Solarplaza Summit | Portugal

MSc. Electro-mechanical engineering 11 years experience with Solar PV Projects, 5 of them with Huawei, participated in more than 3.5GW of projects in 12 different countries. Currently the Service Manager for the Digital Power Business Department [Western European Region].

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Inés Monroy (International Business Development & Brand Manager) joined SENS - STEAG Solar Energy Solutions in 2020, a leading global service provider in the field of solar PV that develops, builds, operates and carries out maintenance of large scale plants and rooftop installations as well as offering services in the field of energy efficiency. Since 2005 she has developed her career in the solar PV sector in different companies of the value chain that operate in the manufacturing, distribution, transfer of technology (cells and modules), as well as the development, EPC and O&M of PV projects, including grid-tied, distributed energy generation, off-grid systems, and micro-grids, where she has held positions in business development, project development and project management in various different markets in Europe, Latinamerica and Asia-Pacific.

In 2002 graduated in mechanical engineering from Iowa State University, United States. Two years later, from the same university, received the degree of Master of Science.Started his career at the Center for Industrial Research and Services, structuring the energy consulting services for the center. Resides since 2006 in Portugal, having initially worked at Siemens as a product manager. Between 2008 and 2020 worked at Martifer Renewables, having various positions and responsibilities, including the areas of business development, project management, asset management, and M&A activities.Entered at Acciona Energia in March 2020 to coordinate the activities of the company in Portugal, for both energy production and retail.

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Susete Patrício holds a degree in biophysical engineering from the University of Évora (1999). Pos-graduated in Sustainable Urbanism and Spatial Planning from NOVA School of Science and Technology (2002). Started her career as Environmental Impact Assessment specialist. In 2003 joined the renewable energy sector and, between 2003 and 2008, worked for Enersis Group, coordinating the activities of renewables project development and environment and sustainability. Between 2012 and 2016 was vice president of APAI (Portuguese Environmental Impact Association). Susete joined Galp in 2008, initially responsible for developing and constructing a 400MW portfolio of wind projects. With almost 20 years of experience in developing renewable energy projects, from the green field to the ready-to-build stage, she currently coordinates the project development activities for the renewable energy portfolio of Galp, in EMEA.

Alexander holds a degree in Law and Business Administration. He started his career as an attorney in a law office in Barcelona. In parallel he was holding lectures about the Spanish Law at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. In September 2006 he continued his career Managing Director of a waste management company in Verona, Italy. In 2009 he started to work for SOLON Investments GmbH as a Project Manager and solicitor for Photovoltaic-Projects in Italy. From 2011 till 2020 Alexander was working as Project Manager at BayWa r.e. Solar Projects GmbH where he was responsible for PV-Projects in Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands and Denmark. Since April 2020 Alexander is working as Lawyer and Head of Business Development at Enerparc AG.

João França heads the Sales of Portugal market, within JinkoSolar. João joined JinkoSolar in 2022 where he has been responsible for sales and business development. João is cooperating on regular basis with EPC companies, distributors, investors, and media partners, representing Jinko Solar in sales contracting negotiations, as well as working closely with developers and energy consultants in the region. His experience in PV industry as well the close presence with the key players of PV market in Portugal makes him an expert in his field.

Manuel Nina is co-founder and the Chief Commercial Officer of Goparity, the European crowdlending platform for sustainable and impact projects with over 20.000 users and having funded more than 200 projects worth more than 17M€. He has a MSc. in Mechanical Engineering from Instituto Superior Técnico (University of Lisbon) and in 2019 did a specialization in Negotiation by Catolica Lisbon School of Business and Economics. Manuel is responsible for business development and investment project acquisition as well as being the Portfolio Manager for all the company’s RDI projects (H2020 BundleUP, BundleUP NEXT, Citizee, SocialRES and FORTESIE).

Dr. James Li is Head of Technical Energy Storage System (ESS) at Sungrow Power group based in the United Kingdom, which has always focused on renewable energy power generation through its global market leading power conversion system (PCS) as the heart of its ESS solution. As lead of Technical ESS, James’s goal is to develop and execute a EU company-wide strategy for energy storage system. His responsibility in this role includes developing ESS technical team's full range of design & consultant capacity and working with product, sales, marketing, and project delivery teams to ensure flawless execution at region and country levels. James Li holds a PhD degree in Power System Engineering since 2007 and he started working in power system industry throughout HVDC & HVAC transmission national grid, distribution Utility network and renewable generations globally including China, Brazil, Indian and United Kingdom. He has been IET membership and Charted Engineer registrant since 2014. Being appointed as the Head of Technical energy storage system of Sungrow EMEA, The technical team had provided and delivered various ESS turnkey solutions to the European Battery Storage projects like the 100MW/100MWh Minety BESS in UK as largest grid standing alone BESS plant in 2021 and those ESS is fully in operation to grid network service included the national grid dynamic containment, firm frequency response, capacity market, balancing mechanism. Clean Power for all would be always the mindful forwarding and James LI will keep the most passion for following this road map to make any further contribution for greener energy and greener plant.

