Lecturers (in alphabetical order)
Berthold Breid, Renewables Academy
- Berthold Breid is the CEO of Renewables Academy AG. Before co-founding RENAC, he worked as a project director for the German Energy Agency (dena), building up and managing the International Solar Roof Program.
- Courses: Frameworks and support models for renewables energies, current and future markets for PV
Daniel Becker, Ecofys Germany GmbH
- Daniel Becker works as senior consultant at Ecofys Gemany, Energy and Climate Strategy. He is an expert on international market conditions and support schemes for renewable energies.
- Course: Legislation and Supporting Schemes for Energy Efficiency
Roland Berger, Ökotec Energy Management GmbH
- Roland Berger is Managing Director of Ökotec Energiemanagement GmbH in Berlin and an expert in the areas of energy efficiency, energy management, energy savings, energy controlling and development energy efficency networks.
- Before working for ÖKOTEC Energiemanagement GmbH he has been with Rehau AG & Co and teco as project and sales engineer. At University of Dortmund he got his Diploma in Process Engineering.
- Course: Energy Efficiency in Industry & Trade
Riadh Bhar, Ecofys Germany GmbH
- MSc / Dipl. Ing. Riadh Bhar studied architecture in Aachen and obtained successfully his diploma degree in January 2004. Afterwards he worked as an architect in Cologne and in the meantime he studied resource management with an emphasis on renewable energies, where he obtained his master degree in July 2007 at the University of Applied Science in Cologne.
- Since January 2006 he works for Ecofys Germany in Cologne, where he is part of the Unit: Energy in the built environment.The emphasis of his activities are energy auditing of buildings, planning of energy concepts for new and existing buildings, simulations and solar feasibility studies.
Dipl.-Ing. Jens Bömer, Ecofys Germany GmbH
- Dipl.-Ing. Jens Bömer works as a Consultant in the Power Systems and Markets department at the Ecofys office in Berlin. He is expert in the grid integration of renewable energies and responsible for power flow and dynamic grid studies.
- Course: Grid connection of RE
Marcus Brand, KWA Eviva GmbH
- Marcus Brand is consultant for Biomass within the Ecofys Germany GmbH. On the basis of his last 6 years experience in construction and erection of biogas plants he is primarily involved in biogas projects.
- Course: Biogas
Hartwig von Bredow, Schnutenhaus & Kollegen
- Since June 2007, Hartwig von Bredow has been working as attorney-at-law for Schnutenhaus & Kollegen, a Berlin based law firm specialized in energy law.
- His main area of interest is renewable energies law. Hartwig von Bredow mainly focuses on consulting services for operators of renewable energy plants. He is currently doing a doctorate on legal questions of energy efficiency.
- Hartwig von Bredow studied law in Passau, Nantes (France) and Berlin.
- Course: Supporting Schemes and Legislation
Katie Brown, Renewables Academy
- Katie Brown studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland. After obtaining her Masters in Mechanical Engineering in 1999 she worked for Arup Engineering Consultants for two years as a building services engineer on heating and ventilation system design, in particular on the New Justice Building in Antwerp, Belgium.
- In between times she has been involved with a development charity, working with street children in Nairobi and being involved in water projects in Kenya and Nepal. From 2002 to 2008 Katie worked with renewable energy systems at the Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales, UK (www.cat.org.uk) installing and maintaining small-scale solar thermal, wood-fuelled, hydro, wind and pv systems as well as doing consultancy and teaching work.
- Since mid-2008 Katie has been living and working in Berlin. As a freelancer she has been teaching at renac in the areas of solar thermal and hydro and doing consultancy work with projects including, for example, a large pv installation in Rostock, Northern Germany, and carrying out a feasibility study on solar thermal for space heating provision in rural Mongolia.
- Courses: Project planning, system design and installation, combined heat and power units, hydro power
Werner Bußmann, Federal Geothermal Association
- Werner Bußmann is a technical journalist and member of Board Federal Geothermal Association. He is also the General Manager of the GtV Service GmbH and the Editor of the journal “Geothermische Energie” .
