Archives: Speakers

Markus Göring is Director Asset Value Management within Vattenfall Business Area Heat. Vattenfall operates several district heating grids in Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and UK, and manages the value chain from heat production to customer sales. Markus studied Electrical Engineering at the Technical University Hamburg-Harburg, followed by a PhD on engineering of automation systems at Helmut-Schmidt University Hamburg. He started his professional career at Vattenfall in 2009. Developing as risk-based maintenance expert and driving digitalization, Markus shaped the maintenance approach within Vattenfall, for example, as program manager for the data-driven operations and maintenance program in the wind business. Since 2020 he is responsible for developing asset management and securing asset value in the heat business.

Gonzalo FERNANDEZ COSTA is policy officer on energy security and energy storage at the European Commission, DG ENER, Unit B4. Prior to joining the Commission, he was head of service on electricity markets, system operation and grids at the Ministry for Ecological Transition in Spain, Deputy DG for Electricity. He is an engineer with a major in electrical engineering from the Technical University of Madrid (UPM).

Clara Rehder holds a dual master degree in International Energy and Business and Management from Sciences Po Paris and Stockholm School of Economics. Following previous roles in Uniper’s governmental relations and power trading department, she supported the development of the Net Zero Solutions team which aims at accelerating the energy transition of Uniper’s energy-intensive industrial clients. As a Senior Net Zero Advisor, she develops and implements strategic decarbonization roadmaps to reach net zero.

Michael has acquired a great deal of experience in managing Engineering, Operational and Service businesses in challenging times of change; from M&A activities, restructuring and closing of operations to business process optimization/transformation and development of new business models. He started his working life in Air Pollution Control technologies for some well reputed OEM companies. These activities were ranging from commissioning, design, sales to contract execution and have earned him a position in the Board of the International Society of Electrostatic Precipitation, which hosts the main and relevant competences in this field worldwide. With joining E.ON in 2003, his insight into the power generation business has been expanded and now also covers the full spectrum of process optimization, operational support and engineering support activities for the energy sector. Rounding off that service provider experience, he joined the operational side of business as Manager of the Power Plant Group West 1, comprising 6 hard-coal fired units with a total installed capacity of approx. 2.200 MW and several industrial steam generators and district heating units. After the spin-off of Uniper from E.ON, Michael moved to the UK based part of the Engineering business area of Uniper as the Managing Director for Uniper Technologies Limited and Director Asset Services of Uniper. With his return to Germany, Michael took the role of CEO of Uniper Anlagenservice GmbH, the Maintenance and Project Company of Uniper. There, his focus next to a substantial restructuring of the company, was on driving the development of integrated business models for strategic maintenance services, connecting traditional skillsets in maintenance for energy systems with state-of-the-art ITsolutions and Big Data technologies. In April 2020, Michael was appointed Director Sales & Product Development for the Uniper Engineering Group, developing and combining Uniper’s technical and commercial expertise into innovative solutions for decarbonizing its customers’ energy needs. Recognizing the need to massively accelerate energy transition, Uniper took the strategic decision end of 2021 to exit the stand-alone engineering service business and to focus resources on the transformation of Unipers’ own and customers’ assets to climate-neutral generation with innovative solutions addressing the increasing complexity of our energy world. With that decision, Michael was appointed with a leading role in this internal transformation as SVP Engineering of Uniper. Additionally, Michael holds a mandate in the Executive Board of VGB PowerTech e.V., the German Association of Power Plant Operators and is a lecturer at the KWS PowerTech Training Centre on APC Technologies. Michael is also a well-received speaker at various conferences in the energy sector, delivering key-note speeches and lectures on various aspects of the energy sector. More recently he has been elected to the Board of Directors of the VAIS (Verband für Anlagentechnik und Industrieservice), the Association of Industrial Technology and Service Providers.

Aurel Mindrican, Trading and Market Strategies Director, CEZ Romania

Aurel holds a license degree in Hydroelectric and environment and a master’s in Optimisation of Hydro Power Plants operation from Universitatea Politehnica Bucharest followed by another master’s in Energy with FABIZ – ASE, Romania. He was a founding member of the Board of Directors of electricity suppliers’ association in Romania (AFEER) in 2006-2008. After 5 successful years as a senior engineer in Hidroelectrica (the biggest power producer in Romania) contributing to the start of electricity market in Romania, he took the position of Trading Director in Romelectro, one of the top 5 trading companies in Romania. From 2008 to 2021 Aurel was Trade Development Manager and General Manager in CEZ Trade Romania, as well as Trading Manager in Ovidiu Development (CEZ Wind farm) from 2016 to 2021. Since last year he has taken the position of Trading and Market Strategies Director in CEZ Romania Group.

Ralf Wezel is Secretary General of EUTurbines, the European association representing the gas and steam turbine industry with offices in Brussels and Frankfurt. When taking over this task in 2014, he was at the same time appointed Secretary General of EUGINE, the sister association of EUTurbines, representing the interests of the European engine power plants industry. Ralf Wezel, an economist by education, started his career working for VDMA, the German engineering industry association. In 2001 he moved to Brussels, where he headed the offices of different European industry associations in the engineering sector, including the European construction equipment association CECE and the European agricultural machinery association CEMA.

Thierry Lepercq is a serial entrepreneur in energy. He is the initiator of HyDeal Ambition, the world’s largest green hydrogen project aiming at delivering 3.6 million tons of green hydrogen at 1.5 €/kg by 2030, and the Executive Chairman of HyDeal España, a joint venture bringing together upstream (renewable energy), midstream (gas transmission) and downstream (steel, chemicals) industry players. He is the author of Hydrogen is the New Oil.

Thierry Lepercq was EVP Technology and Innovation at Engie from 2016 to 2018. From 2006 to 2016, he was the president of Solairedirect, a global pioneer of competitive solar power, which has developed and built 3 GW of capacity on four continents at prices as low as 20 $/MWh.

A graduate from HEC Paris, Thierry Lepercq started his career in technology financing.

Stephen B. Harrison is the founder and managing director at sbh4 GmbH in Germany. His work focuses on decarbonisation. CCUS is a fundamental pillar of his consulting practice, and he provides advisory services in this area to several leading international operators and equipment providers. Stephen has also served as the international expert for a major Asian Development Bank project related to CCUS in Viet Nam. With a background in industrial gases including 27 years at BOC Gases, The BOC Group and Linde Gas, Stephen has intimate knowledge of the carbon dioxide capture, purification, liquefaction, storage, transportation, and utilisation value chain from commercial, technical, and operational perspectives. For 14 years, he was a global business leader in these FTSE100 and DAX30 companies. Stephen has extensive due diligence and investment advisory experience. PE firms, fund managers and green-tech start-ups are regular clients. As a member of the gasworld advisory board, Stephen guides this international publication, which focuses on carbon dioxide and other industrial gases.

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