Solarplaza Summit | The Netherlands

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.

Gerard Reid is a Co-founder and Partner at Alexa Capital, an independent financial services business committed to mobilising capital towards achieving net-zero. He is also a Fellow at the Institute of the Environment at the University of Minnesota and a member of the Global Future Council on Advanced Energy Technologies at the World Economic Forum. Gerard has developed a strong reputation as a leading global expert in the energy and mobility space. A trusted authority on the energy transition, he is a published author and avid blogger, with a following of more than 200k across several platforms. He is also the co-host of “REDEFINING ENERGY” podcast, the leading energy podcast in Europe. He is focussed on empowering and accelerating change by advising organisations, industry leaders and global decision makers (business, finance and government) on the transition towards net-zero carbon emissions. His breadth of experience stems from 20 years working in the finance industry (equity research, fund management and corporate finance) with a focus on both the energy transition and the digital energy revolution the sector is going through. Prior to founding Alexa Capital, he was Managing Director and Head of European Cleantech Research at Jefferies & Co. Gerard was also a lecturer at the University of Applied Sciences in Berlin, TU Berlin and Imperial College in London.

Ertuğ Babataş is Head of Enerparc International and responsible for international activities of Enerparc. He was involved in several EPC projects in different regions including Europe, UK, MENA, Turkey, CIS with total capacity of more than 500 MWp. He is currently responsible for development activities within Europe and managing a pipeline of PV projects with more than 500 MWp capacity, in several countries together with local partners.

Edurne Zoco is an executive director within the Clean Energy Technology group at IHS Markit (now part of S&P Global). Dr. Zoco leads the team’s research activities across solar photovoltaic (PV), supply chain, and carbon sequestration. She manages internal and external initiatives, providing research, analysis, and actionable insight to customers on the development of clean technologies and their role in the wider energy transition. Dr. Zoco has been involved in the renewable industry for more than 15 years. Prior to joining IHS Markit in 2015, she was employed by solar PV company Trina Solar, where she held global positions within corporate and strategic marketing. Dr. Zoco contributes to a wide range of deliverables across the research team. She is the author of numerous reports, including cost breakdown models, companies’ benchmarking, price forecasting, supply chain analysis, and technology outlook delivered to established companies and new entrants in the cleantech sector. She has presented at leading industry events and conferences and her commentary and analysis appear regularly on industry and mainstream media. Dr. Zoco holds a PhD in political science from the University of Notre Dame, United States. She speaks English, French, Spanish, and Italian.

Katarzyna has been working in the renewable energy industry since 2014 and joined Greensolver in 2020. She is Managing Director of Greensolver Netherlands and she has experiences from the investment side of the industry – previously working in Primrose Solar – as well as the O&M side where she was the Commercial Director at PSH Renewables. She has an excellent record of managing complex business operations and experience in overseeing development, construction and management of ground-mount solar PV in the UK.

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.

At Aurora Energy Research, Marise Westbroek is responsible for researching trends in the Dutch electricity market. Recently she has dealt with questions such as: How can the Netherlands become emission neutral by 2050?; What does the future hold for hydrogen in Northwestern Europe?; How is the Dutch market for power purchase agreements (PPAs) developing?Marise holds a PhD in physics from Imperial College London and studied physics and mathematics in Utrecht and Cambridge.

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Dieuwke Boersma is Chief Technology Officer at Esdec Solar Group since 2017. Esdec, founded in 2004 in Deventer, provides solar mounting systems for all types of roofs, both residential and commercial, to installers, distributors and EPC companies in Europe. In addition, they also deliver engineering support and expert advisory services. As a leader with a technical background, Dieuwke has been focusing in her career on innovation, new business creation and venturing in two corporates and in two start-ups. Dieuwke has 20+ years of senior management experience in technology and served as Global Manager Innovation at Philips. She holds a degree in Physics from Leiden University. For 15 years she has been very passionate about actively managing the energy transition.

Erik Snijders is the Managing Director of KiesZon, a market leader in the Dutch solar market for both residential solar (b2c) and large scale (rooftop & ground mounted) solar. KiesZon annually adds over 50MWp of large scale solar to its portfolio as well as around 7.500 household solar systems. Erik, who has been with KiesZon since 2017, focusses mainly on long-term policies regarding sustainable growth as well as new business and the implementation of innovations and corporate citizenship.

Floris Leuftink is co-founder and investment director at Klimaatfonds Nederland. He is responsible for investments and fundraising.Klimaatfonds Nederland is a Dutch solar investment fund focused on large scale solar energy projects in the Netherlands. It enables developers and project owners to accelerate their project development activities by providing them with Dutch capital, knowledge and bankable contracts to successfully realize their solar projects.Prior to founding Klimaatfonds Nederland, Floris spent over 12 years as a solar energy finance, investment and development expert for and within several key industry players such as PwC, Hanergy and Sunrock. In these roles, Floris was involved in the development, financing, acquisition and construction of large-scale solar projects in Europe with a total investment value of over € 300 million.

