Founder
Michael Wollny, Managing Director
Michael has more than 14 years international experience in the off-grid business sector. From 2000 to 2013 he worked for SMA Solar Technology AG the leading manufacture of PV inverter and system solutions. There he led the off-grid sales and business development activities.
Furthermore he managed the German IEA PVPS Task 11 PV “Hybrid Systems within Mini-grids” contribution by SMA. The scope was PV based hybrid systems that combine PV with energy storage technologies and other electricity generators.
He has coordinated the PV-hybrid battery village electrification project co-financed by KfW in China (2004-2009) undertaken by SMA in close contact with the German and Chinese consultant teams, the industry and local authorities of the project.
Between 2006 and 2013: he was responsible for several multi-country assistance projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America in order to create energy access in remote areas with renewable energy, especially with PV-Mini Grids and village electrification systems based on battery storage in the power range from 2 – 300 kW.
He is head of the German professional group “rural electrification” of the Bundesverband Solarwirtschaft (BSW-Solarwirtschaft e.V. in Berlin). As Vice President of the international business association “Alliance for Rural Electrification” (Brussels) he is focusing on the promotion and development of off-grid and distributed renewable energy solutions in developing countries. Furthermore he has experience as lecturer and moderator for workshops, seminars and conferences.
Before he started at SMA, he worked as research assistant at Institut für Solare Energieversorgungstechnik e.V., Kassel (now Fraunhofer IWES). Until 1988 he studied at the University of Kassel and Berlin and holds a diploma in ”Measure and Control