Jorge Salas is Vice President for Water Business Development of Abengoa, joining the company in 2002. He has more than 20 years of experience in the water sector, based on a solid international training in USA and UK. Jorge has shown a great commitment to the water sector, participating in several events and publications during his professional career.
He has held different high-level posts in Abengoa, as Head of proposal and business development department, and also leading from the Desalination Department some of the main references of the company at international level, as the projects developed Algeria, Skikda and Tlemcem desalination plants, and the first desalination plant constructed in India, Chennai desalination plant.
Mr. Altmann gained his experience by working for more than 25 years for top ranking engineering and construction companies including Bechtel and Fluor in technical as well as managerial positions. Before joining ACWA Power he held an EVP position at ILF Consulting with global responsibility for Energy & Desalination business and was MD for ILF Business Consult. Prior to that he served as VP at Bechtel Intl. in the Power Generation business unit with global responsibility for Desalination based in the UK and USA. Mr. Altmann served as a Director of the International Desalination Association (IDA) and the European Desalination Society (EDS). Furthermore he served on the Research Advisory Council (RAC) of the Middle East Desalination Research Centre (MEDRC) in Oman. Mr. Altmann holds a degree in Chemical Engineering and was granted two patents.
Daniel is the Co-Founder and CEO of Alcazar Energy, the largest independent developer and power producer in Jordan, and second-largest solar PV developer in Egypt. The company has created more than 4,200 direct and indirect jobs across its portfolio.
Prior to Alcazar Energy, Daniel worked at Masdar as the Head of Origination and Investment Management, where he played a leading role in deploying USD 7bn in wind and solar projects. He also worked at General Electric for 10 years in various M&A and Principal Investments roles across Asia, Europe, North and South America.
Daniel has developed and co-developed various renewable energy projects, including the first and second privately held utility scale wind farms in the Middle East; two of the first solar PV plants in the UAE; the first solar CSP plant in the Middle East; the world’s first CSP Tower project with salt storage; and the world’s largest off-shore wind farm as of 2014.
He holds degrees in industrial engineering and finance from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (Cum-Laude) and an MBA from London Business School.
Dr. Manar Al Moneef is the President and CEO for GE Renewable Energy in the Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey region. She leads a broad renewable portfolio that include on-shore wind, off-shore wind, hydro and concentrated solar power.
She is responsible for driving the growth and operational excellence for GE Renewable energy, bringing together Technology, services and digital solutions across the entire spectrum of Renewable energy development.
Prior to that, Dr. Manar Al-Moneef was the Chief Growth Officer for GE in MENAT.
She was responsible for driving the growth strategy for GE by creating and executing on growth Initiatives; identifying and developing new business opportunities; building capacity and capability’s. Prior to that Dr. Al-Moneef held various commercial and operational leadership roles globally and regionally.in healthcare, Global Growth Organization, and Oil and gas. Prior to joining GE, Dr. Manar Al-Moneef was the Director General of Health Care & Life Sciences at the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA).
Dr. AlMoneef was leading all health care and life Sciences investments in Saudi Arabia and positioning Saudi Arabia globally as a premier investment destination. Dr. Al-Moneef has a Doctoral Degree in Molecular Oncology from Leicester University and a Master Degree in Molecular Medicine form Cambridge University, United Kingdom. Dr. Al-Moneef boasts numerous publications in the field of Molecular
Medicine, health care and life science strategies.
Paul van Son, based in Essen (Germany and Dubai (UAE), joined innogy SE (previously RWE) as its Country Chairman for MENA (West Asia and North Africa) and Turkey in January 2015. innogy SE, is a leading company in the field of renewables, grids and retail of power and gas, with annual turn-over of over 40 bln€.
Paul has been active for over 35 years in various supervisory board, executive and operations management positions in the international renewable energy, grid infrastructure and gas business. In his present function he reports to the Chairman of innogy’s Executive Management Board.
His leadership experience is marked by pioneering positions and developments, such as: control system development at Siemens AG (Germany), system operator of the unbundled Dutch national power system at TenneT (previously TenneT) and power system control centre consultancy at DNV/KEMA. From 1998 onward he has been the managing director of Essent Sustainable Energy (Nl), CEO of Essent Energy Trading, and Chairman of the Management Board of Deutsche Essent GmbH in Düsseldorf, building up these innovative and international key activities of Essent N.V. (the largest Dutch energy company).
In 2009 Mr. van Son was appointed CEO of Dii GmbH (Munich), known as “Desertec Industrial Initiative”, an international industry consortium for facilitating a market for renewable energy in the deserts of MENA, including international interconnections. Presently, besides his role as innogy Chairman for MENA & Turkey, he is leading the Dii industry group in Dubai, focusing on solving financial, technical and regulatory challenges for renewable energy and hydrogen projects and interconnected system integration.
Mr. van Son is the founder and honorary President of the European Federation of Energy Traders (www.efet.org). He is Chairman of the Energy4All Foundation (www.energy4all.org ), a non-profit organization promoting decentralized energy systems in Africa. He is among others a member of the Board of DEWA/innogy’s Joint Venture in Dubai, member of the Board of Ghorfa (German-Arab Chamber of Commerce) and the Board of the German-African Business Association. He graduated as an electrical engineer at the Technical University Delft and in Corporate Governance at Nyenrode University, Netherlands
Dr. Li Yalou, senior member of China Society of Electrical Engineering(CSEE), doctoral supervisor , serving currently as deputy director of state grid simulation center in China Electric Power Research Institute(CEPRI).
He has engaged to the research on power system analysis method and software developing over fifteen years. He had successfully fulfilled several key research projects funded by Ministry of Science and Technology(MST) or State Grid Corporation of China(SGCC).He have published 65 theses and 2 monographs. He won national scientific and technological advance first award for one time, China electric scientific and technological advance awards for 5 times.
