Solarplaza Summit | Romania

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Teodor joined Enery in June 2024 as Project Finance VP responsible for debt funding across multiple geographies. Prior to Enery, Teodor has previously worked for +12 years in Erste’s Romanian Subsidiary (BCR) focusing on Leverage Finance and Project Finance transactions across a diversified range of industries (Medical, Retail, Manufacturing, etc.). Before BCR, Teodor spent a few years in M&A for Deloitte and UniCredit.

Joshua is a renewable energy professional with over 12 years of commercial and technical experience in utility-scale battery storage and solar technology. Joshua is the Head of Storage at Econergy, a renewable energy IPP that operates across 6 different regions with over 450MW of solar, wind and battery storage projects under construction and 155MW of operation solar PV. He joined in 2021 to head the technical, commercial, and strategic aspects of the company’s stand-alone and co-located storage projects in the UK and also developing the overseas storage strategy. Econergy is currently building over 100MWh of battery storage projects in the UK and has a further 1GW of storage projects nearing ready to build. Before joining Econergy, he worked for a leading German inverter manufacturer, SMA Solar Technology, where he served as the technical expert for the UK and Ireland. He has been involved in the design and delivery of over 800MW of utility-scale solar and storage projects.

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Christian Leonte, CEO of WALDEVAR Holding, with extensive expertise across various industries, managing and developing businesses for over 30 years, currently leads a company that has experienced impressive growth in recent years. He has developed his multidisciplinary professional experience in management positions within prestigious multinational companies such as Xerox, Chase, Danzas, and DHL Logistics. He holds a PhD in Economics, has studies in Law and Architecture, and is certified by IPMA as a Project Manager and Construction Manager. At WALDEVAR Holding, he oversees the development and international expansion of a 100% Romanian business.

As Team Leader for Flexibility Services, Harald Ott is responsible at VERBUND Energy4Business GmbH for the marketing of distributed energy resources (DERs) such as battery storage systems or small and medium size industrial flexibilities over VERBUND’s virtual power system, the VERBUND Power Pool on all short-term energy markets. The products range from the optimization of stand-alone and collocated battery storage systems to the optimization of power flexibility from consumption-sides, switched electrical loads, and/or decentralised generation units. Before working as Product Manager, Harald was working as Controller in VERBUND’s power trading subsidiary and at VERBUND Hydro Power.

Experienced energy specialist, utility company executive, former Big 4 Director and Partner. Presently in charge of Regulatory and Antitrust Affairs for PPC activities in Romania. Former power plant operation engineer, designer, researcher, lecturer, coordinator of multi-country PHARE programs, national utility company top executive and administrator, European Commission employee on energy issues and consultant (12 years of M&A/Corporate Finance - including 6 years of Private Equity activities - and 5 years of Management Consulting in the Energy sector).

Andreea is currently Financial Director within Nofar Energy, part of an international group companies specialized in the field of energy production from renewable sources. Among other projects, Nofar is building the largest solar project in Romania, with a capacity of 154MW. Andreea has over 18 years of experience in important credit institutions in Romania, in project financing and syndication in the energy, industry and real estate sectors.

Sebastian Enache currently leads the RENEWACAD initiative, Europe's platform for re-skilling miners in renewables, training over 1000 miners since its inception. As Head of M&A since 2020, he has overseen renewable deals in wind and PV totaling more than 2 billion EUR, including Europe's largest Solar PV plant, Arad 1044MW. With over 15 years in the wind industry, Enache's career began in Romania, leading significant wind measurement campaigns and establishing the country’s first private dispatch center for renewables. His profound impact includes roles in major renewable energy associations and advisory boards, shaping the energy sector's future.

Oliver Schmidt is a clean energy expert with a particular focus on energy storage. He published the book Monetizing Energy Storage and launched the online analysis platform http://www.energystorage.ninja/ in 2023. He has previous experience as a project manager at the strategy and financial transaction advisory firm Apricum, where he supported top management with strategic advice in the energy storage, solar PV, and hydrogen industries. Oliver also worked as an energy analyst at the IEA and as a management consultant at E.ON. He has a PhD on the future cost and value of energy storage from Imperial College London.

Tatiana is an experienced Real Estate and Renewable Energy lawyer with a demonstrated history of working in the legal services industry. She is skilled in Due Diligence, Corporate Law, Urbanism, and Permitting matters. Tatiana is a strong business development professional with a Master's degree focused in Urbanism law from the University of Bucharest.

Catalin is a banker with over 20 years of corporate and project financing experience, now leading the utility and energy coverage team in Raiffeisen Bank, with a special focus on renewables, developing specific financing solutions for both photovoltaic and wind energy production, while promoting the use of batteries to sustain the increased share of green energy available.

As Head of Sustainability in BCR, Ioana Voinescu is responsible for leading the company’s efforts to drive transformational change in developing ESG strategies. Focusing on building performance, she supports businesses in achieving their goals and improving their sustainability performance. Additionally, she facilitates trainings and programs for employees to educate them about sustainability factors and keeps constant dialogues with clients, institutions, partners and other stakeholders.

Adina is an Experienced Principal Banker with a demonstrated history of working in the banking industry. Skilled in Negotiation, Communication, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), and Corporate Finance. Strong finance professional with a Master’s Degree focused in Business Administration.

