Energy Transition Forum Global Summit Online 2021

Jeffrey is a Senior Advisor to Finadvice AG, one of the leading sustainable energy and sustainable technology advisors in Continental Europe, where he advises utilities, institutional investors, funds, industry associations, regulators and technology companies in Europe, North America and Asia.

With 27+ years of accomplishments in the global energy/infrastructure/renewables/sustainable technology sectors, Jeffrey has been on the senior leadership teams of various energy companies and funds in regulated, liberalized and energy transition markets. Jeffrey was also responsible for launching the EnviroTech Fund, the first EnergyTech fund in the world back in 1994.

Jeffrey is also a recognised thought leader on the energy transition and has published several articles/papers on the subject. He is also editor of two books: Managing Risk in Infrastructure Investments and Best Practice in Infrastructure Asset Management. Jeffrey has a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Science from the School of Foreign Service, Georgetown.

Jeffrey was one of the founders of the EnviroTech Venture Capital Fund, (1994) capitalized at $52 million, and sat on its Advisory Board and Technical Liaison Committee, the first fund of its kind in the world. Since this time, he has worked with innovative technology companies in the energy sector and is now launching an EnergyTech investment platform.

Jeffrey is also editor of two books: Managing Risk in Infrastructure Investments and Best Practice in Infrastructure Asset Management. In addition, he is the co-author of the White Paper on the “Development and Integration of Renewable Energy: Lessons Learned From Germany” and has authored several articles as well. Jeffrey has a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Science from the School of Foreign Service, Georgetown.

Ben Backwell is a leading commentator and strategist in the renewable energy sector. Prior to joining GWEC, he was a Managing Director at FTI Consulting, one of the world’s largest advisory firms, advising companies in the clean energy sector on strategy, communications, and government affairs, including work on a number of major M&A transactions.

Previously, Ben worked as a journalist and analyst for 20 years, covering energy policy and markets around the world. He helped design the SolutionWind campaign for the European Wind Energy Association (now WindEurope) ahead of COP21 in 2015, before joining FTI Consulting. He has taken part in the work of a number of industry organizations, including the board of GWEC, the IRENA Business and Investor Group, the IEA’s Renewable Energy Industry Advisory Board, Solar Power Europe, and others.

Ben is the author of two books on the wind industry as well as a number of reports and white papers on power markets and policy frameworks. His book Wind Power, the struggle for control of a new global industry,” has been described as the “definitive” story of the global wind industry.

He holds an MSc in Political Science from the Institute of Latin American Studies, University of London and speaks Spanish and Portuguese as well as his native English.

Global Wind Energy Council

GWEC is a member-based organisation that represents the entire wind energy sector. The members of GWEC represent over 1,500 companies, organisations and institutions in more than 80 countries, including manufacturers, developers, component suppliers, research institutes, national wind and renewables associations, electricity providers, finance and insurance companies.

GWEC works at the highest international political level to create a better policy environment for wind power. GWEC and its members are active all over the world, educating local and national governments and international agencies about the benefits of wind power.

Learn more at www.gwec.net

Zak Bentley is Americas editor at Infrastructure Investor, based in New York. Zak joined Infrastructure Investor in London in 2016 from Centaur where he was a reporter at their Clean Energy Pipeline title. He now leads Infrastructure Investor’s coverage across the Americas region and has a detailed knowledge and experience of the financial and regulatory aspects of the global infrastructure market. He is also editor of Infrastructure Investor’s weekly newsletter The Pipeline. Zak has a degree in English and History from the University of Birmingham.

Aldo is Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of the NextEnergy Capital Group. In this role, Aldo is responsible for the implementation of the investment strategy of the various listed and private equity funds managed by NextEnergy, ensuring the consistency and diligence of the investment approach across all strategies.

He contributes extensive experience acquired during 20 years in renewable energy and corporate finance. Aldo joined NextEnergy Capital as Chief Financial Officer in February 2008 and developed the Firm’s extensive experience in designing and executing innovative finance transactions. His role enhances NextEnergy Capital’s global relationship with leading lenders and investors in the renewable energy sector.

Prior to NextEnergy, he spent almost ten years at Morgan Stanley, lastly as Vice President in the London Investment Banking Department, where he held various financing and capital markets-related roles and closed several principal and structured finance transactions and M&A deals.
Aldo holds a master’s degree in Business and Economics from the Luiss University of Rome (1998) and prior to his banking career was an officer within the Academy of Guardia di Finanza in Italy. He is also a director of WiseEnergy International Limited and Trustee of the NextEnergy Foundation

NextEnergy Capital

Founded in 2007, NextEnergy Capital Group (“NEC”) is the leading investment and asset manager exclusively focused on the international solar sector. At present, NEC fund manages circa $1.6 billion and asset manages circa €4 billion of solar assets with experience across Italy, UK, USA, India and Namibia. It has invested in over 1,000MWp of operating solar assets spread across more than 200 individual utility-scale solar plants. NEC has a team of 165 employees spread across offices in the UK, Italy, USA and India. The Group has extensive experience in developing and investing in solar assets and leading technical and operating expertise. Through its asset management arm, WiseEnergy, which manages 1GW of the Groups assets plus an additional 900MW for third parties, NEC can draw upon unique technical and operating know-how and systems in managing and maximising the efficiency of operating solar assets and the provision of best-in-class services.

Founded NextEnergy Group (“NextEnergy”) in 2007.

NextEnergy is one of the leading specialist international investment and asset managers focused on the solar sector. It has c.200 employees across multiple offices, including London, Milan, Hyderabad, Madrid, New York, Luxembourg and Guernsey.

NextEnergy’s activities span investment management, operating asset management and asset development across the main solar infrastructure markets globally.

