Pierre Dechamps
Adviser – Energy and Climate Change
EUROPEAN COMMISSION - Bureau of European Policy Advisers, Belgium

 

Kenneth J. Fergusson
Senior Adviser
UCG Partnership, UK

Kenneth J. Fergusson BSc(Eng), CEng, FIMechE, FIMMM Graduated at Imperial College in 1959, with 1st Class Honours in Mechanical Engineering. Joined ICI Agricultural Division; 9 years experience in high pressure synthesis plant operation, design and project management (ammonia, methanol and urea), gaining first-hand knowledge of many processes then at the "sharp end" of technology, and now relevant to gasification, such as steam reforming, shift conversion, CO2 removal and handling, and energy recovery.

In 1968, joined RTZ (now Rio Tinto) and spent 17 years in project management and evaluation of mining, smelting and energy undertakings worldwide, latterly at Chief Executive level. It is noteworthy that, while in charge of the Technical Services Group in London, in the late 1970's, a study was carried out into possible means of accessing the energy contained in the vast occurrences of coal, being delineated by oil and gas drilling under the North Sea. The conclusion was that underground gasification was the most promising, but it was judged to be too far in the future to justify continuing work at that time.

Attended the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School in 1984 and, after leaving RTZ, spent the last 15 years up to retirement in 2001 as Chief Executive of enterprises in process, energy and transportation, in both the private and public sectors. Appointed Chief Executive of the Coal Authority in 1997, fortuitously coinciding with the European multinational UCG test project at Teruel in Spain, and was then responsible for the initiative which set up the UCG programme in UK, under the auspices of the Coal Authority, commencing in 1999.

After retirement, contributed to energy policy work in DTI, in preparation for the 2002 Energy White Paper.

President of the Combustion Engineering Association 2002 - 2006, with various lectures and publictions on energy matters, and attendance at gasification, environmental and other energy conferences, continually seeking to raise the profile of the potential for UCG as a major domestic, cost-effective and clean source of energy for the UK. Nominated in January 2008 as Senior Adviser to the UCG Partnership, principally to help with speaking assignments.

Liveryman and Court Assistant of the Worshipful Company of Engineers.

Tom Ferreira
Communication Consultant
Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (Pty) Ltd, South Africa

Tom Ferreira has been involved with the South African company Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (Pty) Ltd (PBMR) since its establishment in 1999, his main focus being media liaison, stakeholder communication and dialogue with interested and affected parties. He is one of South Africa’s most experienced communication practitioners and the author/publisher of books on corporate publications and crisis communication. He has also won numerous awards, among which an honorary award for his contribution towards corporate communication in South Africa and an Award of Excellence from the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC).  He firmly believes that pebble bed modular reactor technology is going to redefine the energy future.

Robin Francis
CEO
Voller Energy Group PLC, UK.

Dr Robin Francis is the Chief Executive Officer of Voller Energy Group PLC. Since joining Voller as Chief Technology Officer in July 2006. Robin has led the development of Voller's 1 Kw fuel cell system, called "Emerald" which operates
on commercial LPG fuel. He took over the Chief Executive role in August 2008.

Prior to joining Voller, Robin was a senior member of the Energy Sector consulting team at Sagentia Ltd, a leading technology consultancy based in Cambridge. At Sagentia Robin was responsible for providing strategic business and technology advice on all aspects of the energy sector to a a range of clients, from blue chip multinationals such as BASF, Bayer, and Shell, to small spin-out companies.

Robin has a Ph.D in Chemistry from Oxford University where he specialized in the synthesis and characterization of porous catalytic materials.
Robin is the author of numerous scientific papers and is the holder of several patents.

Chris Gadomski
Managing Editor, Nuclear
New Energy Finance, USA

Chris Gadomski, Managing Editor, Nuclear at New Energy Finance based in New York, directs the firm’s nuclear energy research team in developing a robust methodology for forecasting global nuclear build activity, decommissioning rates and power output.
Gadomski has over 25 years experience in the energy sector consulting for leading multinational firms and institutions including the United Nations Development Program, World Bank, U.S. Department of Energy, and UNDP/Global Environment Facility.

