solar summit: mexico

Since 2012, Mr. Arelle has been the President and Co-Founder of ILIOSS, Mexico’s largest commercial solar provider. He has helped grow ILIOSS from a three person team into an established brand in the Mexican energy industry, eventually leading to its acquisition by SolarCity in August 2015. Mr. Arelle remains President of SolarCity ILIOSS, heading the first international expansion by America’s number one solar provider. He previously served as President of Camara Nacional de la Vivienda, where he led several community and social projects and participated as Member of the Board of different private and public organizations. He has been awarded several distinctions, including General Motors' Award to the Best Supplier of the Year Worldwide in 1997, the National Housing Award from the Government of Mexico in 2002, and the Premio Nacional de Obras CEMEX for the best housing project of the year in 2006.

Karin Berardo, leads emerging market solar business development and operations, and also financing solutions for M+W Group’s solar activities worldwide.  Prior to M+W, Ms. Berardo founded SIRES Advisors, where she drew on over 20 years of experience in structured finance, fund management, organizational management and policy to provide financing solutions to clients in the renewable energy, water and sustainable agriculture sectors.  Ms. Berardo also co-founded CleanPath Ventures, where she raised capital for and managed a development equity fund to bring 10 MW of utility and commercial projects to the US market; and she spent 10 years at real estate and renewable energy company MuniMae, where she was instrumental in closing over $500 million in institutional investment funds in the US, Africa and the Middle East, while also working in Structured Finance, Financial Risk Management and Corporate Planning.  Ms. Berardo holds a Masters in Public Policy, an International Masters of Business Administration, and a Bachelor of Arts in Latin American Studies, all from the University of Chicago.

Dr. Stefan Blum is Managing Director of DEG’s Representative Office in Mexico. DEG is part of KfW Group, in turn owned by the German state and with assets of almost 500 bn EUR one of the largest development banks in the world. With its office in Mexico City celebrating its 12th anniversary this year, DEG offers long-term financing via equity, mezzanine and senior loans. Key sectors include infrastructure, (renewable) energy, manufacturing, agro-industry, financial sector and private equity. Stefan has 10 years of experience in project and development finance. Prior to his assignment in Mexico, he has been with DEG’s Manufacturing Industry/Services Department, covering a wide range of sectors. He studied Economics and Business Administration and holds a Doctoral Degree in Economics. From 1994 to 1996, he worked for a social project in Tijuana/Mexico.

Álvaro del Río Garcia has been involved in the energy sector for nearly 7 years with a strong background in the PV technical area, strategic planning and international business expansion. Mr. del Río Garcia manages all aspects of Gestamp Solar business and development in Mexico as the Head of the Mexican subsidiary. Prior to this, he worked as Managing Director in Martifer Solar Mexico, one of the major milestones achieved during his time in this position has been the completion of the 38.7 MW Aura Solar plant in La Paz, Mexico. Mr. del Río Garcia holds a Master degree in Civil Engineering with a focus in Renewables and Environment from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. He is fluent in Spanish, English and German with a working proficiency in the Portuguese language.

Hector Garcia has nearly ten years of international experience in engineering, project development and management within the solar industry. In his current position as Branch Manager for Mexico, he leads all aspects of business and development for Martifer Solar in the Mexican market. Before his current role, Hector worked as the Business Development Manager for Martifer Solar, responsible for all development efforts in South America. Prior to this, Hector worked as an International Project Developer for Würth Solar GmbH, responsible for the markets of Spain, Italy and Mexico. He holds a MSC in Industrial Engineering from Universidad Europea de Madrid and a Master in Energy Law from Instituto de Empresa in Madrid. Hector is fluent in Spanish, English and has a working knowledge of the Portuguese language.