Since inception it has acquired over 325 utility-scale solar assets and currently manages c.$3bn in equity dedicated to the solar infrastructure sector across its three institutional funds (NextPower III, NextPower II - divested January 2022 - and NextEnergy Solar Fund). The installed capacity across the Group’s institutional investment vehicles exceeds 1.3GWp.

The Group’s operating asset management division, WiseEnergy, manages and monitors in excess of 2GWp of installed solar capacity spread across Europe, USA, Africa and Asia. WiseEnergy’s clients include assets owned by the Group’s funds and unaffiliated owners of operating solar plants.

NextEnergy Group

“NextEnergy Capital (NEC) was founded in 2007 to become a leading market participant in the international solar sector. Since its inception, it has been active in the development, construction and ownership of solar assets and currently has assets under management of c.$2.8bn across two investment vehicles. It most recently closed its international fund, NextPower III ESG, in January 2022 taking total capital raised to $896m and launched NextPower UK ESG with the UK Infrastructure Bank as a match funding cornerstone investor. NEC announced at the beginning of the year the divestiture of its private fund, NextPower II, focused on the Italian subsidised solar market.

In addition, through its sister company, WiseEnergy, it operates over 1.7GW of solar globally. To date NEC has invested into 350 solar plants for a capacity in excess of 2.9GW across its institutional funds, located in the US, UK, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, India and Chile.”

Christine Brockwell is responsible for establishing Partnerships with equity investors making direct investments in Aquila-managed renewable energy assets. In her role as Portfolio Manager, she has overall responsibility for the investment and performance of renewable energy income products. Christine has more than 15 years of relevant experience. Prior to joining Aquila Capital in 2018, she held positions at Global Capital Finance and UK Green Investment Bank, the world’s first green bank. As Head of Offshore Wind at the UK GIB, she had overall responsibility for the offshore wind sector and its related investments. Under her management, UK GIB invested for the first time in construction-phase offshore wind assets and made investment commitments of 550 million GBP. Christine holds a master’s degree in economics from the New York University and a bachelor’s degree in biology from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

James is a Founding Partner of Stanley Capital with responsibility for sustainability, people development and resource efficiency sector activities. He has co-led Stanley’s investments into Qinecsa and Noden.

James is a proven c-suite executive leader and private equity investor in global resource efficiency and tech sectors.

In Resource Efficiency, James is a world-class executive with more than 10 years of leadership experience, including roles in Shell’s low carbon business and Lightsource bp, across integrated markets in power, e-mobility, hydrogen, fuels and nature-based solutions following a successful sector-focused private equity investment career.
In Private Equity, James was previously co-head of European energy investing for Goldman Sachs’s principal investment activities after starting his career at Advent International. During his time with Lightsource bp he also founded one of the world’s largest emerging markets green infrastructure private equity funds, Eversource Capital.
James holds a degree in Atmospheric Physics from Oxford University.

Stanley Capital Partners

Founded in 2019 by James Brooks, Simon Cottle, and Patrick Hargutt, we partner with management teams create value through M&A, operational change, and technology enablement.

We are a fast-growing European-focused mid-market private equity firm with proven expertise in finding and building value locked up in the growth businesses of tomorrow.

Our firm brings enhanced efficiency through proprietary research and technology to identify investment opportunities that help deliver lasting transformation in Healthcare, Resource Efficiency, and Technology businesses with enterprise values of $250m to $2.5bn.

We transform growth sector businesses by partnering with management teams to modernise platforms and build enduring structural advantages for our portfolio companies.

We use a system-wide approach, leveraging our specialist skillset in sector research, M&A, and digital transformation to find and unlock sustainable value for our portfolio.
This strategy benefits our portfolio, its employees, and the wider system of stakeholders.

Anish is a Managing Director in the Private Markets team at bfinance and leads the firm’s coverage of the infrastructure asset class. Since joining bfinance in 2017, Anish has advised a broad range of clients globally in allocating ~$10bn to the infrastructure asset class, including infrastructure debt. Prior to joining bfinance, Anish gained over ten years’ experience as a corporate financier, advising on mergers and acquisitions, financings and valuations of assets in the infrastructure asset class. Under Anish’s leadership, bfinance was recognised in 2019 ＆ 2020 by Infrastructure Journal as ‘Best Investment Consultancy’ as recognised by leading market participants in the asset class.

bfinance

bfinance is an independent investment consultancy supporting institutional investors (pension funds, SWFs, financial institutions, etc.) with their investment implementation requirements, covering portfolio planning, manager search and selection and portfolio monitoring.

Keith joined Morrison & Co in April 2022 as Executive Director, Investor Solutions with responsibility for investor relations, capital raising and building the firm’s investor base in the UK and Europe. Prior to joining Morrison & Co, Keith spent 11 years with Sustainable Development Capital LLP, latterly as Head of Investor Relations, where he had responsibility for raising private and public capital for the group’s investment vehicles.

HRL Morrison &Co.

Morrison & Co is a leading specialist investment and asset manager, investing in infrastructure through both private and listed markets. Morrison & Co combines deep sector knowledge, asset management capability, and operational expertise to seek to deliver exceptional risk-adjusted returns for clients.

Simon is a Managing Director and Head of the Clean Energy Infrastructure’s European team. He has approximately 30 years of energy, power and infrastructure related experience. Prior to joining Capital Dynamics, Simon spent six years in the infrastructure investment team of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority where he was Global Head of Utilities, responsible for sourcing, executing and managing all utility related investments for ADIA. Prior to ADIA, Simon established and managed one of the first private equity funds focused on investing in the energy and infrastructure sectors in the Middle East. He started his career as a power developer both in the UK and internationally, before heading teams focused on power generation project financing and advisory at Sumitomo Bank and Standard Bank in London. Simon holds a bachelor’s degree in Electronic and Electrical Engineering from Swansea University.

