Speakers

Bio

Mr. Finau Moa is the Acting Chief Executive Officer (ACEO) of Tonga Power Limited (TPL), Tonga's sole state-owned utility responsible for power generation, network distribution, and electricity retail services. With 32 years of extensive experience in the government sector, Mr. Moa brings a wealth of knowledge and leadership to his role. He has dedicated seven years to the Ministry of Public Enterprises and previously served as the CEO of Tonga Gas Limited before assuming his current position at TPL. As the ACEO of TPL, Mr. Moa leads the primary implementing agency driving Tonga's renewable energy transition. His responsibilities encompass not only the execution and commissioning of renewable energy and grid resilience projects but also ensuring the long-term sustainability of these initiatives for both the country and TPL's staff. In his role, Mr. Moa will share valuable insights and lessons learned from Tonga's journey towards renewable energy, highlighting the challenges and successes encountered along the way.

Bio

Fiona is a partner in the London office of the law firm Trinity International LLP. Fiona advises sponsors, borrowers, commercial banks, ECAs and development banks on numerous complex project finance transactions, restructurings and corporate financings in emerging market jurisdictions. Fiona's project finance experience includes power and water projects, hospitals, roads, rail, telecoms, airports, mining and oil & gas. A pivotal focus of Fiona’s practice is to support long-term sustainability in developing jurisdictions, through creating access to sustainable and reliable power supplies, working with development finance institutions and Governments to improve access to power in remote and rural areas, which in turn helps to achieve opportunities for developing jurisdictions to meet other social inclusion goals. Fiona also helps lead the Firm’s Island Nations practice, which is committed to helping to implement programs which contribute to combatting the effects of climate change in the more vulnerable Indian and Pacific Island nations.

Bio

Fiza Farhan is the CEO of ORA Global Development Advisors and a leading global expert on issues pertaining to inclusive economic growth, climate change, sustainable development, financial inclusion, women empowerment, access to energy and multi-sectorial partnerships; advising various Governments, private sector and development agencies especially the United Nations on critical development issues in both realms of advocacy and action. Fiza is also the Convenor of the Male Champions of Change Pakistan Coalition, creating strong partnerships with CEOs of private sector organizations to enable them to step up for gender equality. Previously Fiza was the CEO & Co-founder of two social enterprises Buksh Foundation & Buksh Energy Private Limited, whereby she launched multiple global innovations on projects creating unique development solutions addressing multiple challenges the rural communities face including the nexus between empowerment for women & girls and access to clean and reliable energy solutions in addition to access to finance, education and economic livelihoods, later the same innovative ideas got recognized as “International Best Practices” by the UN Foundation & UN Habitat. Fiza was featured in the US Magazine Forbes “30 Under 30 List of Social Entrepreneurs” twice in 2015 and then in 2016, in addition to becoming the youngest member of the UN Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on Women Economic Empowerment, Future Energy Leader at the World Energy Council, and Chairperson to Chief Minister Punjab’s Task Force on Women Empowerment amongst many other high level board positions. Currently, Fiza is an advisor to multiple stakeholders in individual and institutional capacities, including UNICEF Pakistan, PFAN International, UNGC International etc. Fiza is a graduate of Lahore University of Management Sciences and completed her post-graduation from Warwick Business School, UK."

Bio

Flavio Fernández is Managing Director of DIgSILENT GmbH Germany. In his current position he is responsible for the areas Power System Consulting & Application Engineering. He coordinates DIgSILENT’s power system consultants’ team in Germany, the technical customer support and the international training program for its power system simulation software PowerFactory.

Flavio has over 15 years’ experience in electrical engineering and advanced power system simulation and has participated in numerous power system studies in Europe, Asia and Latin America. He has particular expertise in the fields of power system stability and control, integration of variable renewable generation and electro-magnetic transient analysis. He combines his main consulting activities with research work on dynamic power system modelling and participation in related CIGRE working groups.

Flavio Fernández can be reached at ffernandez@digsilent.de

Bio

Florence Ventura is Team Leader on Energy Security in the Geo-resources and Energy Programme at the Pacific Community, based in Fiji. She coordinates the implementation of the Framework for Energy Security and Resilience in the Pacific (FESRIP) and manages regional energy projects including the Pacific Energy and Gender Initiative to mainstream gender equality in the Pacific clean energy sector. She has over fifteen years of experience managing sustainable energy projects, in France, African countries and Pacific Island Countries focusing particularly on energy access, renewable energy and energy efficiency. She previously worked as Renewable Energy project manager in the Regional Council of the South Region of France and as Sustainable Energy Expert at the African Development Bank. She holds a master’s degree in energetics and environment from the French Engineering School “École Centrale”.

Bio

Florian Kitt serves as Energy Specialist for the Asian Development Bank in Indonesia since 2017. Prior to that he worked for the OECD, the World Bank, and the private sector. He holds a Master degree in International Relations.

