Floating Solar Power I: Expanding Onshore and Emerging Offshore

Ivar Blekastad is the COO of Ocean Sun, a listed company on the Oslo Stock Exchange. Ocean Sun is a leading FPV supplier of a unique, patented Floating PV technology. Prior to joining Ocean Sun in 2022 Ivar was one of the founders of the Norwegian ingot and wafer manufacturer Norwegian Crystals. He served in multiple roles as COO, CCO and CPO in the period 2012 to 2022. Ivar has extensive PV experience since 2008 when he joined REC Solar and was head of Module production in Singapore. Prior to joining the Solar business Ivar worked as Managing director and Plant manager in the Automotive business for Hydro Aluminium. Ivar holds a MSc in Reliability and Risk analysis from the University of Stavanger.

Anna Heimsath (female), is head of the department "Analysis of Modules and PV Power Plants" at Fraunhofer ISE. In the department, more than 70 scientists, technicians and students conduct research on novel applications and improved operation of PV technologies. Anna Heimsath has been researching the further development of solar technologies for more than 15 years. She studied production engineering at the University of Bremen and later earned her doctorate in physics, supported by scholarships from the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the Fraunhofer TALENTA programme. She has many years' experience in the acquisition and management of national (BMWI, BMBF) and international research projects (e.g. EU projects, bilateral projects with China and India) as well as participation in standardisation committees. She leads the IEA PVPS Task 13 Subtask 2 performance and durability of PV applications, including activities on floating pv, agrivoltaics, bifacial+tracker and digitalization.

Jason Sheridan is a senior research analyst with the Clean Energy Technology team at S&P Global Commodity Insights. His research covers across clean energy technologies, with a focus on delivering solar PV supply chain and market insights to S&P Global clients. Prior to joining the Clean Energy Technology team in 2021, he gained multiple years' experience within the public and private energy sector. He has worked on topics ranging from residential solar energy and storage development, electricity network distribution policy and wholesale energy market abuse investigations. He holds a Bachelor of Science in environmental science and health from Dublin City University and a Master of Science in sustainable energy and green technology from University College Dublin.

Maria is an hydrodynamic and mooring engineer with 7 years of experience in the Offshore Renewables industry and the Floating Solar industry. She holds a PhD in experimental hydrodynamics. She then developed extensive experience in floating wind and floating PV panels. Maria joined the Ocean Engineering team of INNOSEA in 2019 and she now works on various renewable energy projects as a project manager. The main focus of her work is floating PV panels, and she is in charge of the FPV team at INNOSEA. She has been involved in all phases of floating PV development, from R&D works through industrial projects, acting as a project engineer and project manager.

Magnus Johannesen is a Mechanical Engineer with a Master of Science degree from NTNU. He has specialized in fluid mechanics, with a strong focus on numerical analysis and computational fluid dynamics. He is currently leading the DNV JIP on anchoring and mooring of floating photovoltaic (FPV) systems. This effort is aimed at standardizing the development of FPV systems across the industry. In his role as a technical advisor, Magnus has conducted document reviews and verification processes for numerous floating PV systems. He is proficient in evaluating all aspects of designing a systems response to environmental forces, and he has extensive experience using computational fluid dynamics and motion response software for independent analyses.

Mr. Vozza is an economist with an MBA from BI Norwegian School of Management. He is a seasoned business development and strategy leader with 2 decades of international experience from top tier global energy companies and consultancy. He is an accomplished and dynamic professional with a passion for renewable energy and sustainable technologies. As Chief Commercial Officer for SolarDuck, his mission is to electrify the world with offshore floating solar.