Solarplaza Summit Asset Management North America

Tuesday 5 April 2022

Seminar & Networking Event

Building a Resilient, Skilled & Diverse Solar Workforce

Wednesday 6 April 2022

Program Day 1

08:00

Welcome Coffee and Registration

presentation

60 min.

09:00

Welcome Remarks by the Conference Chairman

presentation

10 min.

Alfonso Barrenechea

Solarplaza

Session I

Solar’s Future in North America

09:10

Is the Solar Industry Ready for Adulthood?

presentation

30 min.

What to expect when you are expecting. Are you really ready?
Is the deflationary environment and low interest party over?
A new generation of asset owners. What do they want? What should they want?
A new generation of products. Dispatchable power is coming of age. Time to adapt.

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Benoit Allehaut

KKR

09:40

Solar Market Outlook

presentation

20 min.

Reviewing North America’s operational solar capacity
Preliminary analysis of 2022 growth and development
Trends in technology deployment

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Leila Garcia da Fonseca

Wood Mackenzie

10:00

Moving to the Next Level in Solar Deployment

panel

45 min.

Reviewing the energy plans of the Biden administration
ITC extension effects
Key themes that have shaped solar in the past year

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moderator

Eric Wesoff

Canary Media

Danny Splettstosser

The AES Corporation

Zoe Berkery

CleanCapital

10:45

AM Networking Break

Session II A

Futureproofing Operations & Maintenance

11:30

Don't just centralize, integrate!

panel

15 min.

The data quality pillar and its pitfalls
Solving inefficiencies of different platforms, systems, onboarding methods, and costs
Leveraging technology to manage cost-effectively an increasingly distributed portfolio
Transparency between Asset Owners, O&M providers, and Asset Managers

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Christos Georgopoulos

Power Factors

Christos Georgopoulos

Chief Grid & Market Integration Officer

Power Factors

He co-founded Inaccess in 2000 as a smart controls company and was its CEO until the company's acquisition by Power Factors, in June 2022. At Power Factors he is responsible for Controls, Grid and Market Integration activities of the company. At Inaccess he developed the business strategy and product direction, managed business development, and pursued strategic cooperations with technology vendors and key customers. His main interests include Renewable energy (primarily PV) and related technologies (Batteries, Microgrids, dispatchable loads), Grid compliance and Market Integration. He is a member of various international associations and a frequent speaker in sector-specific conferences and thematic events on the topic of smart energy, renewables systems and optimal grid integration. Before starting Inaccess, from 1998 to 2000, Mr. Georgopoulos carried out R&D work for Lucent's Bell Labs on automation and controls and automation for smart homes and enterprises; from 1993 to 1998 he was an R&D associate with NTUA, Greece, working in research projects with several EU telecommunications companies on the topic of integrated broadband networks. He holds a diploma in Electrical & Computer Engineering and a Ph.D. in Integrated Broadband Networks, both from NTUA, Greece.

11:45

Improving Asset Value Through O&M Digitalization

panel

30 min.

Next step in operations digitalizations
Separating digital facts from fiction
Creating a feedback loop that will facilitate asset management

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moderator

Vania Mesrob

Goldman Sachs

Rue Philips

365 Pronto

Blaine Sundwall

EDF Renewables North America

Blaine Sundwall

Regional Vice President, Asset Optimization

EDF Renewables North America

Blaine Sundwall works within EDF’s North American Asset Optimization group leading a team of Asset Managers and Operations staff. He joined EDF RE in 2013. He and his team are responsible for over 1.6 GW of generating assests, over 1 GW of which is solar. This includes wind, solar, and energy storage. Prior to EDF Mr. Sundwall was with Iberdrola Renewables and its predesessors for 14 years. During that time he was involved with combined and simple cycle natural gas fired generation facilities, including their start up. He was the initial operations staff when PPM moved into renewables. This allowed participation in all aspects of that business. This included initial start up of the internal O&M function, Asset Management, finance, PPA administration, and working with trading. His final role at Iberdrola was overhauling and building a new enterprise control room. This included implementation and deployment of ‘Customer Supplied Generation Imbalance’. This program self supplied the generation balancing of 14 wind facilities (over 1400 MW) with the companies owned combined cycle and simple cycle generation as well as contracted hydro and market generation.