Mihaela has more than 18 years of experience in mergers & acquisitions and corporate and commercial law, having assisted Governmental authorities, publicly held companies, as well as domestic and international private entities in a variety of legal matters. She has broad expertise in the energy sector, having coordinated complex investment projects in conventional and renewable energy and assisting many of the key players in the Romanian energy market. Mihaela has also been actively involved in the elaboration of regulations in electricity trading and power generation from renewable energy sources.

Evangelos is Aurora’s Head of Southeastern Europe, based in Athens. While at Aurora, Evangelos has gained extensive commercial due diligence experience in renewable energy and storage asset investments across Europe and Australia. He managed Aurora’s multi-client study on hydrogen and has also advised major developers and infrastructure funds on the business case of battery, pumped-hydro and compressed-air storage technologies. Before joining Aurora in November 2017, Evangelos spent 4 years at Imperial College London as a Research Associate at the Centre for Environmental Policy and a consultant with Imperial Consultants. He also co-authored the book ‘Energy Innovation for the 21st Century’. Evangelos holds a PhD in Engineering (Energy Systems) and an MSc with Distinction in Sustainable Energy Systems from the University of Edinburgh, and an MEng in Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Laimonas Dapšys, serving as the Senior Business Development Manager at Green Genius, brings over two decades of rich experience in steering innovation and growth within the renewable energy, alternative fuels, and automotive industries. With an impressive track record spanning 26 years, Laimonas has been at the forefront of pioneering sustainable energy solutions. His expertise in new business development, coupled with his adeptness in implementing international projects, positions him as a leading figure in the transition towards a greener economy.

Adriana Filis is currently serving within the BESS development team as Commercial Asset Manager at ENGIE Romania, a renowned offtaker and asset owner across technologies. With a background in corporate banking and over a decade’s experience in originating renewable projects, her current role now focuses on discovering better value solutions for flexibility assets and enhancing synergies between storage and variable energy sources. She shares insights on the challenges and opportunities associated with different revenue streams and discusses the most common available contract structures.

Kari Tikkanen is Head of Revenue at Aukera Energy with 15 years’ experience in real assets and infrastructure. He is a commercially driven engineer and has been structuring offtake transactions for renewable generation and flexibility assets since 2017. Before joining Aukera was Kari the global power markets and PPA lead at DIF Capital Partners (now CVC DIF), an infrastructure fund manager with over 16 bn EUR assets under management, and offtake lead at renewables developer OX2. Kari started his career in real estate before transitioning into renewable energy and has worked on over 3 GW of renewable energy and flexibility projects across many European markets, including GB, Nordics, Germany, Poland, Italy and Romania. For BESS specifically has he been responsible for negotiating and executing some of the first long-term solar PV and BESS agreements in Europe.

Edward Randolph has a diverse work experience in the finance and infrastructure sectors. Edward started their career at Deutsche Bank, where they worked as a Corporate Finance Analyst from June 2010 to June 2013 and later as a Corporate Finance Associate from June 2013 to June 2015. Edward then joined First Reserve as an Associate from June 2015 to June 2017 before moving to BlackRock, where they worked as an Associate for a few months in 2017. From September 2017, Edward served as an Investment Director at Amber Infrastructure, specializing in infrastructure investments in the energy and transportation sectors. Edward also holds a position as a Non Executive Director at Service Terminal Rotterdam (STR) since October 2020 and is a member of the Investment Board at Enery since May 2021. Edward Randolph attended St Paul's School from 2002 to 2007, although no degree or field of study is specified for this period. After graduating from St Paul's School, they then attended the University of Cambridge from 2007 to 2010. There, they earned a degree in History and achieved a 2:I classification.

Thomas Neff has been working in the sector of renewable energies since 2015 and has gained extensive international project experience as Key Account Manager, Asset Manager and now Senior Business Development Manager Europe responsible for the markets EU-Central and EU-East. His goal is to accelerate the expansion of renewable energies through customer success and intelligent technical solutions.

John has over 19 years of experience in the solar industry, with a track record of success building sales and marketing teams and identifying, developing, and realizing new business opportunities. In terms of a background, he was a former EVP of Global Sales and Service at SMA, a leading Germany-based solar inverter supplier. Served as CSO of Ideematec Trackers, a leading Germany-based solar tracker supplier. Served as Managing Director of a leading China-based solar module manufacturer Trina Solar Australia and New Zealand.

Irene is the Policy Officer of RPIA. With a background in International Relations, Political Science, and European Studies, her work focuses on EU regulations and the national energy transition. Irene is preoccupied with policies and initiatives to accelerate the efficient development of solar power and the associated value chain, engaging actively with relevant stakeholders at the domestic and European levels.

Roxana's dynamic presence on stage is complemented by a unique fusion of acting skills (Queen Marie of Romania and Queen Elizabeth of England on both stage and screen) and academic background, seamlessly blending substance with compelling storytelling. Her approach strikes a balance between explorative seriousness and lighthearted playfulness, creating an engaging and memorable experience for the audience. With a natural charisma that resonates effortlessly, Roxana establishes a connection that makes it easy for any audience to relate to her and eagerly follow her lead. Her ability to captivate and connect ensures that the audience is not just spectators but active participants in the unfolding narrative. Events moderated by ‘Masters in Moderation’s’ Roxana will take participants on unexpected journeys. The seamless integration of creativity and strategy elevates corporate content to the realm of storytelling, providing a unique and enriching experience that resonates long after the event concludes.