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International Symposium
Bioenergy as a strategy for decarbonized economy (Tokyo) Speakers

22 May 2017

  • Victoria Forslund Bellass
    Victoria Forslund Bellass
    Minister Counsellor, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Sweden
    Victoria Forslund Bellass is currently Minister Counsellor and the Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Sweden in Tokyo, a position that she has held since 2014. Before coming to Japan, she was Deputy Director and Head of the South East Asia section at Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Stockholm. She has previously held positions at the Embassies in Tallinn and Harare, as well as the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
  • Remigijus Lapinskas
    Remigijus Lapinskas
    President, World Bioenergy Association (WBA)
    Remigijus Lapinskas was founder (2004) and president (2004-2014) of Lithuanian biomass energy association LITBIOMA. From 2006 to 2010 he was twice elected as board member in European Biomass Association (AEBIOM). He was also founder (2003) and the chairman of the board (2003- 2008) of the biggest biomass production company in Lithuania. He is also experienced in biomass supply chain and international trade. Today Mr. Lapinskas is an investor, chairman and a board member of various production and service companies. He is also a President of the Green Policy Institute, aiming to the target of sustainable development in different spheres of society, also the President of the World Bioenergy Association (WBA) and a board member of association LITBIOMA, supervising Enplus certification system in Lithuania.
  • Minoru Kumazaki
    Minoru Kumazaki
    Chairman, Japan Woody Bioenergy Association
    Minoru Kumazaki has held many positions including Director of the Department of Forest Management of the Forest Experiment Station (present-day Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute), Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry; professor at the Institute of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Tsukuba; and president of Gifu Academy of Forest Science and Culture. He is currently serving as University of Tsukuba professor emeritus; Chairman of Japan Wood Pellet Association; and Chairman of Japan Woody Bioenergy Association. He is an expert in the field of international forestry resources with a doctorate in agriculture. He has written numerous books, including Forestry Management Reader, Expectations of Wood Biomass Power Generation, Outlook of Wood-based Energy Business and editing Generating with Woody Biomass Power with a Cogeneration System (Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun).
  • Jean-Marc Jossart
    Jean-Marc Jossart
    Secretary-General, European Biomass Association (AEBIOM)
    With over 20 years of experience, Jean-Marc Jossart has diversified expertise on bioenergy technologies, energy crops, transport biofuels, biomass production, environmental impacts, policies, economics, and support schemes. As AEBIOM's Secretary-General, he is responsible for the general management of the organisation including the public representation of positions defended by AEBIOM. Jean-Marc Jossart is agronomist (UCL, 1989, Belgium) starting his career almost directly in the bioenergy sector. He speaks English and French.
  • Mats Engström
    Mats Engströmda
    Science and Innovation Counsellor, Embassy of Sweden
    Since 2015, Mats Engström is responsible for energy-related innovation issues at the Swedish Embassy in Tokyo. He has earlier been Deputy State Secretary at the Ministry for Environment and Energy in Stockholm, and participated in the team that designed the Swedish carbon tax in 1989. Mats Engström has also held positions as Editor-in-Chief of the technology magazine Ny Teknik and Director for Policy Affairs at the largest Swedish trade union, Unionen.
  • Volker Lenz
    Volker Lenz
    Department Leader, Thermo-chemical Conversion, German Biomass Research Centre(DBFZ)
    Volker Lenz works as department leader at the German Biomass Research Centre (DBFZ Deutsches Biomasseforschungszentrum gemeinnützige GmbH) in Leipzig. He is responsible for research on the concept of SmartBiomassHeat, which includes grid stabilizing power production from biomass, especially in combination with other renewable energy sources. Further research topics include emission reduction and advanced solid biomass fuels.
  • Karin Haara
    Karin Haara
    Executive Director, World Bioenergy Association (WBA)
    For the past 3 decades, Karin Haara has been working in the field of biomass and bioenergy. With a background in Chemical Engineering, she understood the complexities of biomass technology and used her skills to promote the sustainable use of bioenergy globally. As for her professional career, she started at Swedish Bioenergy Association in 1988 as a Project Manager. In her current role as Executive Director of World Bioenergy Association, she oversees the activities of an organization with more than 200 members from 50 different countries. Her areas of interest include capacity building, bioenergy policy and communication.
  • Björn Forsberg
    Björn Forsberg
    Chairman of the board, World Thermal Service AB (WTS)
    Bjorn Forsberg started his own company in 1989 and focused on wood powder combustion. He started to work with the particle board industry to convert the dryers from oil to wood powder, and then continued with the wood pellet industry with the same focus. He then followed the wood pellets to the boilers and did conversions of oil, gas and coal fired boilers to wood powder. He is engaged in projects in Asia, North & South America and Europe.

