University (New York 1968)) he became charged Prof. of Quantum Physics and General Physics in Pisa (69-87) In the period 75-78 he was fellow of the Theoretical Division at CERN Subsequently (1988-2009) he has been full professor of Nuclear Physics in Florence University In the period 1998-2003 he was Scientific director of CRS4 (Centre of numerical simulation in Sardinia) and since 2017 he is scientific director of the private companies UPF (Upsolar Floating) and KMM (Koiné MultiMedia). As far as research activities are concerned, he is author of more than 100 works published on international review in theoretical physics, nuclear physics, econophysics, environment and energy problems. He is authors of two books and more than 50 research papers about floating PV technology.

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