Speakers

Anni Mikkonen is the CEO of the Finnish Wind Power Association since 2009. During her time the association and the importance of wind power in the Finnish energy sector have increased significantly.  Anni is leading wind power experts in Finland. She holds a master’s decrees in Environmental Sciences (MSc) and  in Corporate Environmental Management (M. Econ).

Jari Ihonen has over 22 years of experience in fuel cell and hydrogen R&D, mostly with polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEMFC) including component, stack and system development. He is currently Principal Scientist in Fuel cells and hydrogen team at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. In the last years the major topic of interest for him has been hydrogen quality issues and use of hydrogen fuel cells in maritime applications as well as green hydrogen production for industry. Jari Ihonen has also been a member of the board Finnish wind power association and was chairman of the board for the association in 2007-2009.

Karoliina Joensuu, M.Sc. (tech.), has  been working with wind power in Finland for more than 10 years. During this time she has been responsible for numerous engineering and consulting assignments for wind power projects, both projects in development and in operation, and more broadly in relation to wind power generation in Finland. Her strongest areas of expertise are the development and permitting process of wind power projects and the role of wind power in the electricity market. She has possessed various positions in line management and currently works as Senior Vice President responsible for Energy, Water & Environment business in FCG Finnish Consulting Group

M. Sc. (Economics) has 7 years of research experience and currently works as a researcher in the Finnish Environment Institute. His research focuses on integration of variable renewable energy sources into power systems in cost efficient ways. He has published multiple scientific articles in which power system’s flexibility is improved by means of electricity demand response, pricing, storage and hydro power optimization. During the past years he has worked in various scientific projects funded by the Academy of Finland and Strategic Research Council at the Academy of Finland. He is currently finalizing his doctoral thesis on the economics of power market flexibility.

Environmental Engineer working in the renewables and environment industry since 2015. Prior to this, working with EIA and field surveys since 2005. Skilled in environmental consulting, environmental management systems. Strong engineering professional with a Bachelor´s Degree of Applied Science (BASc) focused in Environmental Engineering Technology/Environmental Technology from Satakunta University of Applied Sciences-SAMK (2015). His current responsibilities at Suomen Hyötytuuli consist of wide range of environmental aspects including EIA, pre- and post-construction environmental monitoring and surveys and Avian radar project in Tahkoluoto offshore wind farm.

Jonathan O’Sullivan has spent over 20 years working in the electricity industry in the planning, operation and markets design.   In this time he has developed an acknowledged expertise in the theoretical modelling of the system, the necessary practical operation practices and the requirements for a well-designed and functional market.  In recent years Jonathan has been central to the implementation of the first electricity market in Ireland in 2000, the first all island market in 2007, the development of the “Delivering a Secure sustainable power system” (DS3) programme which will deliver the secure and reliable operation of the Ireland and Northern Ireland power system with unprecedented levels of wind electricity by 2020.

His current role in EirGrid, the transmission system operator in Ireland and Northern Ireland, is Manager Innovation.  Through this Jonathan drives general innovation in the group as well as specific technology strategies which include DS3, distributed power flow control devices, solar and storage.  To do this Jonathan’s team need to consider the future needs of the power system and envisage how these multiple technology strategies may interact at scale.  These considerations require technical, economic and government policy considerations.

Jonathan is an active member of ENTSO-E, the European association of TSO, where he contributes to working groups and committees on innovation, research, markets and renewables, long term market design and TSO-DSO interaction.

Helen Jameson is a Senior Project Manager at Vattenfall, with 8 years’ experience in development of UK offshore wind projects from the early design stages to construction handover. Areas of expertise are strategy and business case development, programme and financial management of large scale infrastructure projects. Helen has a great deal of experience in engaging regulatory, statutory and public stakeholders and has a particular interest in the onshore elements of offshore wind farms which are, in countries such as the UK, arguably more complex and controversial than the offshore wind farm itself. She is eager to see what the future holds for offshore wind in Finland…

Markus Herranen (M.Sc, Tech.) is working as an analyst at Gasum Portfolio Services Oy. He has been working in Nordic power market since 2012. He analyses the power market, does market reporting and makes consultancy projects.

Fergus joined SGRE/Siemens Offshore in 2013. Since then he has been responsible for the global offshore market intelligence team. During this period he has witnessed first hand the development of offshore wind from a high cost niche electricity source in Northern Europe to today being a key requirement for the energy transition globally and at a cost highly acceptable to consumer. Fergus is involved daily in the promotion of offshore wind both internally in SGRE and externally towards various stakeholders including policy makers.