ISES Board of Directors 2020
ISES Executive Committee
Dr. David Renné
Dr. Renné served as President of the International Solar Energy Society from 2010 - 2019. From 1991 until his retirement in 2012 Dr. Renné managed the solar resource assessment activities at the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). In 2012 he formed the consultancy Dave Renne Renewables. He is dedicated to the concept of urgently achieving 100% renewable energy to meet all of our end use energy requirements as the best solution to the climate crisis.
Dr. Kemal Gani Bayraktar
Dr. Kemal Gani Bayraktar is Marketing Director of Izocam, with a mechanical engineering background in the field of energy. His interests are mainly focused on energy, renewables, insulation and construction technologies, policy, environment and climate change, low carbon economy, innovation, sustainability, clustering and vocational training. He is actively participating to regulatory works and working in NGOs. He represents Solar Energy industry as the Past President of Turkish Solar Energy Society and HVAC industry as the General Secretary of Turkish Society of HVAC & Sanitary Engineers, TTMD. He is also representing Republic of Turkey as ExCo Member in the IEA Solar Heating Cooling Program.
Dr. Maria Wall
Dr Maria Wall is associate professor at the Division of Energy and Building Design, Lund University, Sweden. She has a MSc in Architecture and a PhD in Engineering. Over the years, her research has included different issues related to energy-efficient buildings as well as solar energy strategies. She is presently leader of the research project IEA SHC Task 63 on Solar Neighborhood Planning (2019-2023), including both passive and active solar energy strategies. She was former leader of the IEA SHC Task 41 on Solar Energy and Architecture (2009-2012) that focused on active solar technologies for buildings, especially architectural aspects, and was then appointed as leader for the IEA SHC Task 51 on Solar Energy in Urban Planning (2013-2018).
She was the main initiator and developer, and is also the Director of the 2-year Master’s Programme in Energy-efficient and Environmental Building Design at Lund University. This programme is enrolling international students from different backgrounds, both in architecture and in engineering, since interdisciplinary teamwork is needed when designing sustainable buildings and neighborhoods.
Dr. Viktoria Martin
Dr. Viktoria Martin is Professor in Energy Technology at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. A graduate from KTH (MSc in Chemical Engineering 1993) and the University of Florida (PhD in Mechanical Engineering 1998), she has pursued a career in international research collaborations within the International Energy Agency as well as the EU, providing insight into a variety of leading research and education arenas. Dr. Martin has over 25 years of experience in education, research, and entrepreneurship in the area of sustainable energy, with special focus on thermal energy storage and heat driven heat pumping technology. She is the author/co-author of 100+ publications within her research area. Equally important to research is her work on high quality education within the field, and she is presently the director of a two-year MSc degree programme in Sustainable Energy Engineering with participants from all over the world.
Geoff Stapleton
Geoff Stapleton specialized in solar (PV) energy in the final year of his electrical engineering degree in 1981. He has worked in the solar industry since 1987. In 1998 he was one of the co-founders of Global Sustainable Energy Solutions Pty Ltd (GSES). GSES is a multi-disciplinary organization specializing in professional engineering and training services across the Renewable Energies sector. In 2010 through funding from REEEP, GSES acted as project manager and helped the industry in the Pacific create their own industry association known as Sustainable Energy Industry Association of Pacific Islands (SEIAPI).
Prof. Klaus Vajen
Professor Klaus Vajen is director of the Institute of Thermal Engineering at the University of Kassel, Germany, where he holds the chair of Solar- and Systems Engineering, and furthermore distinguished professor of the Technical University of Kyrgyzstan in Bishkek. He holds a PhD in applied physics and is (co-)author of 300+ publications about (solar) thermal engineering, university education and energy policy. He is founder and director of the MSc-programme “Renewable Energies and Energy Efficiency” at the University of Kassel, as well as founder and head of the council “University Educations on Renewable Energies” with 120+ professors from German speaking countries. He developed and coordinates the Europe-wide PhD-education on solar thermal technology, together with Professor U. Jordan.
Klaus was member of the ISES Board of Directors from 2003-2011 and is a member again since 2018. He was Vice-president of ISES 2006-2007, founder of Young ISES (together with J. McIntosh) and Chair of the Solar World Congress 2011 in Kassel.
Prof. Ricardo Rüther
Prof. Ricardo Rüther is a Professor of Solar Energy at Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (www.ufsc.br) in Florianopolis-Brazil, where he carries out R&D and academic activities in the field of solar photovoltaics, solar irradiation resource assessment, electrochemical storage and electromobility. He completed a BE with honours and a M.Sc. degree in Metallurgy and Materials Science at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, and obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Western Australia at the Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering. He was an Alexander von Humboldt post-doctoral research fellow at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Germany, and was tenured at Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina in 2000, where he is the director of the Solar Energy Research Laboratory Fotovoltaica/UFSC (www.fotovoltaica.ufsc.br). Prof. Rüther was a member of the ISES Board of Directors in the 2005-2007 and 2008-2010 periods. He joined ISES in 1991, and became an ISES lifetime gold member in 2008.
