Solar & Energy Storage Summit 2024

Rob Martorano

Chief Investment Officer

Greenskies Clean Focus

Sam Mangrum

EVP Project Execution

Leeward Renewable Energy

Sam Mangrum, Executive Vice President of Project Execution at Leeward Renewable Energy (LRE), is a seasoned leader with a rich background in the construction industry. With over 27 years of experience, he has demonstrated expertise in International Project Management, Negotiation, Procurement, Budgeting, Value Engineering, and Operations Management. Sam's extensive leadership spans diverse construction projects, including commercial, heavy civil, environmental remediation. wind, solar, and battery storage. His role at LRE involves overseeing development engineering, procurement and all aspects of active construction projects; ensuring the successful transition of projects to asset management and providing support to various departments within LRE to foster the growth of the development pipeline. Prior to joining LRE, Sam held various positions, progressing from project field roles to the Director of Operations for multiple construction firms specializing in Renewable Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) projects with a focus on self-perform services. His direct management encompassed around 4.5 GW of wind EPC construction and 2.4 GW of solar EPC construction across 36 countries. Additionally, he managed approximately $750 billion in environmental remediation projects in the U.S., Caribbean, and South Africa. Sam holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Louisiana Tech University.

Alkesh Shah

Senior Director, Development Engineering

Leeward Renewable Energy

Jason Burwen

Vice President, Policy and Strategy

Gridstor

Jason was previously Vice President of Energy Storage at the American Clean Power Association (ACP), as well as interim CEO and Vice President of Policy at the U.S. Energy Storage Association (ESA), where he built and directed the energy storage industry’s comprehensive federal, state, and regional market policy advocacy strategy from 2015 to 2023. His advocacy directly shaped the energy storage federal investment tax credit in the Inflation Reduction Act; the directives of FERC Order 841; several state deployment targets; capacity accreditation reforms in PJM; and other laws and regulations pertaining to energy storage. He has been cited as an expert on energy storage technology, policy, and markets in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, USA Today, NPR, the New Yorker, and numerous trade publications. Earlier in his career Jason directed research and advocacy on U.S. energy innovation and tax policy as the Associate Director for Energy Innovation at the Bipartisan Policy Center; consulted to utilities on demand response program design at FSC Group/Nexant; and reviewed utility renewable energy contracting processes for the California Public Utilities Commission. Jason holds MA’s from the University of California – Berkeley’s Energy and Resource Group and Goldman School of Public Policy, as well as a BA from Columbia University.

Caitlin Smith

Vice President Policy and Corporate Communications

Jupiter Power

Samantha Meserve

Director of the Renewable and Alternative Energy Division

Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources

Samantha Meserve is the Director of the Renewable and Alternative Energy Division for the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources. She first began her career at the Department administering the Solar Carve-Out II portion of the Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard before transitioning to managing the development and implementation of renewable thermal technologies in the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard. She has since broadened her experience to include a variety of policy development initiatives for renewable energy and building decarbonization. She began her career at the Department after graduating with her Bachelor of Science in Environmental Resources Engineering from the State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry and has also earned her master’s in business administration from the University of Massachusetts at Boston.

Sagar Chopra

Senior Research Analyst, Solar

Wood Mackenzie

Sagar is a senior research analyst on our Power & Renewables team, focused on PV system pricing for US and LATAM regions. He also supports research on global system pricing, and covers floating solar market research. Prior to joining Wood Mackenzie in 2021, Sagar worked as an electrical engineer, designing and commissioning utility-scale PV projects in the New England and New York region.

Audrey Lee

Senior Director, Energy Strategy, Datacenter Energy

Microsoft

Oscar Araujo

General Manager North America, MSS Business Unit

Canadian Solar

Oscar is the General Manager at North America Canadian Solar. He is responsible for the module and system components business in the US, Canada, Mexico, and Central America, overseeing the utility-scale, C&I, and residential market segments, including the EP Cube residential energy storage product line. Under Oscar’s leadership, Canadian Solar has successfully positioned itself as one of the leading module OEMs in the US market. Oscar has more than 16+ years of experience in the solar energy, energy storage, EV charging infrastructure, and electrical manufacturing industries. Before Canadian Solar, Oscar worked for industry leaders, including Shell-Greenlots, Convergent Energy and Power, and Schneider Electric. He has extensive knowledge of the US, Canadian, and Latin American markets, where he has led large deployments of hundreds of DC fast EV charging stations, award-winning utility-scale energy storage systems, and solar projects accounting for more than 9 GWs. Oscar is an Electrical and Electronics Engineering graduate from Los Andes University in Bogota, Colombia. He holds an MBA from the University of Toronto, Canada, and a Global Executive MBA from the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland. Oscar is passionate about accelerating the adoption of electric transportation, integrating energy storage and renewable energy with the grid, and addressing the impact of the green economy on living standards in developed and emerging economies. He is also a frequent speaker at conferences, tradeshows, and other international industry events.

