Gemeinsam stärker - Zusammenarbeit als Schlüssel für den weltweiten PV-Ausbau

Walburga Hemetsberger is the CEO of SolarPower Europe since 2019. She has over 20 years of professional experience in Brussels, working for a utility, trade association, the European Parliament and the European Commission. Walburga spent most of her career in the energy sector, covering in particular renewable energies and hydrogen.

Abigail Ross Hopper is the president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), the national trade organization for America's solar and storage industry. Ms. Hopper is a visionary leader who has transformed SEIA into an advocacy powerhouse and the leading voice for the U.S. solar and storage industry, a $64 billion force in our nation's economy. She is known for overseeing tremendous industry-wide growth in the solar and storage space, most notably, the sector's employment of 280,000 people in the industry, the quintupling of the solar module manufacturing capacity in the U.S., and the adoption of business-friendly policies that promote American energy dominance. Ms. Hopper has been named in The Hill's Top Lobbyist list since 2020 and has been featured in hundreds of media outlets across the country. She is also working to shepherd the next generation of the solar workforce by championing diversity efforts in the industry and through her Solar Sisters initiative. Under her tenure, SEIA has received numerous awards for its work and company culture and was named by the Washington Post as a 2023 and 2024 Top Workplace and a Best Nonprofit to Work For by the Nonprofit Times. Ms. Hopper currently serves on the board of directors of RE+ Events, the Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society at Dartmouth, the Consumer Energy Education Fund, and Earthday.org. Before joining SEIA, Ms. Hopper was the Director of the Department of Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, where she led the agency that oversaw the leasing and development of all offshore energy, from oil and natural gas to offshore wind. She also served as the Director of the Maryland Energy Administration (MEA), and as the Energy Advisor to Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley. Ms. Hopper graduated Cum Laude from the University of Maryland School of Law and earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Dartmouth College. She is the very proud mom of three children and loves to read, ride her Peloton, and lie on the beach, all while drinking decaf Dunkin.

David Wedepohl first came into contact with the solar industry while working for a US consulting firm before joining the German Solar Industry Association as Head of Market and Communications and spokesperson for the association. Today, he is responsible for all of the association's international activities outside of the EU. This now includes projects and partnerships in and with Africa, Latin America, Asia and the USA. He is a broadcast journalist trained at the international broadcaster Deutsche Welle and has studied and worked on both sides of the Atlantic. He earned his US degree as a Fulbright Scholar. He gained professional experience as a press and public diplomacy officer at the German Embassy in Washington, DC, and in the communications department of DaimlerChrysler AG. Since 2023, he has also been Managing Director of the non-profit branch of the solar and storage sector, BSW-Solar gGmbh.

Sonia Dunlop is CEO of the Global Solar Council, the world solar PV trade association, which represents the whole value chain and every region and market segment in the world. She previously worked for Solar Power Europe, Solar Energy UK and the RE-Source Platform. For five years she was part of the Senior Management Team of global climate politics think tank Third Generation Environmentalism (E3G) and worked for the COP26 Glasgow organising team in the UK government. She also spent five years in the European Parliament in Brussels working on renewables. She has expertise in solar PV, development finance, renewables policy, digitalisation of energy, Multilateral Development Banks climate finance and corporate Power Purchase Agreements. Sonia speaks fluent English, French and Italian as well as basic Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese, has two children and is based in London.

Subrahmanyam Pulipaka is the Chief Executive Officer of National Solar Energy Federation of India (NSEFI). NSEFI is India's largest umbrella body for the Sustainable energy ecosystem to realize India's ambitious Solar goals and represent the Indian REnewable industry. As CEO of India's largest Renewable Energy Industry Association, he has conceptualized initiatives including 'India's largest Solar Rooftop Awareness Program ', 'India Agrivoltaics Alliance', targeting the growth as well as spread of Sustainable energy in India. He has also served as UNDP Energy Governance External Advisory Group Member. Recipient of BRICS young scientist Award 2018, Subrahmanyam also specializes in Solar module reliability and has published scientific articles across various internationally acclaimed journals. He is also the recipient of the EU India 40 Under 40 - Most Influential Leaders, BITSAA 30 under 30 and SAP-TV9 Young Business Leader Award 2021.

Michael is Executive Advisor to the CEO and a member of the leadership team. Alongside his business development work, Michael heads SolarPower Europe's award-winning market intelligence team. He is lead author of the annually published Global Market Outlook and EU Market Outlook, and works closely with Policy Analyst Raffaele operating the Solar & Storage workstream. Michael has been working in solar for over 20 years. After co-founding Photon-Magazine in 1996, he served in various positions within the Photon group, primarily as Editor-in-Chief of Photon International. In 2014, Michael started MISCHCO, a company offering strategy consulting and communication services to solar companies. In 2016, TaiyangNews, a digital news platform for the solar industry that Michael founded, went online. Michael studied Geology/Palaeontology at Bonn University, Geology at RWTH Aachen, and Mineralogy at Frankfurt University. He speaks German and English.

Co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) at the Brazilian Solar Photovoltaic Energy Association (ABSOLAR - Associação Brasileira de Energia Solar Fotovoltaica), the national association representing companies and professionals from all segments of the solar PV value chain with operations in Brazil. Co-founder and member of the board of directors at the Global Solar Council (GSC), the global entity unifying and representing the solar power sector at the international level. Has a Ph.D. with honours in Engineering and Materials Technology from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil), with international collaboration at the Fraunhofer Institut für Solare Energiesysteme (Fraunhofer ISE, Germany), M.Sc. with honours in Renewable Energy from the EUREC Master Program, with international collaboration at the ETH Zürich (Switzerland), and B.Sc. with honours in Chemistry from the University of São Paulo (Brazil).