Gadomski joined the New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies faculty in September 2005 where he teaches graduate courses on Energy Policy, the Environment, and the Economics and Financing of Energy. Current research interests include financial, social, technological and institutional obstacles to nuclear and renewable energy technology.

Gadomski has published extensively on energy and power generation topics in: Modern Power Systems, Renewable Finance, A Supplement to EuroMoney/ Institutional Investor's Project Finance Magazine, Project Finance Magazine, World-Generation, The China Business Review, and Independent Energy Magazine.
 

Herbert Girardet,
Director of Programmes
The World Future Council, UK

Herbert Girardet is an author, consultant and filmmaker. He is Director of Programmes of the World Future Council, and chairman of the Schumacher Society, UK. He is (co)-author of 11 books and 50 TV documentaries on many aspects of sustainable development. He is a UN Global 500 Award recipient, an honorary fellow of Royal Institute of British Architects and a patron of the Soil Association. He is visiting professor at University of the West of England, and University of Northumbria. In 2003 he was ‘Thinker in Residence’ in Adelaide, developing sustainable development strategies for South Australia. In 2004 Wiley-Academy published his book, CITIES, PEOPLE, PLANET – Liveable Cities for a Sustainable World. In 2007 published SURVIVING THE CENTURY- FACING CLIMATE CHAOS AND OTHER GLOBAL CHALLENGES which he edited for the World Future Council. He currently holds a Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 Sustainable Cities Fellowship. He is a senior adviser to the pioneering Dongtan Eco-City project, Chongming Island, Shanghai.

Jens Grabow
Global Power & Utilities Analyst
Ernst & Young AG, Germany

Jens has worked with Ernst & Young for two years. An engineer by background, his focus is on major strategic sector issues including the future of utilities, alternative energies, carbon trading and market restructuring.
He is the analyst in Ernst & Young’s Global Power & Utilities Center, focusing on industry issues and the implications for power and utilities companies as well as delivering thought leadership contents.
Prior to joining Ernst & Young, he has graduated as an Industrial Engineer of Energy and Environmental Management with a thesis on the market structure of the German power generation market.

John Griffiths
Senior Consultant
Jacobs Consultancy, UK

Eur. Ing. John Griffiths BSc, CEng, FIChemE, FEI, has over 45 years service as a professional chemical engineer in process engineering, commissioning, consultancy, and management positions.  His main expertise is in the production, treatment and use of synthesis gas (syngas) for fuel gas, hydrogen, chemical and fertiliser, and power production.

For the first ten years of his career, he was involved in all aspects of the design, erection and commissioning of units for the production, treatment and use of syngas in Town Gas, Refinery, Fertiliser and Power industries.
 
He led the conceptual design teams for the 500 MW ISAB and Sarlux IGCC plants in Italy and is currently part of the Management Team for the first IGCC plant to be erected in the UK by Powerfuel plc at Hatfield, South Yorkshire.

He is the originator of several patents and a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers and of the Energy Institute.  He will chair the Ninth European Gasification Conference to be held in Düsseldorf in March 2009.

Gustav R. Grob, 
President, International Clean Energy Consortium ICEC Holding AG;

Switzerland

Dr Grob has a wealth of experience in the power industry as a graduate electromechanical and industrial engineer for companies such as Brown Boveri (now ABB);  Gebauer (formerly Otis, now Schindler);  Du pont international;  Applied power;  Jet age systems;  SGS-Redwood. He then co founded the International Clean Energy Consortium ICEC whilst also serving as dean of  SGS-Redwood petroleum training institute.  He is editor of Blueprint for the clean, sustainable energy age and ISEO News. He is a well known conference speaker attending many of the high profile platforms such as United Nations Conference on Environment & Development UNCED, and United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development CSD  to name just two. An expert in his field with many accomplishments and affiliations some of which are detailed below:-