Shyam Mehta

Assistant Director DER/Energy Storage

NYSERDA

Kirstin Alberi

Materials Science Center Director

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Dr. Alberi received a B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2003 and a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 2008, where she studied the optical and electronic properties of highly mismatched semiconductor alloys. She was initially hired by NREL as a postdoctoral researcher in the Silicon Materials and Devices group to investigate the design and performance of thin crystalline Si solar cells fabricated on inexpensive substrates. In 2010, she joined the Materials Physics group to conduct basic research on the growth and characterization of electronic materials, including phosphide-based light-emitting diodes and novel materials for photovoltaics. In addition to her role as Director of NREL’s Materials Science Center, she currently leads a research program on the epitaxy and investigation of 3D topological semimetal thin films and is a contributor to the tandems photovoltaic research program.

Vanessa Witte

Senior Research Analyst, Energy Storage

Wood Mackenzie

Vanessa is a senior analyst with our Energy Transition Practice, covering the US energy storage market with a particular focus on front-of-the-meter battery storage. Before joining Wood Mackenzie in 2021, Vanessa was a battery storage analyst specialising in downstream revenue analytics and long-term price forecasting. Earlier in her career she was an analyst in North American natural gas infrastructure and power markets at Genscape, now a Wood Mackenzie company. Vanessa is a committee member and mentor with She’s in Power; a Colorado C3E programme designed to grow and inspire women to be clean energy leaders.

JP Ross

Vice President Local Development, Electrification and Innovation

Ava Community Energy

Caitlin Connelly

Research Analyst, Distributed Solar

Wood Mackenzie

Caitlin Connelly is a research associate at Wood Mackenzie Power and Renewables. She focuses on distributed solar and supports research and data collection for the US Distributed Solar and Grid Edge practices. Earlier in her career at Wood Mackenzie, Caitlin researched mini-grids in emerging markets, commercial and industrial (C&I) solar in Africa and the Middle East and the financial performance of publicly-traded wind development companies.

Nick De Vries

Chief Technology Officer

Silicon Ranch

A veteran of both the US Army and the renewable energy sector with nearly a quarter of a century of experience bringing the solar industry to scale, and making PV plants more capable. As CTO, Nick is responsible for all aspects of the company’s operating assets, as well as the technological and ecological vison of the company. Silicon Ranch owns--and Nick now operates--projects that he himself designed over a decade ago, including the first transmission interconnected PV plant in the Southeast. In that same vein, Nick leads a team responsible for reimagining the relationship between agriculture and energy land use. Regenerative Energy® co-locates nature-based land management solutions and solar power plants. Nick holds 3 patents in both PV module manufacturing and design, and a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Lehigh University. He serves as an industry advisor, and reviewer for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s DuraMAT consortium. As well as the Primary Investigator for a Department of Energy funded program exploring the appropriate co-location of solar projects with regenerative cattle ranching.

Doug Moorehead

Chief Operating Officer

ENGIE North America Flexible Generation

Lorena Torres

Director, Enterprise Risk & Insurance

Clearway Energy Group

Allison Weis

Global Head of Storage

Wood Mackenzie

Allison leads our global research into energy storage. She joined Wood Mackenzie in 2023 from Ascend Analytics, where she was VP of Battery Solutions. In that role she built out a storage valuation product and consulting practice as well as operational platform optimising storage, hybrid and renewable bids into day-ahead and real-time power markets. Earlier in her career, Allison was an engineer at Tesla, focused on modelling stationary energy storage for large-scale renewables integration and analysis of revenue and battery degradation in different wholesale power markets.

