The Promising Growth Outlook of Energy Storage in Brazil and Mexico

Markus Vlasits, President of board of directors, Brazilian Association for Energy Storage Solutions (ABSAE)

Markus Vlasits started as a consultant at McKinsey & Company in Germany and has been active in the solar PV industry for 17 years in several executive positions. In 2007-2009, he was Production Manager of crystallization and wafering at Q.Cells SE, Thalheim, Germany, where he reached a vice-presidential role in Sales Operations. Moving to Brazil in 2013, he started as CEO of Yingli Green Energy do Brasil. He teamed up with fellow executives to open Faro Energy, an investment company focusing on PV generation projects for commercial concerns, and was its Sales Director until 2018. In 2019, he was an independent consultant and helped start ABSOLAR's Energy Storage Workgroup. In 2020, founded NewCharge, an engineering company focused on energy storage projects for commercial clients in Brazil. He is also active as acts as a technical consultant and advisor for projects related to energy storage. In August 2023, he was elected president of board of directors of the Brazilian Association for Energy Storage Solutions (ABSAE). Markus also organizes energy storage events and conferences, and recently co-organized an energy storage conference panel for Intersolar South America 2021 in partnership with Solar Promotion.

Dra. Ana Karina Cuentas Gallegos, Researcher, UNAM

Graduate in Chemical Sciences from the Technological Institute of Higher Studies of Monterrey with a PhD in Chemistry (Materials Science) from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, ​​specializing in hybrid materials for energy storage devices. His doctoral thesis obtained the IIM-UNAM Award from the National Contest for the best Doctoral Thesis 2005 in the area of ​​Materials Sciences and Engineering. In 2015 she obtained the “Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz” recognition for her academic career.

She opened the research line of Hybrid Materials from Carbon for Electrochemical Supercapacitors at the Energy Research Center of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Shee carried out three research stays at the University of Nantes, France, establishing a collaboration on the topic of controlled incorporation of functional groups into carbon matrices for supercapacitors. She currently belongs to the National System of Researchers, level II and is assigned to the Nanostructures Department of the Center for Nanosciences and Nanotechnology of the UNAM.

She has more than 57 international publications and more than 2,000 citations of her published work. Her main research area is the design of nanostructured materials for energy storage devices, specifically electrochemical supercapacitors. Conducts experimental research on electrode materials for supercapacitors from various carbon materials (nanotubes, nanofibers, aerogels, activated carbon) and metal oxides to improve energy storage properties. She has taught undergraduate and graduate courses related to materials science, energy storage and conversion.

Marisol Oropeza, Consultant, matters

Business and marketing strategist specialized in the solar thermal market at matters , based in Berlin. She holds a Degree in Business Administration from the UNAM and a Master in European Studies from the Hochschule Bremen in Germany. She completed an exchange semester at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin, studied International Cooperation for Sustainable Development at the Technische Universtität Kaiserslautern, and is a graduate of the altMBA programme on leadership and business management of the American Seth Godin. She has worked in the public and private sectors in Mexico and Germany and has 15 years of experience in the solar thermal sector. She has advised major European companies and organizations and lead international projects such as the Heat Changers and the Solar Heating Initiative. She is Secretary for International Affairs of the ANES and works for Intersolar Mexico since 2019.