Fellow, Institute of Petroleum (now Energy Institute FEI); Swiss Institute of Automation & Control SGA;  Swiss Electrotechnical Association;  Instrument Society of America;  International Association for Hydrogen Energy;  Former Chairman ISO TC30/SC12 (Dynamic Mass Measurement), ISO/TC28/SC3/WG1 (Tank Calibration), WG4 (Static Mass Measurement);  Founder of ISO/TC 197 Hydrogen Energy & ISO/TC203 (Technical Energy Systems);  Chairman TC 203/WG3 Energy Systems Analyses;  President CMDC / World Sustainable Energy Coalition WSEC;  Executive Secretary ISEO International Sustainable Energy Organization, Geneva;  Board Member of International Energy Foundation IEF.

 

Jeremy Harrison,
Innovation Consultant
E.ON UK

Jeremy Harrison is an Innovation Consultant within E.ON Engineering.  He is responsible for evaluation and development of Demand Side Technologies, such as micro-generation, energy efficiency and related technologies including micro CHP and heat pumps.

He has extensive experience in the design, development and application of domestic energy systems in Europe, Scandinavia and Japan.  He has been involved in the development, test and evaluation of a number of Stirling engine micro CHP systems since 1990, and has established partnerships with a number of leading micro CHP developers based on a range of technologies including engine and fuel cell products.

His particular interest is in the interaction of domestic energy systems with the building envelope and the external energy supply system.

Thomas Hinderling
CEO
CSEM - Centre Suisse d'Electronique et de Microtechnique SA, Switzerland.

Thomas Hinderling, Swiss nationality, was born in 1946. He first studied nuclear physics at the University of Zurich, maturing with a master's degree. After a one-year postgraduate course in molecular biology, he continued his studies at the Institute for Biomedical Engineering (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH) in Zurich which he finished with a dissertation developing image reconstruction algorithms in the whole-body computer tomography. He continued with his activities in the field of computer tomography in the USA for NASA, where he was responsible for the development of a high precision CAT scanner for the measurement of bone density to study bone density losses in zero gravity.

After his return to Switzerland he worked in different Swiss industries in miscellaneous functions of technology and R&D management, in Switzerland and in Hong Hong(two years). Since 1997, he is CEO of CSEM (Swiss Centre of Electronics and Microtechnology) a private research and development company in Neuchatel, Switzerland (http://www.csem.ch). Thomas Hinderling has worked on many levels and occasions with the application of high technology in industrial fields and combines to a large degree academic and industrial interests and experiences.
In his present position at CSEM (with its primary mission of an interface between academia and industry), his work emphasizes on a more intense exploitation of the potential in high technology in Switzerland. Under his management, CSEM has created over twenty start-up companies, in which he is co-founder.
In 1998. Thomas Hinderling has been nominated "Professeur titulaire" at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPF), Lausanne.

Peter Jones
Head of Technology
ABB, UK

Peter has been with ABB for 7 years and currently is Head of Technology for ABB in the UK. Peter is a Chartered Engineer and has a degree in electrical engineering, an MBA in Technology Management and is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology. Peter joined ABB as Network Solutions Manager, bringing 20 years of electricity industry experience. He is currently involved in the engineering design of UK grid code compliant renewables transmission connections and HVDC Interconnectors

 

Edward D. Kee
Vice President
CRA International, USA

Edward Kee advises clients on electricity industry issues.  Mr. Kee’s recent work is focused on nuclear power, with engagements on investment decisions, due diligence, loan guarantees, fuel cycle, life extension, and safety.

Mr. Kee has also provided advice and expert testimony on power plant investments, electricity market design and implementation, power market trading, power contracts, and related issues.  He has testified as an expert witness on a range of electricity industry issues.

Mr. Kee is a Vice President at CRA International, based in Washington, DC.  He was earlier a Partner at PA Consulting group, a consultant at PHB Hagler Bailly, Putnam, Hayes & Bartlett, Charles River Associates, and McKinsey & Company.  He was a merchant power plant developer and a nuclear power plant engineer before becoming a consultant.