Peter Davies is the CEO & Founder of Verv. Verv has created an AI-based IoT hub which forms the basis of its peer-to-peer energy trading platform on the blockchain. He is an engineer, software architect and tech enthusiast on a mission to create positive social change through innovative technology. After graduating university with a degree in Computing, Electronics and Communications Engineering, Peter went on to found a LabVIEW engineering consultancy Austin Consultants and became one of only four Certified LabVIEW software Architects in the UK. Peter won Innovator of the Year at the 2016 Business Green Technology Awards.
Ad van Wijk is sustainable energy entrepreneur and part-time Professor Future Energy Systems at TU Delft, the Netherlands. He also works for KWR Waterresearch Institute to develop and implement the research program Energy and Water. And he is a member of the Northern Netherlands Innovation Board to realize the energy transition.
In 1984, van Wijk founded the company Ecofys, which eventually grew into Econcern. Econcern developed many new sustainable energy products, services and projects. Examples include the 120 MW offshore wind farm Princess Amalia in the North Sea, several multi-MW solar farms in Spain and a bio-methanol plant in the Netherlands, which is the largest second-generation biomass plant in the world.
Van Wijk achieved many important prizes for excellent entrepreneurship. Amongst others he was Dutch entrepreneur of the year in 2007 and Dutch top-executive in 2008.
At TU Delft van Wijk will focus on the energy systems of the future. Especially he will do research on hydrogen and fuel cell cars and at the same time will realize ‘’the Green Village’’. www.thegreenvillage.org
Van Wijk has published a very readable book ‘How to boil an egg’ ISBN: 978-1-60750-989-9. And he has written the books ‘Welcome to the Green Village’ ISBN 978-1-61499-283-7, ‘Our Car as Power Plant’ ISBN 978-1-61499-376-6 and ‘3D printing with biomaterials’ ISBN 978-1-61499-485-5, ‘The Green Hydrogen Economy in the Northern Netherlands’ ISBN 978-90-826989-0-9, ‘Solar Power to the People’ ISBN 978-1-61499-832-7 (online)
As the CEO of Enerwhere, Daniel Zywietz, is building the world’s first distributed utility, based on Enerwhere’s modular solar-hybrid power solutions.
Daniel has a decade of experience in management consulting, banking and entrepreneurship in Europe and the Middle East, with a focus on renewable energy, energy efficiency and sustainability topics.
Prior to founding Enerwhere, Daniel held roles at led Ambata Capital’s Middle East operations, and was a member of Booz & Company’s Low Carbon & Sustainability group in the Middle East and A.T. Kearney’s Utility practice in Europe.
Aiming to promote the growth of the clean energy industry in the Middle East, Daniel is a regular public speaker on renewable energy topics, and serves on the Board of the MENA Clean Energy Business Council.
Daniel holds a master’s degree in International Business from Maastricht University and is the co-author of several studies on the potential for renewable energy in Europe and the Middle East.
Deger Saygin works as the director of the SHURA Energy Transition Center. In his former role at the International Renewable Energy Agency, Deger developed and led the global renewable energy roadmap programme between 2013 and 2017. This programme has assisted the world’s 70 largest energy using countries in accelerating the use of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies to operationalise the goals of the seventh Sustainable Development Goal and the Paris Agreement. Prior to joining IRENA, Deger worked as a researcher at Utrecht University carrying out projects for intergovernmental organisations, countries and the private sector about more sustainable uses of energy and resources in the manufacturing industry. It is also where he received his PhD. He received his undergraduate degree in environmental engineering from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara.
Frank is a Member of the Dii Advisory Board. He has over 25 years of banking and consultancy experience which includes positions as Managing Director and Head of Project Finance & Advisory at First Abu Dhabi Bank, Senior Advisor to McKinsey & Company, Global Co-Head of Project & Capital Advisory at Deutsche Bank as well as Investment Manager at KfW-Group. Frank’s core expertise is in advising on, structuring and lead arranging of debt & equity investments in infrastructure, energy (incl. renewables) and PPP related projects. He advised several governments (European Commission, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Egypt) on infrastructure, renewable and PPP projects and frameworks.
Frank holds a Master’s in International Management (MIM) from the Community of European Management Schools (CEMS) and a master’s degree in Economics from the University of Cologne.
Frank Wouters has been leading renewable energy projects, transactions, and technology development for over 28 years. He has played a lead role in development of renewable generation projects valued at over $5 billion. These range from small scale PV solar electrification in Uganda to the 100MW Shams I Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plant in the UAE, and strategic equity investment in the London Array, the world’s largest offshore wind project.
As Deputy Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the first global intergovernmental organisation dedicated to all renewables, he managed a US$350 million IRENA/Abu Dhabi Fund for Development project facility for RE. He appraised over 80 projects a year and recommended projects for funding, including solar PV projects in Africa.
Mr. Wouters has served on the board of several energy companies, including Torresol, where he developed three CSP plants, among which the Gemasolar central tower project with molten salt storage.
He currently serves as Director of the EU GCC Clean Energy Technology Network, a platform that aims to foster clean energy partnerships between Europe and the Gulf, he chairs the Dii Advisory Board, he is advising the World Bank on solar energy around the world, he serves as Sr. Director New Energy at Advisian, he is Fellow, Payne Institute, Colorado School of Mines, he is a non-executive Board Director of Gore Street Capital, London and serves on the Investment Committee of the Gore Street Energy Storage Fund.
Frank lives in Abu Dhabi, is married to Vivian and has three children. He has a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Delft University. He is fluent in English, German and Dutch.
Dr. Hassan Qasem has been the CEO of the Alternative Energy Project Company (AEPC), a subsidiary of Kuwait Projects Company holding, since 2016. AEPC is one of the rising renewable energy developers in the MENA region with current potential pipe line of more than 500MW.