Carlos is primarily responsible for sourcing and managing assets in the energy generation and electricity transmission sectors. Carlos joined Macquarie in 2012, where he had several roles in the Investment Banking division (Macquarie Capital), and more recently in the Funds Group (MIRA). Carlos has developed his expertise in infrastructure across Latin America, participating mainly in Power, Telecom, and Social Infrastructure transactions across Mexico, Chile, Brazil, and Peru. Previously, Carlos worked as a management consultant at Accenture, consolidating finance processes upon the completion of M&A transactions for Telecom and Transportation companies. Carlos has broad international experience working in markets across Europe, India, South Africa, and the US. Carlos holds a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering from ULPGC University in Spain, and a MBA from Columbia University in New York.

 

As Sr. Director of Business Development & Sales, Alejo Lopez leads NEXTracker’s business development and sales team for Mexico and Latin America. Alejo is an expert in the Latin American energy markets where he has worked extensively for over a decade.  Prior to joining NEXTracker in 2016, Alejo held the post of Country Manager for Hanwha Q CELLS in Mexico, with primary responsibilities of project development, M&A and PPA sales.  Alejo was also a key member of Siliken USA Distributed Generation managing project development and structured finance after working as an advisor with cutting-edge clean-tech ventures including Combined Power, ElectraDrive and others in Silicon Valley.
 
Alejo, a native of Argentina, started his career running large numerical models, fracking wells and poking at the Earth in what he calls being a Reservoir Engineer in Patagonia. He left the dark side after 6 years to pursue an MBA in Finance at the University of San Francisco where he graduated with honors. Alejo also holds an MSe in Petroleum Engineering from UNC Argentina and currently lives in Mexico City.

• Electric Engineer by National Autonomus University of Mexico UNAM).
• Master's degree in Energy Sciences University of Perpignan, France.
• Cooperation at Energy Research Center of Spain – Almeria Solar Platform (CIEMAT-PSA) –   Madrid, Spain.

Donaji Martinez has collaborated in private and public companies in the energy sector in Mexico as: Regulatory Energy Commission (CRE), BIMBO, AMDA, Energías Renovables del Istmo and other energy enterprises as adviser.

As business development manager in ACCIONA Energy Mexico, she is responsible on management of new business opportunities to renewable development including WIND and SOLAR projects.

Mr. Mills has more than fifteen years experience in the renewable energy and photovoltaic (PV) industries. He has comprehensive experience in all segments of the solar industry, from system integration through distribution to manufacturing and strategic new business development. In addition to CEO of eSun Energy, he currently is a photovoltaic industry consultant with clients throughout Latin America and the US who are involved in all levels of the value chain. Jsun is an international PV instructor and course coordinator for the renowned renewable energy training organizations Solar Energy International and the International Renewable Resources Institute. He has trained over 800 professionals in PV and has personally worked with hundreds of solar businesses on thousands of projects throughout his career. His skills have proven to be invaluable to clients such as SMA America where he developed the first nationwide manufacturer based technical sales and technical training program to successfully expand the nascent grid connected PV system market in California and other key emerging US states. Jsun brings intelligent vision, entrepreneurial experience, keen business sense and technical expertise to every endeavor. With education in both business and environmental sciences, he clearly understands the bottom lines of profitability and taking the leadership role in promoting environmental responsibility in the marketplace.

Marian Aguirre Nienau is an Economist and has a Masters Degree in Financing and Economics with the Universitat de Catalunya, currently she works as Head of Power Projects at the Banco Nacional de Comercio Exterior, S.N.C. (BANCOMEXT) which is a foreign trade development bank owned by the Mexican Government. A good deal of her past and current work is focused in the financing of power and sustainable projects. Marian’s work is based in the financing of projects throughout project finance, structured finance and guarantees, among other financial schemes. Some of her recent work in Bancomext includes the structuring of wind farm projects, hydropower plants, combined cycles, biogas and photovoltaic parks.

ith more than 22 years of experience in the Mexican energy sector, Hector Olea has actively participated in the promotion and development of renewable energy in the country. Since 2004, Hector Olea is President and CEO of Gauss, a business development firm specialized in the energy sector. Gauss activities are focused in the identification, development and structuring investment opportunities in renewable energy projects, which accounts for more than US$700 million in greenfield projects. Before, he acted as CEO of Suez in Mexico, where he led its transformation into a nationwide energy company. From 1995 to 2000, Mr. Olea acted as Chairman of the Mexican Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE). He is President of the Asociación Mexicana de Energía Solar Fotovoltaica (Asolmex) and Chairman of the Mexican Section of the Mexico-US Business Energy Council. He is an economist from ITAM (Mexico) and an earned his Master and PhD in Economics at Rice University (US). In 1989, he was distinguished with the Banamex Economics Award.