During his service as a naval officer, Mr. Kee was engaged in construction, start-up and testing of the nuclear power plants on the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70), during which time he was qualified as Chief Engineering Officer on Nimitz class aircraft carriers.

Mr. Kee has been engaged by clients to undertake a range of consulting work in the nuclear industry, including:
•    Eskom – retained to provide high-level assistance and advice to Eskom related to their extensive nuclear power plant investment program
•    Constellation Energy Group – Assisting Constellation in the development of a new nuclear power plant, including comparison of power costs across technologies, analysis of the economic impact of a new nuclear plant on existing non-nuclear generation plants, and assistance with the US DOE loan guarantee program.
•    U.S. Department of Energy – Provided advice on options for the US Government to produce a supply of tritium, including analysis of linear accelerator options, commercial reactor options, and the use of dedicated MOX fuel reactors to produce tritium while burning surplus plutonium.
•    Westinghouse Electric – Managed an extensive litigation support and economic damages analysis engagement during which expert witness testimony was developed and presented in a series of electric utility lawsuits seeking damages as a result of reduced nuclear steam generator performance due to alleged steam generator defects.

Mr. Kee is a an MBA Graduate from the School of Business, Harvard University and he holds a B.S. in Systems Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy. He is a long-time member of the American Nuclear Society, the American Bar Association, and the US Energy Bar Association.  He has also written articles and made presentations on nuclear industry issues.

 

 

Jacob Klimstra
Senior Energy and Engine Specialist
Power Plants Department
Wärtsilä , The Netherlands

Dr. Jacob Klimstra received his Bachelors degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the Technical College of Leeuwarden, NL. He joined N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie in 1970 to work on pulsating combustion and on vibrations based gas turbine diagnostics. Jacob subsequently studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Southampton, UK, which was concluded with a Ph.D. thesis on the optimisation of reciprocating engine/compressor combinations. He then worked on  the introduction and improvement of cogeneration based on reciprocating engines fuelled by natural gas. During that process, he wrote many international papers on subjects related to reciprocating engines and gave numerous presentations. He also converted diesel buses and boats to natural gas. From 1993 to early 2000, Jacob was Head of Department of Industrial gas Applications at Gasunie Research. In that capacity, he studied modern management techniques and implemented these in research management.

Jacob received the Richard Way Memorial Prize for his Ph.D. thesis, the Van Oostrom Meyjes Prize from The Royal Netherlands Institution of Gas Engineers for his work on engine-driven cogeneration and received 5 Oral Presentation Awards and the Distinguished Speaker Award from SAE. In September 2000, he received the ICE Division Speaker Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. In 2003, he became recognised as Registered Energy Advisor.

Jacob is also a paper reviewer for SAE and ASME. He serves in many national and international committees related to energy use and is active as a board member and adviser of educational institutions.

From the year 2000, Jacob is employed by Wärtsilä in Zwolle, NL, as senior specialist for engine-driven power systems fuelled by natural gas.  At Wärtsilä, he has written and presented about 75 papers on energy supply, cogeneration and engine development. In January 2005, he received the 2004 Quality Award from Wärtsilä. In June 2007, Jacob received a Best Paper Award at the PowerGen Europe Conference in Madrid. At the PowerGen Europe 2008 conference, he gave  a key note presentation on the future of electricity generation.

 

 

 

Steven Lee,
Senior Energy Analyst
IEA, France
Steven Lee is on loan from the U.S. Department of Energy to the International Energy Agency. He presently serves as a Senior Energy Analyst with the Sustainable Energy Policy and Technology Office of the IEA. Mr. Lee currently serves as the project director for the IEA's technology roadmap effort.
Mr. Lee holds a Masters of City and Regional Planning from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Economics from the University of California at Berkeley. At the Department of Energy he served as a Director in the Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy's management operations unit. He also previously served as a Senior Advisor in the Department's Office of Policy and International Affairs and as a Management Consultant to provate and public sector clients.