12:15

O&M Contracting in a Consolidating Industry

panel

45 min.

Effects of secondary markets
The role of labor
Key contract elements to look for when doing M&A

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moderator

Paul Whitacre

SDCL Group

Nikhil Vadhavkar

Raptor Maps, Inc.

Chioma Enechukwu

Madison Energy Infrastructure

Jason Feng

Omnidian

Myra Gardiner

Bay4 Energy Services, LLC

Myra Gardiner

VP Asset Optimization & Management

Bay4 Energy Services, LLC

Myra is VP of Asset Optimization & Management at NAES Corporation’s subsidiary, Bay4 Energy Services. Bay4 Energy is the leading independent renewable energy service provider, with more than 30 years of asset performance and portfolio management experience, providing a comprehensive offering of energy and asset performance management services designed to keep owners, investors, and operators in touch with their renewable assets, while delivering optimized energy production and financial returns. Myra is an Energy Industry leader with over 30 years in the power generation utility consulting and management space. She has a proven track record of creative value-added solutions in strategic planning, M&A, plant operations & maintenance, risk management, human performance, global supply chain, sustainability, due diligence, project valuation, and Compliance across multiple technologies (thermal, wind, solar, storage, and hydro). Myra received a BA in Economics and MS in Financial Management from the University of Maryland and is a certified Six Sigma Blackbelt.

Session II B

Safeguarding Portfolio Value

11:30

Lessons Learned from the Growing Solar Fleet

panel

45 min.

State of the growing US Solar Fleet
Performance modeling: assumptions and learnings
Performance management and operational excellence: KPIs and benchmarking

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moderator

Hao Shen

kWh Analytics

Lynsey Tibbs

Silicon Ranch

Kevin Christy

Lightsource bp

Anand Narayanan

Arevon Energy

12:15

Secondary Markets and M&A

panel

45 min.

Valuation of contracts with service providers and offtakers
Due diligence process
M&A strategies: how to grow portfolios

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moderator

Lorena Nieuwenhoven

Solarplaza

Asif Alam

Thomson Reuters Document Intelligence

Britta von Oesen

CRC-IB

Britta von Oesen

Partner & Managing Director

CRC-IB

Britta is a Partner and Managing Director with CRC-IB. She has 15+ years of experience in investment banking, mergers and acquisitions, corporate strategy, and project finance and development in the wind, solar, storage, and broader sustainability sectors. Britta primarily focuses on transaction management, including corporate M&A, project finance, and tax equity structuring and negotiation with over $4B raised for renewable energy to date. She has led numerous renewable energy financings, mergers, and acquisitions for utility-scale and distributed generation wind, solar, and storage companies and assets, both in the U.S. and globally. Before joining CRC-IB, Britta was Head of Corporate Strategy and Development for Gestamp Solar, where she led M&A transactions and project financings for U.S. solar projects. Prior to Gestamp Solar, Britta was a Group Manager for Windkraft Nord AG, a German wind and solar developer, managing the Italian operations for the development of a 1GW+ portfolio of wind and solar assets throughout Italy. Before moving to Italy, Britta worked with Lehman Brothers’ Global Power Group. As one of few senior women in renewable energy finance, Britta has received multiple industry awards, including the 2020 U.S. C3E Finance Award issued by the U.S. Department of Energy; 2020 ‘Most Influential Women in Business’ by the San Francisco Business Times; and Renewable Energy World’s ‘Solar 40 Under 40’ in 2018. Britta received an MBA with honors in Finance from Cornell University’s Johnson Business School in 2009 and a B.A. in Environmental Biology from Colgate University in 2003. Britta serves as Co-Chair of the Solar Energy Industries Association’s (SEIA) Women’s Empowerment Sub Committee.

Scott Byer

Lightsource bp

13:00

PM Lunch Break

Session III A

Plant Resilience & Performance

14:15

Forecasting

panel

40 min.

