Building Africa's Solar Future: Scaling Grid-Connected System

Bernard Osawa is a seasoned energy and extractives sector leader with over 25 years of experience in strategy, planning, policy, regulation and compliance, government relations, project development, structuring and investments in public and private sector engagement across Africa. Currently Project Director, Partner at Frontier Energy, he has served as the Vice-Chair, Energy and Extractives at the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA), Director of Renewable Energy at the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) and Environment and Resources Recovery Manager for Lafarge in East Africa. He holds an M Sc. in Renewable Energy from Oldenburg University, Germany, and a B Sc. In Physics from the University of Nairobi, Kenya.

Bernhard Suchland was born near Munich. He completed his master degree in heating and air conditioning technology. In his early 20s, he traveled and worked in the U.S., Australia, New Zealand and East Asia. In his mid-20s, Suchland started his own project development company near Stuttgart, Germany. He specialized in building sectional title housing units. In the late 1990s, Suchland immigrated to South Africa, where he and his German wife raised two daughters in Cape Town. In 2010, he entered the renewable energy sector as Managing Director of Schletter Africa. In over seven years, he was responsible for the construction of a half-gigawatt of mounting structure and 350 MWp of solar power plants. In 2018, Suchland moved to SUNOTEC and was responsible for the construction of a hybrid solar PV plant in Mali, at the time the largest in West Africa. In 2020, he joined SUNOTEC as CEO in the headquarters in Sofia, together with Founder and CEO Kaloyan Velichkov.

George serves as the CEO of the Electricity Sector Association of Kenya, an industry body that brings together private investors in electricity. The association represents private investors in grid-based electricity generation, transmission, and captive power generation. George is also the chairperson of the KEPSA energy sector board and the Global Wind Energy Council's Africa Associations platform. He is also director of Phasian Consulting Limited. He has worked in the Independent Power Producer sector in east Africa for over 15 years focusing on the development of grid-scale power projects in wind, solar, hydro and bioenergy. He has served previously as the MD for SOWITEC Kenya, and MD of Ecoener Kenya, both developers of power projects. He has undertaken feasibility studies, project due diligence and management support of operating plants including hydro and thermal plants. Mr. Aluru has also been involved in the development of regulations in the electricity sector in Kenya as well as industry analyses, market entry assessments and industry responses to taskforces and commissions of enquiry as well as stakeholder engagements at project level, boardroom level (with authorities), and public level in the media. He is a regular and respected panelist in conferences, and media houses, and has written various public interest articles on the electricity sector in Kenya. He holds an MBA from the University of Nicosia in Cyprus, and a MSc. in renewable energy from the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg in Germany, and a BSc. in Telecommunications and Information Engineering from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT). George is pursuing a PhD in electricity markets for Eastern Africa. George is highly skilled in the energy space with over 16 years of experience in energy sector in advocacy and, in the planning, development and operation of power projects including Wind, Solar and Hydro projects in East Africa.

Erick Ongera, ComAp's Sales Manager in East Africa, is an experienced Electrical Engineer with insights into micro/minigrid systems. He has already worked on several successful Solar projects within the East African market.

Brian Omega is the Managing Director East Africa. His key responsibilities are driving the business growth of the hub, ensuring deployment excellence and maximum customer satisfaction. Prior to joining Soventix, Brian worked as the Application Center manager for Schneider Electric. Brian has a track record in organizational transformation and leadership. He has close on 15 years' experience in capital projects across Africa. He holds 2 Bachelor of Engineering degrees from JKUAT (Kenya).

Edouard Wenseleers is Globeleq's Managing Director, Business Development and leads Globeleq's activities in the East African and Copperbelt regions. Overall, Edouard has focused on the IPP business in Africa over the last 14 years. Edouard joined Globeleq in early 2018 and successfully led the company's power project development and acquisition activities across the East African region from early 2020 onwards, including the financial closing of the 52MWp Malindi Solar project in Kenya (which is now in operation), and the 35MW Menengai geothermal project in Kenya (which is currently under construction). Prior to joining Globeleq, Edouard worked for ENGIE over a span of 10 years, during which time he contributed to the successful development and financial closing of both the 300MW Tarfaya wind farm and the 1,386MW Safi thermal plant in Morocco and subsequently set up ENGIE's development office in Nairobi, covering East Africa. Edouard holds a MSc degree in Chemical Engineering from the Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium and a MSc degree in Economics and Corporate Management from the IFP-School in Paris, France.