 

 

 

 

Walt Patterson
Associate Fellow,
Chatham House, UK.

Walt Patterson is Associate Fellow in the Energy, Environment and Development Programme at Chatham House in London, UK, and a Visiting Fellow at the University of Sussex. A postgraduate nuclear physicist, he has been actively involved in energy and environmental issues since the late 1960s.

Keeping The Lights On: Towards Sustainable Electricity (Chatham House/Earthscan 2007) is his thirteenth book. He has also published hundreds of papers, articles and reviews, on topics including nuclear power, coal technology, renewable energy, energy systems, energy policy and electricity. He has been specialist advisor to two Select Committees of the House of Commons, an expert witness at many official hearings, a frequent broadcaster and advisor to media, and speaker or chair in conferences around the world. He has been awarded the Melchett Medal of the Energy Institute. The Scientific American 50 named him 'energy policy leader' for his advocacy of decentralized electricity. His current project for CH and the Sussex Energy Group is called 'Managing Energy: for climate and security'.
 

 

 

Mark R. Stover
Vice President of Governmental & External Affairs
Hydro Green Energy, USA

Mr. Stover directs the company’s legislative, regulatory and public affairs efforts, and helps to develop and implement business and marketing strategies with the Chairman and CEO. Prior to joining Hydro Green, Mr. Stover spent nearly two years with the Austin-based energy and environmental resources consulting firm Good Company Associates, where he advised a number of renewable energy and energy efficiency clients on policy matters and business strategies.

Before joining Good Company Associates, Mr. Stover served as the director of government affairs and media relations for the National Hydropower Association (NHA) in Washington, DC, where he spent six years. At NHA, Mr. Stover primarily worked to secure several provisions in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, including a production tax credit for new hydropower resources valued at approximately $175 million and much-needed reforms to the hydropower licensing process. Mr. Stover also worked to obtain more than $35 million in appropriations over a six-year period for R&D dedicated to improving the environmental and energy performance of hydropower turbines.

While at NHA, Mr. Stover was also responsible for working closely with other trade associations, international organizations, interest groups, coalitions, and businesses with an interest in renewable energy and electricity issues. In terms of his public affairs experience, Mr. Stover represented NHA before the media and served as the Association's official spokesperson. He is the Chairman of the New Technologies Council at National Hydropower Association as of 2008.

Mr. Stover is a 1994 graduate of Syracuse University, where he obtained a B.A. in political science with a specialization in foreign affairs. Mr. Stover, who also interned for two U.S. Senators, is based in Austin, TX.

 

  

Frits Verheij
Managing Principal Future Energy Systems
Kema, The Netherlands

Frits Verheij has been working in the field of renewable energy, mainly wind energy, since 1987. He has been working on technological, organisational and policy relevant questions by order of trade and industry, and the government. He studied on both the Delft and the Eindhoven Technical Universities, and started his carreer in 1987 at TNO, a research organisation. In 1997 he joined the Energy Agency Novem as a Senior Programme Manager responsible for the technical issues related to wind energy. At the same time he started his own one-man consultancy business on Industrial Safety & Organization (part-time).
Frits is working with KEMA since 2001. In 2006 he has been appointed as Managing Principal Future Energy Systems. He is the Project Manager of the study on the Energy Island. Besides, he is one of the Programme Managers of We@Sea, a research programme for offshore wind energy.
Frits has been a member of several Committees and Advisory Boards amongst others for the Energy Research Centre in The Netherlands and Delft Technical University.
 

 

David Ward
Power Plants and Energy Group Leader
EURATOM/UKAEA Fusion Association, UK

Dr David Ward has worked in fusion research for 20 years, starting as a theoretical plasma physicist, moving on to experimental work and fusion technology. Based at UKAEA Culham, he now works as one of a European team,
looking at the range of possibilities for future fusion power stations and their safety, environmental and economic properties.
This work, and involvement with energy researchers in other areas, also leads to considering how fusion can play a role in a future energy market.