Uncertainty in solar irradiation modelling: changes in the last few years
The use cases for real-time solar irradiance datasets in asset management
Effective vs calculated irradiance
Making a case for providing additional data for loss factors

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moderator

Ann Gaglioti

GroundWork Renewables

Jon Previtali

Wells Fargo

Patrick Keelin

Clean Power Research

Chris Raupp

SOLV Energy

Chris Raupp

Sr. Performance Engineering Manager

SOLV Energy

Chris is the Sr. PV Performance Engineering Manager for both EPC and O&M divisions within SOLV Energy and has more than 6 years of experience . In his current role, he is responsible for leading and overseeing PV performance analytics, for both EPC and O&M operations, as well as being a lead technical subject matter expert in photovoltaic technologies, systems, and testing procedures. Chris manages a team of performance engineers and analysts responsible for overseeing the successful commissioning and long-term operations of utility scale solar within SOLV Energy's portfolio. His team is responsible for overseeing PV performance reporting and performing technical due diligence covering a variety of issues impacting site performance and providing recommendations for site optimization. Chris is passionate in contributing to growing the solar and energy storage industry and ensuring reliability and optimization of systems. He holds a Masters in Engineering with a primary focus in photovoltaic energy and a Bachelor’s of Science in Electronics Engineering with a focus in Alternative Energy Technologies, both from Arizona State University.

15:00

Extreme Weather Impacts

panel

45 min.

How to minimize risk of damage from natcat events
What can be insured and what can not?
Resolving damage after it’s done

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moderator

Jason Raymond

Boralex

Kaushik Roy Choudhury

DuPont

Kaushik Roy Choudhury

Global Technical Leader

DuPont

Kaushik is the Global Technical Leader of Photovoltaic Reliability in the DuPont Photovoltaics and Advanced Materials business. His team works on the performance, reliability and durability of PV packaging materials, degradation of field-deployed PV modules, and PV system economics. Kaushik began his career with DuPont in 2011 as a Principal Investigator in DuPont Central R&D. At DuPont, he has led programs on metallization pastes for silicon photovoltaics, novel inorganic and hybrid thin-film solar absorbers, and light emitting and plasmonic nanomaterials. Kaushik has a Ph.D. in Materials Physics and over 20 years of experience in photovoltaic and optoelectronic materials. He has authored over 50 peer-reviewed technical publications and is a frequent panelist at technical and industry events.DuPont Photovoltaic Solutions offers a portfolio of product solutions that deliver proven power and lasting value for the fast-growing photovoltaics sector, including DuPont™ Solamet® metallization pastes, DuPont™ Tedlar® films and DuPont™ Fortasun™ solar silicones.

John Schroeder

DEPCOM Power

Travis McKee

Sungrow

Session III B

Derisking Revenue

14:15

Merchant Hedging Strategies

panel

40 min.

Potential solutions for developers and owners to balance power pricing
What role do asset managers play in a project with a merchant strategy or hedge
Short term vs long term contracts
Aligning plant design with merchant strategy

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moderator

Tara Narayanan

BloombergNEF

Joe Kastner

Radian Generation

Rohit Ogra

AP Solar Holdings

Rohit Ogra

Co-Founder

AP Solar Holdings

Rohit co-founded AP Solar Holdings in 2018 and serves as its Chief Commercial Officer. Rohit’s previous experience includes energy trading, structured transactions, hedge advisory and principal investing. Prior to co-founding AP Solar, Rohit co-founded and continues to lead Snapper Creek Energy Advisors, a market leading hedge and derivatives transaction advisory firm. Snapper’s clients include some of the most active development and investment platforms in the US conventional and renewable power markets. Prior to Snapper, he worked as an executive at a Houston-based boutique where he focused primarily on advising financial sponsors on cross-capital structure transactions in power and gas, with a focus on hedge advisory such as revenue puts, tolls, renewable hedging, market analysis and credit structuring. Before that, Rohit was a VP in energy trading at Macquarie Bank where he was responsible for structuring, valuing and executing large bespoke transactions across the load and generation spectrum, including commodity-based financing transactions such as first of its kind solar pre-pays. Rohit began his career at Lehman Brothers where he led natural gas structured transactions, with a focus on storage, transport, physical options and cross-commodity derivatives. Rohit holds a BS in Electrical Engineering (Hons.) and an MS in Quantitative and Computational Finance from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

15:00

Storage Asset Management: Managing Operations

panel

45 min.

