This is home section
A Swiss Solar Thermal Disruptor
TVP is a Swiss company based in Geneva,
designing, developing, manufacturing, and marketing
the world's most innovative and high-performance solar thermal flat plates
A New Energy Paradigm
Our mission: beat fossil fuels everywhere with a cheaper, carbon free alternative for thermal processes with super-performing high-vacuum flat solar thermal technology
Our vision: worldwide free energy from TVP energy-positive building construction components
Your Solution Is Here
TVP's Experienced Team
Piero Abbate
Founder & CEO
Piero Abbate
Founder & CEO
Piero is co-founder of TVP Solar, since inception leading the vision, strategy, international expansion, first client acquisitions and fundraising. His primary mandates include partnership, biz dev and sales with large corporations, in particular oil players.
He has 20 years of experience as entrepreneur, manager and investor in the high-tech industry. From 1999 to 2007 he was co-Founder and Partner at myQube, an investment firm (>$150 million AUM via 2 VC funds) focused on high-tech start-ups in EU and US (including energy and cleantech), also providing advisory services for telcos. He led team building, fundraising and expansion to globally prominent high-tech clusters for deal flow. In charge of several hands-on investments, his exits include: Netikos (expansion), TechEdge (seed), Etnoteam (turnaround), Fintech (secondary), German Networks (distressed). Prior to myQube, he was at Creditanstalt Investment Bank in London, involved in M&A transactions. Piero holds a degree in business administration from Bocconi University, Milan.
Vittorio Palmieri
Founder & CTO
Vittorio Palmieri
Founder & CTO
Vittorio is co-founder of TVP Solar, in charge of R&D since inception. He leads concept, engineering, development, qualification and patenting of TVP innovations related to core high-vacuum technology, products and systems, as well as manufacturing processes and equipment.
From 2004 to 2007 he was co-Founder and MD at SRB Energy, a CERN renewable energy spin-off, which developed high-vacuum solar thermal collectors with non-imaging mirrors for electricity generation. From 2000 to 2004 he was Director at VC firm myQube, responsible for spin-offs and technology due diligence. Prior, at CERN, he was the spokesperson for the RD39 collaboration contributing to the development of the Large Hardon Collider (LHC). He has been awarded a prize from the University of Bern (Switzerland) for the discovery of the "Lazarus Effect" in semiconductor detectors, and a prize from the Italian Physical Society for his work on quantum effects in macroscopic systems. The youngest-ever nominated spokesperson to any CERN collaboration, he is author of 12 patents in the solar thermal industry, and more than 50 scientific peer-reviewed publications. He holds a Ph.D. degree in physics from the University of Bern and a master’s degree in physics from the University of Naples.
Sofia Abbate
CFO
Sofia Abbate
CFO
Sofia joined TVP Solar in 2013, responsible for financial reporting and planning, debt raising and investor relations, administration and control. She coordinated application and reporting to several EU and national funding programs/grants to support CAPEX in manufacturing equipment and R&D.
From 2011 to 2013, she was Investment Manager at Fondo Italiano d’Investimento SGR, the Italian government-sponsored Private Equity firm (>€1 billion AUM), in charge of investment due diligence and execution. She contributed to the definition of a co-investment agreement with the European Investment Fund for over €200 million. From 2008 to 2010 she was Investment Analyst at Idea Capital Funds SGR, the largest Private Equity firm in Italy (€2 billion AUM). Sofia holds a degree in corporate finance from Bocconi University in Milan.
Gilbert Farina
VP Sales and Marketing
Gilbert Farina
VP Sales and Marketing
Gilbert joined TVP in 2017 to take responsibility of sales and marketing. He leads go-to-market, direct large corporate account coverage and international sales channels development and expansion.
From 2015 to 2017 he acted as Senior Advisor for Swiss high-tech start-ups: DartZeel, Windsoft, Optimiso. From 2012 to 2015 he was Chief Commercial Officer at CIS Group, a Lebanese ICT solution provider active in 30 countries (mainly Africa) in charge for developing and implementing new commercial strategy to enable growth. Prior he was at Hewlett-Packard for 13 years, where he achieved the position of VP Sales EMEA (2006-2012), generating revenue growth from $1.7 to $3.4 billion per year via changes in sales approach and channel development, focusing on corporate & enterprise sector. Among other mandates at HP, he was VP & GM PSG France (2003-2006), GM Africa (1997-2003), and Corporate Channel Development Manager Europe (1995-1996). Gilbert holds an electrical engineering degree from University of Geneva and YMP at INSEAD in Paris.