 

Andreas Wiese

Director business development, energy division

Laymeyer International,Germany

Dr. Andreas Wiese is Director Business Development of the Energy Division of Lahmeyer International GmbH. Lahmeyer is the largest German Consultancy Engineering company and is a leader in renewable energy technical consultancy world wide.

Dr. Wiese studied mechanical engineering and performed his thesis in wind and solar intergration in conventional power plant systems. He joined Lahmeyer International in 1995 and took over the newly founded Renewable Energy Department in 2000 as Head of Department. Since 2006 he is responsible for the entire sales activities of the Energy Division, responsible for around 270 engineers with a turnover of more than 40 Mio Euro annually.

During his presentation, he will share with us his and his company’s insight experience in renewable energies and his vision regarding certain renewable energy trends.

 

Alex Wormser
President
Wormser Energy Solutions, USA

Alex Wormser received a bachelor in mechanical engineering from Yale University, and later training at General Electric’s advanced engineering program, where he worked in posts in the steam and gas turbine departments. His permanent assignment was as an advanced development engineer. He left GE to found a company that developed what would become the leading manufacturer of plumbing torches, using a vortex burner he had designed.

In 1974 he started a second company, whose initial efforts were to use the mild gasification of coal to produce a relatively-clean source of heat for industrial furnaces, and the company received a DOE contract to build a pilot plant.

The company’s main product, however, became the Wormser Grate, an industrial coal-fired fluidized-bed boiler. It’s unique feature is its dual beds: one for combustion, the second for desulphurization. A number of units were sold by the company and its licensees before low oil prices in the mid-80’s eliminated its market.

With more than 10 patents to his name, Wormser began a search in 2005 to see if his earlier interests in mild combustion might have application in the day of global warming. MaGIC, the product he will present at Future power, is the result of that work.
 

 

Martin Wright
Managing Director
Marine Current Turbines, UK

Martin is one of the founders of Marine Current Turbines Limited and joined the company full-time in February 2002. He has an M.A. (Hons) in Economics from Edinburgh, and an M.Eng in Petroleum Engineering form Heriot-Watt.

He started his career as a Seaman Officer in the Royal Navy where he completed a short service commission serving in a variety of ships culminating an appointment as Executive Officer of a Minehunter. Prior to joining MCT he worked for nine years as a Venture Capitalist with MurrayJohnstone Limited, and then latterly with Northern Venture Managers Limited where he was responsible for starting and developing NVM’s business in the South of England.

Martin has corporate finance skills and commercial experience spanning a wide breath of industries developed whilst working as a venture capitalist, and as a director of investee companies. In particular he is very familiar with the issues involved in early stage technology companies. Renewable Energy had been a particular interest for a number of years prior to becoming involved with Marine Current Turbines. The technology, environment and stage of the company represented a natural fit for his background and experience.

Gerry Wolff
Coordinator
TREC-UK

Dr Gerry Wolff is a former university lecturer in computer systems engineering and a long-standing campaigner on environmental issues. In 2005, a reading of web pages from the US Department of Energy and of the TREC group led him to appreciate the huge potential of concentrating solar power (CSP) in desert regions. Since CSP and its potential were largely unknown in the UK at that time, Dr Wolff established TREC-UK as a volunteer group, working to raise awareness in the UK and beyond of the “DESERTEC” concept developed by the Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation (TREC). There is close liaison between TREC-UK and the main TREC group.

Samer Zureikat
Founder
MENA Cleantech GmbH, Germany

Samer Zureikat is the Founder of MENA Cleantech GmbH, a Germany-based developer of renewable energy and water projects in the Middle East and North Africa.  Before starting MENA Cleantech, Samer worked briefly in European venture capital focused on the German Cleantech sector.  He started his career as an entrepreneur in his native Jordan, where in 1995 he co-founded a chemical manufacturing company whose markets spanned the countries of the Middle East and North Africa.  Samer earned his Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, in the USA.