Implications of the different storage business models on managing operations
Operating storage assets: O&M considerations
Learnings from the early stage operations of storage assets

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moderator

Jenya Meydbray

PVEL - PV Evolution Labs

Leigh Zanone

Avantus

Will Troppe

Power Factors

15:45

PM Networking Break

Session IV

Closing Panel Day 1

16:30

True Cost of O&M and Asset Management

panel

45 min.

Scoping contract responsibilities: what is in and out of scope?
Who is bearing what risk?
Hidden costs: where can unexpected surprises pop up?

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moderator

Tim Montague

Clean Power Consulting Group

Michael Eyman

Origis Services

Michael Eyman

Managing Director

Origis Services

Michael Eyman leverages over 25 years of leadership, operations, and business experience in his role as Managing Director, Origis Services. Under his leadership, Origis Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Origis, manages a growing portfolio of utility scale and distributed generation solar and storage assets across the United States. Prior to joining Origis, Mr. Eyman served as the Vice President of Business Development for MaxGen Energy Services, where he drove significant growth across the distributed generation and utility markets. He also held positions as Director DG O&M and Director of Business Development and Senior Manager for Supply Chain Strategy over 5 years with SunPower. Before taking solar industry leadership roles, Mr. Eyman had a 21-year career in the United States Navy as a Naval Aviator. He served in multiple theaters over 13 deployments and retired at the rank of Commander. He holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Texas, a Master of Science in Military Strategy and Foreign Affairs, from Air University, and a Bachelor of Science in Oceanography from Texas A&M University.

Erin Kivlehan

Clenera

Anand Narayanan

Arevon Energy

17:15

Networking Drinks

19:00

Networking Dinner (sold out)

Thursday 7 April 2022

Program Day 2

08:30

Welcome Coffee and Registration

60 min.

09:30

Welcome remarks by the Conference Chairman

presentation

10 min.

Alfonso Barrenechea

Solarplaza

Session V

Enabling a Holistic Transition

09:40

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Solar Asset Management

presentation

50 min.

Beyond race and gender: thinking expansively about diversity
Best practices in hiring, managing and company culture
Deploying the benefits of solar to more communities

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moderator

Amanda Bybee

Amicus O&M Cooperative

Amanda Bybee

CEO

Amicus O&M Cooperative

Ms. Bybee has worked in the solar industry since 2003, first promoting renewable energy policy in Austin, TX while at Public Citizen, and then at Meridian Energy Systems, before finding her home at Namasté Solar. Ms. Bybee joined Namasté Solar in January 2006 as an early member of the team and held numerous roles over her 11 years, from technical sales & design to business development. While there, she worked to obtain a federal charter for a unique financial institution that funds clean energy products and services: Clean Energy Credit Union (www.cleanenergycu.org). This was only the 17th federal charter issued since 2010, and the first in the state of Colorado for over 30 years. She continues to serve as a volunteer on the Supervisory Committee of the credit union. Additionally, in 2016, she helped earn an award from the U.S. Department of Energy SunShot Initiative to found the Amicus O&M Cooperative (www.AmicusOM.com). The O&M Cooperative brings together a network of providers across the country to provide coordinated services for geographically distributed portfolios. She now serves as its CEO, and is committed to the mission “to ensure that solar PV fulfills its promise as a responsible and reliable energy source, for generations to come.” She obtained a BA in English and French from the University of Texas at Austin, and through solar, has found her “inner engineer.”