Susannah Churchill

Western Policy Director

Solar Landscape

Susannah Churchill is Western Policy Director for Solar Landscape, the leading commercial and industrial rooftop solar developer in the U.S. with experience in both community solar and behind-the-meter solar projects. In prior roles, Susannah directed Western states policy for Vote Solar, and served as staff and Commissioner Advisor at the California Public Utilities Commission and the California Energy Commission.

Chris Seiple

Vice Chairman, Energy Transition and Power & Renewables

Wood Mackenzie

Chris is the Vice Chairman of Wood Mackenzie’s Power & Renewables group. He is responsible for ensuring thought leadership, advising on the strategic direction of the business, and senior stakeholder engagement and relationship management. Chris brings 30 years of global power industry experience to this role. His career has spanned strategy consulting work for power companies and banks at Cambridge Energy Research Associates (now part of IHS/S&P), debt and equity financing of power-related investments at GE Energy Financial Service and managing a portfolio of power plants owned by EFS. He also led the power organisation at Genscape, where he expanded its real-time power markets monitoring business into analytics and software service businesses through both organic growth and acquisitions. Chris came to Wood Mackenzie through its acquisition of Genscape and now works with our 250 researchers across North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America. Education Chris is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Muhlenberg College, with degrees in Russian Studies and Political Science. He also has a MS in Energy Management and Policy from the University of Pennsylvania and the Institut Francais du Petrole (IFP).

Erik Molinaro

Senior Vice President, Customer Experience & Operations

Nexamp

Erik oversees Nexamp’s customer experience teams, along with our Revenue and Billing operations groups. In this role, he leads the team responsible for all incoming contacts from commercial and residential customers across the entirety of Nexamp’s rapidly growing community solar portfolio. In addition, the group is responsible for Nexamp’s end-to-end billing operations, and working with our utility partners to ensure we’re delivering an industry-leading customer experience. Prior to joining Nexamp, Erik spent two decades at Liberty Mutual Insurance, holding various positions in customer experience strategy, product development, process improvement and operations. Most recently he was Senior Executive Manager of U.S. Sales Support & Offshore Vendor Quality. Erik holds both an MBA and M.S. in management information systems from Boston University and a B.A. in political science along with a B.A. in environmental science from Marist College. He also serves as the Vice President of the Board of Directors for a local non-profit that provides access to after school care for young children.

Mike Gravely

Senior Electrical Engineer and Energy Storage Team Lead

California Energy Commission

Kim Primerano

Vice President, Energy and Infrastructure Development

Estuary Power

Kim has 20 years of renewable energy management and related experience focused on asset management, construction, operations, maintenance, safety, and quality assurance. Prior to Estuary, Kim was Director of Operations and Maintenance at Longroad Energy with responsibility for 500 solar projects. Previously, Kim was a Communications Officer in the United States Marine Corps, where she led teams of up to 150 Marines in combat. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Leadership from Mary Baldwin University.

Martin Pochtaruk

President

Heliene

Martin Pochtaruk has 35 years of experience managing manufacturing and innovation businesses across Europe and the Americas. He founded Heliene, a technology leading high quality solar PV manufacturer in 2010, the company is challenging the solar industry status quo by putting customers first. It’s doing so as well by manufacturing high quality, competitively priced solar PV modules made to order in North America. By supporting customers with its in-house logistics team and just in time supply chain solutions. And by being remarkably responsive. Prior to founding Heliene in February 2010, he was the VP of Business development at Algoma Steel Inc., a Canadian Public Company, where he was responsible for driving the company’s value-chain integration strategy, creating and increasing value to shareholders (Dec 2004 to June 2009). Before Algoma Steel, Pochtaruk spent over fifteen years at Tenaris (NYSE: TS) in Argentina, Italy, the USA and Canada, on positions ranging from applied research (1990), product development for stringent applications (1991-1994), marketing (1995-1996), M&A (1997-1999) and supply chain management (2000 to November 2004). Relevant experience to project execution: • 1996 to 1998 – Take over and turn around of Dalmine, Italy (Tenaris) • 2000 – start up of the idled Sault Ste Marie pipe factory for Tenaris, • 2010 – start up of Heliene in Sault Ste Marie, • 2018 – replacement of the Mountain Iron, Minnesota manufacturing facility for Heliene. • 2022 – investment and start up of Mountain Iron line 2 for Heliene, • 2023 – raised USD$ 170 million to accelerate the growth of Heliene. In 1989 Martin graduated in Physics from University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Martin is fluent in Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese and English.

