• Hear about the new directives and incentives in place across the European Union and how they can help you drive your solar business forwards
• Get a comprehensive overview of the current tariffs across Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Greece, Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Portugal… and evaluate which country offers the best rates for each type of solar technology
• Compare and contrast which regions are the most attractive for solar development in terms of regulatory support
• Find out what incentives, directives & policies are likely to be in place 5, 10, 15 years from now to prepare your projects for potential opportunities

Tom Howes, Renewable Energy Policy Unit, European Commission

• Get a quick comparison of last year’s tariffs and incentives with this year’s – what are the changes in the requirements?
• Up-to-the-minute information on the Royal Decree-Law 6/2009 (RDL)
• Stay up to date with the developments of the registry for the preliminary assignment of remuneration
• Going forwards, learn what to expect and how to prepare for the next round of requirements for installation

Pablo Cubel, Partner, Cuatrecasas, Gonçalves Pereira

• Understand where solar investment is flowing across Europe, for which technologies and why
• Note top deals that have been made and their impact on the markets
• Hear about the financial activity and solar project development set to happen in the next 6 to 12 months

Francesco d'avack, Senior Analyst, Solar, New Energy Finance

• Get insight into securing project finance across different countries – find out what to expect, what challenges you will face and how to overcome common pitfalls
• Top tips on how to meet – and beat - the requirements of banks and investors
• What’s next? A heads-up on financing PV projects beyond “grid parity”

Dr. Claus-Henning Schmidt, Vice President Project Finance, Scatec Solar

• Who’s providing private equity in today’s climate - and how much will it cost you?
• Fulfilling expectations: Find out exactly what private equity investors are looking for from your projects
• Learn the direct effect of EU wide and national policy development on private equity companies
• Find out what private equity investors perceive a risk in tough economic times and how to successfully mitigate risks within your project

Wayne Woo, Investment Director, Good Energies
Colin Campbell, Partner, Zouk Ventures         
Eusebio Güell, Managing Partner, SI Capital

Moderated by: Jan Stavek, CEO and Partner, Traficon s.r.o.

In times of slowing liquidity, you can’t just freeze your projects until banks start lending again

• Learn what are the other realistic alternatives to debt financing for your projects such as Islamic funds, capital markets and export credits
• Hear the best ways to tap into alternative sources of funding and find out if your project is eligible for these types of funding or not?
• Note what these new sources of finance look for before investing and how you can prepare your project for a successful application

Rajaram Jamadagni, Assistant Director, Energy & Environmental Infrastructure Group, Ernst & Young

Get Involved, Get Inspired and Get funded!

You will have the chance to get involved and put forward your opinions in these vitally important discussions that will form the basis of feedback sessions and post Summit papers
Take the opportunity to share best practice, compare solutions and pose questions to your peers on the investment and finance issues that matter to you most.

Topic to be discussed include:

Raising Venture Capital

Raising Private Equity

Securing Debt Finance

Risk Mitigation and Management

Opportunities and Risks in Central and South East Europe

Moderated by: Adam de Sola Pool, Chief Executive, Environmental Investment Partners III

n.b. coffee and teas available during this session

• In the current climate of disappearing liquidity, find out what steps banks are taking to continue lending to solar developers
• Banks have to cherry pick the best solar projects to finance in these tough times. Find out how to be the cherry and get chosen to secure project finance
• Rank the importance of due diligence, water rights, licensing, reliability testing, certification and reliable suppliers in giving banks the confidence they need in your project
• Learn from someone else’s mistakes: hear from the banks themselves on past experiences with solar developers and note down what not to do while applying for project finance
• Risk management: Banks understand that developers face certain challenges – learn the best ways of presenting those risks and what you can do to show that you are mitigating them

Alexandre Toledo, Energy Team – Iberia, BNP Paribas Fortis
Raffaele Casciano, Project and Structured Finance Manager,

BIIS – Banca Infrastrutture Innovazione e Sviluppo

Joris Van Der Geest, Fund Manager, Triodos Bank

Ira Saul Rubenstein, Partner, Traficon s.r.o.

Moderated by: Richard Wicke, Abogado, DIKEOS Estudio Jurídico

• As banks spread their risks by colluding with 6-7 other banks, dealing with each one can be time consuming – assess the pros and cons of dealing with a group of banks when trying to secure project finance
• Learn how to manage a group of banks as opposed to a one-stop-shop
• Hear from the experienced on realistic timelines and what to expect in terms of delays to your project deadlines

Alberto Aragonés, Investment Director, GSF Capital

• Direct solar insight: hear how leading industry companies have successfully secured investment and finance in a downturn economy
• Understand the challenges faced and the hurdles they overcame to get investor or government backing
• Get insight into the process these solar companies went through and top tips for securing funds successfully

Adrian Zambrano, Finance Director, Aries Engineering

• CPV technology case study – find out how to make a new technology bankable
• Discover what specific requirements and challenges you will face on project financing for new technology

Holger Janke, Chief Financial Officer, Concentrix Solar GmbH 

• Building a solid foundation is key: discover why due diligence & risk management are key to your project finance success
• Hear how to effectively calculate both the quantitative and qualitative risks of your project to ensure your proposal stays robust
• Learn how to avoid problems with permits, site acquisition, DNI (Direct Normal Irradiation) and contractual evaluations to massively reduce time delays
• Assess why performance guarantees and choosing the right suppliers will give banks even more confidence in your project
• Evaluate the real importance of contractual evaluation, including EPC & MO for the success of your project

Pablo Valera, Director, Astrom Energía Sostenible

• Find out what best practice should be followed at every stage of the project finance process
• Map out the critical components of putting a project together and the economics of it at every stage
• Get top takeaways from each successful project that the panel has executed in Europe

Dr. Stephan Zilkens, Director, TRUST AG
Pablo Valera, Director, Astrom Energía Sostenible
Javier Menchen, Partner, Ramón & Cajal Abogados

Moderated by: Dr Marie-Athena Papathanasiou, Barrister and Legal Counsel, Energy and Climate, Board Member AMBIENTE MILANO FONDAZIONE.

Additional panelists tbc