Ajulo Othow

Carolina Solar Services

Ajulo Othow

General Counsel

Carolina Solar Services

Ajulo Elisabeth Othow grew up amidst southern traditions in her home state of North Carolina. Her parents, both teachers, imbued her with a love and caring for others as she prepared herself educationally to succeed in her chosen career. At a young age and as she grew into maturity , she traveled with her parents to continents outside of North America, where she became conscious of national and international conditions of humanity. Ms. Othow is now an attorney practicing in Granville County and is also the CEO and Founder of EnerWealth Solutions. Ms. Othow is also a solar project developer, one of the only women of color solar developers in the nation; her projects are designed to aid in minority land retention and rural economic development. For more than fourteen years prior to becoming an attorney, she worked with people in small towns across all thirteen southeastern United States, places where people’s one hope is for a future where their children can return home and live a good life. Ms. Othow holds a Master’s Degree in International Development from The George Washington University, further graduate work in Public Policy from Duke University, and a Doctorate of Jurisprudence from Northeastern University School of Law. Ms. Othow lives in Oxford, NC with her young son, and mother.

Kate Collardson

Omnidian

Aaron Bingham

BayWa r.e.

Aaron Bingham

Product Manager

BayWa r.e.

Mr. Bingham has been in the solar industry for 15 years, working with PV equipment manufacturers and distributors. In each of his roles within the PV industry he’s pushed for ethical and sustainable growth by developing installer educational resources, advocating for informed and responsible application of products, and pushing for company policies that support healthy industry growth. For the last 5 years he has been a Product Manager for BayWa r.e. Solar Systems, one of the largest and fastest growing names in national solar equipment distribution. In this role he works closely with top US PV and Storage equipment manufacturers to chart product roadmaps and lifecycle information, create educational content for industry consumption, and facilitate clear communication with the BayWa r.e. team and customer base. As a host of the podcast Solar Tech Talk, Aaron regularly interviews leading equipment manufacturers and industry advocates to generate exciting educational content for installers across the country. Aaron resides in San Francisco, CA with his partner and their pitbull Bella.

10:30

AM Networking Break

Session VI A

O&M Planning for Long-Term Applications

11:15

Design & EPC Considerations for Optimal Operations

panel

45 min.

“Greening up” your practices
Importance of documentation
A holistic approach to your project

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moderator

Reegan Moen

SOLV Energy

Nick de Vries

Silicon Ranch

Nick de Vries

Chief Technology Officer

Silicon Ranch

As Silicon Ranch’s Chief Technology Officer, Nick is charged with identifying and leveraging emerging technologies that enable Silicon Ranch to support the US domestic supply chain and demonstrate the sequestration of carbon. Nick has more than 20 years of diverse renewable energy, semiconductor, and military experience that inform his current work, including executive positions at SolarCity, Phoenix Solar, and Applied Materials. Nick’s renewable energy industry expertise spans module and cell manufacturing, photovoltaic project design and operation, auxiliary grid services, as well as the prediction and demonstration of the energy harvest of novel PV technologies. He has also worked on manufacturing amorphous silicon modules, and on process machine control of cell splitting and cascading cell bonding processes with heterojunction crystalline cells. Silicon Ranch owns projects that Nick himself designed nearly a decade ago, including the first transmission interconnected PV plant in the Southeast. Nick holds patents in both PV module manufacturing and design. While at Applied Materials, he advanced the use of statistical process control to enhance the reliability of production equipment. He has led the commissioning of process equipment at Intel semiconductor factories in both the U.S. and Europe, and entire solar cell factories in India, Germany, Spain, and China. Nick served his country on active duty as an Infantry Captain in the United States Army, with tours in Kuwait and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Nick is currently leading Silicon Ranch’s efforts to develop Cattle Tracker, working with the DOE, leading universities, and regenerative ranchers; Cattle Tracker is Silicon Ranch’s Integrated PV System Design and Management Platform for the co-optimization of cattle-grazing and PV solar generation while measuring the impacts of these efforts on the surrounding ecosystem dynamics and soil health.

Brian Mills

Stäubli

Rob Andrews

Heliolytics

12:00

Solar Insurance: Paradigm Shift in the Market

panel

45 min.