Dr. Qasem have been developing and managing solar related projects and research in the area of photovoltaic technology for the last 14 years. His experience is in the PV outdoor characterization of the performance (soiling) of PV and standard testing. One of his core work was on soiling effect on PV and its relation to the attenuation of the solar spectrum. His research finding contributed to many other related works in the area of PV and have been developed into research activities and commercial projects.
Dr. Qasem participated in developing the soiling workshop which is an annual activity that has been going on since the last years and is part of the PV Quality Assurance work force voluntary group (managed by NREL). Dr. Qasem have also managed many different PV related projects where one of them he managed the PV part of the Shygaya renewable energy park project. Also, he was the developer of KISR PV indoor characterization laboratory and DEWA’s indoor and helped in developing the outdoor laboratories as part of the DEWA Research and Development center in Muhammad Bin Rashid Solar Park in Dubai.
Dr. Qasem held many positions throughout his career where he worked for Photovoltaic Testing Laboratory. He also joined KISR as Associate Researcher in the area of PV. He then joined DEWA as a Senior Researcher and the head of the solar research team as part of DEWA R&D center. Dr. Qasem has many publications in ranked journals and international conferences. He chaired many sessions in international conferences (IEEE, EUPVSC…etc) and workshops. He is also a senior member in the International Electrical, Electronic Engineering association as well as being a committee member in the Device Society chapter in the IEEE.
Dr. Qasem hold a PhD in Electrical and Electronic engineering from Loughborough University in UK and Master degree in Electrical System engineering with emphasis in renewable energy from Arizona State university. His Bachelor degree is in electrical engineering from Arizona State university.
Director in the renewable energy sector with an industrial engineering background and more than 18 years of experience in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia. I have created and managed technical teams that have helped in raising more than 9bn$ in funds to build 4,000MW of renewable energy projects including 1.5 GW of CSP, 1.5 GW of PV, 1GW of wind and biofuels projects. Experience in renewable energy planning, IPP, engineering and construction and operations improvement.
As the Chief Executive Officer of Yellow Door Energy, Jeremy is leading the expansion of the distributed solar industry in the MEA region. Jeremy co-founded Yellow Door Energy with Adenium, where he previously acted as COO and helped build the region’s most successful renewable energy investor, deploying over $250 million in solar. He founded his first solar venture in Canada developing and financing $40 million of rooftop solar projects. He has also run a power utility and phone company in Honduras, built wind farms in the USA, and worked as a strategy consultant at Bain & Company.
Jeremy holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Mechanical Engineering from University of Waterloo in Canada and an MBA from INSEAD in France.
Jochen Kreusel, born in 1963, is Senior Vice President of the ABB group, Zurich, and market innovation manager of the group’s Power Grids division. He studied electrical engineering at RWTH Aachen University (Germany), where he was also granted his doctorate. 1994 he joined ABB, where he held managing positions in marketing and technology Before his current position he was heading ABB’s Smart Grids sector initiative from 2011 to 2016.
Jochen Kreusel is Vice President and member of the Executive Committee of T&D Europe and member of several committees of the European Commission and the German government on aspects of the future development of power systems.
Moreover he is honorary professor at RWTH Aachen University, where he is teaching power economics in liberalized electricity markets.
Dr. Kaifeng Yu is an Environmental Engineer, Senior Manager on energy interconnection at GEIDCO branch in Dubai. His expertise includes environment, climate change, and energy & resources research in African and MENA countries. At GEIDCO, he is leading and working on projects including energy cooperation, low-carbon energy solutions, environment and sustainable development in West Asian countries, and cooperation with government ministries, international organizations, research institutes, energy companies, financing parties, and think-tanks. Before joining GEIDCO, Kaifeng Yu was a research fellow at RWTH Aachen, and the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS), dealing with Geographic Information System (GIS) & Remote Sensing techniques, and hydro-resources in the arid realm. He has consulted for UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), and gave lectures in several universities on sustainable development and global climate change. Kaifeng Yu holds a doctorate in natural sciences from RWTH Aachen, and is an Engineer in environmental protection from the State Grid Cooperation of China (SGCC). He has professional experiences in China, Germany, Ethiopia, UAE, and is fluent in German, English and Chinese.
Dr. Karoline Steinbacher is a Managing Consultant on energy policies at Navigant in Berlin. Her expertise includes electricity sector regulation and policy instruments for renewable energy, energy efficiency and e-mobility. At Navigant, Karoline is currently managing and contributing to projects including improved planning for distribution grids, energy cooperation between Germany and the Gulf countries and energy efficiency policies in the MENA region. Before joining Ecofys, Karoline Steinbacher was a research fellow with the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs working on energy policy and e-mobility. She has consulted for GIZ, the German development agency, on sustainable energy in several European countries and has worked as a junior expert in gas market regulation for the Austrian energy regulator. Karoline Steinbacher holds a PhD in energy policy (summa cum laude) from Freie Universität Berlin and has carried out field research with extensive energy industry and public sector outreach in Morocco, South Africa, and California. She also holds a Master in economic policy and a Bachelor in social sciences from Sciences Po Paris, and completed postgraduate training in energy regulation at the Florence School of Regulation/EUI.
Kushal Shah is a Partner at Roland Berger’s Dubai office and a Managing Partner for the Middle East. He joined the firm in 2011, leading the telecommunications business in the Middle East and also working with several large telecommunications clients across the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia. Kushal is a Member of the Investment Committee of the region’s largest venture capital company. Prior to joining Roland Berger, he spent 12 years with a leading consultancy in London and Dubai. He studied Economics at Cambridge in the UK.
Nick Carter is a Director and Senior Advisor with PWC in the Middle East. Previously he worked as a Director for Baringa Partners LLP, a London Based Management Consultancy. He is also a Convenor with the EU-GCC Clean Energy Network concentrating on market trading and interconnections. In addition he undertakes assignments for the Energy Regulators Regional Association (ERRA) based in Budapest.