- Course: Geothermal Energy Electricity Production
Dr. Bernd Degen, Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries
- Since 2004 Dr. Bernd Degen is the director of the Institute of Forest Genetics at the Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries in Grosshansdorf, Germany. There he is responsible for research on tree breeding, biotechnology, genomics and population genetics of native and exotic tree species.
- Course: Bioenery - short-rotation plantation
Dr.-Ing. Bernd Eikmeier, Bremer Energy Institute
- Dr.-Ing. Bernd Eikmeier is senior scientiest and project manager at the Bremer Energie Institut since 2003. One of his main areas of research is cogeneration and other solutions to increase energy efficiency. He also concentrates on the issues of renewable energies and contracting.
- In 2002, Bernd Eikmeier earned his doctorate at the Ruhr-University Bochum with a dissertation on seasonal storage of solar heat.
- From 1999 to 2001 he was head of research group Renewable Energies and Systems Analysis, followed by being head of Department Resource-Saving Energy Ecomomics at Ruhr University of Bochum. From 2001 until 2003 he was working as lecturer for “Zukunftsenergieanlagen” at Georg Agricola University of Applied Science in Bochum.
- Course: Introduction to Energy Economics
Carsten Ernst, Ökotec Energy Management GmbH
- Mr. Carsten Ernst is senior consultant and works as a project manager for Ökotec Energiemanagement GmbH. His key areas are energy efficiency, conceptual energy design and low energy design for commercial/ industrial buildings, heating, ventilation, cooling energy, compressed air, combined heat and power.
- In the last years he supervised several national and international projects in the field of renewable energy and energy efficiency. From 2005-2007 he was also a lecturer at the Technical College of Potsdam (FHP) for “Building/ Environmental Services”.
- Course: Energy Efficiency in Industry & Trade
Dr.-Ing. Joachim Fischer, FH Nordhausen
- Dr.-Ing. Joachim Fischer acts as short time consultant for the German Environmental Foundation, DBU, the Agency for Biological Raw Material, FNR, and the Environmental agency, UBA. His expertise includes potential analysis and resource management as well as technological development and economical feasibility of bioenergy projects.
- Course: Energy from firm biomass
Werner Frohwitter, Energiequelle GmbH
- Since 2007 Werner Frohwitter has been working for Energiequelle GmbH. He is responsible for public relations and looks after the interests of the company in Spain. Previously, he worked for many years as an editor and as a translator in the field of renewable energies. He studied economics and has a Diploma in Business Administration.
Alberto Gallego, Renewables Academy AG
- Alberto Gallego coordinates training programs at RENAC mainly in the field of solar energy. He holds a MsC on Electrical Engineering and a Masters on solar energy as well as an MBA. Before working at RENAC he has gained several years of experience as management consultant at Accenture and KPMG. His experience in the area of solar energy spans further a stage at the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energien as well as his activities as teaching assistant at the TU Berlin in the area of photovoltaic systems.
- Course: Photovoltaics
Dr. Jürgen Gabriel, Bremer Energy Institute
- Dr. Jürgen Gabriel joined the Bremer Energie Institut in 2002 as senior scientist. His main fields of research are liberalised energy markets.
- Course: Energy Sector
Dr. Matthias Hampel, Lahmeyer International
- Dr. Matthias Hampel is a solar thermal engineer and works as a project manager at Lahmeyer International. He has studied Physics at the Philipps-University of Marburg and wrote his PhD thesis at the Institute for Thermodynamics and Thermal Engineering (ITW) in Stuttgart.
- From 1999 until 2006 he was a scientific employee at the University of Stuttgart, at the Research and Test Centre for solar thermal systems (TZS). Since 2008 he is working for Lahmeyer International. There he is responsible for due diligence studies, pre-feasibility and feasibility studies as well as project development and general technical studies in the field of Concentrating Solar Power (CSP).
- He has got more than 12 years of experience in solar thermal engineering.