Aligning price expectations with pricing realities
Key indicators for good and bad insurance contracts
O&Ms increasing importance in the insurance schemes

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moderator

Isaac McLean

kWh Analytics

Alan Stearns

Lockton Companies LLC

Ray Casey

Nextracker

Ray Casey

Sr Director. Technical Product Management

Nextracker

Ray Casey leads the Value-Based Pricing initiative at Nextracker. He is an enthusiastic Marketer, with a strong Pricing focus, and thrives at the intersection of driving Company and Customer Success—identifying customer-driven, company changing initiatives, that delight customers while accelerating revenue/profit growth. Prior to Nextracker, Ray spent 17 years at Cypress Semiconductor, running the Global Pricing Organization and institutionalizing Value-Based Pricing practices, responsible for pricing of over $2.2Bn annual revenue, leading top customer negotiations, and supporting several merger/acquisition integrations. He has experience in an Agricultural Technology (Ag-tech) startup focused on smart/IOT irrigation systems, where he ran all elements of Customer Success and Enablement and Applications,including Installations and In-Field Quality Assurance. It is here where he earned an appreciation for leveraging technology to solve immediate large-scale problems such as drought, and now, climate change. Ray has a B.Eng. in Electronic Engineering from the University of Limerick, Ireland. He grew up in Limerick, Ireland and, since 2001, lives in the heart of Silicon Valley, San Jose California, with his wife and two girls.

Kait Adler

Goldman Sachs

Jonathan Fort

MaxSolar

Session VI B

Managing Growth Sustainably

11:15

Managing Scale and Growth in DG sustainably

panel

45 min.

Effective asset management strategies across different regions
Scaling up asset management practices in growing DG portfolios (labour component)
Efficient asset aggregation and financing structures to minimize due diligence and transaction costs

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moderator

Gregory Shambo

Cleanleaf Energy

Zoe Berkery

CleanCapital

Kelsey Wood

Greenbacker Capital

Diana Weis

U.S. Bank

PJ Vigilante

EDP Renewables

PJ Vigilante

Asset Management

EDP Renewables

Mr. Vigilante is part of EDPR NA Distributed Generation (“EDPR NA DG”)’s asset management team, overseeing day-to-day operations of the current 88 MW of operational assets. He also supports the development and construction of the near-term pipeline of 200+ MW of assets. Prior to EDPR NA DG, Mr. Vigilante operated over 170 solar and storage projects totaling 170 MW across 15 states as part of the asset management and operations groups at C2 Energy Capital (“C2”). In this role he fostered strong relationships with subcontractors overseeing the operations and maintenance of the assets in the field, while simultaneously providing cross-cutting support to the business development, modeling, construction, engineering and accounting teams. Mr. Vigilante was previously a Senior Consultant in Navigant Consulting (now Guidehouse)’s Global Energy Practice. In this role, he assisted both electric and gas utilities optimize their distributed energy resource (DER) and energy efficiency programs. He holds a M.S. in Geological Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Civil & Environmental Engineering Department. While at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he co-led a Department of Energy (DOE) research project. He also holds a BS from the Pennsylvania State University.

12:00

Large Scale Portfolio Growth

panel

45 min.

Challenges in growing your portfolio sustainably
Identifying processes that can be automated
Pain Points when scaling your utility scale portfolio
Sharing success stories & learnings

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moderator

Marc Toy

CAC Specialty

Blerta Kumbaro

BayWa r.e.

Blerta Kumbaro

Director Asset Management

BayWa r.e.

As Director of Asset Management at BayWa-r.e., Blerta’s primary responsibilities is the financial performance of a large portfolio of asset spread all over USA. She plays a critical role in strengthening the asset management framework, setting up processes, and ensuring successful transitions of various acquired portfolios or construction assets under management. Blerta supports the development team and other divisions within the company with focus in strategy and business planning. Prior to joining BayWa-r.e., Blerta served as Director of Asset Management at Longroad Energy and prior to Longroad she served in the capacity of Vice President, Residential Asset and Risk Management at Greenbacker Capital in charge of residential business unit and led a team of Customer Care, Operation, Finance and Accounting, and 3rd party service providers while managed all aspect of residential assets and drove synergy of systems, infrastructure, and processes to ensure compliance of all Greenbacker's residential portfolios. Prior to joining Greebacker in 2017, Blerta worked for SunEdison and held multiple leadership roles. She led Integration efforts of acquired companies globally and Residential Asset Management team that set up business operations for supporting community solar. Before than she was with TerraForm Power for over a year and was part of management team that assisted in Yieldco's overall successful IPO, a $4BN SunEdison subsidiary. She effectively improved asset management processes to enhance controls, systems, and statutory compliance of 4GW diversified portfolio of Residential, Commercial, and Utility scale solar projects globally. Blerta has 17 years of overall management experience with 12 years focus in Solar Industry. She obtained a master’s degree in business administration from San Francisco State University and an undergraduate (magna cum laude) degree in Business Administration from University of Houston. Additionally, she has a Professional Certificate on Energy Innovation and Emerging Technologies from Stanford University. Blerta has a passion to positively impact teams and organizations with a vision that through renewable energy we can make a difference for the generations to come. She is member of Women in Leadership and Women of Renewable Industries and Sustainable Energy.