Nick joined the water and electricity market reform team for Abu Dhabi in 1998 as an advisor and in 1999 he was appointed Deputy Chairman and Managing Director of Abu Dhabi Distribution Company – for water and electricity. From 2001 – 2015 he served as Director General of the Regulation and Supervision Bureau (RSB) in Abu Dhabi, creating a world-class regulatory body.
Prior to his UAE roles he held senior executive positions with Southern Electric PLC (now SSE) and London Electricity PLC. In London Electricity he played a pivotal role as Strategy Manager during privatisation in the early 1990s and was subsequently appointed General Manager for Networks.
Nick is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology and a member of the UK Engineering Council. Educated at University College London with a BSc in Electronic and Electrical Engineering and at INSEAD and London Business School.
Pierre is the Managing Partner & CEO of innogy International Middle East (innogy IME). innogy IME’s vision is to become a leader of the Smart Living Transformation. The company focusses on two business lines Consulting and Venture development and start-up investments.
After starting his career as a Software Developer, Pierre went into the field of Management Consulting in the Energy industry, advising global clients on strategic and implementation projects. Before taking over the responsibility for innogy’s Middle East business, Pierre became the youngest Partner at Europe’s Number 1 inhouse strategy consultancy innogy Consulting GmbH (former RWE Consulting), responsible for major enterprise wide strategic transformation and integrations programs, market design, strategy and commodity trading related projects. Under Pierre’s leadership innogy IME has been engaged in major Consulting Projects like the “Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050” for the Dubai Surpreme Council of Energy, the digitalization of DEWA’s mobile workforce management and kick-starting innovative Venture Projects like the Manarati Smart City project and several Blockchain and AI initiatives. Pierre is a member of the board of directors of Advizzo Ltd – an innovative UK-based startup focusing on using behavioral science and machine learning to revolutionize customer engagement of utilities.
Pierre holds an MBA in General Management and a Bachelor in Information Technology.
In addition, he holds several decorated Executive Certificates from MIT Sloan (USA), London Business School (UK) and INSEAD (France).
Raed is currently the managing director for the Clean Energy Business Council (CEBC) in Dubai and is a senior advisor with the Apricum Group with over two decades of international experience in the energy sector, having worked with Multinational corporations as well as technology startups and R&D organizations. Recently, Raed was at First Solar where he was Vice President for Sales and Business Development for the MENA region, he was responsible for establishing and overseeing First Solar’s commercial footprint in the region, market setup, origination and strategy development for partnerships and project execution.
Upon moving back to the ME in 2009, Raed joined the core team that built the Economic Development Division at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), where he was responsible for creating the institution’s successful Industry Collaboration Program. During his four year stint at KAUST, he also created a demonstration and testing program for solar and other clean energy technologies, advised several Saudi governmental and industrial entities and mentored startup companies.
Prior to that, he was part of successful Startups in O&G industry in California USA, and previously spent nine years in various roles at Siemens AG in Germany and the US. Raed holds a Ph.D. and a Master of Science from Arizona State University and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Jordan, all in Electrical Engineering. Raed is an accomplished inventor and entrepreneur with a strong track record in the energy space.
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Fabian Wigand is a Managing Consultant for Energy & Climate Policy with Ecofys where he advises governments, the European Commission and development institutions on energy policy, energy markets and regulation. He currently focuses on renewable energy, part. energy auctions, and energy security.
His expertise includes:
– Management of international & multi-partner projects
– Project acquisition and client relations
– Policy design and evaluation methodology
– Regulatory affairs
– Stakeholder consultation with industry, NGOs & government agencies
– Scenario analysis
He was selected by the Global Public Policy Institute as a Global Governance Futures Fellow and is a member of the Think Tank 30 of the German Club of Rome. He holds a MSc in International Political Economy from the London School of Economics.
Industrial Engineer with 15 years of experience in the power and industry sectors, working internationally: UAE, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, India, Morocco, France, UK, Germany, Spain
Experience in consulting engineering, EPC, utilities, and biofuels production companies in different positions: division manager, business developer, project manager, specialist engineer
Expertise in renewable energy: solar, wind and bioenergy and specifically in biofuels production (biodiesel, bioethanol) and in solar energy: central receiver and parabolic trough CSP plants, hybridization
Innovative, self driven, highly customer focused, creative executive leader with extensive sales, marketing, process reeingeneeing and global business experience. Worked on building new companies, initiated new products and services within automotive and renewable energy sector, developed strategies to open up new markets in Europe, Africa and Asia, built franchise networks, drove operating profit on local and regional levels and led business entities with full P&L responsibility. Total committment and belief in ethical business practices.
Highly interested in taking companies to new heights by leading from the front through a blend of market insight, the will to exceed employee, customer and shareholder expectations and pragmatism and hands-on management, yet visionary leadership.
Specialties: sales, marketing, growth, idea generation, automotive, renewable energies, solar, retail, dealer/franchise network development, strategy development and implementation, team building and international experience, especially Germany, Russia, Southern Africa, Japan, Arabia
Senior banking executive & management consultant ♦ core expertise in infrastructure & energy project finance, Public Private Partnership, public procurement, asset finance and risk ♦ broad international management & execution experience in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia/Pacific and Latin America ♦ advised governments & private sector clients on investment, financing and procurement strategies ♦ advised institutional investors, commercial & development banks on market entry/business & credit/investment risk strategy ♦ comprehensive understanding of core infrastructure (utilities, transportation, social infrastructure), energy, telecom/technology, defense and traditional & renewable energy sector ♦ experienced in dealing with capital markets instruments (bonds & ratings), institutional investors, ECAs, commercial/investment and development banks ♦ expertise in structuring debt, mezzanine & equity products as well as in structuring commercial & financial contracts and frameworks ♦ strong leadership, communication & presentation skills ♦ effective team builder ♦ proven capability in building profitable businesses from scratch ♦
Accomplished Executive in power and desalination industry with focus on utility projects (IPP/IWPP/IWP) structured on concession or utility-outsourcing contract models, financed using limited recourse project finance frameworks.