Shaun Laughlin

Vice President Strategic Partnerships

Solaris Energy

Charlie McClelland

Director, Development and Transmission

Longroad Energy

Ravi Bantu

Vice President, Grid Integration & Transmission Analytics

SB Energy

Kendra Williamson

Vice President, Market Operations

Key Capture Energy

Kendra Williamson is the Vice President of Market Operations at Key Capture Energy. In this role, she is responsible for KCE’s daily project participation in wholesale power markets as well as nodal and transmission analytics that inform siting and prospecting. She leads development of KCE’s autonomous energy storage bidding and reporting platform, MarketCapture. Kendra and the Market Operations team work with the development, construction, operations, and regulatory teams to ensure projects in early phases are sited appropriately and those in later phases enter and participate in the power markets effectively. Prior to joining KCE, Kendra led the Performance Analysis team at EDP Renewables, where she and her team developed KPIs, built automated monitoring systems, and performed ad hoc data analyses to support improved performance of a 14 GW operational wind and solar power plant fleet. During her career in clean energy, she has been heavily involved in the Houston chapter of Women of Renewable Energies and Sustainable Energies (WRISE), serving various roles in the organization between 2017 and 2020 and co-leading the chapter from 2020 to 2023. Kendra is a graduate of Vanderbilt University with a B.S. in Economics and Engineering Science and holds a Master of Science degree in Natural Resource Economics from Texas A&M University. She lives in Houston, TX with her husband and cat and enjoys nature and the outdoors.

Dirk Van Ouwerkerk

Senior Vice President, Storage Development

Soltage

Dirk van Ouwerkerk is the Senior Vice President of Storage Development at Soltage. Dirk has more than 20 years of experience across the energy value chain including in power trading, renewables, energy efficiency, and cleantech. Prior to joining Soltage, Dirk headed up the microgrids business for infrastructure developer Anbaric. Previously, Dirk had a successful career as strategy consultant for Corporate Value Associates in Paris and Monitor Group in Chicago. Dirk holds a degree in Civil and International Law from Leiden University in the Netherlands.

Michelle Davis

Head of Global Solar

Wood Mackenzie

Michelle is the head of Global Solar at Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables. She leads our solar research practice, setting the research agenda, identifying emerging industry themes and cultivating a team of solar thought leaders. She is also the lead author of the quarterly publication of the US Solar Market Insight report, produced in collaboration with SEIA (the Solar Energy Industries Association). Prior to joining Wood Mackenzie, Michelle held various research positions focused on renewable energy, covering topics ranging from the energy-water nexus to utility investments in electric vehicle charging stations. She is a prominent thought leader in the solar industry and has been quoted in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Bloomberg, NPR and Forbes, among others. Michelle is the co-chapter leader for WRISE Arizona, a networking organisation dedicated to empowering women in renewable energy.

Kevin Jacobs

Senior Director, Supply Chain Consulting

Wood Mackenzie

Sylvia Leyva-Martinez

Principal Analyst, North America Utility-Scale Solar

Wood Mackenzie

As a principal analyst on our Power and Renewables team, Sylvia researches market dynamics, business models, market developments and financial strategies of utility-scale solar PV projects in the US and Canada. Previously a senior consultant for the Power and Renewables team, she brings six years of experience in power markets, the energy transition, renewables and ESG. Before Wood Mackenzie, Sylvia worked for Accenture Strategy Energy, where she supported cost and portfolio optimisation and talent management for NOCs in Latin America. She also worked in solar project development for SPIE Sud-Est in France.

Kelsey Clair

Director

NY Green Bank

Kelsey Clair is a Director and Lead Transactor on NY Green Bank’s Investment and Portfolio Management team, where she sources, structures, and executes on clean energy investments across New York State. Ms. Clair is focused on bridging the financing gap for projects that will decarbonize our economy, namely in energy storage, clean transportation, and building efficiency. Prior to joining NY Green Bank, Ms. Clair worked as a Lead Transactor and Portfolio Manager at MUFG Bank, where she managed a billion-dollar portfolio of investments in commodity trading platforms and midstream energy companies. Her career has been focused on providing financing solutions to corporates and projects within the energy sector. Prior to MUFG, Ms. Clair worked for JPMorgan Chase investing in middle market companies across all industries. Ms. Clair received a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Fordham University and a Master of Business Administration from Columbia University. She is also an Executive Committee Member for CAIA NY where she leads educational programs in alternative investments.

