Speakers

Mr. Erich W. Muller is since 2001 Director for Asia including Central Asia, Europe Aid Cooperation office (AIDCO) of the European Commission. Mr. Muller has been official of the European Commission since 1974, working with Asian countries for more than 20 years, being responsible for the implementation and coordination of political aspects and economic and development cooperation with South Asia. Mr. Muller was extensively involved in the conception of the EC-ASEAN Energy Facility (EAEF) over five years ago. He considers it to be “…a topic that has a lot of significance and where the EC financing was considered visionary for its timing and hopefully recognized for feeding into providing both policy and practical solutions to the sector and for its policy makers in South East Asia.” During his mission to Asia in November 2006, Mr. Muller again had the opportunity to meet with the EAEF Project Management Unit and selected projects and discuss the results and achievements of the EAEF. Further to his Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Technical University of Denmark, Mr. Muller possesses a MBA from the Carnegie-Mellon University in Pennsylvania, USA.

Mr. Ong Keng Yong is the Secretary-General of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) since 1 January 2003.  Mr Ong joined the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in June 1979 and served in diplomatic posts in Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and the United States of America from 1984 to 1994.  Mr. Ong was the Ambassador of Singapore to India and Nepal from 1996 to 1998.  He   was the Press Secretary to the Prime Minister of Singapore and concurrently the Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts  from September 1998 to December 2002.  Between 1999 and 2002, he was also the Chief Executive Director of the People’s Association, a grassroots-based community development organization in Singapore.  Mr. Ong graduated from the University of Singapore and Georgetown University (Washington DC, USA)

Ms. Christine Lins, Secretary General of EREC (European Renewable Energy Council) since April 2001, graduated from the University of Linz, Austria (international economics and applied languages with a specialization in marketing). She has more than 10 years of working experience in the field of renewable energy sources. Key tasks of Ms Lins at EREC include the running of the associations, the drafting of proposals to international institutions and management of international projects (e.g. ALTENER, FP 5, UN contracts), proposal evaluation for EC programmes (FP5, ALTENER, SAVE), the organization of international events (conferences, workshops, participation in trade fairs) as well as lobbying for RES. Before moving to Brussels in 2001 she held the post of Project Manager at O.Ö. Energiesparverband (regional energy agency promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy sources in Austria) for international projects in the framework of EU programs.

Dr. Weerawat Chantanakome is presently the Executive Director of the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE), of which main areas cover all energy activities, business and transactions in ASEAN having close collaboration with the rest of the world in energy. Dr. Weerawat was appointed by the Royal Thai government with the endorsement by the ASEAN Ministers of Energy Meeting (AMEM) in June 2004 to assume his tenure as the second Executive Director of ACE.  Besides, Dr. Weerawat was on a sabbatical leave from the North Eastern Polytechnic University where he is a Vice Chancellor and Dean of Faculty of Engineering and associated with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as a Private Sector Development Specialist.  Other achievements include being Senate Committee for Science, Technology and Energy of the Thai Parliament; Secretary General of the ASEAN-CCI (Chamber of Commerce and Industry) - Thailand Chapter, Director & Energy Committee of the Federation of Thai Industries, World Bank Energy Consultant, TDRI Energy Policy Specialist, to name a few.
Dr. Weerawat holds B. Sc. From Chulalongkorn University; Master Degrees in System Engineering from Ohio University, U.S.A. and in Energy Planning from University of Paris II, France; and a Ph.D. in Energy Policy from University of Waterloo, Canada, under the Canadian Government Scholarship.

Mr. Frantz Longhi, President of Danish Energy Management A/S (part of Danish Management Group), and one of the leading energy and development experts in Denmark. Through his personal and corporate engagement in Development Aid Programmes and Energy Projects, Mr Longhi has contributed to development in countries of Eastern and Central Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America. He maintains close co-operation with European Commission, DANIDA, EBRD, World Bank, other IFIs, as well as bilateral development agencies, and manages a fast-growing consultancy with offices and staff in Europe, Asia, and Africa.
His field of influence over the past 20 years includes issues as Development Policy Formulation, Project financing,  Legislation, Energy and Environment, Project Management and Implementation, Monitoring of Projects and Programmes, Training, Institutional building and HRD, Quality assurance, General advisory services to governments and organisations in Denmark and more than 25 countries abroad. Danish Energy Management is responsible for the EAEF Programme Management Unit.

Mr. Pekka Skytta, EC Co-Director of EC-ASEAN Energy Facility. MSc (power engineering) with post-graduate qualifications in business administration. 35 years experience come from 24 years in power engineering, development, marketing, management and production in Finland and other EU, Thailand and Indonesia and 11 years in EU funded projects in Russia, Europe, Africa and Asia. In 2002 he was appointed to his present position as EC Co-Director of EC-ASEAN Energy Facility and stationed in Jakarta at ASEAN Centre for Energy.
His sectoral experience lies in the energy (power, power markets, gas, peat, wood waste etc renewable energy powered electricity production), energy efficiency & conservation and nuclear safety sectors. He has developed in-depth engineering knowledge of these sectors in Finland, Russia, the EU and Asia. He has technical and administrative project management experience related to several nuclear and conventional power plants, along with full grasp of the energy production and development cycle.

Dr. Viktor Popescu. Received MS and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University Politechnica Bucharest (UPB). Has been involved in protection relay development and dynamic system modeling. He joined in 1982 Fichtner Consulting Engineers, Stuttgart, Germany where he  worked on various system control and protection projects in numerous countries and contributed to development of software for protection relay modeling and coordination. Between 1999 and 2007 he led the Power System Studies Section and is currently Senior Project Consultant in the same Company. He is author of 10 publications and co-author of a book on various protection and power system control, IEEE and CIGRE - SC34 member. Between 2003 and 2004 he managed the EC-ASEAN Energy Facility Trans-Borneo Interconnection Study finalized with a long term action plan and an agreement for establishing an HV transmission link between SESCO and PLN- Kalimantan.