He holds over 15 years experience in the international power and water utility sectors, with background in EPC and Engineered-by-Purpose power and water plants.
Michael Bellmer serves as the Managing Director of LTI Motion GmbH.
Mr. Roland Kaeppner served as Member of Management Board and Chief Executive Officer of Germany at McPhy Energy S.A until July 29, 2015. Mr. Kaeppner served as the Chief Executive Officer of McPhy Energy Deutschland GmbH at McPhy Energy S.A. since August 1, 2012. Mr. Kaeppner leads and build the new operations as part of McPhy’s global expansion strategy. Mr. Kaeppner served as Vice President and Head of Siemens Hydrogen Solutions. He has roots in the electrochemical and industry infrastructure business and held various leadership functions within the Siemens Industry Sector.
20 years experience in International Project Development and Project Management: – in the renewable energy business – in oil and gas
Daniel leads Enerwhere, the world’s first distributed solar utility company and leading supplier of temporary power & cooling to commercial- & industrial customers without a stable grid connection. Our solar-hybrid solutions are substantially cheaper and cleaner than the conventional diesel generators they replace.
Daniel has over a decade of experience in management consulting, financial services & entrepreneurship in Europe and the Middle East, with a focus on utilities, renewable energy, energy efficiency and sustainability topics.
Daniel is the co-author of several studies on the potential for large-scale deployment of renewable energy in Europe and the Middle East, and a regular public speaker on renewable energy & financing topics. A German citizen, he is fluent in English, German, Dutch and Spanish.
Entrepreneur, Innovation and Tech-Enthusiast, Investor, Venture Developer, Video Games veteran, CEO @ innogy International Middle East
Our Vision:
A LEADER OF THE SMART LIVING TRANSFORMATION
+15 years of experience in Management Consulting, Venture Capital and Energy Industry
+ International working experience in the Middle East, UK, Netherlands, South Africa, Germany
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Haibin Wan has a bachelor in Automatic Control in the Northeastern University, China; and a Master in Automatic Control in the Northeastern University, China; and PhD in Bath University, United Kingdom. Currently, he is Deputy Director General of the Development Bureau of the Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization (GEIDCO). He was Chief Technical Officer of REN-Redes Energéticas Nacionais, SGPS, S.A. From 2012 to 2014, he was appointed as member of the board of directors of REN. From 2009 to 2014, he was Deputy Director General of State Grid European Office. From 1997 to 2009, he was Deputy Chief Engineer of State Grid International Development Limited, Project Manager of Network Operations of National Grid Company of the United Kingdom. From 1993 to 1997, he was a PhD candidate of Bath University. From 1992 to 1993, he worked for Eurotherm Automation Company in Hong Kong/UK. From 1990 to 1992, he was Lecturer in the Northeastern University.
He is an experienced executive managing director and chartered engineer in the water, wastewater and electricity utilities sectors of the UAE and the UK.
Nick joined the water and electricity market reform team for Abu Dhabi in 1998 as an advisor reporting directly to a member of the Royal Family.
In 1999 he was appointed Deputy Chairman and Managing Director of Abu Dhabi Distribution Company – for water and electricity.
From 2001 – 2015 he served as Director General of the Regulation and Supervision Bureau (RSB) creating a world-class regulatory body including the formation of separate customer facing offices namely; Power-wise and Waterwise. Prior to his UAE roles Nick held a number of senior executive positions with Southern Electric PLC (now SSE) and London Electricity PLC. In London Electricity he played a pivotal role as Strategy Manager during privatisation in the early 90s and was subsequently appointed General Manager for Networks. Nick is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology and a member of the UK Engineering Council. Educated at University College London with a BSc in Electronic and Electrical Engineering and at INSEAD and London Business School.
Currently he is also a Registered Expert and lecturer for the Energy Regulators Regional Association (ERRA) based in Budapest.
Siemens Gamesa – Turkey, CEO He is an electrical and electronics engineer graduated from Middle East Technical University with an MBA from Bogazici University. He received his Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Boğaziçi University. He entered in his business life in Aselsan as a Project Engineer worked in Gama Power Systems and eventually joined Siemens in 2005 as a project manager. As of today he is CEO of Siemens Gamesa – Turkey. Mr. Yıldırım is married with two daughters.
A Techno-Business developer with strong industry and academic background. Proven track record in different areas; from product/market development, system engineering, project management and R&D operations to leading multi tasked core teams crossing different organizational subsets.
Specialties: * Power Systems
* Variable Speed Drives and Power Electronics
* Power Quality
* Alternative Energy; Solar and Wind
* Application areas: Mining, Traction (Light Rail/Heavy Rail), Power conversion, Oil and Gas
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Ahmed Ali Al-Ebrahim is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GCC Interconnection Authority. He has more than 28 years experience in power systems as well as infrastructure projects planning . Ahmed holds an MBA in Business Administration (with Distinction) from DePaul University, USA in 2003, M.Sc. in Electrical Power Engineering (with Distinction) from the University of Strathclyde in Scotland in 1999, and B.Sc. in Electrical Power Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin – USA in 1986. He also completed the Gulf Executive Development Program II from Darden Business School – University of Virginia – USA in 2001. He is a Board Member and the Technical Committee Chairman of GCC Cigre, and member of Cigre Study Committee SC C5 “Electricity Markets and Regulations”. He has authored more than 25 papers in several regional and international Conferences, mostly in the field of restructuring of electricity markets and possible electricity market models for Bahrain, GCC and the region.
