Advancing market integration and decarbonisation: How to ensure a smooth transition?

Waleed Alsuraih is the Cluster Leader of the World Bank Energy Advisory Services for the GCC and regional energy trade programme for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. He also performs a Programme Leader Role to coordinate the GCC advisory services across the Infrastructure practice (Energy & Extractives, Transport, Digital, and Infrastructure Energy).

Since joining the Bank in 2007, he has been working with governments, utilities, and relevant stakeholders across the MENA region to strenghten the role of the power sector in economic growth and social prosperity. He is currently leading the World Bank Initiative on Pan-Arab Regional Energy Trade Platform, which supports the development electricity and gas trade markets within the region and beyond.

Waleed holds a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from King Saud University in Saudi Arabia, and a MBA from Southampton School of Management in the UK.

Fahad Alturki is Vice President of Research at King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC).

In this role he oversees KAPSARC’s research programs and priorities, ensuring that these are strategically focused on impacts within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, both regionally and globally. Fahad interacts with key stakeholder groups within the Kingdom and internationally, in the private, academic, and government sectors. Moreover, he is responsible for setting the overall directions and parameters for collaboration with KAPSARC’s partners and affiliates.

Catherine Banet (PhD) is Professor of Law at the University of Oslo, and Head of the Department for Energy and Resources Law, Norway. Her legal research activities focus on energy market design, energy transport infrastructures regulation, support schemes and financing models, focusing on renewable energy and notably offshore wind, climate change mitigation measures such as carbon capture and storage (CCS), and hydrogen regulation.

Prof. Banet has a background from the private law practice (Norway, France), the European Commission (DG ENV), U.S. diplomatic mission and academia. She is a member of the Academic Advisory Group of the Section on Energy, Environment and Infrastructure Law of the IBA, and Chair of the Board of the Norwegian Energy Law Association.

Frank Felder is an engineer, energy policy analyst, and Program Director for Energy Transitions and Electric Power.

Prior to joining KAPSARC, Frank was a Research Professor at the School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University, Director of the Rutgers Energy Institute, and Director of the Center for Energy, Economics and Environmental Policy. In those roles, he conducted original and applied research in the areas of electric power system modeling, clean energy policies, and climate change for academic foundations, government agencies, and energy utilities. He has also worked as an economic consultant and nuclear engineer.

Shahid Hasan is a research fellow at KAPSARC, where his current research focuses on electricity sector transitions in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states, and development of a regional electricity market in the GCC, Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

He previously consulted extensively on policy, regulatory and structural reforms in the energy sector, especially electricity industry in India and Southeast Asia. Shahid has also contributed to several government’s reports aimed at facilitating the transition of India’s energy sector. Shahid has worked closely with the government, regulatory commissions, utilities, international organizations and research institutions.

Oliver Koch is Deputy Head of the Internal Market Unit of the Commission’s Energy Directorate-General. His team works on the development of appropriate rules for an integrated EU electricity and gas market. Over the past three years he has worked intensively on a comprehensive review of EU market legislation (the so-called “Clean Energy Package”), a key element for the EU’s work on the European Green Deal. Oliver also coordinates the legal work of the Unit, notably the enforcement of EU rules vis-à-vis Member States, as well as the teams dealing with external aspects of the internal energy market, including the relations with Norway, Russia and Switzerland.

Before joining DG Energy, he worked in DG Competition in the field of energy antitrust (2007 – 2012) and merger control (2003 – 2007). Prior to joining the Commission, he worked as a lawyer in private practice (White & Case, Freshfields) and as an assistant lecturer (Göttingen University).

Bruno Liebhaberg is Executive Chairman of the think tank Centre on Regulation in Europe (CERRE) which he founded in 2010.

From 2018 to 2021, he was also the first Chairman of the European Union Observatory on the Online Platform Economy. He is also an Honorary Professor at the Université Libre de Bruxelles’ Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management (SBS-EM ULB) where he taught from 1979 to 2018. Earlier in his career, he advised former European Commission President Jacques Delors on industry and R&D matters related to the completion of the EU Single Market.

