Solarplaza Summit | France

Antoine Nogier, 52 years old, is a graduate engineer from the French Engineering School Ecole Polytechnique and an energy and environmental economist. He began his career in the photovoltaic industry in the mid-1990s by actively tackling water and energy access issues for southern countries. In 2000, Antoine launched with some business partners a research and consulting company specialized in strategy and innovation in the sustainable development and renewable energies industries, and provided their services to large French corporations such as Total, EDF, ENGIE, Areva, etc. In 2007, he founded the Sun’R Group specialized in photovoltaic energy production and launched in parallel from 2009 a new research program called Sun’Agri dedicated to Dynamic Agrivoltaics. Sun’Agri was established as a company in 2019 and became a subsidiary of the Sun’R Group. As leader of Agrivoltaics in France, the company develops partnerships with Independent Power Producers (IPPs) who believe in Agrivoltaics creating positive impacts. Together with both competitors and partners, Antoine launched in 2022 France Agrivoltaisme, a professional association dedicated to promoting Agrivoltaics and making recommendations for the setting-up of a fair and sustainable framework for the development of the industry.

Energy enthusiast. Since 2013, she had the opportunity to discover many aspects of energy systems management and valuation. After 5 years with Energy Pool in the Demand Response sector and 5 years with GazelEnergie in Direct marketing, she joined the dynamic company TSE 5 months ago as head of Corporate and Utility PPA.

Eric completed a master's in Industrial Computing and Electrical Engineering at the University of Metz. He has major experience in management, leading teams, set up of new organizations and sales including Business Development and Account Management across retail, commercial, wholesale and manufacturing with more than 12 years dedicated to selling solar, and renewable energy products across Europe.

Pierre Parent has been working in the energy industry since 2010, when he joined Voltalis, France's leading demand response aggregator. As head of market operations and regulatory affairs, he has set up and managed the operational process of the Voltalis virtual power plant, aggregating close to 100,000 residential consumers, daily operated in real-time on multiple European energy and ancillary services markets. In 2019, Pierre co-founded ZE Energy, an Independent Power Producer focusing on hybrid, solar-plus-storage power plants. Currently counting 25 employees, ZE Energy has raised 45 M€ and operates the two first hybrid plants of their kind in continental France. Its strong ambitions are supported by a 1 GW (solar) / 300 MW (storage) pipeline of projects across France, Italy and Germany and the signature of a 150 GWh Corporate PPA. Pierre is head of asset operations and leads regulatory affairs for France.

Marceau opened the French office of Enerparc in the beginning of 2019, to develop the project development activities and supervise the ongoing constructions. After graduating in 2012 from the School of Mines in Energy engineering and from the Advanced Master “Energy Management and Marketing” from Grenoble Ecole de Management, he joined in 2013 the international business development team of Enerparc AG.Headquartered in Hamburg, the Enerparc group is an international PV expert active on the entire value chain of solar power plants, from project development and EPC to O&M and portfolio management.

Jeanne is Project Manager at Green Lighthouse Développement, a major player in agrivoltaism in France. She works on Terr’Arbouts project, an emblematic 450 MWp project taking place within the 1500 ha priority drinking water supply areas of Pujo-le-Plan and Saint-Gein in the South-West of France. She passionately leads a collective of 35 farmers and elected officials from 6 municipalities involved in the agricultural, energetic and environmental transitions of their territory.

Pascal Richard graduated in applied sciences from the University of Paris 6, then in Marketing and Management of European Companies. He began his career in telecommunications in Morocco, then extended his career internationally in the Europe, Africa, Middle East zone, at France Telecom and then at Alcatel. In 2006, he joined the photovoltaic sector at Tenesol (EDF and Total) to develop the "Telecommunication" activity, mainly in Africa. In 2007, he co-founded SMA France to take over the management of the company, whose scope of responsibility includes France and French-speaking Africa. In 2021, he founded his personal holding company TotEm within which he initiated the CARBON project which he founded with 3 partners. He has acquired 25 years of experience in the industry, including nearly 10 years in the telecommunications sector and more than 15 years in the energy sector.

Sophie Mourlon, mining engineer & former student of the Ecole Polytechnique, is Director of Energy at the Directorate-General for Energy and Climate (DGEC) since September 2019. From 2002 to 2014, she held various positions within the nuclear safety authority, of which she was Deputy Director-General from 2011 to 2014, and in territorial administration at the head of the Regional Directorate for Industry, Research and the Environment (DRIRE) then as Deputy Director of the Regional Directorate for the Environment, Planning and Housing (DREAL) of Champagne-Ardenne. In November 2014, she joined the Court of Auditors, as an external rapporteur. Then, she became part of the central administration of the Ministry of the Ecological Transition in February 2018, as assistant to the general manager of development, housing and of Nature (DGALN), prior to his current functions.