Yachi Lin

Director, Transmission Planning

New York Independent System Operator

Cassidy DeLine

Chief Executive Officer

Linea Energy

Cassidy oversees the seasoned leaders across our development, procurement, financing and power market teams. With nearly 15 years of experience working in renewable energy, Cassidy’s teams have commercialized over 9 GW of solar across, including multiple industry-setting financing and offtake structures. Prior to Linea Energy, Cassidy was Chief Commercial Officer at Cypress Creek where she led project finance, late stage project development and strategic initiatives. At Recurrent Energy, she led the M&A team and contributed to key project financings. She also worked as a research associate in the energy space at Cambridge Energy Research Associates (now owned by S&P). She has led or significantly contributed to several marquee deals in the renewable space including the first non-recourse financing of a project with a non-rated CCA offtake, the first bond financing of solar in Canada, the first tax equity investments of several major corporate investors, including Walmart, and others. Cassidy holds a B.S. in International Relations from Stanford University.

Leuwam Tesfai

Deputy Executive Director for Energy and Climate Policy

California Public Utilities Commission

Leuwam Tesfai was named the CPUC’s Deputy Executive Director for Energy and Climate Policy, effective July 1, 2022. She previously served as Commissioner Genevieve Shiroma’s Chief of Staff and Legal Advisor, a position she held since 2019 when appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom. She has worked at the CPUC since 2011 in several roles including as an Advisor to former Commissioner Liane M. Randolph and in the CPUC’s Legal, Energy and Administrative Law Judge Divisions. Leuwam’s private sector experience includes renewable energy markets, siting and permitting generation facilities, and commercialization of clean energy technologies. She is a graduate of Emory University and the University of San Francisco School of Law. The Energy Division provides technical support to the Commissioners and their offices, and the Administrative Law Judges. The Energy Division drafts resolutions for formal consideration by the Commission. Resolutions generally result from informal utility requests called Advice Letters, which are submitted by utilities to request rate and tariff adjustments. The Energy Division through its Federal Policy and Ratemaking Section represents the Commission in Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and court proceedings. The Energy Division assists the Commission in its regulation of four types of Investor-Owned Utilities (IOUs): Electric, Natural Gas, Steam and Petroleum Pipeline Companies. Commission-approved tariffs (official rates and terms of service) for these four types of IOUs are maintained by the Energy Division.

Michael Conway

Senior Director, Business Development, Energy Storage

New leaf Energy

Mike is responsible for New Leaf's energy storage portfolio, and has successfully developed over 575MWh through over 50 discrete energy storage projects across multiple US markets. Mike also has deep expertise in interconnection, and was a founding member of the Massachusett Technical Standards Review Group (TSRG), New York Interconnection Technical Working Group (ITWG) and New York Interconnection Policy Working Group (IPWG). Before joining the renewables industry, Mike worked on the utility side completing system impact studies for oncoming distributed generation. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in Power Systems and previously earned his Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering and a Masters of Science in Energy Systems (MSES) from Northeastern University.

Andre Pujadas

CEO

OnePlanet Solar Recycling

As a senior executive and engineer by training, Andre maintains a strong record of delivering results of consequence to the P&L of the largest metals manufacturers in the world such as Nucor, Severstal and PSC Metals, among others. Andre has globally led plant startup, operations, and management for major industrial production facilities ranging from direct reduced iron, hot briquetted iron, and iron carbide, to ferrous and non-ferrous scrap metal shredders and advanced recovery plants. Andre possesses world-class leadership and management acumen from his 30+ years of experience in the primary and secondary metals markets and holds a MBA from Duke University, Fuqua School of Business.

Mahdi Motalleb

Director, Energy Storage and Electrical Engineering

SB Energy

Lindsey Guinther

Director, Environmental Affairs

Lightsource bp

Lindsey is the Director of Environmental Affairs at Lightsource bp, a global market leader in the development, financing, construction, and management of large-scale solar projects. With more than 15 years of experience in the renewable energy sector, her expert knowledge of project siting, spatial modeling, and climate and disaster resilience and have helped advance gigawatts of executed projects. In her role as Director of Environmental Affairs, Lindsey leads Lightsource bp’s global climate and disaster resiliency initiative and works to integrate mitigation strategies for serve weather events into all aspects of project development, construction, and operations. Rooted with initial work focused in U.S. markets, Lindsey has built a leading, global climate and disaster resiliency program at Lightsource bp. This program is essential to building a resilient portfolio that supports the company’s global objectives of installing 25 GW of operating projects by 2025. Lindsey additionally has subject matter expertise in the areas of Equator Principals, ESG reporting, climate change modeling, agrivoltaics and IRA Energy Communities.