- Course: CSP
Dr. Marie Hanusch, Bosch & Partner GmbH
- Dr. Marie Hanusch joined Bosch & Partner Consultants in 2008. She manages consultancy and research projects in the field of environmental and spatial planning and renewable energies with a focus on wind energy. Besides dealing with a wide range of projects in German spatial planning, she worked for the GTZ and supported a province in Vietnam in site and planning issues of wind energy. Previously, she received her doctorate at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) and worked as trainee with the European Commission.
- Course: Spatial planning for wind farm projects
Anna Heimsath, Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE)
- Dipl.-Ing. Anna Heimsath works as a scientist at Fraunhofer ISE, Freiburg in the field of solar thermal power plants. Her key qualifications are optical quality assessment of key components for CSP-collectors and modelling and simulation of concentrating solar systems. She studied production engineering at the University of Bremen with technical focus on thermal processes and technology assessment. Since 2006 Mrs. Heimsath works on the FRESDEMO project: The construction, operation and qualification of a 100m long linear fresnel collector at the Plataforma Solar de Almería, Spain. The project is financed by the German BMU and MAN Ferrostaal. Her personal project responsibility is the optical characterization of key components.
Dr. Andreas Hermelink, Ecofys Germany GmbH
- Andreas Hermelink has studied business economics and civil engineering and has finished a PhD in sustainable evaluation of buildings. After his activity at the University of Kassel and Florida Solar Energy center, in June 2008 he was employed as Consultant at Ecofys.
- Course: Energy Efficiency in Buildings
Rainer Hinrichs-Rahlwes
- Mr Rainer Hinrichs-Rahlwes is the President of EREF, the European Renewable Energies Federation, the voice of independent producers of energy from renewable sources. He is a Board Member of the German Renewable Energy Federation (BEE) and in charge of European and international policies. Furthermore Mr. Hinrichs-Rahlwes is European Advisor to the German Wind Energy Association (BWE).He is the chairman of the Policies Committee preparing the 2010 World Renewable Energy Conference in Abu Dhabi (WREC IX).
- From November 1998 to December 2005, he was a Director General in the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), in charge – among others – for renewable energies and climate protection.He was one of the two chairmen of the International Steering Committee preparing the renewables2004-conference in Bonn. After the conference, he engaged in the follow-up process as a co-chair of the interim steering committee for the Global Policy Network now known as REN21. Until he was retired in December 2005, he was a member of the REN21-Steering Committee and Member of the REN21-Bureau.He delivered speeches and presentations at preparatory conferences for the renewables2004, at World Wind Energy Conferences, at European Wind Energy Conferences, at World Renewable Energy Congresses in Denver in 2004, in Florence 2006 and Glasgow 2008 and at many other events in Germany and abroad.
Frank Hofmann, Ecofys Germany GmbH
- Frank Hofmann is working as a consultant in the workfield of bioenergy at Ecofys Germany GmbH. His core expertise covers all aspects of biogas projects, especially biogas upgrading to natural gas quality.
- Course: Biogas
Marita Hoheisel, ÖKOTEC Energy Management GmbH
- Marita Hoheisel is an industrial engineer for energy and environmental management working at ÖKOTEC Energiemanagement GmbH (ÖKOTEC) since 2009. As a junior consultant her main focus lies on the implementation of energy analyses and concepts.
- Course: Energy Efficiency in Industry & Trade
Frank Jackson, Renewables Academy
- Frank Jackson has been involved in the solar energy industry since the early 1990s, running courses and seminars, and designing and installing systems. He has worked in the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Kenya, Tanzania and Somalia.
- Courses: System types, solar resources, PV modules, wiring modules, lights and appliances, charge controllers, batteries, site survey, system commissioning
Volker Jaensch, Renewables Academy
- Volker Jaensch is a Senior Consultant for Carbon Credits Development at OneCarbon Berlin, focusing on Asia and Eastern Europe. Already in his previous employment at German Energy Agency he was involved in setting up Carbon Credit Project Portfolios in various countries. Furthermore, he has ten years professional experience in project development, due diligence, financing and implementation of renewable energy projects with focus on biomass and wind-energy. Mr. Jaensch holds a degree in Environmental Engineering and a Master of Business Administration (MBA).