Wijnand van Hooff has been active in solar energy since 2004, initially in the field of research and technology development for solar PV cells and modules and since 2011 in a role as coordinator and stimulator of research, development and innovation projects for the Dutch solar energy sector. In 2017, Wijnand joined the board of Directors of Holland Solar, the industry association of the solar energy sector in the Netherlands, and in 2019 he was appointed as the General Manager of Holland Solar. Holland Solar focusses on promoting solar energy in the Netherlands, representing the solar energy sector.

Steven Pleging works in Business Development Netherlands for BELECTRIC and looks back on over 20 years of experience in the solar industry. His journey started in 1999 at Philips where he started to explore different solar energy markets. Having become passionate about solar energy and sustainability, he left Philips to further develop the solar business in Econcern/Ecostream and later on in Colexon Energy. In 2010, Pleging started to focus on project development related business. He returned to the Dutch market in 2017 with his project development company. In 2020, he joined BELECTRIC, focusing on acquisition of EPC and O&M contracting.

Having grown up on an ecological dairy farm, Jolien has learned the importance of dealing with our environment diligently. After pursuing a corporate career, the next step for her and her family was to develop a 45 MWp solar asset on their farmland, making a positive impact on the energy transition and the living environment. As the family owned asset is currently performing at full force, Jolien is working in the renewable energy sector as interim manager and transformation consultant. Leveraging on her background in operations and change management her goal is to maximize her impact in a sector which is essential for creating a green livable future for all generations.

William has seen all aspects that service engineers come across. That’s why he is the perfect service manager for the Benelux team at Sungrow. William has experience with all kinds of sustainability focused devices having worked with EV-Chargers, Smart solutions for heating and solar, batteries and frequency inverters. Now William focuses on helping our customers out with all kinds of enquiries, from 6.7MW utility-scale PV inverters to 2kW residential inverters.

Tjerk Groot has over 25 years of experience in finance and in scaling up organisations internationally. He has held several management positions in recent years, both in the Netherlands and internationally. Tjerk was previously Supply Chain Controller at Vion Food Group. For Reckitt Benckiser, Tjerk held the position of Supply Chain Director in Singapore and Guanzhou. PVO International introduced Tjerk Groot as its new Finance Director last year. Tjerk works closely with the members of the management team to further expand PVO International’s position as a market leader in both the business and residential solar markets.

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Matthijs works as a principal in Sunrock’s Project Finance team. He is involved in the project and debt structuring of the business, acquisitions and Sunrock’s international expansion. Before joining Sunrock, he worked for its former shareholder Stecc and in wind development for utility Eneco. He started his career working for Shell in the Netherlands and India. Matthijs holds an MSc in Quantitative Finance from Tilburg University and is a CFA charterholder. His passion for sustainability also extends outside working hours, cycling from Alaska to Panama on his honeymoon.

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Lianne has 8 years of experience in renewables. She has worked on the contracting side of the innovative offshore wind Two Towers project (19 MW, the Netherlands, 2021) and is currently involved in the contracting and financing of various solar projects (including PPA and storage aspects) in the Netherlands. Before joining Green Giraffe, Lianne worked as a lawyer at Allen & Overy in the Dutch project finance team. Amongst others, she advised on the financing of the Krammer onshore wind farm (100 MW, the Netherlands, 2016) and solar park Sunport Delfzijl (31 MW, the Netherlands, 2016). Lianne holds an LLM in European energy and climate law from the University of Groningen.

Paul Raats is a seasoned solar PV advisor with regional experience in Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Asia. He combines over 25 years of professional experience in business consulting, industrial manufacturing, product innovation and energy regulatory affairs. Paul works in solar since 2002. He serves financiers, utilities, developers, manufacturers, NGO’s and governments through owner’s engineering, business viability studies and policy advice. Amongst the international financiers are World Bank, IFC, AFD, Arab fund and the European Commission. The evaluation of solar PV assets has been part of numerous assessments working as technical advisor in transactional due diligence assignments. As mechanical engineer, Paul graduated from Delft University of Technology. Before joining DNV in 2004, he worked at the Heineken Breweries, The Boston Consulting Group and he was employed by the Dutch state energy regulator in The Hague. These experiences give him a multi-facetted view on consulting assignments.

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Bas Welles is CEO at GreenIPP. GreenIPP is a green investment office working for leading green asset managers such as Obton from Denmark with approx. 400MWp developed and under construction in The Netherlands. Bas has a financial background as CPA with today’s focus on renewables only.

Julien Deckx is Product Manager for Digital Solutions at 3E. His main focus is on advanced solar analytics and on flexibility optimization. He built up his expertise in software product management in the medical imaging analysis business for 10 years, before following his passion for renewables by joining 3E in 2020. Julien holds a MSc in Engineering at the University of Leuven.

Jan Willem has over 20 years of experience in the energy market and worked for some of the larger utilities. Early 2020, Jan Willem sold his previous companies Greenspread and Greencrowd to private equity concern NPM Capital. Since his departure in October 2020, Jan Willem works as an independent consultant at Stratergy. Stratergy advises funds, banks, utilities, and large consumers and producers of energy and specializes in maximizing asset value and minimizing financial risk.