Aaron Ratner

Executive Director

Alternus Energy

Aaron is an Executive Director with Alternus Clean Energy (Nasdaq: ALCE), a transatlantic clean energy independent power producer (IPP). Previously he was the CEO of Clean Earth Acquisitions Corp., a renewable energy-focused acquisition company that merged with Alternus. He is a Co-Founder and the Chairman of CC Insurance Solutions, a climate insurance intermediary platform focused on the energy transition. Aaron is also a Co-Founder and of Vectr Carbon Partners, an early-stage global ClimateTech venture capital fund based in Hong Kong. Aaron has over 20 years of domestic and international investment and advisory experience, including 8 years in Asia, focusing on venture capital, climate technology, infrastructure investing, energy, and agriculture.

Kelsey Coffman

VP Supply Chain Consulting

Wood Mackenzie

Erin Sweet

Senior Director, Energy Storage Development

Clearway Energy Group

Erin has more than 10 years of experience navigating renewable energy policies and technology to bring its benefits to customers, landowners, and utilities. As the Senior Director of Energy Storage Development, Erin is responsible for growing Clearway’s storage capabilities and project pipeline across the country. Prior to joining Clearway, Erin built a consulting practice to help cities and towns deploy distributed solar projects on municipal land. Erin holds a BS in Microbiology from the University of Florida and a MA in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning from Tufts University.

Kelly Snyder

Senior Director Origination

EDP Renewables North America

At EDP Renewables North America (EDPR NA), Kelly leads the Origination team. She has more than 17 years of experience in the renewable industry and is responsible for leading the Origination team that develops and maintains key relationships with utilities and offtake partners, including commercial and industrial clients. The Origination team oversees PPA negotiations, develops pricing strategies for renewable projects under development, and analyzes the impact of current and potential renewable market rules. Kelly’s team also examines market trends and identifies new customers within the renewable industry. Her depth of market knowledge spans into the U.S. markets and Canada, and under her leadership, her team has executed over 8 GW of PPAs at EDPR North America. Kelly is the Co-Founder of the Women IN Energy Conference, which hosted the first annual event in 2017, bringing more than 250 women in energy together for an impact session of . In addition, Kelly is on the Board of Directors for the Clean Energy Buyers Alliance (CEBA) and the Tucson Museum of Art. In 2019, the Women in Renewable Energy awarded Kelly with the Wind Power Woman of Distinction for her leadership in the industry. Kelly was also named one of the 10 Most Admired Women Leaders of 2021 by Women Industry Era Leaders. Before joining EPDR NA, Kelly held numerous energy trading roles specializing in renewables and origination at ACES, Great River Energy, and Split Rock Energy.

Max Issokson

Research Analyst, US Distributed Solar

Wood Mackenzie

Eric Hafter

Founder

Origami Solar

Eric is a solar industry pioneer and leader focused on creative solutions, driving excellence and innovation. Eric has held leadership positions in solar energy for over three decades in manufacturing, project development, and EPC. He founded Enable Energy (now BayWa r.e. Power Solutions), ran Sharp Solar for the Americas, developed the first large project in Jordan, and was board member and senior executive at PowerLight (now SunPower). Eric has been very active in product and solar mounting solutions, developing rail-free residential racking systems and flat roof mounts, which are sold internationally. Eric developed the concept for a roll-formed steel module frame solution in 2019, formed Origami Solar in 2020 and built a world-class team of solar, technology and IP executives to advance design, engineering, testing and commercialization of a breakthrough solution that will deliver significant cost savings, substantial greenhouse gas avoidance, and installation and O+M benefits.