Sharifa Dunn

AlsoEnergy

Jason Raymond

Boralex

12:45

PM Lunch Break

Session VII A

Optimizing Operations

14:15

Repowering

panel

45 min.

Inverter replacement: process review
Technological pitfalls to take into account
Understanding solar degradation assumptions
Translating component repowering into feasible business models

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moderator

Sean Hackett

Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)

Sean Hackett

Technical Leader

Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)

Sean Hackett is Technical Leader at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). He is a key member of EPRI’s solar generation program, which addresses issues across the solar photovoltaic (PV) asset class including technology assessment, life cycle & best practices, and fundamental information. At EPRI, Hackett hosts EPRI’s Solar Owners League technical user group, which is comprised of over 30 long-term owners and his research focusses on developing best practices for PV plant design specifications, equipment installation and maintenance, and plant reliability. Hackett joined EPRI in 2018 after 9 years in solar development and EPC where he led project delivery for over 70 projects totaling over 400MWdc throughout North Carolina and other states including South Carolina, Georgia, New York, Idaho, and Grand Cayman. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Technology with a concentration in Appropriate Technology from Appalachian State University and has been a North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) PV Installation Professional since 2011.

Chris Frantz

Excelsior Energy Capital

Chris Frantz

Managing Director

Excelsior Energy Capital

Mr. Frantz leads Operations at Excelsior, focusing on maximizing the performance, reliability, and profitability of Excelsior's assets. Prior to Excelsior Chris ran Cypress Creek’s independent power company. The portfolio included over 1.6GW of utility scale solar assets in regulated and deregulated markets across the U.S., generating over $150MM in revenue per year. Chris built this Department from scratch which, at its height, managed 200+ assets in 50+ funds. Additionally, Chris ran risk management for Cypress, including the property and liability insurance programs for Cypress' development, EPC, O&M, and power business units. The property insurance program included over $1.4bn in insured value. Prior to his role in Asset Management, Chris managed a development pipeline of over 240 MW of solar projects for Cypress across the U.S., including in Texas, New York, and Maryland. Chris served on Cypress's Executive Team, which was responsible for setting the strategic direction of the company. Prior to Cypress, Chris worked for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where he led the development of air regulations on utility scale power plants and oil and natural gas hydraulic fracturing operations. Prior to joining the EPA, Chris worked with California electric utilities such as Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas and Electric, and San Diego Gas and Electric on the development, implementation, and evaluation of demand response and demand side management programs. Chris holds a B.A. in Environment, Economics, and Politics from Claremont McKenna College, a Masters of Environmental Management from Duke University, and a Masters of Business Administration from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dave Doerner

ICF

Auston Taber

Solar Support

Auston Taber

Chief Executive Officer and Founder

Solar Support

Auston Taber is an entrepreneur who has spent the past 16 years in the solar industry. Early on, he spent his days working on residential installations, everything from digging trenches, pulling wire, to mounting modules and performing array layouts on the central coast of California. He went on to build his professional career working as a Field Service Engineer with SMA America. He quickly developed his passion for the industry and went on to make a name for himself, moving up to take on the role of Safety and Technical Training Manager, primarily working with central inverters at utility scale PV installations. After spending 6 years at SMA, he went on to take on a new challenge; a Service Manager role with a global Chinese inverter manufacturer. He built and scaled a robust service management platform, which elevated their service experience for key accounts. In 2018, Auston founded Solar Support, an Engineering firm that specializes in positively impacting financials for aging PV assets after disasters or underproduction impacts them, with a focus on the power electronics. This started with parts and independent engineering, and grew to encompass central inverter part procurement, restoration EPC services, and an OEM service line offerings. His favorite part of being a CEO is developing his people. When not attempting to save the world with renewable energy, Auston can be found with his AMAZING Wife Lindsey, 3 Children, and 3 dogs relaxing at a local South Carolina beach in the summer, and walking the beach in the winter.