Capital Dynamics

Capital Dynamics’ Clean Energy Infrastructure (CEI) is one of the largest renewable energy investment managers in the world with USD 6.4 billion AUM, and has one of the longest track records in the industry.

The CEI strategy was established to capture attractive investment opportunities in the largest and fastest growing sector of global infrastructure – proven renewable energy technologies, with a focus on utility-scale and distributed generation solar, wind, and storage. The CEI platform’s dedicated asset management business provides highly-specialized services to ensure optimal performance and value from projects. The CEI strategy currently manages 6.1 GW of gross power generation across more than 100 projects in the United States and Europe, and is one of the top 3 global solar PV owners.

Since the CEI platform’s inception in 2010, over 12 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions have been avoided as a result of the firm’s renewable investments. This is equivalent to the power needed to supply more than 2 million homes or passenger vehicles for one year. In 2019, the CEI strategy received top rankings from GRESB (the ESG benchmark for real assets) for commitment to sustainability.

Michael Ebner is Managing Director Infrastructure of KGAL Investment GmbH & Co. KG. He is responsible for the Infrastructure department which he started sixteen years ago: Today, KGAL is the German market leader for renewable energies investment schemes.

KGAL focuses on the composition of diversified portfolios of renewable energy projects in the wind power, solar power, and hydropower sectors in Europe. KGAL’s investment style has evolved from a pure brownfield approach to a value-add strategy creating superior returns for investors. As part of an active risk management, its portfolio composition targets a broad set-up across regions, technologies and project partners.

Michael Ebner has been with KGAL for more than twenty years, during which time his work has included development of investment models for structured financing, real estate and infrastructure funds. He holds a degree in banking and business administration.

Ryan is an Associate on BloombergNEF's Electrified Transport team based in London. He author’s research on electric vehicles and charging infrastructure, covering the technology, policy and economic factors shaping the global EV market.

Prior to joining BloombergNEF Ryan worked at Jaguar Land Rover for five years working on their electrification and mobility strategies. Ryan holds a degree in aerospace engineering from Liverpool University and a post graduate diploma in automotive technology from the University of Warwick.

BloombergNEF

BloombergNEF (BNEF), Bloomberg's primary research service, covers clean energy, advanced transport, digital industry, innovative materials and commodities. The Company helps corporate strategy, finance and policy professionals navigate, change, and generate opportunities

Hans Forssman has spent more than 30 years in the financial industry, within a wide variety of assets and strategies. Before joining the Skandia PEI team (Private Equity & Infrastructure) to head management of the infrastructure portfolio, he was responsible for procuring alternative investment mandates, creating and managing Skandia’s Thule Real Estate Fund as well as managing multi-assets funds within Skandia Investment Management.

Hans has also been responsible for setting up and managing hedge fund portfolios and private credit mandates for Skandia. Prior to joining Skandia, he was a senior Nordic equity research sales at Credit Agricole Cheuvreux Nordic serving Swedish and European institutional investors. Before this he spent around ten years in different roles in private banking with local Swedish banks.

During his career he has been based in Stockholm, but he has always had an international focus and a global network to gain experience and knowledge regarding international financial markets. Mr. Forssman has a BSc in Economics from the University of Lund, Sweden.

Lucy is Fund Head for Actis Energy Fund 5 (AE5), and is Board Chair of Lekela and Aela Energia, two of Actis’ renewable energy platforms. Lucy is also responsible for coordinating ESG and impact related efforts for the Energy Infrastructure Team, working closely with Actis’ specialist Responsible Investment Team. She chairs Actis’ Remuneration and Inclusion and Diversity Committees.

Prior to becoming Fund Head of AE5, Lucy was responsible for the Energy Infrastructure Teams activities in Africa (2017 to 2020) and renewable energy generation globally (2012 to 2017). She has 24 years of investment experience in growth markets, including five years of operational experience as a Project Director at Globeleq, a Fund 1 and Fund 2 portfolio company, in the business development team.

Lucy has led or been involved in deals across South Africa, Kenya, Brazil, Senegal, Egypt, Mozambique, Chile, Ghana, India, Nigeria and Tanzania.

Prior to joining CDC, Lucy worked at UBS Warburg from 1994 to 1999 as a Director in the fixed income division, latterly trading emerging market local currency bonds and interest rate derivatives in the South African, Czech and Greek markets.

Lucy holds an MA (Hons) degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE) from Trinity College, Oxford and an MBA degree (with distinction) from INSEAD.

Actis

Actis, is a leading global private capital investor focused on building sustainable infrastructure for a better tomorrow. Actis has raised US $19bn since inception and operates with sustainability at its core. Through deep operational experience, on the ground presence and a value-led approach, Actis delivers competitive returns for its institutional investors and transformational positive impact for the countries, cities and communities in which it invests, what it calls ‘Values-drive-value’.
Actis is a signatory to the United Nations backed Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI), an investor initiative developed by the UNEP FI and the UN Global Compact. The firm has been awarded the highest rating score, A* for the third consecutive year in the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) independent assessment.

For more information, please visit www.act.is

A former investment banker, internationally experienced in both emerging markets and western Europe, where he has advised on, structured and financed over £5 billion and 8,000MW of infrastructure energy projects. Previously Mark established and ran the project finance and mezzanine lending team for power and renewables at Investec and the cleantech & renewables sector for private equity firm LDC. Currently chair of the board of trustees and the investment committee for Pure Leapfrog, a community energy charity that provides funding and professional support for low carbon, high social impact projects.