Philippe joined the Acofi group in 2008 to develop its Infrastructure Financing business. Philippe began his career in 1996 as a project manager at Schlumberger. In 1999, Philippe joined Engie Group to develop the construction and operation of electrical infrastructure projects (Airbus 380 plant, Laboratoires Sanofi). Next, Philippe ran INEO’s offices in Warsaw and Moscow. He is qualified as an engineer at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Métier, followed by a Master’s degree in Banking and Financial Engineering. Today, Philippe is pleased to participate with a team (8 persons) in financing the Energy Transition with tailor-made solutions.

-

Xavier Daval is president of the Solar Commission of the French Renewable Energies industry association (SOLER-SER) and Board Member of SER. Xavier is the founder and CEO of kiloWattsol. Ever since its creation in 2007 as a spin-off of an associated research laboratory of the French national research network CNRS, he led the company to become the most experienced French Solar expert and a respected European Technical Advisor in the field of photovoltaic projects with a track record exceeding 5GWp world-wide. Xavier is an Electronic engineer and former Director EMEA of a world-leading manufacturer of tools for the electronics industry. Besides, Daval is an associated teacher with ENTPE Engineering school and Lyon I University and a guest lecturer for Entrepreneurship at EM-Lyon, one of Europe’s top 10 business schools.

A graduate of the Institut Supérieur de l’Electronique et du Numérique, Régis Le Drézen began his career with the EDF group in 2000, in charge of protection systems for high and very high voltage lines and the RTE (French TSO) acoustics laboratory. Two years later, he joined the integrated company EDF GDF Services, where he contributed to major telecom infrastructure projects linked to the energy market deregulation. In 2011, he was appointed technical director of Smart Grid Vendée, then one of France's most ambitious smart grid projects. In 2015, he was appointed Director of Enedis in the Vendée region, and in 2018 he joined the Enedis electric mobility project, where he was in charge of preparing the future, development and innovation at the heart of a new ecosystem bringing together energy, digital and the automotive world. He was appointed General Delegate of Think Smartgrids in March 2022.

Alexandre has worked in the energy industry for over 15 years’ and is already well-connected in the renewable energy market, with developers, IPPs, investors and lenders alike, as well as with large offtakers. Alexandre holds a PhD in Finance and Law at Goethe University Frankfurt / Université Paris Dauphine.

Alexandre is Research Lead at Aurora, leading the French and Iberian power market modelling and analysis. Formerly expert at Elia System Operator in the European market department. Alexandre holds two master's degrees, one electrical engineer degree from the Université of Liège, and one general management degree from the Vlerick Business school.

A After a degree at the business school, ESSCA Pierre Guerrier started his career in the sale of technical solutions for the building sector. He became marketing manager, sales national director and general manager, and decided to jump into the PV sector when nascent in 2009. Starting as Head of Development at Sun’R an innovative IPP pioneer in agrivoltaics, then Director of Development at Sonnedix. Pierre is now Director General at SOLVEO Energies. He also is administrator of Enerplan (French solar syndicate) and convenor of the La Plateforme Verte work group dedicated to agrivoltaics.

With a solid reputation in asset and project finance transactions acting for major Banks and Financial institutions, Sylvie assists many Financial Advisers and internationally based companies in organizing the most efficient debt structuring for various types of projects. She is recognized in the setting up of complex, innovative asset and project finance deals. Over her long experience, she has acted for various actors on both domestic and cross-border transactions as well as in the structuring of off-balance sheet transactions in relation to the leasing of assets and financing various investments, especially in the energy and transportation sectors. In 2017, she created La Plateforme Verte, a do-tank aimed at facilitating the dialogue between developers, funders and regulation actors in order to encourage the energy transition with capital and loans.

Géraldine Jammy started her career in 2007 as a quantitative analyst and then as an electricity market economist at EDF. In 2013, she joined Enedis, where she was successively manager of an operation and maintenance department, in charge of regulatory affairs related to electricity market mechanisms, and now in charge of producers' connection. Géraldine is a graduate of Centrale Supélec and holds a Master's degree from ENSAE.

Isabelle holds a PhD in plant biology and genetics and a professional degree in agricultural management. Isabelle has been involved in the development of scientific and ecological projects within an association for 2 years before joining Tenergie in early 2016. There, she secured more than 10 MWp of photovoltaic agricultural sheds and participates in particular in the development of innovative agrivoltaic greenhouses. She joined Enoé in 2019 to define the group's agrivoltaic strategy, develop the first innovative projects and structure a team that will enable the Group to aim for the development of more than 100 MWp per year of agrivoltaic projects. At the same time, she is helping to maintain family farms in Auvergne.