David Sandbank

Vice President Distributed Energy Resources & Transportation

NYSERDA

Sandeep Arora

Senior Vice President, SVP, Head of Transmission & Markets

REV Renewables

Jennifer Schmidt

Senior Program Manager

Illinois Power Agency

Jennifer Schmidt is the Illinois Solar for All Senior Program Manager at the Illinois Power Agency (IPA), an independent state agency tasked with developing procurement plans and conducting energy, capacity, and renewables procurement events and administering the state’s solar energy incentive programs. Jennifer joined the IPA in 2018. In this role, she leads implementation of the Illinois Solar for All Program (ILSFA) within the IPA. In addition, she is the liaison between the IPA and the ILSFA Program Administrator and serves as a subject matter expert on program guidelines and requirements. Prior to joining the IPA, Jennifer spent thirteen years working for the community action agency that serves Chicago and suburban Cook County, focusing on income-eligible energy assistance. In her various roles, she assisted in the state-level planning and supervised local implementation of the Percentage of Income Payment Plan (PIPP) benefit option of LIHEAP in Illinois, as well as several utility-funded programs that helped households in Chicago and Cook County with their electric and gas bills. Jennifer has brought her passion for reducing energy burdens of income-eligible households into the efforts to ensure the benefits of Illinois’ growing solar market are reaching all its residents.

Elissa Pierce

Research Associate, Solar Module Technology and Markets

Wood Mackenzie

Elissa is a research associate in Wood Mackenzie’s Power & Renewables practice. Her research coverage includes solar module markets, technologies and supply chains across the globe. Before joining Wood Mackenzie, Elissa was a solar design engineer and worked on rooftop and ground-mount residential solar PV and battery storage projects.

Aaroh Kharaya

Director, Energy Storage Engineering

Primergy Solar

Hanna Nuttall

U.S. Distributed Storage Research Analyst

Wood Mackenzie

Paul Curran

Chief Development Officer

CleanCapital

Janhavi Kulkarni

Senior Director, PV Systems Optimization

RWE Clean Energy

Janhavi Kulkarni is the Senior Director of PV Optimization at RWE Clean Energy. Over the last 12 years in the clean energy industry, she has worked on various utility scale solar and storage projects. During her 4 years at RWE, she has built and led teams to execute projects and drive growth for the company.

MJ Shiao

VP, Supply Chain and Manufacturing

American Clean Power Association

Molly Brown

Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy

GenPro Energy Solutions

Molly Brown is the EVP of Corporate Strategy for GenPro Energy Solutions based out of Piedmont, SD where she helps steer the company’s overall vision and strategy while overseeing distributed generation project development. Her background in quantitative economics has allowed her to see and create market opportunities in underdeveloped regions. After being promoted to VP of Energy Production in the Fall of 2016, GenPro has shot up Solar Power World’s Top Solar Contractors list and has a sterling reputation for best-in-class installations. In Nebraska and South Dakota, Molly has been involved in many firsts. She developed and project managed the first municipal utility solar farm for the City of Lexington which was at the time the largest system (AC) in the State of Nebraska. She also oversaw the construction of the two pilot projects for Nebraska Public Power District’s SunWise Community Solar Program, a program which has since expanded and includes the 4.6MW AC system in Scottsbluff, NE that was placed online in 2020 and the first solar + storage project in Norfolk, NE that was energized in August of 2022. In South Dakota, she developed a 1090kW roof-top portfolio with Black Hills State University which with the combination of hydroelectric power from WAPA has allowed them meet their goal to be powered by 100% renewable energy. Molly’s team works actively with end-users to provide custom behind-the-meter solar + storage solutions for Municipal & C&I customers ranging from manufacturing facilities to community solar gardens and utility-scale projects.

Becca Jones-Albertus

Director, Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO)

US Department of Energy

Dr. Becca Jones-Albertus is the Director of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) and Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Renewable Energy in the Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy. SETO has an annual budget of over $300 million to advance solar technology and support an equitable transition to a decarbonized energy system. This includes innovative research on photovoltaic and concentrating solar-thermal power technologies, grid integration, and analysis and technical assistance to reduce soft costs and increase access to affordable solar energy. Dr. Jones-Albertus also works with DOE leadership and interagency partners on key issues such as supply chains, grid modernization, and workforce training. Dr. Jones-Albertus has spent her career advancing solar technology and working to reduce regulatory barriers to solar deployment. Prior to joining the Energy Department, Dr. Jones-Albertus worked in the private sector, where she led efforts to develop solar cells that twice achieved world-record efficiencies. Dr. Jones-Albertus graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University and holds an M.S. and Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. She has more than 10 patents and 40 technical publications.