GRIDSERVE

GRIDSERVE® is a tech-enabled international sustainable energy business which develops, builds, owns and operates solar energy and battery storage solutions for critical power infrastructure, including electric vehicle charging. GRIDSERVE’s team have been responsible for the development, construction and operation of more than a gigawatt of solar energy and energy storage solutions, including connecting over 100 utility-scale sustainable energy projects to the UK grid.

GRIDSERVE® will radically transform the experience of using electric vehicles, by delivering a UK-wide, sustainable energy powered, affordable network of convenient, customer-focussed Electric Forecourts,® that allow ultra-rapid charging of electric vehicles and deliver a fantastic customer experience.

Andy Kelly is a Senior Principal at AFRY (previously Pöyry) Management Consulting, and a senior member of AFRY’s Transactions team, leading projects providing market advisory services for European energy transactions, including commercial due diligence and asset valuation for renewable generation, interconnector and storage assets, and integrated utilities.

Andy has 20 years’ commercial experience in European wholesale power and commodity markets, and has a deep understanding of the commercial aspects of the electricity generation and trading markets. He has extensive experience of leading strategic and commercial activities in the wholesale and renewable markets, involving a range of stakeholders.

Andy leads AFRY’s commercial work in the Irish Electricity Market, supporting clients across the board in addressing the future evolution of the market, with a focus on the significant transition associated with the anticipated decarbonisation throughout the island of Ireland.

AFRY Management Consulting

AFRY is an international engineering, design and advisory company. We support our clients to progress in sustainability and digitalisation. We are 17,000 devoted experts within the fields of infrastructure, industry and energy, operating across the world to create sustainable solutions for future generations.

AFRY Management Consulting provides leading-edge consulting and advisory services covering the whole value chain in energy, forest and bio-based industries. Our energy practice is the leading provider of strategic, commercial, regulatory and policy advice to European energy markets. Our energy team of over 250 specialists offers unparalleled expertise in the rapidly changing energy markets across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and the Americas.

Daniel Kemp is the APAC Editor for PEI Group’s award-winning Infrastructure Investor, overseeing coverage of the Asia-Pacific region for the title. Based in Sydney, he joined PEI in February 2018 and has more than 10 years’ experience of writing about infrastructure and the built environment. Daniel is also the APAC Editor for Agri Investor, PEI’s agriculture-focused publication, and his previous roles include a stint as Features Editor with Construction News in London.

Verena Kempe is Head of Investment Management at KENFO where she is currently focussing especially on the expansion of its private markets activities. Before joining KENFO, she was the Co-Head of Private Equity at FERI Trust where she successfully invested for institutional investors and advised on tailor-made investment strategies. She started her career at WestLB and was a Director in Structured Finance/Global Energy in London. She holds degrees in Economic Geography and Business Administration.

Dr. Ayesha Khanna is Co-Founder and CEO of ADDO AI, an artificial intelligence (AI) advisory firm and incubator. She has been a strategic advisor on artificial intelligence, smart cities and fintech to clients such as SMRT, Singapore's largest public transport company, SOMPO, Japan's largest insurance firm, and Smart Dubai, the government agency tasked to transform Dubai into a leading smart city. In 2017, ADDO AI was featured in Forbes magazine as one of four leading artificial intelligence companies in Asia and Ayesha was named one of South East Asia's groundbreaking female entrepreneurs by Forbes magazine in 2018.

Khanna spent more than a decade on Wall Street developing large scale trading, risk management and data analytics systems. She was cofounder of the Hybrid Reality Institute, a research and advisory group established to analyse the social and economic impact of accelerating technologies. She directed the Future Cities Group at the London School of Economics, and has been a Faculty Advisor at Singularity University.

Khanna has been named one of Singapore's leading female entrepreneurs and a leading Asian fintech influencer by Fintech Asia. She also served on the Singapore Ministry of Education’s Steering Committee on future skills and applied learning for emerging industries.

Khanna is author of Straight Through Processing and co-author of Hybrid Reality: Thriving in the Emerging Human-Technology Civilization. She is the Founder of 21C GIRLS, a charity that delivers free coding and artificial intelligence classes to girls in Singapore.

As a partner in our Hamburg office, I offer our clients long-standing expertise in renewables, energy networks and complex infrastructure projects. I have been active in the energy sector since 2010, which has provided me with a profound inside knowledge as well as a good understanding of the energy business.
Here at Bird & Bird, I am co-head of our international Energy Networks and Grids Group and our international wind team as part of our international Energy and Utilities Sector Group.
I advise on all aspects of complex EPC and commercial contracts as well as (Corporate) PPAs. My clients range from developers, investors, asset managers, owners, IPPs, utilities to O&M service providers and manufacturers.
Amongst my core focal areas are wind (on- and offshore), solar, electricity grid (e.g. offshore interconnectors, HVDC transmission lines) and complex infrastructure projects (e.g. with regard to emobility). My advice is targeted at projects during their full lifespan (development, tendering/contracting, financing, construction, and commissioning), including claims and arbitration/litigation. My expertise encompasses advising on project-related corporate/MaA transactions, joint ventures and corporate restructurings.

Tobias Kurth studied Business Administration and Engineering with focus on clean-tech at the Cologne University of Applied Science. In the following decade, he worked in the renewable energy sector and gathered manifold experiences. He was responsible for the Europe wide sales of a medium sized German PV company and developed business models for the distribution of renewable energy without subsidies as well as feed-in-grids for renewable energy. As one of the managing directors of Energy Brainpool, he is focusing on the transition of the energy market with renewable energies. His work focuses on long term power price and market revenue scenarios and includes analysis, studies and trainings as well as consulting of companies on future business models.