Con más de 22 años de experiencia en el sector energético mexicano, Héctor Olea ha participado activamente en la promoción y desarrollo de las energías renovables en el país. Desde 2004, Héctor Olea es Presidente y CEO de Gauss, una firma de desarrollo de proyectos especializada en el sector energético de México. Las actividades de Gauss se centran en la identificación, desarrollo y estructuración de oportunidades de inversión en proyectos de energías renovables, lo que ha permitido inversiones por más de US$700 millones. Antes, se desempeñó como CEO de Suez en México, donde dirigió su transformación en una empresa nacional de energía. De 1995 a 2000, fue Presidente de la Comisión Reguladora de Energía de México (CRE). Actualmente funge como Presidente de la Sección Mexicana del Consejo de Negocios de Energía México-Estados Unidos y Presidente de la Asociación Mexicana de Energía Solar Fotovoltaica (Asolmex). Héctor Olea es economista del ITAM (México), obtuvo su Maestría y Doctorado en Economía en la Universidad de Rice (EEUU). En 1989, fue distinguido con el Premio Banamex de Economía.

Robert Powell is CEO and Founder of Envolta, a company dedicated to the development, construction and financing of turn-key solar PV installations in Mexico since 2012. Envolta has recently been recognised by GTM Research as the leading third-party financier of distributed generation in the country. Previously, Rob was CEO and Founder of Verde Energy, a solar lead generation and finance company serving US solar customers.

As the President and CEO of Shoals Technologies Group, Dean Solon is responsible for running all facets of the business. Dean has a proven executive management track record and over 20 years of experience driving sales and technological growth in the solar industry. Dean founded Shoals in 1996 with partners and in the year 2000, bought all their shares in the business and changed the course of Shoals from manufacturing for the automotive industry to the solar industry. While solar was in it’s infancy, Dean saw an opportunity to bring his extensive automotive knowledge and experience to a fledgling industry. Prior to the founding of Shoals, Dean worked in technical sales at multiple automotive tier one and tier two companies. During that time, Bosch Automotive approached Dean with a request for him to start his own manufacturing business and become their sole vendor for automotive brush cards. This request was the catalyst for Dean to found Shoals Technologies Group and supply Bosch Mexico with product for many years. Dean attended college at Purdue University in 1988 and studied mechanical engineering.

Howard Wenger serves as SunPower president, business units, with global responsibility for the company’s residential, commercial and utility power plant business.  He is currently focused on leading the company’s evolution to become a customer-centric energy company, combining distributed generation and energy services.  Wenger also serves as president of SunPower Corporation, Systems, the company’s turn-key power systems group.  Previously, he was executive vice president and a member of the board of PowerLight Corporation, which was acquired by SunPower, and he held management positions at PG&E, AstroPower and Pacific Energy Group, a company he co-founded.  Wenger is passionate about making the sun the leading source of energy globally.  He has worked for more than 30 years in the solar and utility power field, authored dozens of papers and public policies to mainstream solar, and developed software programs and tools that are still used today to design and engineer solar power systems.  Wenger holds a B.A. in Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and an M.S. in Engineering from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and currently serves as a board member of Advanced Energy Economy.

Stephen Lacey is Editor-in-Chief of Greentech Media. He manages a team of writers focused on solar, storage, efficiency, mobility, and grid modernization. He’s also host of the Energy Gang podcast, a weekly roundtable on the latest energy and environmental news.