Guglielmo Cioni
VP Business Development
Guglielmo Cioni
VP Business Development
Guglielmo has been working for TVP since 2015, responsible for biz dev with tier-1 EU energy corporates and district heating players. He led coverage of the Italian market and positioning in solar thermal desalination, partnering TVP with major EU application machine manufacturer.
He has 25 years of experience in international biz dev with focus on energy and renewables, and an expert evaluator for the European Commission (REA). In 2011 he founded Eranova Climate, a Swiss sales and marketing agency for clean tech start-ups. From 2008 to 2013 he was General Manager at GICA SA, the first ever EU private carbon fund (€60 million AUM). Prior he served for 15 years as a Director at Italian government agency ICE (Institute for Foreign Trade). Among his mandates for Italian Ministry of Environment, he was head of a task force in Brussels for EU funding through competitive bidding and call for proposals (2004-2007), member of supervisory board of Ekofund Multilateral Fund in Poland (2002-2004) focusing on clean energy investments (80 million USD/y), Program Manager of Italy-China bilateral cooperation program in the field of environmental protection and clean energy (1999-2001). Guglielmo holds a master’s degree in nuclear engineering from University of Pisa and a master in finance from Solvay Business School in Brussels.
Jonathan Koifman
Head of Marketing
Jonathan Koifman
Head of Marketing
Jonathan joined TVP Solar in 2010 responsible for the technical support to end-client and sales partners in the pre-sale phase, identifying customer technical and business requirements prior to conceiving solutions. He has been leading efforts to link sales with system & application engineering departments, responsible for developing internal data distribution and offering tools. He also contributes to and develops marketing data analysis, designs and delivers marketing, sales, and training material, as well as leads TVP participation to the major international fairs and events. He is in charge of PR, website and social media development and content management.
Previously he was Commercial & Investment Real Estate Sales Associate at CORE Group in New York (2009-2010), Capital Introduction Specialist /Marketing & Client Services at the Royal Bank of Canada (2007-2008) and Legal Assistant at the law firm Kronish, Lieb, Wiener & Hellman (2004-2007). Jonathan holds a B.S. in electrical engineering and a B.A. in English Literature, both from Bucknell University in Lewisburg (USA).
F. Di Giamberardino
VP Product Engineering
F. Di Giamberardino
VP Product Engineering
Francesco joined TVP in 2008 at the time of incorporation. He leads high-vacuum panel engineering based on finite element and thermo-fluid-dynamic methods, models and meshes. He contributes to testing platforms, manufacturing equipment and solar field engineering.
From 1984 to 2008 he was responsible for R&D at French multinational Thomson Group (now Videocon). As Product Development Manager World-Wide he coordinated the design, engineering and standardization of 35 releases of cathode ray tubes (CRT) television sets sizing from 14’’ to 32’’, with special focus on product cost reduction. He had the mandate to support new products start-up and related manufacturing ramp-up to seven industrial plants totalling 24 million tubes/year capacity: Mexicali (Mexico), Polkolor (Poland), Foshan e Dongguan (China), Videocolor (Italy), JCT and BPL (India). He was also responsible for patent infringement control. Prior he was at ENEA Research Center Italian national bureau of alternative energy. Francescso is author of 3 patents and holds a degree in nuclear engineering from the University of Rome.
Francesco Vittobello
VP Industrial Engineering
Francesco Vittobello
VP Industrial Engineering
Francesco joined TVP in 2012, responsible for the Italian manufacturing site of TVP. He has been leading reference manufacturing module design, set-up and optimization in terms of yield and throughput with focus on work-flow, industrial processes and equipment engineering.
He has 25 years of experience in engineering, planning, management, quality and control of industrial processes. From 2002 to 2012 he was researcher at CNR (Italian National Research Council) in charge for technology transfer, and process engineering for several start-ups: Nexio, Incept, Siris Italia, Airq Networks. He is a qualified Lead Auditor for industrial processes/ISO at quality certified agency CSQ and visiting professor of informatics at University of Naples. Prior he was head of networking division at Softplumbers, a Geneva-based ICT start-up while he started his career as fellow at CNR. Francesco is co-author of 10 scientific peer-reviewed publications and holds a degree in electronic engineering at University of Naples.