Victor Signes is a Senior Analyst in Rystad Energy's Renewables & Power Research team. He focuses on the wind, solar PV, storage and green hydrogen markets in Europe. His role is to cover market developments and analyze the future evolution of renewable energy. He covers project development in Europe, policies, power markets and economics. He has extensive experience in analyzing the impacts of policies on the market, economic modeling of renewable energy projects, and long-term scenario analysis. Prior to joining Rystad Energy, Victor was an economics research analyst at EDF, focusing on the renewable energy and nuclear markets. He holds a Master's degree in Engineering from IMT Atlantique as well as a Master's degree in Energy economics from the IFP School.

Christine Delamarre, is Managing Director of UNIFERGIE and AUXIFIP, subsidiaries dedicated to dedicated to project finance in the energy and public infrastructure sectors of the Crédit Agricole Group. She graduated from Panthéon Sorbonne University with a Master's degree in Banking Finance, she has had a career in corporate finance, particularly in equity and structured finance and structured finance within banking groups. For the past 20 years, she has been supporting the development of renewable energies in France. For the Crédit Agricole Group, she coordinates the Energy business line, whose objective is to to support clients in the energy transition. Member of the boards of SER and ATEE.

Alex Metz is a director and head of the green mobility practice at Apricum – The Cleantech Advisory. Mr. Metz has expertise in strategy development with a focus on green mobility and solar energy. As head of Apricum's Paris office, he serves as point of contact to France- based clients' management teams to ensure the quality of communications, strategic recommendations, and deliverables. He speaks at major cleantech conferences worldwide and regularly contributes to publications and studies covering the entire electric mobility space as well as solar energy. Before Apricum, Mr. Metz worked for consultancy Guidehouse where he advised corporations and governments on adopting and implementing electric mobility alternatives in North America and Europe. During his time there, he created and led the firm’s electric mobility strategy offering, ranging across strategic roadmapping, go-to-market strategy, market sizing and mapping, business model assessment, and financial modelling. Prior to that, Alex worked for strategy consultancy Oliver Wyman, TotalEnergies’ solar division, and electric utility EDF. Mr. Metz holds an MSc in sustainable energy from Imperial College London and a MEng Grande École in science and engineering from École Polytechnique. Fluent in English and French, he has lived and worked in France, the UK, and the U.S.

Pierre joined Andera in February 2023 as a Director within the Andera Infra team. With engineering background, he has more than 10 years of experience at the crossroads of the energy sector and investment. Prior to joining Andera, Pierre worked in the Infrastructure team of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) in Paris where he completed several transactions in the energy transition (solar PV, green hydrogen, etc.) Pierre started his career at ENGIE in the gas portfolio management team before joining the gas infrastructure investment team. Pierre is a graduate of CentraleSupélec, Imperial College London and MinesParisTech.

Francesco d'Avack, associate director at S&P Global Commodity Insights, coordinates outlooks for renewable and clean tech market fundamentals and supply chains, including capacity and investment forecasts and leads the global cost analysis. He also leads research into non-mainstream renewables. He has more than 10 years of experience as an energy market analyst. Before joining S&P Global, Mr d'Avack worked for Capgemini, a consultancy, and for Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Mr d'Avack holds a Bachelor of Science in economics and environmental policy from the London School of Economics, United Kingdom, and a master's in economic governance from Sciences Po Paris, France. He speaks English, French, and German.

Julien Lupion joined Bpifrance in 2018 and is responsible for financing renewable energy projects. He has more than 10 years of experience in the energy sector with an in-depth knowledge of the French market where he is regularly involved as an arranger in significant financing transactions. Bpifrance is a major bank in the financing of renewable energy projects alongside its banking partners, and has been active in all sectors of this market for nearly twenty years.

Fabien Trevaux has been with Leroy Merlin for 15 years. One of his missions is to draw up the energy strategy, including energy purchasing for Leroy Merlin France and all the Adeo Group's French BUs. This represents 250G in terms of electricity and 45G in gas. This strategy revolves around Renewable Energy, in which they are an active player through the signature of PPA.

Graduated from Polytech Sorbonne, Christophe started his career from 2010 in the oil & gas sector as Geophysicist, International Sales and Marketing Manager travelling around various countries in different continents until moving to Huawei in 2019. He joined Huawei France Smart PV team in 2021 as key accounts director looking after the business development of solar IPP and EPC customers for French local market, aiming to better serve French solar market with Huawei ICT knowledge and advantages. With 10 years’ experience in sales and multi-cultural environments, he is a leading and inspiring example for driven sales people in a challenging work environment.

Ignacio Granda Lutz 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 International Business and Communication, Ignacio has previously worked as a Market Analyst for the Government of Spain in New York before transitioning to a role in Business Development. At RatedPower, Ignacio is responsible for France, ensuring exponential growth within the market and the development of RatedPower’s technology.