ISES Board Members
Agnieszka E. Rządkowska
Mrs Agnieszka Rządkowska is an energy policy researcher focused on the EU solar transition and its impact on international energy relations and geopolitics. She is a co-founder of the European Solar Network and a PhD candidate at the University of Wrocław. Her specialization is energy relations analytics and artificial intelligence modeling. She authored research grants and coordinated few EU funded projects. She holds a research position at solarity.cloud platform and was an advisor to the Board of the EU COST Multiscale Solar cooperation of 70+ leading European PV R&D institutions. Having published several academic papers she is now focused on the book project joining energy policy-makers, researchers and engineers from the EU and abroad.
Chiel Boonstra
Chiel Boonstra works as independent expert of his own company Trecodome in the application of advanced solutions for buildings and cities. He has international experience in applied research and real life construction and renovation projects at building and communities scale. He works with industrial partners, social housing organisations, architects, city planners. Focusing on low demand profiles and seasonal energy storage at community and city scale with the purpose of achieving real time 100% renewable energy driven communities.
Christine Lins
In May 2017, Christine Lins co-founded GWNET, the Global Women’s Network for the Energy Transition, which aims at empowering women in the sustainable energy sector.From July 2011 until April 2018, Christine was working as Executive Secretary of REN21, the Renewable Energy Policy Network of the 21st Century, headquartered at the United Nations Environment Programme in Paris/France. Between 2001 and 2011, Ms. Lins served as Secretary General of the European Renewable Energy Council in Brussels. Previously, she worked in a regional energy agency in Austria promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy sources.
Dr. Andreas Häberle
Prof. Dr. Andreas Häberle is director of the Institute for Solar Technology SPF at the University of Applied Sciences HSR in Rapperswil, Switzerland. Dr. Häberle is a physicist from the Technical University of Munich and earned his PhD at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Freiburg, Germany in the field of concentrating solar thermal collectors. In 1999 he co-founded the company PSE AG that offers various technologies and services for the solar sector.
The institute SPF has been a driving force in research and development of innovative energy technologies for more than 30 years, with focal areas in energy efficiency and renewable energies in general, as well as solar thermal and solar electrical energy in particular.
Dr. Andreas Hauer
Dr. Andreas Hauer, born January 1962, studied Physics at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich, Germany. He made his PhD at the technical University in Berlin. Now is Head of the Division “Energy Storage” at the Bavarian Center for Applied Energy Research, ZAE Bayern, with about 80 employees. There he is responsible for a number of national and international research projects focussed on thermal and electrical energy storage, thermal driven heat pumps / chillers for industrial and building applications and solar thermal collectors. Dr. Hauer is an international known expert on energy storage in general and specialized on thermal energy storage. He is member of the Executive Committee of the Energy Storage Programme within the International Energy Agency IEA. At the moment he is leading working groups on material development for thermal energy storage and on “Flexible Sector Coupling by the Implementation of Energy Strorage” within the technology network of the IEA. On the national level he is member of the board of directors of the 2012 established Bundesverband Energiespeicher (BVES), German Energy Storage Association. In this position he is responsible for R&D activities within the association.
Dr. José González-Aguilar
Dr. José González-Aguilar is senior researcher and head of the R&D unit of High Temperature Processes at IMDEA Energy Institute (Spain), a R&D not-for-profit foundation that focuses its research on high-temperature solar concentration systems and technologies, the sustainable production of fuels, and the development of electrochemical energy storage systems coupled to renewable energy amongst other topics. He holds a PhD in Physics (Cantabria University, Spain, 1999) and a Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches (University Paul Sabatier, France, 2007). His current research interests are in the area of concentrating solar energy systems and technologies and thermal sciences, which is carried out in the framework of national and international research projects (From 2015 to 2019, he has participated in 7 EU-funded, 5 national and 3 regional projects as well as 8 contracts with companies). Author or co-author of 93 papers in peer review journals, 4 chapters in books on renewable energy, more than 140 communications in national and international conferences and 7 international and national patents. In addition to his research activity, he has had an intensive activity promoting scientific dissemination in the field of solar energy, which intends to foster as member of the ISES Board. Since 2015, Dr. González is serving as associated Editor of Solar Energy Journal of Elsevier.