- Course: Project Financing with CDM, Biogas
Dr. Uli Jakob, Solem Consulting
- Dr. Uli Jakob is the General Manager of Solem Consulting in Europe and the director of dr. jakob energy research. He has over ten years of professional experience with solar thermal and solar cooling systems, especially with the product development and commercialisation of solar/ thermal cooling kits. In his career, he has been working as director for SolarNext AG, Rimsting, Germany and as general manager at Forschungszentrum Nachhaltige Energietechnik, Stuttgart, Germany (zafh.net).
- Dr. Jakob received his PhD from the De Montfort University Leicester, U.K. and he has a degree in Building Physics from the University of Applied Sciences in Stuttgart, Germany.
- Course: Solar cooling Systems
Dr. Karin Jahn, Bremer Energy Institute
- Dr. Karin Jahn is physicist and obtained her PhD in 1989 from Philipps-Universität Marburg for her work on transport processes in photovoltaic semiconductor materials. Since 1993, she is senior scientist at the Bremen Energy Institute.
- Course: Energy Sector
Dipl. Ing. (M.Sc.) M.A Corinna Klessmann, Ecofys Germany GmbH
- Corinna Klessmann, Dipl. Ing. (M.Sc.) M.A. works as Senior Consultant for Energy and Climate Strategies with Ecofys Berlin. She is specialised on renewable energy and energy efficiency policy analysis.
- Course: Legistation and Supporting Schemes for Energy Efficiency
Dr. Oliver Lang, Solarc GbR
- Dr. Oliver Lang set up the company Solar GmbH, Q-mo solar AG and Lang Consulting Engineering with focus on development, production and marketing of solar modules, lighting and electronic products.
- Since 2006, he has been a stockholder and member of the supervisory board of Photovoltaik Berlin AG.
- Courses: Project calculation, Solar street lights
Dipl.-Ing. Jan Liersch, Key Wind Energy GmbH
- Dipl.-Ing. Jan Liersch is CEO of Key Wind Energy GmbH and has been working in the field of wind energy for more than 15 years. Key Energy Wind GmbH offers technical support and consultancy as well as advanced trainings for all topics regarding wind energy. Mr. Liersch also works as a lecturer at Technical University Berlin (TU Berlin) and University of Applied Sciences Berlin (HTW Berlin).
- Course: Wind Energy
Ole Meier-Hahn, Bridge Builders UG
- Mr. Meier-Hahn is co-founder and partner of Bridge Builders UG, a carbon consultancy firm providing services for pro-poor emission reduction projects in the most underprivileged regions of the world. The specific goal of Bridge Builders is to enrich and strengthen existing efforts of poverty alleviation that coincide with the reduction, abatement or sequestration of green-house-gases (GHGs) through application of carbon crediting and valuation schemes. Ole is a Business Mathematician with more than 6 years of experience in the Kyoto markets.
- In his previous jobs with OneCarbon International B.V. and atmosfair gGmbH he worked on all sorts of activities along the value chain of carbon projects, including initiation, contracting, design, development, validation, registration and verification of projects as well as sales of carbon credits at all scales. During the last 3 years Ole specialized in the development of projects applying the programme of activities scheme (PoA). His references include development of the fifth registered CDM PoA and the multi-stage, multi-country sample monitoring for a pan-African woodstove PoA undertaken by German development cooperation.
Anton Neuhaeuser, Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE)
- Anton Neuhaeuser (Dipl.-Ing.) studied Energy and Process Engineering focusing on renewable energy. He received his diploma degree for his diploma thesis “Implementation of a simulation model for a solar power-plant with linear Fresnel-collectors and estimation of economics at 1 MW thermal power”.
- His recent fields of R&D activities include the simulation of different power generating cycles for combined heat, cold and power for grid connected and off-grid applications. At TU Berlin he lectures "Concentrating Solar Power (CSP)".