Bader Saeed Al Lamki is responsible for steering and guiding the teams within Masdar Clean Energy to achieve performance excellence in all areas of investment, green field development and operations for large-scale renewable Energy Utility Projects, Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage, and Industrial Energy Efficiency solutions. He also oversees Masdar’s Special Projects team and its growing portfolio of off-grid renewable energy projects in the MENA region and international markets. A UAE national, Mr. Al Lamki brings 18 years of outstanding industry experience to Masdar Clean Energy having joined Masdar in February 2008. Earlier, Mr. Al Lamki worked as Senior Project Manager with the Carbon Unit as well as in Masdar Power. Prior to Masdar, Mr. Al Lamki led a multidisciplinary team on a strategic initiative at ADMA-OPCO that worked towards
increasing oil production to nearly one million barrels per day. He has also worked for the French oil major Total, based in Paris, as Development Planning Engineer, conducting prospect evaluation for the ultradeep water (1,400 – 1,700 metre) oil reservoir (Block 32) in Angola. He was also involved in the NKOSSA field gas handling facilities for a de-bottlenecking project in Congo. Mr. Al Lamki is currently the Chairman of Shams 1 Company, a joint venture between Masdar and Total. He also sits on the board of Torresol Company (Spain), Dudgeon (UK), as well as Tafila Company (Jordan). As a member of the SPE Industry / University Advisory Committee from 2006 – 2008, Mr. Al Lamki contributed to enhancing the quality of University Faculty and advancement of R&D in the MENA region. He was also co-chairman of the Vision programme for the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC) 2012, 2013 and 2014. He also chaired the selection committee of Zayed Future Energy Prize (ZFEP) for three years 2012-2014. Mr. Al Lamki holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the UAE University.
Renewable Energy IPP and EPC Professional with Proven Senior Management Expertise in a Multitasking and Multidisciplinary Career Spanning 23+ Years.
Senior Business Manager, PMP® certified project management and senior business management professional with a pioneering career and outstanding track record coupled with “hands on” extensive experience in renewable energy with focus on Solar PV Power Plants. From comprehensive business setup, strategic business development, techno-commercial due diligence, and implementation at all levels with focus on P&L, high quality and advanced technology, to achieving business success and profitability. Leadership and team-based management style and excellent interpersonal communication skills.
Specialties:
Senior Management
Business Development Management, IPP
PMP Project Management Professional
Solar Power Projects, EPC
Commercial & Contract Management
Prof. Dr. Ad van Wijk (1956) is one of the most influential sustainable energy entrepreneurs and innovators in Europe. In 1984 he co-founded the sustainable energy knowledge company Ecofys, which eventually grew into Econcern. As chairman of the executive board he lead and developed Econcern into a company with 1200 people in more than 20 countries, sharing the mission ‘A sustainable energy supply for everyone’. Until its bankruptcy in 2009 as a result of the financial crisis. Econcern was the holding company of Ecofys, Ecostream, Evelop, OneCarbon and Ecoventures.
Mr. Selahattin Hakman served as the President of Energy Unit at Haci Omer Sabanci Holding AS since June 2006 until June 2014. Mr. Hakman entered his business life at Siemens AG Germany in 1980. In 1984, he joined Siemens A.S. in Turkey where he worked as the Director of the Power Generation Group for 12 years and of the Communication Systems Group for 2 years. He serves as the Chairman at Enerjisa Enerji Üretim A.S. Mr. Hakman graduated from Karlsruhe Technical University as an Electrical Engineer (MSc).
Eduardo van-Zeller Neto joined the Roland Berger team in Dubai as a Partner in 2015. He leads the Energy & Utilities and Oil & Chemicals Competence Centers for the Middle East. He is a global expert in business unit strategy, corporate strategic planning, investment & portfolio strategy and large transformation projects. He has worked with large global clients in the oil & gas, petrochemicals and utilities (power, water & renewables) industries for an international consultancy. He holds MBAs from the IESE Business School in Spain and MIT Sloan School of Management in the USA, as well as a degree in Economics from the NOVA School of Business and Economics in Portugal.
Liangzhong Yao received his MSc degree in 1989 and PhD degree in 1993 all in electrical power system engineering from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
He is currently the Department Manager for Network Solutions, Smartgrids & Renewables Technologies Programme at ALSTOM Grid ( former AREVA T&D) Research & Technology Centre, Stafford, UK.
Prior to ALSTOM Grid, he was an Associate Professor at Tsinghua University until 1995, and was a Post Doctoral Research Associate in the Manchester Centre for Electrical Energy at University of Manchester (former UMIST), UK from 1995 to 1999, and was a Senior Power System Analyst in the network consulting department at ABB UK Ltd from 1999 to 2004.
Dr Yao is the Chartered Engineer, the Fellow of IET and the member of Cigré. He is also the Guest Professor at both Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Sichuan University, China.
H.E Saeed Mohammed Ahmed Al Tayer has been the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Electricity And Water Authority since 2004. H.E Al Tayer is the Founder and Chairman of WETEX – the Water, Energy, Technology and Environment Exhibition and Chairman of the Dubai Global Energy Forum. He has more than 23 years experience in Dubai in the fields of Telecommunications, Energy and Water. He was appointed General Manager of the erstwhile Dubai Electricity Co. in 1991 and became the General Manager of DEWA in 1992. During his tenure, H.E Al Tayer has added many other achievements and initiatives to his credit, as is evident from DEWA’s massive expansion in capacity and infrastructure over the last 10 to 15 years. He serves as Chairman of Empower and Vice Chairman of the Supreme Council of Energy. He serves as Vice Chairman of Dragon Oil plc. He has been Vice Chairman of Emirates Global Aluminium since March 2013 and has been its Director since 2007. He has been Vice Chairman of Emirates National Oil Company Ltd (ENOC) L.L.C. since August 2015. H.E Al Tayer serves as Vice Chairman of Dubai Aluminium Company Limited. He serves as a Director of Dubai Electricity And Water Authority. He served as a Director of Emaar Properties PJSC until April 30, 2012 and Dubai Bank PJSC until May 2003. He is a member of Dubai’s Executive and Economic Councils, Chairman of the Dubai Infrastructure Committee and the Dubai Nuclear Committee and a member of the Higher Committee of the Emirates National Grid. He graduated in the USA in 1984.