Roland co-chairs the Loyens & Loeff Energy Team, advising energy companies and other market parties on regulatory aspects of transactions and representing his clients in court proceedings. He also participates in decision-making processes by policymakers and regulators, such as the Dutch Consumer & Market Authority (ACM). The scope of his work extends across the entire energy chain: gas (E&P, storage, LNG, transport and supply), power (generation, transport and supply), renewables, heat and CO2. Roland is a member of the Dutch Energy Law Association and regularly publishes on Energy law-related topics.

As a strategist who loves realization, Marieke Donkervoort combines the sum of its parts to bring that dot on the horizon ever closer. The same goes for the energy transition. Whether she is a director of wind farms in Flevoland, or a director within a grid operator, or even as transition manager at a German energy company, she provides the answers to the question: 'how do we make the energy transition possible?' In Marieke Donkervoort's vision, leadership is an important part of balancing the sum of the energy transition. She is also active as an executive coach in which Leadership and Behavior are central.

Egbert Ludwig has been active as a freelancer in the sustainable energy industry for many years now. He combines a technical with financial background. Since April 2020 Egbert is the interim manager of Bronnen VanOns, the project development organization for energy cooperatives in the north region of The Netherlands. Bronnen VanOns solely acts under commission of an energy cooperative in the vicinity of a sustainable energy project. The key objectives are to alleviate the responsibilities for development and financing of a project and to enable the purchase of 50% of that project, whenever the energy cooperative is willing to do so. Bronnen VanOns is 100% owned by Cooperative VanOns, an organization with four NGO’s as members.

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.

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Marc Londo is Substantive Director of NVDE, the Netherlands Association for Renewable Energy representing ~6,000 companies active in decarbonizing our energy economy. His key activity is safeguarding that NVDE’s positions towards media, politics and policy makers meet the critical eye of the energy expert, with a focus on renewable energy policy and strategy. He is also guest researcher at the Copernicus Institute of Utrecht University on the same topic. In his former occupations at ECN, he acquired vast knowledge and experience in providing technical support to renewable energy policy making, at EU and Dutch national level: scenario and road mapping studies, techno-economic assessments and policy evaluations (ex-ante and ex-post). He also coordinated ECN’s technical support activities to the negotiations for the National Energy Agreement. Earlier, he worked as a project manager in sustainable energy and integrated rural development. He holds a PhD in biomass and land use and graduated in environmental chemistry.

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Mark is the Head of Business for Chint Solar in The Netherlands and responsible for the Dutch activities of the company including the development and execution of ground mounted solar projects. He has over 17 years experience in the renewable energy development industry developing wind and solar farms world-wide, with a focus on the UK, Australia and currently The Netherlands. With over 12 years of senior management and business leader roles, Mark offers deep experience in the international renewable energy industry.

Ivo has a diverse background, having studied both Chemistry and the English language. In 2009 Ivo decided to switch from a successful career in Language services to working in sustainability. He pledged to always work at or for companies which contribute to a sustainable world and never looked back. He worked for companies such as Enfinity and Kingspan and he was involved in the creation of successful propositions such as “Duurzame Zekerheid” by Unive. Since 2021 Ivo has been working as Business Unit Manager for Solora BV with the aim of staying the leading O&M Service Provider in The Netherlands.

Vítor is currently the Technical director utility Europe of LONGi Solar since 2020. He has spent 14 years at TÜV Rheinland and brings extensive PV know-how in different areas including auditing and inspecting factories and installations in Europe, Asia, and South America, supervising construction and evaluating performance, as well as undertaking safety inspections and performance enhancement of PV plants worldwide.

Guido Volberg, Senior Consultant Product Regulatory Affairs Alte, worked for more than 25 years among others as Head of Global Technical Competence Center for PV modules and PV Components as well as Certifier at TUV Rheinland in Germany. Since 2006 Guido is member of several committees at the German Commission for electrical engineering (DKE) and since 2009 also member of several technical committees, e.g. TC 82 and TC20 at International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) as well as member of technical committees at the European Commission for Electrical engineering (CENELEC).In these positions Guido was project leader for the development of several PV component and PV module standards. In 2017 Guido was the recipient of the “IEC 1906 Award” in 2017.

Edwin founded Solarplaza company in 2004. He is a senior PV expert and started in the photovoltaic solar energy business in 1994. He has experience as a solar energy consultant and project developer in more than 200 PV projects. Edwin holds a Master’s degree in Chemical engineering and previously worked in the Chemical industry before starting his first consultancy company in PV in 1994.

Lisette Buist is the Events Team Lead at Solarplaza, the global platform for knowledge and network in the solar PV industry. She specializes in events focused on Solar Asset Management, as well as Solarplaza's Future of Energy series. Lisette is the president and co-founder of the Solarplaza Foundation, and a driving force in Solarplaza's Diversity & Inclusion efforts. She has previous working experience in business process management and production planning at AkzoNobel and holds a double Master's degree from the Rotterdam School of Management (Erasmus University) and ESADE Business School. Any excess energy that remains after setting the stage - or taking it herself, being a trained moderator - she shakes off through dance, field hockey, fitness and yoga.