Enel Green Power's Head of Europe Area, Aristotelis Chantavas will lead the European solar lobby association SolarPower Europe (SPE) as its president for the next 3 years. He replaces Christian Westermeier from Wacker Chemie in this role at SPE.
During SPE's board elections on March 26, Westermeier was elected by the members of the association as one of the two vice presidents joining ranks with Jochen Hauff from BayWa r.e., who was re-elected in this position. Vincenzo Costanzelli from Trina Solar was also re-elected, while three new directors were elected to the board – Alexandra Sombsthay from Akuo Energy, Jörg Ebel from IBC Solar and Martin Hackl from Fronius International, shared SPE. SPE has increased its board seats from 12 to 15.
In his role at SPE, Chantavas said he aims to provide clear, shared guidelines for drafting policies, regulatory frameworks and market models to support safer, more efficient and sustainable decarbonization.
"I'm honored to have been elected to head SolarPower Europe. This election comes at a crucial moment for the development of renewable energy. Thanks to the work we've done so far, solar has become a key technology in the energy transition," shared Chantavas. "We now need to get ready to make a leap in quality for solar, making it a dominant cutting-edge technology, which will play a vital role in the European Green New Deal."
With Enel Group since November 2018, Chantavas has also worked in executive roles in Europe and North America working with commercial development, construction and maintenance, mergers and acquisitions and new investments.