Bio

MSc in Electrical Engineering from Tourin Polytechnic and PMP certified, Francesco Comito joined the Consulting Division of CESI in 2019. Since 2020 Francesco is serving as Area Manager for South Asia and Far East within the Consulting Division of CESI. With 25+ years of experience in implementation/construction project and consultancy services for the Energy sector, in his career Francesco covered technical and managerial roles in complex multidisciplinary international projects. Francesco has been actively contributing to the CESI mission of supporting critical energy infrastructures providing high level technical consulting services with a focus on Power Interconnections, Grid Modernization programs and RES & Storage deployments accomplished in highly innovative context as well as in developing and fragile environments.

Bio

Mr. Francesco La Camera is the Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). He was appointed at the Ninth Assembly of IRENA, the ultimate decision-making body of the Agency. Mr. La Camera took office on 4 April 2019 and brings more than thirty years of experience in the fields of climate, sustainability, and international cooperation. In his role, Mr. La Camera is responsible for leading the delivery of IRENA’s work program and strategy in cooperation with the Agency’s member states. At a critical time for climate change and the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals, Mr. La Camera is tasked with redefining the structure and operations of the Agency in response to the urgent needs of its 168 Members and 16 Members in the Accession Process. Previously, Mr. La Camera served as Director-General of Sustainable Development, Environmental Damage, EU and International Affairs at the Italian Ministry of Environment, Land & Sea since 2014. In this capacity, he developed cooperation and partnership agreements with a wide range of countries, particularly developing countries including Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

Bio

Mr. Francesco Tornieri is Principal Social Development Specialist (GAD) at the Asian Development Bank (ADB), South Asia Department (SARD) and a member of the ADB Gender Equality Thematic Group. Francesco is ADB’s focal point for gender equality, social inclusion, and civil society engagement in the South Asia Department (SARD). He promotes the visibility of gender equality, social inclusion and women’s empowerment in the design, implementation and monitoring of ADB operations in South Asia. Since 2017, he is the SARD Focal Point for Evaluation, in recognition of the critical role of monitoring and evaluation to achieve inclusive and sustainable results. Prior to ADB, Francesco worked as Social Development Specialist in the Africa Region of the World Bank, where he led the Gender and Law Program in Sub-Saharan West, Central and East Africa, involved in a broad range of social development and social protection initiatives. He has also worked as advisor to several West Sub-Saharan African countries on gender and law-related issues, incl. gender-responsive law reform, legal literacy and legal aid targeting women and disadvantaged groups.

Bio

Mr. Francesco Tornieri is Principal Social Development Specialist (GAD) at the South Asia Department (SARD) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and a member of the Gender Equity Community of Practice. Mr. Tornieri has been working passionately for over 20 years in the area of social development, with a focus on gender equality, women’s empowerment, social justice, post-conflict rehabilitation and reconstruction, gender-responsive policy/legal and governance reforms, and gender-related capacity development across SubSaharan West, Central, and East Africa and across the Asia-Pacific. He is the Gender and Social Inclusion Focal Point at the South Asia Region Department (SARD) of the ADB. Mr. Tornieri joined ADB in 2004 working in the Poverty Reduction, Gender, and Social Development Division (RSGS) in the Regional and Sustainable Development Department (RSDD). Prior to his current role, Mr. Tornieri has worked as Social Development Specialist (GAD) at the Africa Region of the World Bank (1996-2004), Washington DC, where he was involved in the implementation of a broad range of gender-related initiatives and directly responsible for the Gender and Law Program in Sub-Saharan West, Central and East Africa.

Bio

Dr. Fraser Thompson is the co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Sun Cable, which is building the world's largest solar farm, undersea HVDC link and batteries to supply renewable energy from Australia and elsewhere to growing demand centres across Asia. He is a globally-recognised expert on sustainable development and energy transition issues, working with a range of governments, investors, and multilateral institutions.

Fraser previously worked with McKinsey & Company for almost 9 years as a leader in their sustainability practice (with particular expertise on carbon abatement and resource productivity) and with the World Bank before that. He is a Rhodes Scholar, with a PhD in Economics from Oxford University.

Bio

Mr. Chang combines over 25 years of venture capital, intellectual property investing and start-up company experiences in the US and China where he has conducted cross-border investments and helped build the businesses for international VC and intellectual property investment firms, as well as emerging climate-tech companies. Mr. Chang started his career in McKinsey & Company’s Greater China practice where he participated in a 30-year Energy & Environmental Policy project in Taiwan. Mr. Chang’s professional experience also includes General Electric corporate venture capital in Silicon Valley; Intellectual Ventures intellectual property fund in China; and a China RMB fund backed by the Shanghai government and leading state-owned enterprises. Mr. Chang attended Beijing University, the University of Michigan and the Wharton School of Business where he received an MBA/MA in Entreprenurial Finance.