He holds a Master’s in management sciences from SBS-EM ULB and a Ph.D. in Industrial Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

¹Also representing B.LIEBHABERG S.A., Director General
²Member of the Strategic Committee

Jens Lundgren is Deputy Chief Economist at the Swedish energy regulator “The Swedish Energy Markets Inspectorate”, and has been with the Inspectorate for 13 years. He has great experience working with electricity regulation and the function of the electricity market and as of last year he has been working on a project to improve the function of the Swedish tariff regulation for electricity network companies.

Jens holds a PhD in Economics from Umeå University in Sweden.

Máximo Miccinilli* was Director, Energy & Climate at the Centre on Regulation in Europe (CERRE), leading the think tank’s research and activities related to energy and climate.

He was previously leading the public affairs and communications activities of European Aluminium where he managed international campaigns on energy and climate matters. 

Prior to this, he was a manager in the energy and climate practice at Burson-Marsteller Brussels (now BCW), a leading global PA and PR agency. 

Earlier in his career, he worked for the Italian Ministry of European Affairs and the European Commission on single market and external policies. 

He holds a MA in European Law from the College of Europe (Bruges) and a MBA in Business and Finances from the Solvay Business School (Brussels).

*Representing One Policy Lab SRL

Alex Papalexopoulos (PhD) is President & CEO of ECCO International, based in San Francisco, CA,  which provides consulting and software services in the area of energy market design and smart grid development to a wide range of clients such as Governments, Regulators, ISOs/RTOs/TSOs/PXs, Utilities, Generators and Traders. Alex has designed organised energy markets in about 15 countries in North and South America, Europe and Asia. He is also the CEO & Chairman of the Board of ZOME Energy Networks, a cloud-based, DER communicating platform which deploys distributed stochastic control to aggregate, optimize and control DERs, create VPPs and offer DR capacity in wholesale and retail markets to solve grid problems. He is the 1992 recipient of PG&E’s Wall of Fame Award, the 1996 recipient of IEEE’s First Prize Paper Award and a Fellow of IEEE.

Alex received the Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Diploma from NTUA, Athens, Greece and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia. In 2016 he was bestowed the award of the honorary Professor at the University of Patras, Greece.

Michael Pollitt is Professor of Business Economics at the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. He is an Assistant Director of the university’s Energy Policy Research Group (EPRG) and a Fellow and Director of Studies in Economics and Management at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. Michael is an elected Vice President (for Publications) of the International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE). He is a former external economic advisor to Ofgem.

Aftab Raza is a regulatory and financial specialist in electricity, gas, water and wastewater sectors. He is currently working with the Abu Dhabi Department of Energy as the Head of Sector Financial Management and, since 2000, has held positions of Director of Economic Regulation, Head of Network Price Controls and Senior Economist, leading expert teams on setting tariffs, price controls, performance targets and incentives, undertaking financial and economic analysis, and approving government subsidy and investments. He has also lead the work on developing regulatory frameworks for district cooling, gas distribution, wastewater, EV, DSM and IWPPs.

Before 2000, he worked as the Project Manager for the Private Power & Infrastructure Board of the Government of Pakistan. He has also advised as a consultant the governments and utilities in Asia, Europe and Africa on regulatory and tariff regimes for private power and gas projects and developed IPP bidding documents, contracts and economic and financial models.

With MBA (finance) and electrical engineering degrees, Aftab has over 25 years of experience covering the value chain in the energy sector as a senior management executive as well as a consultant, while managing SMEs, engaging stakeholders and addressing policy, regulatory, financial, accounting, economic, pricing, system planning and investment issues.

Adam Sieminski is President of the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC), an independent, non-profit, research think tank located in Riyadh. Its mission is to advance the understanding of energy, economics, and the environment, acting as a catalyst for dialogue.

Prior to joining KAPSARC, he held the James Schlesinger Chair for Energy and Geopolitics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington.  Sieminski served as Administrator of the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the statistical and analytical division of the U.S. Department of Energy in 2012-2016.  While awaiting U.S. Senate confirmation for the EIA appointment, he was the Senior Director for Energy and Environment of the U.S. National Security Council at the White House.  He was previously Deutsche Bank’s chief energy economist and integrated oil company analyst.

Adam is an active member of the International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE), a Senior Fellow and former President of the U.S. Association for Energy Economics (USAEE), and was President of the National Association of Petroleum Investment Analysts. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and earned both an undergraduate degree in civil engineering and a master’s degree in public administration from Cornell University.