Marco Scarpellino
Head of Pre-Sale Engineering
Marco Scarpellino
Head of Pre-Sale Engineering
Marco joined TVP Solar in 2012, responsible for RFQs screening and tech support to bidding based on energetic simulations, economic and system integration feasibility assessments. He leads solar field design in contracting and analysis of energy measured data and troubleshooting in post-sale. He is in charge for application engineering and optimization. He supports the purchasing department for technical qualification of solar field BoS items and the field engineering department in solar field deployment and commissioning. He coordinates various joint research programs with Italian Universities and is TVP spokesman at IEA SHC Task 49, 53, 54 and 55.
From 2009 to 2012 he was engineer at Redlab Solution, in charge of feasibility studies, the creation of predictive energy / economic models for renewable energy plants and PV/solar thermal plants design. Marco holds a degree in mechanical engineering from University of Naples.
Matteo Monti
Senior R&D
Matteo Monti
Senior R&D
Matteo joined TVP in 2017 to develop and improve materials, processes, and formulations applied to high-vacuum devices and new products. He provides technical assistance in the areas of material selection, engineering, experimental techniques and manufacturing processes.
Prior to TVP he had 7 years of international experience as researcher focused on design, assembly and deposition of new materials for thin-film/coating and related process & equipment production development under contract with tier-1 R&D centres: Stanford University/USA; Sandia National Labs/USA; Lawrence Berkley National Labs California/USA; Spanish National Research Council/Spain, National Distance Education of Madrid/Spain, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven/Belgium. During his scientific career he was awarded with several grants and fellowships and he was author of 20 scientific peer-reviewed publications. Matteo holds a Ph.D. in material science and engineering at Stanford University (USA), MS and Ph.D. in physics at Universidad Autonoma di Madrid (Spain) and a degree in chemical science at University of Padova.
Piero Martinotti
Advisor
Piero Martinotti
Advisor
Advises TVP primarily on corporate and manufacturing strategy, having experience in both large multinational corporate and start-ups with high-tech focus. Veteran of the semiconductor industry, within 23 years at ST-Microelectronics (STM) up to become Head of Corporate Strategic Planning. He co-led the group growth from €800M revenues (1987) to €10bn (2000, with €1,4bn net profits) mainly through organic growth, expanding mass manufacturing to Asia. Among his mandates at STM, he was General Manager for the New Venture Group developing spin-offs. Prior he was CEO at Innovative Silicon Tecnology (SGS Group), MD at Weber-carburatori (FIAT Group) and Sale & Marketing Director at Motorola. Since retirement, he has been advisor, board member and chairman of many high-tech start-ups such as UPEK, Sensitive Objects, Medialario as well as venture capital funds Sofinnova and myQube.
Sandy Koifman
Advisor
Sandy Koifman
Advisor
Advises TVP on finance and fundraising strategy. Veteran in private and investment banking, he was Co-Founder & Partner at Bedrock for 14 years, co-leading group growth to a global investment and advisory firm with $10 bn AuM, ranking 3rd among European family offices. He was Senior Investment Consultant at IRR Capital private equity firm managing a portfolio exceeding $ 600 M, GM of the Republic National Bank of New York (Switzerland), Treasurer of Safra Republic Holdings, Chairman and CEO of the Republic Group's fund management arm and member of executive, credit and treasury committees.
Piero Capocelli
Advisor
Piero Capocelli
Advisor
Advises TVP on IP strategy and patent applications. Veteran of the semiconductor industry, he was at ST-Microelectronics for 34 years with positions including R&D Director of Design Automation and Director of the Intellectual Property Department. Within the latter position he dedicated 8 years and managed more than 600 new applications per year with a portfolio of 15.000 patents in EU, US and Asia. Since retirement, he has been an advisor to high-tech companies and research centers in invention detections and filing, technical and patent support in litigations. He holds a dozen patents in Europe and US.
Carlo Lamprecht
Advisor
Carlo Lamprecht
Advisor
Advises TVP on business development with government and multinational corporations, having experience in high-tech, finance and politics. Starting as engineer at CERN, he later moved to risk management in Geneva. In 1997 Mr. Lamprecht became heavily involved in Swiss politics as Minister of Economy, Minister of International Affairs and also President of the Canton of Geneva. Since retirement he advises start-ups and corporations in their establishment in Switzerland as well as expansion to the Middle East, India and China.