Energy Brainpool

For more than 15 years Energy Brainpool is an independent energy market expert that focuses on the electricity and energy trading in Europe. The expertise of Energy Brainpool encompasses the analysis, forecasting and simulation of energy markets and prices, researched and scenario-based studies, and providing individual consulting services as well as training and expert seminars for the energy sector.

Matej Lednicky joined KGAL in 2006 and is responsible for sourcing, negotiating and closing investment transactions in the renewable energies space at KGAL. He initially joined as legal counsel and proceeded to join the Infrastructure Department in 2011 as a transaction manager. Matej was promoted to Head of Transaction Management Wind in 2013 and in 2016 to Head of Transaction Management.

Before joining KGAL, Matej worked as a Barrister for Noerr LLP Munich/Bratislava (Slovakia) and prior to that as a Junior Barrister for Free State of Bavaria, Munich.

Matej achieved the First State Law Examination in 2003, a Law Degree, from the Universities of Freiburg, Grenoble and Munich, he then proceeded in 2005 to achieve the Second State Law Examination in Munich.

KGAL

The KGAL Group is a leading independent investment and asset manager with an investment volume of €20.5 billion. The investments focus on long-term capital investments for institutional and private investors in real estate, infrastructure and aviation assets. The Group, founded more than 50 years ago, operates across Europe and has its registered office in Grünwald near Munich. Taking into account aspects of revenue and risk, 355 employees help achieve stable yields on a lasting basis.

A Senior Investment Manager within ISIF, Patrick originates and executes transactions under ISIF’s climate investment strategy which seeks to make investments that help position Ireland for a net zero carbon economy by 2050. To date he has structured over €300m under this mandate with a target to deploy an additional €500m over the coming years. With a background in advisory on energy markets, Patrick is currently a member of EirGrid’s DS3 advisory council which seeks to integrate 70% renewables on the Irish grid by 2030 in a secure and sustainable way. Patrick has an MPhil in Sustainable Development from Cambridge University and a BEng in Electronic Engineering from University College Dublin.

Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF)

ISIF is a sovereign development fund with a unique "double bottom line" mandate. It is one of the few sovereign funds globally with a mandate to support economic activity and employment, in addition to delivering commercial returns.

The Fund's investment strategy is to target its investments in five priority themes of key importance to the Irish economy: regional development, housing, indigenous businesses, climate change and sectors adversely affected by Brexit. The Fund will also maintain some flexibility to selectively take advantage of compelling opportunities of national significance which are consistent with the Fund’s mandate and do not fit under the Priority Themes.

The Fund will seek to invest in transactions where it can make a difference, where its characteristics can enable commercial investment transactions with positive economic impact and can make it an attractive “investor of choice” for company and project sponsors and advisors.

Lee joined Greencoat Capital in 2014 and oversees Greencoat Solar. He has 19 years’ experience in project finance and investment.

He joined Greencoat Capital from Zouk Capital where he spent six years focusing on solar PV. He played a key role in constructing Zouk's successful solar portfolio, and was involved in all stages of the cycle from origination and execution to management and exit.

Prior to Zouk, Lee was at Climate Change Capital in the carbon finance team. He joined Climate Change Capital from Investec where he had spent six years both investing in and advising on a range of debt and equity deals across the broader energy and social infrastructure space.

Lee holds a BA in Chinese and Management Studies from Durham University.

Greencoat Capital

Greencoat Capital LLP is a specialist infrastructure investment manager dedicated to the renewable energy sector. It has offices in London and Dublin and approaching £5bn under management, making it one of the largest such fund managers in Europe. It was founded in 2009 and currently manages fund strategies investing in wind, solar, bioenergy and renewable heat infrastructure.

Alex O’Cinneide is the founder and CEO of Gore Street Capital. He previously was a Managing Director and Head of Europe for Paladin Capital, a Senior Advisor to Kleinwort Benson Bank in London, served on the Investment Committee of IndoChina Capital. From 2006 to 2013, he was Head of Investments for Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s USD15 Billion SWF. Alongside those commercial activities he is a trustee of the London Irish Centre, a UNICEF Advisor, chairing their Climate Change Committee; a visiting researcher to the Energy Policy Group in Cambridge University, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and the Vice Chair of the board of the Biomimicry Institute. Alex is a published author and a regular speaker on venture capital and private equity, and is recognised as a global leaders in the field of renewable investing.

Rory O'Connor, Managing Director; BlackRock Renewable Power, Global Chief Investment Officer and Head of Europe. Mr. O'Connor is the Global Chief Investment Officer and leads the European investment and portfolio management activities for BlackRock's Renewable Power Group which currently has $5.8 billion of equity assets under management in the renewable power sector globally. Mr. O'Connor is also the CIO of BlackRock's Renewable Income products in the UK and Europe (Renewable Income UK, Renewable Income Europe), and also manages BlackRock's renewable power investments in Europe as part of BlackRock's Global Renewable Power portfolios. Mr. O'Connor has managed the investment by BlackRock in over 125 wind and solar projects in Europe since joining BlackRock 2011, at the establishment of BlackRock's Renewable Power Group. In 2019, in addition to his role as Head of Europe, Mr. O'Connor was appointed to the role of Global Chief Investment Officer for BlackRock Renewable Power.

Prior to joining BlackRock in 2011, Mr. O'Connor was Group Treasurer, Head of Corporate Finance, and a member of the Group Executive senior management team at NTR plc where he managed investment, financing, portfolio management and investment realization programs in renewable energy and sustainable waste management and infrastructure, including investments in and the sale of Airtricity and NTR's monetization of its toll road infrastructure assets. Previously, Mr. O'Connor served as Director of Strategic Planning, at Elan Corporation plc, and worked in the M&A Division of Morgan Stanley International in London.