- Course: CSP
Dr. Werner Platzer, Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE)
- Dr. Werner Platzer is head of the department "Solar Thermal and Optics" at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE.
- He studied Physics and Mathematics at Ludwig-Maximilian-University in Munich and wrote his PhD thesis on "Solar Transmittance and Heat Transport-mechanisms for Transparent Insulation Materials" at University Freiburg.
- He has been working since more than 25 years in research and development of solar thermal energy, facade technology and energy efficiency in buildings. Since 2004 his focus is on the development of solar thermal power technology, process heat and polygeneration using concentrating collectors.
- He has authored more than 180 articles and conference papers and is lecturing Solar Thermal Energy courses at the University of Freiburg and the University Koblenz-Landau.
- Course: CSP
Gerard Reid, Ardour Capital
- Gerard Reid is the head o the European operation of the US investment bank Ardour Capital.
- Course: Funding RE & EE Projects
Rainer K. Schmidt, Member of PV Experts
- Rainer K. Schmidt is owner and Managing Director of ECO-Park GmbH, a turn key supplier and license owner for PV carports. He is currently also working as Managing Director of Merkur Solar GmbH, a service provider and distributor of medium-sized PV power plants. Before working at ECO-Park he spent several years at Q-Cells SE as Deputy Director Global Sales followed by being Managing Director at Q-Cells Clean Sourcing. He has a Diploma in Energy and Environmental Engineering.
Martin Schnauss, Renewables Academy
- Martin Schnauss has been working in areas of renewable energies for more than two decades.In his career, he has been working as an engineer for the Berlin University of Technology (TU Berlin), the engineering company of Dr. Valentin, the company SOLARPRAXIS AG, the German Solar Industry Association (BSW-Solar) and since 7 years he is working as a consultant with a focus on solar thermal technology.
- Courses: Overview on renewables energy technologies
Eva-Maria Schubert, Solarpraxis AG
- Eva Schubert started her technical career as an electronics technicians in 1997. In 2002 she specialized in solar power with a training in solar technology at the German Society for solar energy.
- She entered the pv field working as a trainee at a local energy provider in the field of canvassing, planning and installing grid-tied pv-plants. Afterwards she established her knowledge working at an engineering office, also in the area of canvassing, planning of grid-tied and off-grid pv-plants, as well as measurement technology for pv-plants.
- Since 2005 she works at Solarpraxis. Besides technical publication, service helplines and professional training, she works mainly in technical consulting, quality control and expertises of pv-plants.
- In the beginning of 2007 she achieved a certificate of the State Technicians’ School of Berlin in data processing and network technology.
- Also in her private life she engages in solar energy by participating at the board of management for the non-profit association KarEn, which develops and executes projects in the field of renewable energies in the countries of the south.
- Courses: Designing grid connected application, control, compatibility, testing of systems, practical training
Jan-Benjamin Spitzley, eclareon GmbH
- Jan-Benjamin Spitzley is a lawyer. He finished his studies of law with the “First State Examination” at the University of Münster. He has a Master of International Law of the University of Sydney. Since November 2008, he is working for the eclareon GmbH as a policy consultant.
- Course: Support mechanism
Dirk Stahf
- Dirk Stahf is an expert in developing and building state-of-the-art solar power plants. He works as a consultant in different international projects.
Gerhard Stryi-Hipp, Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems
- Since 2008, Gerhard Stryi-Hipp is head of energy policy and leader of the research section solar thermal collectors and applications at Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in Freiburg/Germany.
- Backwards he was representing the German solar industry for more than 14 years as the managing director of the German solar industry association "Bundesverband Solarwirtschaft".
- He is a senior expert for support policy, market development, awareness campaigns and technological development in the field of solar thermal energy and photovoltaics.