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).

Severin Hiller is a co-head of infrastructure debt at Rivage Investment, having joined the firm in October 2014. Since joining the firm, Severin has been instrumental in building one of the leading infrastructure debt practices in Europe. Severin has 20 years of experience in the private debt markets across infrastructure, asset backed, and structured finance having closed over €5bn of transactions during this timeframe. Prior to joining Rivage, he was an Investment Director at Hadrian’s Wall Capital where he focused on originating and executing junior infrastructure debt transactions. Prior to this, Severin worked at Campbell Lutyens where he helped develop the global infrastructure advisory business including a focus on infrastructure debt. Before that Severin was Vice President at MBIA UK Insurance Ltd where he was responsible for originating, executing and closing numerous infrastructure and asset backed securitisation transactions throughout Europe. Severin began his career in New York at Commerzbank Asset Management before moving to Charter Financial, a leasing company focused on the asset backed SME lending, where he ran the treasury department. Severin holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Tufts University, Massachusetts and a MBA from London Business School.

Nicolas is PPA manager for Baywa re's PV pipeline in Spain and Portugal. He joined BayWa r.e. in 2021, and since then, he has been involved in PPA negotiations with European off-takers for an aggregated volume of 500 GWh/year, with an expertise in sourcing, negotiating and managing virtual PPAs as well as focusing on sustainability in Corporate PPAs. Before joining BayWa r.e. Nicolas worked in investment banking in Chile. He has a master’s degree (M.Sc.) in Management and Technology from the Technical University of Munich.

Manuel Silva is responsible for Aquila Clean Energy’s Development and Construction team in Portugal. He has been in the renewable energies sector since 2006. Prior to joining Aquila Capital in 2019, he worked as a Director for Martifer Renewables in Portugal, where he was responsible for the development, construction and operation of wind and solar projects, mostly in Portugal and Romania. He holds a degree in Physics Engineering from Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon.

Miguel holds a double degree in Energy Engineering and International Finance. He has previous quantitative analysis and M&A experience. During his 12+ years working in the energy markets, he held the positions of Head of Portfolio Management at Enovos and Vice President for Origination at Danske Commodities amongst others. He develops the project behind Our New Energy to provide an answer to the need for an independent, transparent and reliable partner in the energy transition journey.

João de Macedo Vitorino, started practicing in 1990 to co-found the law firm Macedo Vitorino & Associados in 1996. He specialises in Commercial and Corporate Law, M&A, Telecommunications, Energy, Corporate and Acquisition Finance, Corporate Taxation, as well as Arbitration. In these areas, João has advised Portuguese and multinational companies, private equity houses, investment funds and family offices in national and cross-border transactions, many of them with relevant impact on their respective markets. João graduated in Law from Lisbon University (1988) and he received his Masters in Civil and Procedural Law in 1994. He lectured International Private Law as Assistant Professor at Lisbon University (1990-2000). João speaks English, Spanish, French and Portuguese (native).

Roger is the Global Head of Project Finance in Banco Sabadell. He joined Sabadell in 2002 in the structured finance department and since then has held several positions. In 2008 he became Head of Corporate Finance Barcelona and in 2013 he was appointed Head of the newly created Middle Market Department until January 2019 when he became Head of Project Finance and Specialized Lending Department. He graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration from American University in Washignton DC, MBA from ESADE Business School and PDG from IESE Business School.

Bachelor’s in economics from the University of Paris X, European master’s in management from ESCPEurope, with specialization in finance. His professional career started in financial markets trading and structuring financial products around equity derivatives. He worked for 12 years at Société Générale bank as director of equity for Spain. Later on he transitioned to the energy sector first in Latin America, where he founded Antuko in Chile in 2012, and later on in Europe. He always focussed on the financial side of energy projects, through power price forecasts, and energy trading solutions. Antuko was acquired by DNV in mid 2021.

Electrical Engineer from INSA Lyon with a Specialized Master’s Degree in New Energy Management of AMPT Lille, with over 10 years of experience in the Renewable Energy sector. At DNV, Valentin works as Principal Consultant in the Energy Market Analytics team, covering Southern Europe and Latin America Energy Markets. Additionally, he has a Global Practice Lead role for Power Price Forecast (PPF), where he coordinates the PPF activities across regions, driving innovation and promoting best practices. Prior to DNV, Valentin was Head of Quantitative Research at Antuko, where he led the areas of Market Intelligence, Market Modelling, Risk Management and Asset Management. Valentin is a specialist in Smart Grid and Energy Management with knowledge of modelling electrical transmission grid, renewable energy and storage systems. He also worked as a Research Engineer at the Lille L2EP Laboratory to develop methods and solutions for optimization of renewable energy production, storage, and consumption.