Mr. O'Connor earned a first-class degree in International Commerce from University College Dublin in 1997 and a Master in Business Administration from INSEAD in 2001. Mr. O'Connor also graduated from the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School in 2009.

BlackRock

BlackRock is a global leader in investment management, risk management and advisory services for institutional and retail clients. BlackRock helps clients around the world meet their goals and overcome challenges with a range of products that include separate accounts, mutual funds, iShares® (exchange-traded funds), and other pooled investment vehicles. BlackRock also offers risk management, advisory and enterprise investment system services to a broad base of institutional investors through BlackRock Solutions®. BlackRock has a major presence in global markets, including North and South America, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Middle East and Africa.

Jonathan is Investment Director, Infrastructure at LPPI, the investment arm of the Local Pensions Partnership (LPP) and the Manager of the GLIL Infrastructure Fund. He joined LPPI in 2016 from the London Pension Funds Authority. Jonathan has led a number of infrastructure acquisitions for both LPPI and GLIL.

Prior to joining LPFA, Jonathan worked for Cardano, a fiduciary manager, where he was a Private Markets Analyst. Prior to this he was part of the infrastructure team at the Hinduja Group, an Indian multinational conglomerate. He holds a BA from University College London and MSc from Oxford.

Managing Partner at Conquest, Frédéric Palanque has more than 15 years of investment experience in the infrastructure sector, with an aggregate track record of USD+8bn equity-value closed transactions. Former global head of Mergers & Acquisitions at Schneider Electric Industries (a €27b-revenue-company in the sustainable energy and data infrastructure), and previously global head of Strategy and Mergers & Acquisitions at Areva Transmission and Distribution (a €5b-revenue-company in the energy infrastructure sector). Prior experience included investment director in the real estate investment fund Foncière des Regions, and advisory years in corporate finance and strategy at EY and the Coba Group.

Mr Palanque received a MSc in Management from the EM Lyon School of Business in France and is also an Alumni of the London Business School Corporate Finance executive Program.

Conquest

As an alternative asset management firm, we invest in and operate long-life, high-quality assets and businesses on behalf of our clients, which range from large pension funds to single-family offices. We provide global commerce with critical infrastructure and drive tomorrow's economy with sustainable power. We focus on Renewable Power, Energy and Utilities, Transport and Data Infrastructure. The firm has 15+ employees, €300m of assets under management across 17 investments in Europe.

Kunal is a Vice President and Head of Partnerships & Corporate M&A in Ørsted, responsible for M&A, structuring and financing in relation to Ørsted's offshore wind assets as well as corporate M&A activities. Kunal has been with Ørsted since 2012 primarily focussed on the farmdown activities within the company, looking to create and execute structures that attract new investors to the sector. Among other
projects Kunal has most recently overseen the divestment and financing of the Walney Extension, Hornsea 1 and Greater Changhua 1. Prior to joining Ørsted Kunal worked in the infrastructure and project finance team at Barclays, working across the renewables and UK PFI/PPP sectors. Kunal holds a degree in Economics and Philosophy along with being a CFA charterholder.

ØRSTED

Ørsted (formerly DONG Energy) is a leading energy company in Northern Europe and proud to be a world leader in offshore wind with 30 years of experience in developing, constructing and operating offshore wind farms. Ørsted has been successful in attracting financial partners to support its ambitious expansion strategy. Equity partners ranging from pension funds to large scale industrial companies outside of the utility sector, have become co-shareholders in Ørsted's offshore wind projects. This has been achieved by offering a unique partnership model to investors allowing for a customized risk / return profile matching the investment strategy of the individual partner.

Our major financial and industrial (non-utility) partners include:

Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), PGGM, PensionDanmark, PFA, PKA, Macquarie, Masdar, Marubeni Corporation, Sumitomo Corporation, the LEGO Group (Kirkbi), Green Investment Group (GIG), William Demant (Oticon),

Mary joined Mainstream in 2009 and has held the role of Group Chief Financial Officer since 2017. Mary leads the finance, corporate finance and commercial functions across the Group, helping to shape and drive the company's strategic direction. Mary sits on Mainstream’s Global Leadership Team, its Risk & Investment and Corporate Social Responsibility Committees. She was appointed to Mainstream's Board of Directors in 2019.

Mary has established a reputation for building world-class teams, implementing new reporting structures and systems across the company and for aligning the company’s finance strategies to support the business strategy and high growth.

Mary has graduate and post-graduate qualifications from UCD and is a Fellow Chartered Accountant (FCA) and Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA). She is an advocate and spokesperson on gender diversity and participated as a mentor for the Global Wind Energy Council’s (GWEC) Women in Wind programme in 2019.

Prior to joining Mainstream, Mary held senior-level positions in finance and corporate tax in PricewaterhouseCoopers and Trinity Biotech Plc.

Mainstream Renewable Power

Mainstream is the world’s only independent developer of wind and solar power with a global footprint. We are a pure-play wind and solar development company with an unrivalled track record in project delivery and success in competitive auctions around the world. Our global footprint extends across Africa, APAC and LATAM with over 10 GW in development. We are part of a joint venture that is the largest renewable energy company in Africa while in Chile, we are the largest and most successful developer of renewable energy in the country. Our credentials in offshore wind development are unparalleled, having developed, consented and sold at ready to build stage 3,450 MW in the UK. In Vietnam we are advancing the 800 MW Phu Cuong offshore wind project, currently the largest wind farm in South East Asia. Visit www.mainstremrp.com for more.

Patricia is an experienced Non-Executive Board Director with a breadth of institutional investment experience across infrastructure, private equity and sustainability. Over the past two decades, Patricia has been an investment manager at Macquarie and direct investor at the UK Government and PSP. 