Dr. Paulette Middleton
I am a strong advocate for the rapid transformation of the global energy system to renewable energy for all, used wisely and efficiently. Working closely with ISES is an excellent way to contribute to the transformation. During my 40-year career as an atmospheric chemist specializing in assessments that bring science to support appropriate decision making related to energy and the environment, I have come to deeply appreciate the need for this transformation. I strive to effectively use my expertise in research/analyses, program development, and communications/marketing, along with my commitment to collaborative problem solving, to advance ISES’ work. My professional experience includes leadership positions at University of Texas (PhD Chemistry 1973), National Center for Atmospheric Research, Atmospheric Sciences Research Center at the State University of New York at Albany, Science & Policy Associates, Inc., and RAND. Ongoing activities include Global Emissions IniAtive (GEIA) coordinator since 1991 and science-based environment/energy advisor to a wide variety of public and private, and stakeholder consortium clients since 2002 through my company Panorama Pathways. In addition to being ISES Board Secretary, I also am past Co-Chair of American Solar Energy Society Board of Directors (the USA Section of ISES).
Monica Oliphant
Monica Oliphant, is Past President of ISES and an Adj. A/Professor at 3 Australian Universities. She was employed for 18 years in the electricity supply industry but now runs her own consultancy. She has received several awards in recognition for her work in renewable energy and has served on a number of Australian Federal and State Australian Government Energy Related Committees. Currently she is working to develop community-owned solar and energy efficiency projects together with local governments.
Prof. Dr. Werner Platzer
Within ISES Werner Platzer wants to strengthen internationally interdisciplinary science and research in order to accompany the paradigm change to 100% RE on an optimal technological and societal basis. As focal topics he considers
- International knowledge transfer and education
- Making ISES a better support for young professionals and scientists
- Quality assurance in scientific publishing
- Interdisciplinary and societal work required for a solar energy sector
Prof. Dr. Werner Platzer is a physicist and received his PhD from the Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg in 1988 on the material optimization of transparent insulation. He has been working for more than 30 years for Fraunhofer ISE in Germany in R&D of solar thermal energy, facade technology and energy efficiency in buildings. Since more than 15 years however his focus is on concentrating solar thermal technology for process heat and power. After having gained the valuable experience of working abroad for two years in Chile as Executive Director of the Fraunhofer Center for Solar Energy Technology in Santiago de Chile back in Germany Werner is now coordinating international business relations of Fraunhofer ISE. As honorary Professor at the Faculty for Environment and Sustainability, University of Freiburg he teaches and supervises Master and PhD students. He was appointed chairman of the IEC TC 117 on the standardization for solar thermal electricity (CSP) and has been actively involved in many European and international projects on CSP and Solar Process Heat. He has authored more than 200 articles, book chapters and conference papers.
Prof. Michael Eckhart
Michael Eckhart is a Research Professor in Sustainable Finance at the University of Maryland and an Adjunct Professor in Environmental Finance at Columbia University. Until mid-2019, he was Managing Director and Global Head of Environmental Finance of Citigroup, Inc., where he led the banking industry's development of the Green Bond Principles (GBP), opening the green bond markets globally. Previously, he was founding President of the American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE), following a career in power generation. He has received several professional awards including Renewable Energy Man of the Year of India in 1998, the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship in 2008, and the International Solar Energy Society’s Global Leadership Award in 2013. He received a Bachelors Degree in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University and an MBA from Harvard Business School, and served in the US Navy Submarine Service.
Prof. Wang Zhifeng
Professor at the Institute of Electrical Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Founder and Chairman of the China Solar Thermal Alliance
Research direction：Solar thermal power generation and solar building technology
Main research areas：
- The design of solar thermal power generation system,
- Flow and heat transfer issues in high temperature solar heat collectors systems,
- Thermal performance evaluation of the solar collectors,
- Solar seasonal thermal storage.
Professor Wang led the preparation of 2 national standards and published more than 190 papers, including more than 60 articles in the past 5 years. Moreover, he applied for more than 90 invention patents. Supervised more than 50 master and PhD theses. Additionally, he was responsible for the following tasks:
- Developed and constructed the China's first solar thermal power generation experimental power station.
- Elaborated the solar thermal power technology roadmap for 2010-2030, which defines further CSP’s development in China.
- Proposed the 2022 Zero Carbon Winter Olympics Zone in China, and elaborated a technical support system with heat storage and multi-energy complementarity as the core of the energy characteristics of the region. As a result, in 2015, the State Council approved the construction of Chongli “Low Carbon Olympics Zone.”
- Created the China Solar Thermal Alliance to promote the technological innovation, industrialization and government support for solar thermal power generation.
- General project manager for the supercritical CO2 solar thermal power generation project, 2019-2023.
- General project manager for the solar season thermal storage project, 2018-2022.