Pedro Pereira graduated with a Business Administration & Management degree from the Catholic University of Portugal. He worked for seven years as a consultant in the IT field and then took a full time MBA at ESADE Business School in Barcelona, ranked #1 business school worldwide by the Wall Street Journal at that time. From mid-2007 to mid-2015 he took different executive and director roles at Martifer Solar, a global leader in the Solar industry acquired by Voltalia in 2016, both in Europe and North America. In mid-2016, after one year in the venture capital area, he returned to the renewable energy field with the aim of opening the Southern European markets on behalf of Eurowind Energy, a Danish IPP with more than 1,6GW of wind and solar assets under management across Europe. Under his leadership, currently, the group has a large pipeline under development and construction in Portugal, Spain and Italy. Since 2007, Pedro Pereira has been directly involved in the startup, growth, restructuring and turnaround of different subsidiaries, encompassing both organic business development and M&A activities (from both buy and sell sides). He participated in several conferences as chair and speaker, given interviews to multiple media channels and played an important role in lobbying for the long-term stability of the renewable energy regulatory framework in different countries in Europe.

Since 2011, Pedro Almeida Fernandes is Head of Power Generation & ENEL Green Power in Portugal at Endesa. Pedro has a Master's Degree in Environmental Engineering from Instituto Superior Técnico, of the Lisbon Technical University, and has worked as a Management Consultant, at Roland Berger, prior to joining Endesa in 2006, where he has also had roles in Regulation, and Business Development.

Luis has spent more than 12 years in various roles focused on international energy markets. Prior to joining LevelTen, Luis was an origination manager for Acciona; he has also held roles at Gnera Group, Abengoa, the World Bank and other leading consortiums and companies in the energy industry.

Susana Serôdio is an Environmental Engineeri with a master’s in engineering and technology management. Her professional activity has always been linked to the energy and environment field, having started as a researcher in the areas of innovation, technology and policy. After working also on the field of climate change and energy efficiency as a consultant in 2015, she took the role of energy policy analyst in the Technical Department of APREN. She is now the Head of Policy - in this role, she encompasses advice to members and stakeholders in the renewable energy sector, research and development of studies to promote and support policy decision making, representation and defence of APREN's strategic vision next to the official entities, national and international associations and stakeholders.

Luis Selva is BNZ’s Managing Director. Executive with 17 years in the Renewable Energy Sector globally, now he is involved at BNZ, an independent power producer (IPP) that develops, builds, and operates solar photovoltaic projects in Southern Europe, particularly in Portugal, Italy, and Spain, with a global portfolio of more than 1.5GW and more than 500MW in Portugal. He is leading a team focused on consolidating the company into a key player in the renewable energy sector in Europe and contributing to the global energy transition.

Graduated in Physical Engineering. She began the professional journey at ISA - Intelligent Sensing Anywhere, S.A. in 2007 with energy efficiency projects in both public and private entities. She has been involved in the efforts of VPS/Cleanwatts in the area of ​​energy transition more focused on public entities, with public lighting projects, energy efficiency in schools, universities, etc. From the first moment it has followed the issue of energy communities in Portugal, in the first phase, still without a legal framework and in pilot projects, and then the exit of the law. He led the creation of the first energy community in Portugal, with the Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Miranda do Douro and the effort to develop new communities, most notably the 100 Villages Project, which aims to create energy communities in a rural and rural environment. in low-density territories, with the main objective of combating energy poverty.

Miguel Gil is the director of the Energy Solutions Division in Capwatt (Sonae Group) for Portugal and Spain. Capwatt fosters the customers’ energy transition and decarbonization in this area through PV self-consumption solutions, bioenergy, efficiency, electric mobility and gas & power commercialization. Miguel has a large international experience in the Energy sector in areas such as Commercial, Financial and Business Development. Prior to joining Capwatt, Miguel worked for Galp leading the Gas&Power Business Unit and previously for ExxonMobil on several strategic and financial executive positions across Europe and the US. Miguel holds a degree in Business Administration from CUNEF University in Madrid and completed a General Management Executive Program at IESE Business School.

Pedro Martins Barata, MSc in Economics, board member at Coopérnico and senior director for climate at the Environmental Defense Fund (US-based NGO) is an international expert with 22 years of experience in international climate policy and carbon markets, having assisted in the negotiations on the development of the Kyoto carbon market mechanisms since 1999. From 2008 to 2011 Pedro was member of the Executive Board of the CDM to the Kyoto Protocol, and in 2010 he was elected its vice-chair. Additionally, from 2008 to 2011, Pedro was a senior policy advisor for the Inter-ministerial Climate Change Commission of the Portuguese Ministry of Environment. He has advised governments on international climate negotiations and carbon markets since 2013. He joined EDF as Senior Director, Climate, and leads in the development of international rules for the voluntary carbon market, as part of the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market.

Originally from Brazil, Lorena Nieuwenhoven completed a double major degree in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics at the Erasmus University Rotterdam in 2019. She then deep-dived into the area of renewables and sustainability, helping expand the penetration of solar energy in the Iberian markets through her work as a Project Manager for Solarplaza. Apart from her work in the Spanish and Portuguese markets, Lorena has also spearheaded topical conferences related to Green Hydrogen and Hybrid Renewables.