Patricia’s dual ambitions of investing well and seeking to protect the planet led her to join the UK Government to co-create the world’s first green bank in 2011. 

Patricia is a Non-Executive Board Director at Legal and General Assurance Society Ltd and Chair of the Rem/NomCo at Aquila European Renewables AERI plc. Patricia is a Non-Executive Independent Investment Committee Member at GLIL, investing in UK infrastructure on behalf of its pension plan members, and at Old Mutual’s African Infrastructure Investment Fund 4. SHE'S A FELLOW OF CHAPTER ZERO AND CO-FOUNDER OF REAL ASSETS INFRANEDS NETWORK.

Patricia began her career in finance with Morgan Stanley. She holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Cambridge University.

James Schaefer is a Senior Managing Director within Guggenheim’s Power, Energy and Renewables team and covers a number of electric and gas utility and renewable energy accounts for Guggenheim Securities. Mr. Schaefer brings to Guggenheim extensive expertise in energy‐related mergers, acquisitions and financing, developed over his more than 20 years in the financial services industry. Prior to joining Guggenheim, Mr. Schaefer lead the Global Energy, Power and Renewables Practice at Blackstone. Prior to Blackstone, Mr. Schaefer was a Managing Director, Global Head of Power & Renewable Energy at UBS Investment Bank. Prior to UBS, Mr. Schaefer worked in the power groups at Lehman Brothers, Salomon Brothers and Chase. Mr. Schaefer has completed approximately $60 billion of strategic advisory assignments and over $30 billion of lead managed financings. Mr. Schaefer graduated with honors in Finance and Accounting from the University of Michigan's MBA program and cum laude in Finance from the University of Vermont.

Guggenheim Securities

Guggenheim Securities Power, Energy and Renewables group provides clients with the expertise and experience of a premier M&A advisor, with nine senior bankers with sector head experience at top Wall Street firms. The 63-member team has advised on over $500 billion of power M&A and financing transactions (includes transactions prior to joining Guggenheim). Guggenheim Securities is the investment banking and capital markets business of Guggenheim Partners. Guggenheim Securities offers services including Advisory, Financing, Sales and Trading, and Research. Guggenheim Securities is headquartered in New York, with additional offices in London, Chicago, Boston, Atlanta, San Francisco, and Houston. Guggenheim Partners is a global investment and advisory firm with a track record of delivering results through innovative solutions. With over 2,400 professionals based in offices around the world, our commitment is to advance the strategic interests of our clients and to deliver long-term results with excellence and integrity.

Laurent Segalen is a franco-british banker specialised in Renewable Energy transactions. He is the founder of Megawatt-X, the London-based world's largest platform for investing in Wind and Solar assets, which he currently heads. His carrier spans over 25 years, from Director at PWC, Fund Manager at Natixis/Mirova to Managing Director Clean Commodities at Lehman Brothers then Nomura. He was awarded Environmental Deal of the Year 2006 by Environmental Finance.

Laurent Segalen co-hosts the REDEFINING ENERGY podcast, ranked by player.fim among the best ENERGY Podcasts.

Karl is a Managing Director of energy transition in Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets. He is an investment committee member and oversees the dedicated renewable energy fund business and investments in the broader energy transition sector. Karl joined the Green Investment Bank in 2012 where he led the fund management business, having previously spent three years advising on and developing energy and infrastructure transactions with Hideal Partners. Prior to this role, Karl spent four years with Babcock and Brown in principal equity investment, and also held similar positions at a number of top level institutions. He has extensive experience in principal equity investment, debt investments and financial advisory across the energy and infrastructure sector.

Karl has a Bachelor of Finance with Honours from the University of Melbourne, Australia.

Green Investment Group

Green Investment Group is a specialist in green infrastructure principal investment, project delivery and the management of portfolio assets, and related services. Its track record, expertise and capability make it a global leader in green investment, dedicated to supporting the growth of the global green economy.

The business was launched initially by the UK Government in 2012 as the first institution of its type in the world. The organisation was acquired by the diversified financial group Macquarie Group Limited in 2017, creating one of Europe’s largest teams of dedicated green infrastructure investors.

For more information, visit www.greeninvestmentgroup.com

David Swindin has been Head of EMEA at Cubico Sustainable Investments since its inception at the beginning of 2015, when the business was spun out of Banco Santander. Cubico is a leader and global investor in renewable energy owned jointly by Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and PSP Investments. The company has a portfolio of around 5 GW, comprising wind, solar PV, CSP and transmission line technologies at various project lifecycle stages. It focuses on operational excellence and tends to hold assets for their whole lives, investing across the entire value chain from development and construction to operations. As of 2021, Cubico has renewable energy projects in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay, the United States, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom and Australia.

Previously, David was Head of Credit Markets for Asia Pacific at Santander and was responsible for debt and equity financings across the region. Before moving to Hong Kong in 2011 to assume this role, David was the Global Head of Asset Structuring at Santander, based in London, focusing primarily on equity investments in renewable energy, shipping and aviation transactions. The earlier part of his career was spent advising multinational corporations and governments in structuring complex financing transactions.

Cubico

Founded in May 2015, Cubico Sustainable Investments is a leading investor in, and long-term owner and operator of, global renewable energy projects. Cubico is jointly owned by Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and PSP Investments. Its global portfolio in eleven countries has an installed gross capacity of around 3.2 GW.

Cubico is headquartered in London and has offices in Uxbridge (UK), São Paulo and Fortaleza (Brazil), Milan (Italy), Stamford (US), Mexico City (Mexico), Madrid (Spain), Lyon (France), Sydney and Melbourne (Australia), Montevideo (Uruguay) and Bogotá (Colombia). The company leverages its strong local presence with a unique combination of in-house business development, operations, financial, commercial and technical expertise.