Session VII B

Minimizing Risk

14:15

Refinancing

panel

45 min.

Refinancing motivations of project sponsors
Bridging the “no man’s land” between asset management and finance
Optimizing operational considerations around refinancing
The logistical works of a refinancing effort

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moderator

Sarath Srinivasan

kWh Analytics

Alain Halimi

Nomura

Camelia Miu

Nautilus Solar

Chaim Grushko

Soltage

Session VIII

Plenary Closing

15:00

The Offtaker Perspective

presentation

20 min.

Trends in sourcing renewable energy by corporations
Their efforts and toughest barriers in reaching climate goals
How renewable energy (especially solar) contributes to reaching carbon reduction goals
How energy suppliers can accommodate energy buyers in their needs (meeting of supply and demand)

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Mark Porter

CEBA

Mark Porter

Vice President of Programs

CEBA

In March 2016, Mark joined RMI's Business Renewables Center and worked to develop resources accelerating corporate transactions of renewable energy. And in February 2019, Mark moved from RMI to the newly created Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance (REBA) - now Clean Energy Buyers Alliance - to continue the work accelerating corporate procurement. Mark now supports corporates seeking to procure renewable energy for their own load and seeking to support their supply chain partner's impactful actions in the US and worldwide. Mark remained part-time with Rocky Mountain Institute when REBA was created, firstly leading a team in China work to accelerate renewable energy transactions for companies and their supply chain partners in-country. More recently, Mark is now helping to accelerate the deployment of sustainable aviation fuel production infrastructure through the Sustainable aviation Buyers Alliance, a joint venture between RMI and Environmental Defense Fund. Mark started working in renewable enregy in March 2007 with Ernst & Young's (EY) Project Finance and M7A group in the UK where Mark worked across Europe latterly in Canada and North America.

15:20

Realizing The Next Generation of Solar Assets

panel

40 min.

Developments in project financing
Challenges as the industry continues to grow and deploys more assets
Future proofing asset management practices

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moderator

Alfonso Barrenechea

Solarplaza

Etienne Lecompte

PowerHub

Andrew Griffiths

Nextracker

Sarie Lovell

Generate Capital

16:05

Closing Networking Drinks

Solarplaza Summit | Asset Management North America

Welcome Coffee and Registration

Welcome Remarks by the Conference Chairman

Solar’s Future in North America

Is the Solar Industry Ready for Adulthood?

Solar Market Outlook

Moving to the Next Level in Solar Deployment

Futureproofing Operations & Maintenance

Don't just centralize, integrate!

Improving Asset Value Through O&M Digitalization

O&M Contracting in a Consolidating Industry

Safeguarding Portfolio Value

Lessons Learned from the Growing Solar Fleet

Secondary Markets and M&A

Plant Resilience & Performance

Forecasting

Extreme Weather Impacts

Derisking Revenue

Merchant Hedging Strategies

Storage Asset Management: Managing Operations

Closing Panel Day 1

True Cost of O&M and Asset Management

Welcome Coffee and Registration

Welcome remarks by the Conference Chairman

Enabling a Holistic Transition

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Solar Asset Management

O&M Planning for Long-Term Applications

Design & EPC Considerations for Optimal Operations

Solar Insurance: Paradigm Shift in the Market

Managing Growth Sustainably

Managing Scale and Growth in DG sustainably

Large Scale Portfolio Growth

Optimizing Operations

Repowering

Minimizing Risk

Refinancing

Plenary Closing

The Offtaker Perspective

Realizing The Next Generation of Solar Assets