    Some recently done projects include;
    ・USA: Wood pellet industry. Wood powder fired dryers.
    ・Netherlands: Agricultural residue material soy hull, sun flower hull, meat and bone meal. Demo plant for difficult powder ・fuel combustion for steam production.
    ・Poland: Co-firing wood powder and coal. Project designed for 45% but now operating on 55% biomass.
    ・Poland. 100% conversion of 150 t/h coal fired CHP to biomass powder.
    ・USA & Europe: Development of next generation pellets for power stations.
    ・Finland: Delivery of 33 MW milling and combustion equipment to MW Power for the first Finnish wood powder project.

    Some ongoing projects:
    ・Portugal: 5 MW electric condensing plant wood powder combustion. Green field project.
    ・Portugal: 7,5 MW hotwater boiler for pellet plant.
    ・UK: 12 MW electric conversion of gas fired power station to wood powder.
    ・India: Spent wash incineration . 2,5 MW Demo plant for residues from sugar cane alcohol production.
  • Shingo Numa
    Shingo Numa
    President, Forest Energy
    Founder and CEO of Forest Energy, a biomass energy focused development, investment and operation company. Previously worked for Unison Capital and Advent International as private equity investment professional and COO of Kuni Umi Asset Management, a renewable energy company.
  • Izumi Tanaka
    Izumi Tanaka
    Senior Commercial Officer (in charge of environment and energy ), Embassy of Denmark in Japan
    Izumi Tanaka belongs to the Trade Council, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. In the fields of energy and the environment, she creates a foothold for the introduction of Danish technologies and concepts to Japan including the entry of Danish companies into the Japanese market. After graduating from the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, College of Natural Resources, University of California in 1998, she was engaged in research of environmental technologies at Toshiba Corporation as well as analysis of scientific technology, environment and energy policies at the Embassy of Sweden. She completed the Master’s program at the Graduate School of Environment Studies, Tohoku University in 2008, and took up her present position in January 2014.
  • Tomas Kåberger
    Tomas Kåberger
    Chair of Executive Board, Renewable Energy Institute
    Professor, Chalmers University, Sweden
    Tomas Kåberger has been the Chair of Executive Board of Renewable Energy Institute since its foundation in 2011. Academically, he got an MSc in Engineering Physics, a PhD in Physical Resource Theory, and Docent in Environmental Science at Chalmers. He has been professor in International Sustainable Energy Systems at the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics at Lund University, and he is currently Professor of Industrial Energy Policy at Chalmers University of Technology and serves as Distinguished Visiting Expert of bio-energy technology at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou. Industrially, he has had leading roles in companies providing fuels and technology in the bio-energy industry, another company developing sustainable energy solutions for the automotive industry, and a company operating wind power plants. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Vattenfall, and the board of Industrifonden, an industrial investment foundation. Politically, he has served on board of Swedish and European Environmental Citizen’s organizations, several Swedish Government Committees developing energy and environmental legislation, and China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development as a member of a task force on Low-Carbon Industrialization Strategies. From 2008 until 2011 he was Director General of the National Swedish Energy Agency.
  • Mika Ohbayashi
    Mika Ohbayashi
    Director, Renewable Energy Institute
    Mika Ohbayashi is a founding member and Director at Renewable Energy Institute since August 2011. Before joining the Institute, Ohbayashi worked for International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in Abu Dhabi as Policy and Project Regional Manager for Asia Oceania. She served as Deputy Director at Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies for 8 years since its establishment in 2000. She also worked for UKFCO at the British Embassy to Japan, as Advisor for Climate Change Projects and Policies, and started her carrier in the energy field by joining Citizens' Nuclear Information Center in 1992. She coordinates many scientific study projects, takes leadership to team up various networks including national parliamentarians and local authorities, domestically and internationally to improve sustainable energy society.
  • Takanobu Aikawa
    Takanobu Aikawa
    Senior Researcher, Renewable Energy Institute
    Takanobu Aikawa obtained his Masters degree in forest ecology from the Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University. He joined Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting Co., Ltd. and was involved in investigations and consulting activities on forest sector. Spurred by the Great East Japan Earthquake, he began to engage in a variety of bioenergy projects, mainly focusing on woody biomass, and has been in his current position since June 2016. In March the same year, he completed his doctorate in agricultural studies on the theme of human resources development policy in the area of forest management. His publications include Conditions for Success in Woody Biomass Projects in Forestry Regions and Investigating the Laws of Forestry in Advanced Countries, both published by Zenkoku Ringyo Fukyu Kyokai.

Program Page

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