The Cubico team believes that the generation of electricity from renewable sources is not only socially responsible, economically beneficial and sustainable, but is also essential for protecting the environment for current and future generations.

Patrick is the founder of Rhynland and has 20 years of power industry experience. At Rhynland he leads the development of dozen storage and solar + storage opportunities in the Northeastern US and supports investors and owners of renewables, energy storage and traditional thermal assets.

He spent nearly 10 years with Starwood Energy where he led investments in natural gas, coal and biomass-fired power plants with a total capacity of more than 2.5 GW, the creation of a $100mm battery storage partnership with Stem, Inc., and oversaw Starwood Energy’s investment Nautilus Solar Energy.

Prior to joining Starwood Energy, Patrick was an investment banker with Citigroup and a corporate strategy analyst in the Bangkok office of Tractebel EGI (now Engie). Patrick started his career as an oil & gas lawyer with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in London.
Patrick holds an M.B.A. from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and law degree from the University of Leuven (Belgium).

Rhynland

Rhynland is a project development and advisory firm focused on renewable and traditional power assets as well as other infrastructure opportunities.

Recent assignments include supporting investors (mainly non-US asset managers and insurance companies) on direct investments and co-investments in US power and renewable opportunities with commercial and strategic advice. In additional, Rhynland assists in raising and structuring debt financing for renewable projects, and providing transaction support. Rhynland also works on select other infrastructure opportunities such as toll roads.

Wiebe Wakker is a sustainable adventurer known from his journey in an electric car from the Netherlands to New Zealand. With his project ‘Plug Me In’ Wiebe wanted to educate, inspire and accelerate the transition to a low-carbon future.
His journey crossed 34 countries in 1.222 days and was completely powered by strangers who offered him energy to bring him and his Blue Bandit to the other side of the world.

Wiebe talks about how he dealt with challenges along the way, what he learned from hundreds of people he met in various parts of the world and inspires with motivating lessons learned on the road.

In 2010 Constantin founded IKAV, an energy infrastructure Manager. Under his leadership IKAV has expanded its franchise to solar (PV & CSP) - wind-, geothermal and recently conventional energy. IKAV combining financial and technical expertise with local presence. Constantin was the key driver for the geographical expansion from Germany to Spain, Italy, France, Portugal and the United States managing more than $2.5bn globally via its umbrella fund (IKAV SICAV FIS) and managed accounts.

Before 2010, Constantin worked at Credit Suisse, London, developing strategic and tactical investment solutions for insurance companies and pension funds.

Prior to that he was advising the same type of investors on complex financial instruments within the framework of HGB, IFRS and regulatory law at KPMG, Cologne.

Constantin holds a degree as Diplom-Kaufmann from the University of Bremen.

IKAV

IKAV is an independent energy infrastructure fund with a strong and proven track record of building long term partnerships with its clients. Today, IKAV has more than Euro 1.5bn of renewable and energy efficiency assets under management. With over 50 real asset purchases performed to date, IKAV creates value for its investors through a rigorous development and investment process, which reflects its extensive expertise in the asset class. Real assets are local assets. That’s why IKAV strongly believes in having a regional presence in the countries where it invests. There are offices and local employees in 5 countries throughout Europe. Over 60% of the +60-person strong team has an engineering background in energy infrastructure. Every one of IKAV’s employees is driven to maximize the benefits generated for its clients. IKAV’s local subsidiaries serve some of the most respected investors and asset managers and are currently providing operations and maintenance services to 400MW of renewable energy assets and a growing number of energy efficiency investments.

Dan is a Partner at Foresight and has over twenty-two years of experience of climate and sustainable finance, in particular in infrastructure and real assets. He has worked at different times in Europe, North America and Asia.
Dan is co-Manager of Foresight Energy Infrastructure Partners (“FEIP”), an c.€850m energy transition infrastructure fund. FEIP invests into all the necessary current and future components of decarbonised energy systems, including renewable energy generation, “flexible” technologies such as energy storage, and transmission and distribution assets. Previously he established Foresight’s Sustainable Land and Food team to build strategies in forestry, sustainable and regenerative agriculture, new forms of sustainable food production, ocean-based climate solutions and carbon removal projects.

He has written on the sustainability transition in numerous publications, such as the Financial Times.

Prior to Foresight, Dan worked at Sindicatum, a dedicated clean energy investing firm. After working on a capital raise of c.$300 million primarily from US institutional investors, he focused on the fund deployment in South East Asia, China and India. Between 2000 and 2007 Dan worked for EY. Dan is a chartered accountant; he holds an MSc in Sustainable Leadership from CSEM (Distinction) and a BA in Modern History from the University of Bristol.

Foresight Group

Foresight Group is a sustainability-led, global alternatives investment manager, with AUM in excess of £12 billion. Foresight’s infrastructure investment strategies are set in the context of the long-term trends shaping society and our relationship with the planet, to drive meaningful impact towards the key sustainability challenges of our time.
Foresight’s Infrastructure team has completed over 450 infrastructure investments since it was founded in 2007, with a core focus on investing across the spectrum of clean energy infrastructure. In recent years, Foresight has expanded its investment proposition to focus more widely on sustainable infrastructure and real asset themes, including social infrastructure, digital connectivity, clean transport solutions, sustainable food production and natural capital.

Specialising in fundraising, deal origination, investment execution, and ongoing commercial and technical management of over 330 infrastructure assets, Foresight’s dedicated, multi-disciplinary fund teams are trusted by over 200 institutional investors and provide robust reporting, tailored to investors’ needs.