Pierre is co-founder and Managing Partner of Bernard EnergyAdvocacy (BEA), a boutique advisory firm (14 consultants) created in 2011 that specializes in advocacy, strategic business development and dedicated legal advice, all relating exclusively to electricity transmission and distribution, renewables, power storage and energy efficiency. The firm provides advice to international key players in the electricity markets mainly in Europe, the U.S. and the Gulf countries (ME). Currently, Pierre is also Acting-CEO of Friends of the Supergrid.
Prior to creating BEA, Pierre was in charge of the newly created business development activities of the Elia Group, one of the leading transmission system operators in Europe, where he was also General Counsel and Secretary General. Among other things, Pierre successfully led the Elia team in the acquisition negotiations of the German transmission system operator 50Hertz and in the acquisition of a stake in the US offshore transmission backbone AWC.
Pierre actively participated in the drafting of many parts of European and Belgian energy legislation/regulation, including grid codes, power exchanges regulation, etc. He also drafted the major grid contracts in Belgium.
He serves on various boards and advisory committees. Pierre serves as Chairman of the Board of the European Friends of the Supergrid (FOSG). He is a Trustee of Guberna, the Belgian Corporate Governance Centre. Pierre has law degrees from the Universities of Brussels and Ottawa. He attended executive education programmes at Cambridge (UK) and Harvard (USA). Pierre has authored and is coordinating editor of a major reference book in the electricity sector: “EU Electricity Laws”, an almost 3.000p overview of the key European legislations regarding the electricity sector.
Mr. Peter Terium has been Chairman of Management Board and Chief Executive Officer at innogy SE (alternate name : RWE International SE) since April 1, 2016. Mr. Terium served as the Chairman of Executive Board at RWE AG from June 30, 2012 to October 15, 2016 and served as its Chief Executive Officer from July 1, 2012 to October 2016 and served as its Member of the Executive Board from July 1, 2011 to October 2016. Mr. Terium served as Deputy Chairman of Executive Board at RWE AG from September 2011 to June 30, 2012. He served as the Chief Executive Officer of Essent N.V. from October 2009 to December 1, 2011 and served as its Chairman and Member of the Executive Board. He served as an Independent Tax Auditor at the DutchMinistry of Finance from 1984 to 1985. He served as an Audit Supervisor at KPMG from 1985 to 1990. From 1990 to 2002, Mr. Terium served Various positions at Schmalbach-Lubeca AG which included Plant Controller for the PET Containers Germany, Head of Controlling for White Cap Germany, Product Group Controller for White Cap Europe, Vice President of Finance & Accounting – WhiteCap Europe and Asia, Vice President of Finance & Accounting – PETContainers Europe and Asia. He served as the Head of Group Controlling of RWE AG from 2003 to 2005. He served as a Member of the Executive Board at RWE Umwelt AG from 2004 to 2005. Mr. Terium served as the Chief Executive Officer for RWE Trading GmbH from 2005 to 2008. He served as the Chief Financial Officer of Essent Until November 2007. He served as Program Manager of Essent from April 2009 to October 2009. He served as a Trainee Tax Auditor in the tax department of the Dutch Ministry of Finance at Rijksoverheids Academie (ROA) from 1981 to 1983. He serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors at RWE Trading GmbH. He served as Chairman of the Supervisory Board at DEA Deutsche Erdoel AG (formerly RWE Dea AG) since April 15, 2013. He served as the Chairman of Supervisory Board of RWE Supply & Trading GmbH. He has been a Member of Joint Advisory Council at Allianz SE since March 1, 2013. He has been a Member of Advisory Board at NRW.BANK since October 1, 2012. He served as a Member of the Supervisory Board at DEA Deutsche Erdoel AG since April 15, 2013. He served as a Member of Supervisory Board at NET4GAS, s.r.o. until August 02, 2013. Mr. Terium completed his chartered accountant from Nederlands Institut voor Registeraccountants from 1981 to 1989.
Mr. Frank Wouters has been leading renewable energy projects, transactions, and technology development for over 25 years. He has played a lead role in development of renewable generation projects valued at over $4.5 billion. These range from small scale PV solar electrification in Uganda to the 100MW Shams I Concentrated Solar Plant (CSP) in the UAE, and strategic equity investment in the London Array, the world’s largest offshore wind project. His transactions have received multiple project finance “Deal of the Year” awards. As Deputy Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the first global intergovernmental organisation dedicated to all renewables, he managed a US$350 million IRENA/Abu Dhabi Fund for Development project facility for RE. He appraised over 80 projects a year and recommended projects for funding, including solar PV projects in Africa. Furthermore, he coordinated with government ministers and other stakeholders to promote private sector investment for RE projects as part of the Africa Clean Energy Corridor Initiative.
Mr. Paddy Padmanathan serves as the Chief Executive Officer and President of ACWA Power International. Mr. Padmanathan started his career with a British Consulting Engineering practice and through two mergers arrived at Black & Veatch a major Global Engineering and Construction Company, where on his departure in 2005, served as a Vice President and Corporate Officer. He serves as a Director of BESIX Group SA. He is an Engineering graduate of University of Manchester, United Kingdom.
Paul van Son, based in Dubai and Istanbul, joined innogy (previously RWE) as its Country Chairman for MENA and Turkey in January 2015. innogy SE, is a leading company in the field of renewables, grids and retail of power and gas. Paul has been active for over 35 years in various supervisory board, executive and operations management positions in the international (renewable) electricity and gas business.
