Industry Summit Advisory Board

Kahya has been creating impact with a vision for a circular and fair PV industry towards Net Zero as operational leader, technical consultant, and strategic thinker since 2004. Over these 2 decades she has gained management and leadership experience in the development and execution phase as well as technical assessment of residential and BIPV systems, PV on industrial roofs, and large-scale ground mounted PV systems. Her working experience spans the UK, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, Poland, Canada and the Philippines.
In her current role as Program Manager Solar at TNO Energy Supply she is co-developing the long-term strategic outlook of all solar research activities together with internal and external partners. Further she is co-leading the business development side of the building focused propositions as well as PV & circularity.
TNO is the Dutch Research Institute for innovations to accelerate the energy transition together with knowledge institutions, businesses, and government, to create an energy system in the Netherlands which is free from CO2 emissions by 2050. In addition, we offer the Dutch business community the opportunity to take the lead and export their innovative products.

Veronica Bermúdez Benito is an industry-driven clean-energy strategist specializing in scaling photovoltaic technologies from laboratory breakthroughs to bankable, gigawatt-scale manufacturing. With over 20 years of international experience across Europe, Japan, and the Middle East, she has worked at the decisive interface between R&D, industrial production, and market deployment—where technology success is ultimately determined.
She is the Founder of Berbetin, advising manufacturers, investors, and technology developers on manufacturing strategy, technology transfer, reliability, and industrial integration. Her background spans thin-film PV, next-generation cell architectures, and large-scale production environments, giving her a pragmatic perspective on the technical and economic realities that shape competitiveness.
Veronica is recognized for bringing industrial discipline into innovation-driven environments and for helping decision-makers navigate high-risk scale-up phases, avoid costly missteps, and turn advanced solar technologies into viable industrial products.

Dr Radovan Kopecek received his diploma in physics from the University of Stuttgart in 1998 and studied as well at Portland State University (Oregon, USA), where he obtained a Master of Science degree already in 1995. In 2002, he completed his doctoral thesis in Konstanz in the field of crystalline thin-film photovoltaics.
Until the end of 2006, he was group leader for n-type cell technology at the University of Konstanz. As one of the founders of ISC Konstanz, Dr Kopecek has been a full-time manager and researcher at the institute since 2007 and was managing director, CTO and head of the Advanced Solar Cells department until June 2023 and head of the Strategy and Education department since July 2023. He is the author of several books and more than 200 articles and holds several patents for the production of n-type PV technologies. He is the organizer of several workshops that he started in Konstanz, such as nPV, bifiPV, tandemPV and BCworkshop.
Dr Kopecek was on the board of EUREC (Association of EU's R&D centers involved in renewables) from 2016 to 2021. In 2018, he co-founded ATAMOSTEC - a research and development center for desert modules and systems in Chile and has been on the board since 2022. In 2022, Dr Kopecek was also elected to the board of the ESMC (European Solar Manufacturing Council). Since May 2023, he has been one of the spokespersons for the PV Production Working Group of the BMWK (Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection).

Walburga Hemetsberger has been the CEO of SolarPower Europe since 2019. She has over 20 years of professional experience in Brussels, working for a utility, a trade association, the European Parliament, and the European Commission. Walburga has spent most of her career in the energy sector, in particular renewable energies and hydrogen. Before joining SolarPower Europe, Walburga headed the VERBUND Representation Office in Brussels and was a Board Member of Hydrogen Europe.

Dr Wolfgang Jooss is a well-known renewable energy professional in the field of photovoltaic technology with more than 25 years of experience. His journey began as an expert in solar cell technology, which served as basis to develop a deep understanding of the entire crystalline silicon value chain. Over the years, he extended his expertise to encompass financial aspects related to the manufacturing of photovoltaic products, including areas such as cost of ownership and project financing.
With over 50 scientific publications and 10 patents to his name, Dr Wolfgang Jooss has made significant contributions to solar cell technology and equipment process development. His work has not only expanded sector’s understanding of photovoltaics but also played a crucial role in the advancement of solar energy technologies.
Dr Jooss completed his education at the University of Konstanz, holding a Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Physics in 2002 and a Diploma in Physics in 1998 with multiple significant contributions in several academic conferences. Currently, he is Director Technology at RCT Solutions in Germany.