Camille is a conception engineer for TSE, a French IPP aiming to develop adaptative solutions for the solar market in order to give the right product to each specific needs. TSE is a pioneer in AgriPV with the canopy solution, an agrivoltaic plant internally developed for the large-scale fields that allows a synergy between agriculture and electrical production. With a project pipe of more than 2GW of projects in France to achieve in the next 4 years and with a significative part for AgriPV, TSE is an important actor within the French development sector. Camille is especially working on the development of new ways of doing Agrivoltaic power plants with dedicated solutions for each agriculture specifications. Before joining TSE, Camille worked as a research engineer for the CEA-INES, the French institute for Solar Energy on the field of the n-type silicon PV modules and cells and has spent some time in the microelectronics sector working on the industrialization of LED screens.

With 10 years of experience in the renewable energy industry, Vincent leads SMA sales activities in France, North, and West Africa. Prior to joining SMA in 2016, Vincent was successfully involved in sales and business development roles for PV panels manufacturers, in France and internationally. Relying on SMA wide expertise and solutions portfolio for Home, Business, and Large Scale applications as well as on a solid team, his objective is to support industry players in making the energy transition happen.

A graduate of Université Paris-Dauphine with a master's degree in management, he began his career as an auditor with Deloitte, before moving into the renewable energy sector when he joined Natixis Energeco, where he worked for 6 years in financial modelling and the economic monitoring of projects. In 2017, he was appointed Director of Business Development at Photosol, one of the pioneers of photovoltaic energy production in France. Since April 2023, he has been Deputy Managing Director.

Violaine Tarizzo, a bridge, water and forestry engineer and former student of the Ecole Polytechnique, has been head of the electricity production and onshore renewable energy office at the DGEC since January 2023. She was previously deputy head of the Southern Alps interdepartmental territorial advisory unit within the DDTs of Alpes de Haute Provence and Hautes Alpes from September 2019 to September 2021 before joining the DGEC as deputy head of the electricity production and onshore renewable energy office, in charge of wind power, biogas and self-consumption.

Christophe THOMAS has been Director of Strategy and External Relations for ENGIE Renewables France & Europe since January 1, 2023. Until then, he was head of public and regulatory affairs in the solar sector. Over the past 10 years, he has developed very strong expertise in the regulation of solar electricity, planning issues, support for renewable electrical energies and the development of electrical networks. He is also active in the Syndicat des Energies Renouvelables, ENERPLAN, UFE and the think tank France Territoire Solaire.

Eric Dewasmes has joined Elum Energy in June 2023 as VP Sales Europe to support development of the business of control & monitoring solutions in this region. Former Global Account Director of french strategic Ipp ( TotalEnergies, EDF, ENGIE and Neoen ) in Huawei Digital Power during 6 years he has accompanied his customers in many PV projects over the world from China, Central Asia, Europe, MEA, Africa to Latam. He has also supported Huawei growth on the French market by strengthening relationship with some IPP and major French EPCs. Previously Eric has contributed during 20 years to the Telecom industry transformation by participating to the advent of the french Internet with national FTTH and ADSL roll-out.

-

In 2021, Cécile Fontaine joined the Fédération nationale des collectivités concédantes et régies (FNCCR) as head of the legal department, having previously worked as an associate in charge of public business law, with a particular focus on the energy sector. She also teaches energy law at various university master's programs (Unistra and Lyon 3), and is taking part in the writing of a book on public procurement.

-

At Clean Horizon, Corentin is the head of market analysis activities. As such, he acts as project manager on key market analysis projects. Since he joined Clean Horizon in 2016, Corentin has supported more than 100 customers in understanding how energy storage can bring value to their portfolio. He supports the company's business development, worldwide and has key experience on topics such as the support of the purchase of a storage system in mainland France, and procurement support for storage projects in France. Corentin holds Master's degrees in Sustainable Energy & Electrical Engineering from Imperial College London and Mechanical Engineering from Ecole des Ponts ParisTech.

Salima Hadjer is an investment director in the Energy and Ecological Transition department of the Banque des Territoires . She has been involved in the investment business for 7 years and more particularly in the renewable energy sectors in France by investing in development projects alongside public and private investors, with a view to significantly accelerating growth. of renewable assets in France and with a long-term commitment. Banque des Territoires is a major financial player in the French renewable energy landscape. It has recognized expertise in this sector in which it has been investing since 2006, alongside developers, manufacturers and investors.

Ramses Struijker Boudier is a Project Manager at Solarplaza, focussing on projects in France, Agrivoltaics and Africa. In the past, he worked for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Vietnam, focussing on promoting sustainable development alongside the food-water-energy nexus. He holds a bachelor's degree in Economics and International Relations from the Erasmus University Rotterdam, and a master's degree in Climate Change and Environmental Sciences from King's College London.