Dr. Luis Crespo
Luis Crespo is PhD Aeronautical Engineer by the UPM and Sociologist by the UCM. He has ample experience in Renewable Energy, Innovation Management and Company Creation and Development, as well as in dealing with Spanish and European institutions.
He started his career in 1974 in the structural department of the Space Division of CASA – currently EADS – working for the SPACELAB project of the ESA. He then collaborated in the foundation of the Solar Energy Department managing several projects in all temperature ranges and technologies.
In 1979 he became involved in IEA CSP projects in Almeria as a member of the Interatom/Siemens team. In 1982 he joined ASINEL – the Spanish electrical sector lab – as head of the New Energy Department, managing large German-Spanish projects in the fields of Wind and CSP. In 1985 he was appointed Director of the Institute of Renewable Energies of the Spanish Ministry of Industry and Energy, launching a large number of initiatives in Wind, PV, CSP and Biomass under National and European programs.
In 1989 he moved to the Innovation Management field serving first as Deputy Director at the CDTI – the Spanish Industrial Technology Agency and then as General Director at AENTEC, the Spanish Industrial Association of New Technologies.
In 1993 he was appointed Director of CEX, a public-private venture capital company for the economic development of Extremadura. Over the course of 16 years, he analyzed a large number of initiatives and business plans – over 1000, in all economic sectors – and launched 47 new companies with a positive track record. He was member of the Board of Directors of 25 companies where he was highly committed in their business plans.
In 2008, he was called to come back to the Solar sector first as General Secretary of Protermosolar and then as President, until his recent retirement from the position in 2021. Since 2011 he also was the President of the European CSP association.
At Protermosolar, he managed to include 5GW of new CSP in the National Climate and Energy Plan presented to the EU commission in 2020. The most relevant national and international companies of the entire value chain of this sector in Spain belong to the association. In 2011 he was also elected President of the European CSP Association, with a focus on EU institutions.
Since 2021, Dr. Crespo is Energy Partner at Telam Partners, a strategic consulting firm specialized in the development and access to markets & financing for energy, tech and infra projects.
Dr. Crespo has been also professor at the Polytechnic University of Madrid, teaching Thermodynamics, as well as Economics and Business Administration related subjects. He currently offers courses for the Master’s Degree on Renewables at the University, as well as at private Business Schools
He has also been a member of the IEA Renewable Industry Advisory Board and advisor for the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. He has participated as speaker in many international conferences and in several UN COPs.
Dr. Crespo is Aeronautical Engineer (Polytechnic University of Madrid, 1974), PhD Aeronautical Engineer (Polytechnic University of Madrid, 1993) and Sociologist (Complutense University of Madrid, 1974). He recently received the SolarPACES lifetime award and a unique and special recognition award from the Spanish Research Centers.