His leadership experience includes a series of predominantly pioneering positions, such as: control system development at Siemens AG (Germany), system operator of the unbundled Dutch national power system at SEP/TenneT and power system control centre consultancy at DNV/KEMA. From 1998 onward he was Managing Director of Essent Sustainable Energy (Nl), CEO of Essent Energy Trading, and Chairman of the Management Board of Deutsche Essent GmbH in Düsseldorf, building up these innovative and international key activities of Essent N.V. (the largest Dutch energy company).
In 2009 Mr. van Son was appointed CEO of Dii GmbH (Munich), often referred to as “Desertec Industry Initiative”, an international industry consortium for facilitating a market for renewable energy in the deserts of MENA. Presently, besides his role as innogy Country Chairman for MENA & Turkey, he is leading the transition of Dii into a regional industry network in Dubai, focusing on solving financial, technical and regulatory challenges for renewable energy projects and interconnected grid integration. Mr. van Son is the founder and honorary President of the European Federation of Energy Traders (www.efet.org). He is Chairman of the Energy4All Foundation (www.energy4all.org ), a non-profit organization promoting decentralized energy systems in Africa. He is among others member of the Board of DEWA’s and innogy’s Joint Venture in Dubai, Ghorfa and the Africa Association. He graduated as an electrical engineer at the Technical University Delft and Corporate Governance at Nyenrode University, Netherlands. Paul van Son, Chairman MENAT innogy SE Germany/UAE.
Prior to joining the Energy Department in the League of Arab States (LAS) as director, she managed the Electric Network Section in the Ministry of Electricity and Water of the United Arab Emirates in Dubai. She has been prominently involved in the development of the Energy sector in LAS. For the past 14 years, she has headed several committees and working groups that covered policies on integrated energy planning, setting priorities for action programs, enhancing capacity-building and promoting joint projects in electricity interconnection. She also represents the Technical Secretariat of the Council of the Arab Ministerial Council for Electricity and contributes to ensuring the achievement of its objectives.
Liu Zhenya, male, Han nationality, is a native of Shandong province. He was born in 1952, graduated from the Shandong Industrial Institute, and joined the CPC in 1984. He served as director of the Shandong Provincial Electric Power Bureau until 1997. He was president of the State Grid Corporation of China from 2004 to 2013. He was also an alternate member of the 17th CPC Central Committee.
In 2013 he became Chairman of the Board of Directors of the State Grid Corporation of China.
Cornelius is a well-respected leader and investor in the renewable energy industry and built several successful clean energy businesses and start-ups within Middle East and Africa. He has extensive board level experience from 10 years in Deutsche Bank (among others, youngest board member in Deutsche Bank Italy Group) and several renewable energy associations via pro bono work.
By building the international shareholder and partner network of Dii (Desertec Industrial Initiative), he was at the forefront of the renewable energy revolution in North Africa and the Middle East. A keen entrepreneur and investor in emerging markets with recognitions such as “Solar Pioneer 2015” for the Middle East, he is lecturing at several universities including St. Gallen and is a regular speaker at international conferences.
He holds an MBA (Dipl. Kaufmann) from University of Passau, and speaks German, English, Italian, French and Russian. “I am glad to be able to work in renewable energy which is also my passion – we can genuinely make an impact with many different things and help people, to make our planet a better place. Having new challenges every day is fantastic and many more mountains need to be climbed!”
MD & CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) and Vice-Chairman of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy
Vice President Renewable Energy and Smartgrid Technologies at China Electric Power Research Institute (CEPRI)
Director, Asset Management and Technical Services, Clean Energy, Masdar
Head of Business Development at ILF Consulting Engineers (Germany)
Energy sector development, eMobility
Director at EFG-Hermes Private Equity
Vice President - Technology at ACWA Power
Invited/tbc*
Grosvenor House, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Dubai
Al Emreef Street,
PO Box 118500,
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Phone: +971 4 3998888
Grosvenor House and its two iconic 45-story towers, Tower One and Tower Two, redefine the world of luxury. The hotel’s glittering twin towers are an instantly recognizable landmark in the Dubai Marina. The hotel features 750 spacious, contemporary guest rooms, suites, and apartments with signature Luxury Collection beds, large windows with spectacular views of the Marina, complimentary Wi-Fi and attentive on-call butler service.
The area’s first true social destination, the hotel is located just minutes from the beach, golf clubs, malls, Dubai Internet City, Media City and more, offering an exceptional setting for business, leisure and exploration. Welcome to the finer side of sophistication. Step into a world of refined heritage, sauve elegance and effortless chic.
Hotel Information
Location Map
Partner Collaboration
Dii’s multiple channels for industry wide engagement aimed at leveraging partners collective knowledge, experience and expertise to improve market conditions.
Web Applications – Geography
A Geographic information system (GIS) is a computer system that helps collect, store, query, analyze, and visualize spatially-associated data and information. Thanks to GIS, a person reading a map can get a fuller picture of a specific site or area by correlating a whole set of chosen data for a particular project or task. In the renewable energy sector, GIS is used as a key tool for spatial decisions especially when it comes to identifying the best wind and solar sites.
As a market enabler for renewable energy, Dii has developed an intuitive Solar and Wind WebMap / WebApp to assist people in assessing potential areas in Middle East, North Africa and Turkey. Users have access to quantitative data such as topography, land cover, protected areas, and qualitative information like the proximity to infrastructure, water availability or other environmental aspects. They can combine this data by activating different layers on the map in order to pinpoint and evaluate suitable sites for wind and solar projects.
For its Solar and Wind Mapping Application, Dii uses high resolution data from several sources including – but not limited to – SRTM, MODIS, MERRA, and HelioClim3. The Dii GIS Geodatabase is intuitive and constantly being updated and improved.
Web Applications – Projects
