Solar Power Plants and Storage I: From Concept to Commissioning - Development and Building Strategies for PV Power Plants in a Changing Market

Dr. Benedikt Ortmann is Global Director for Origination & Business Development Projects for the BayWa r.e. Group. He has more than 20 years of extensive experience in the renewable energy sector. Before joining the BayWa r.e. team in 2011, he was CFO at S.A.G. Solarstrom AG in Freiburg and built up the international project business of SOLON SE in Berlin, developing it into a successful and highly profitable division. At BayWa r.e., his current focus is on the origination and development of new markets, technologies and on sales for the entire projects business, including wind, solar and new technologies. BayWa r.e. is one of the key companies driving renewable energy development worldwide. The company provides end-to-end project solutions, ongoing operations management and is an Independent Power Producer with an expanding energy trading business. The company has installed solar, wind and battery capacity of more than 6 GW. BayWa r.e,'s joint shareholders are BayWa AG, a globally successful business with revenues of €23.9 billion, and Energy Infrastructure Partners, a market leader in energy infrastructure investment that manages over €7 billion from global investors.

David Moser works at the intersection of AI, PV performance and bankability, designing decision-intelligence tools that translate research evidence into investable solar projects. As such, he is one of the early European practitioners of agentic AI for PV decision-making and bankability. He is the Managing Director of Becquerel Institute Italia. He actively participates in IEA PVPS Task 13 "Performance and Reliability of Photovoltaic Modules and Systems." He is Vice Chair of the Steering Committee of the European Technology and Innovation Platform for Photovoltaics (ETIP-PV). He has discussed the use of generative AI in the photovoltaic sector at various events (Solar Quality Summit 2024, 2025 and 2026, Solarplaza asset management conference in 2024, Intersolar 2025, PV Module Tech 2025).

Dr. Makibar has more than 14 years of experience in energy storage and renewable energy. He leads the UL Solutions' BESS advisory services in EMEA. He has experience leading and developing independent engineering and owner's engineering projects for developers, utilities and investors; as well as battery technology development projects for private companies and public national and EU funded R&D programs. He is focused on standalone and hybrid plants modelling, sizing, feasibility studies, battery and EMS technology development, fire and electrical safety assessments, conceptual design and technical specifications; as well as support in technical due diligence, construction, commissioning and testing phases.Prior to joining UL Solutions, he worked as senior energy storage consultant at RINA, an international technical advisor and as stationary storage team leader at CIDETEC Energy Storage, a Spanish leading battery research institute. Previously, he worked as researcher at the Solar Energy Institute of the Technical University of Madrid and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, focusing on grid integration of PV plants. He received a PhD in Solar Energy and Storage and holds a M.S. in Energy Engineering from the Technical University of Madrid, as well as a M.S. in Industrial Organization Engineering and a B.S. in Electronics Engineering from the University of the Basque Country.

Johannes Linder is Director System Design & Innovation at Belectric GmbH. Before he joint Belectric in 2013 as an International Project Manager delivering utility scale projects in Europe, Australia and India, he worked for several start-up-companies and developers in the industrie and was certified PV expert by TÜV Rheinland. Johannes regularly presents relevant topics in his field of expertise at highly cited conferences and trade magazines all over Europe.