Mr  Mattias Nordström joined the SEI Climate and Energy Resources programme in 2000. Mr Nordström specialises in the linkages between energy, environment and society, and has worked with issues related to energy/environmental assessment, planning and policy issues in numerous countries in Africa, Asia and Europe. Mr Nordström currently leads or takes part in research and consultancy projects in collaboration with partner organisations in Africa, Asia and Europe. Clients include national governments, public agencies, the European Commission as well as international organisations.

Dr. Gerhard Weihs has been working since 1986 in different fields of consultancy, mainly in the position of managing director of consulting companies and expert networks or as independent consultant. He studied at the University of Innsbruck and the Technical University of Graz and has received a PhD degree in Philosophy of Science and a Diploma in Environmental Technologies. His widespread background and understanding of environmental issues in industry and at administrative level was reason for several engagements by institutions like the Municipality of Klagenfurt or the Carinthian Environmental School, which he joined and chaired in the 1990s for several years. In 1997, he established ‘CENTRIC AUSTRIA INTERNATIONAL – Center of Environmental Training and International Consulting’ a non-profit professional expert association, which he manages since that time. In this framework, he organized and managed during the recent 10 years numerous international training and consulting projects in the field of energy, environment, waste, cleaner production and environmental management. Geographical focus of these projects is Asia including China, Mongolia, India and Southeast Asian countries, South Africa and Central Asia. Today he is living in Austria and China.

Dr. Niels-Erik Clausen,  Project coordinator ASEAN Wind project.   Dr. Clausen has more than 20 years practical engineering experience with emphasis on process design, product development, environmental assessment of energy conversion processes and project management. Following 15 years of work in private industry as a professional engineer Dr. Clausen joined Risø National Laboratory in 2000, where he has worked since with research, teaching as well as consultancy within wind energy in more than fifteen countries. Clients are private developers as well as governments and private and multilateral banks. Recently he has managed a Nordic research project on the impact of climate change on the potential of renewable energy sources – specifically wind energy. In 2006 he has given courses in wind energy in the Philippines and Thailand as a part of projects financed by the World Bank and EU respectively. Dr. Clausen holds a M.Sc. and a Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Technical University of Denmark and a degree in Engineering Business Administration from Copenhagen College of Engineering.

Dr. Dominik Möst is presently group leader of the working group “energy system analysis and environment” at the Institute for Industrial Production at the Universität Karlsruhe (TH). His topics of interest are energy system modelling, long range developments of energy markets and price forecasts (especially gas and electricity markets), renewable energies and energy efficiency, as well as multi-agent-based modelling. He has also been involved in several Southeast Asian projects as project coordinator, such as the ASEM Green independent power producers network, and the Regional Energy Policy and Planning in ASEAN for Sustainable Development (REPP-ASD).
He studied business engineering at the Universität Karlsruhe (TH) and at the ENSGI-INPG Grenoble and holds a Dr. degree in economics from the Universität Karlsruhe (TH).

Mr. David Walden, Director (Overseas Projects), Bronzeoak Limited since April 2003, BA and MA degrees from Cambridge University (Engineering). He has more than 35 years experience working on energy and related projects with the last 10 years focused on renewable energy sources. At Bronzeoak, Mr Walden is responsible for all aspects of overseas projects as well as limited advice on UK energy projects. Typical projects he has led include: addition of a 40 MWe bagasse co-generation plant at a sugar mill, green field 125,000 l/d ethanol plant (sugar cane), 20 MGD seawater desalination project as well as several EAEF Supported Projects. Before joining Bronzeoak in 1996, David worked for an independent power producer in Albany, New York and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He has also worked for utility companies and for international engineering consultants in several countries.

Dr. Anjali Shanker. Since 1993, Dr. Shanker is co-manager of Innovation Energie Développement, a France based consultancy and engineering firm, specialized in sustainable energy projects essentially in Asia and Africa. She was the first employee of the firm which has now grown to a structure of 20 permanent professional staff and approximately 10 project related staff. She has hence extensive hands on experience with project development, implementation and management as well as facilitation and coordination of team work – see http://www.ied-sa.fr/ for further information. Aside from team and project management functions, Anjali is and has been directly involved in different kinds projects, covering the areas of policy work and advice, feasibility and planning studies, technical assistance to project implementation. Her technical area of expertise lies in institutional and financial aspects of energy efficiency and (rural) energy issues, both in Africa and in Asia: ASEAN countries have been a particular focus of her work since 3 years, in close collaboration with ACE and the EAEF. In her background, Dr. Shanker combines a degree in Business Management, post graduate degree in Development and Energy issues, an initial experience in the banking sector and 6 years on the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel of the GEF.

Dr Ludovic Lacrosse, (PhD, MSc, EMBA), is Senior Project Manager with Carl Bro International AB. He has 24 years of experience in the renewable energy sector (8 years in Europe and 16 years in South-East Asia). He moved to South East Asia in 1991 to be Technical Advisor during the first two phases of the EC-ASEAN COGEN Programme (COGEN 1 & 2), aiming at promoting the use of clean and efficient European biomass energy technologies in ASEAN wood and agro-industries. He then became Programme Co-ordinator of COGEN 3.  He has a strong experience in Euro-ASEAN economic co-operation. He acted as policy advisor to ASEAN energy policy makers and as business facilitator between European cogeneration equipment suppliers, their local partners and clients in ASEAN.  He has been involved in several EAEF projects and is currently the International Team Leader of the Vietnam-Sweden Rural Energy Programme.