- Course: Supporting Schemes and Market Introduction of RE
Albrecht Tiedemann, Renewables Academy
- Albrecht Tiedemann is responsible for topics such as grid integration of Renewables and wind energy (wind farm financing, operation and maintenance of wind farms, wind farm planning and design, wind energy fundamentals and hybrid systems). Before he started at RENAC he worked as a scientific assistant at the Federal Environmental Agency of Germany (Umweltbundesamt) and as Project Director for the German Energy Agency (dena) where he has been involved in consulting for the German and European energy sector (integration of Renewable energies into energy supply systems; development and implementation of the German offshore wind energy strategy; wind power integration in power markets; smart systems). At RENAC he teaches topics such as grid integration of Renewables, Renewables for rural electrification (hybrid systems), wind energy technology and grid integration of Renewables (PV, concentrating solar power and wind).
- Course: grid integration of renewables, renewables for rural electrification (hybrid systems), wind energy technologies
Margarete von Oppen, Geiser & von Oppen, Law Firm
- Margarete von Oppen advises companies, organisations and the public authorities in the field of renewable energy and energy efficiency. Her activities refer to the trade with technical components as well as the planning and the construction of renewable energy plants. She designs contracts and general terms and conditions considering among others the requirements of a web presence. She specializes on the licensing procedure of renewable energy installations, their connection to the grid and queries regarding the feed-in-tariff. She had a strong involvement in the development and the realization of the database www.res-legal.eu. The database is financed by the German Ministry of Environment (BMU) and is a collection and explanation of the legal framework concerning the promotion of electricity generated on the basis of renewable energy sources in 25 Member States.
Dirk Volkmann, Volkmann Consults
- Dirk Volkmann has more than 28 years of experience in the industrial installations and contracting industry, during the most recent years in Renewables (i.e. Biogas, Bioethanol, Biomass conversion and Photovoltaics).
- Courses: Biofuels
Camilo Varas, Lahmeyer International
- Mr. Camilo Varas works as Project Manager for CSP and PV projects in the Renewable Energies Department of Lahmeyer International. He holds a degree on Electrical Engineering (concentration Power) and a Masters on renewable energy, where he started on the CSP area by developing a software tool for modelling parabolic trough plants. He has specialised in power generation and renewable energy through his professional career, participating in different project stages: from project conception and development, passing through construction up to operation and maintenance. As CSP expert, Mr. Varas has provided engineering assistance to project Developers and Owners (site selection, basic engineering, tendering), and to Lenders and Investors (project assessment, performance expectations, contractual review, risk analysis, financial base case preparation); providing services for different CSP markets throughout the world (Southern Europe, Northern Africa, Middle East).
Dr. Hans-Peter Waldl, Overspeed GmbH
- Dr. Hans-Peter Waldl is managing director of and partner in Overspeed, an innovative service and consulting company with focus on wind power and the energy business area. He was working until mid 2001 as a senior scientist at the University of Oldenburg, managing the wind energy activities of the energy and semiconductor group from 1992 to 2001. Dr. Waldl received a Diploma degree in Physics at the University of Oldenburg and holds a PhD degree in Physics from the University of Oldenburg ("Modelling the power output from wind farms").
- Emphasis of his current work is wind energy meteorology, wind farm effects, software development, system design, development of training and education activities, consulting and coaching, and project management.
Otmar Werner, KfW Development Bank
- Otmar Werner is Sector Economist in the Energy Sector and Policy Division of KfW Development Bank in Frankfurt. In addition to his position as Sector Economist he is as well the responsible Project Manager for the KfW energy projects in Nepal and Bangladesh.
Dr. Christiane Wörlen, Arepo Consult
- Christine Wörlen is an international consultant on issues of integration of renewable energies in the energy sector. She has degrees in Geo-Ecology and Economics from Bayreuth University (Germany) and a Ph.D. from Boston University. Until 2009 she was the Head of the Renewable Energy Division of the German Energy Agency GmbH (dena).
- Before joining dena, she was the Program Manager for Renewable Energy and New Low-GHG Emitting Energy Technologies at the Global Environment Facility, and a staff member of the World Bank. There she administered grants of more than 100 mUSD p.a. to developing countries and economies in transition. Previously, she worked as a Research Associate for the Study Commission of the German Parliament on “Sustainable Energy Supplies in View of Globalization and Liberalization”, which examined the future of energy supply for Germany.