Energy Trading Week Americas 2026

Meet Ascend Analytics

Dates:

October 27-28, 2026

Location:

The Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel & Convention Center, TX

Agenda:

Click Here to View Full Agenda

Meet Us:

Table #43

Meet with our Experts

A photo of Robert LaFaso, Director. of Market Intelligence, Ascend Analytics

Robert LaFaso, Director of Market Intelligence

Robert LaFaso leads Ascend Analytics’ Market Intelligence (AscendMI) practice, delivering long-term supply stack, market price, and project economics forecasts that power Ascend’s software suite. Robert's insights guide utilities, developers, and investors in making high-confidence investment and planning decisions. He has led valuation due diligence for multi-gigawatt M&A transactions, including TerraGen’s sale
to Masdar and Origis Energy’s sale to Antin Infrastructure Partners. 

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Ferdinand Rapant, Director

Ferdinand Rapant is Commercial Leader for Eastern Merchant Markets and is focused on directing commercial strategy in the developer and IPP client space.  Ferdinand's background includes two decades of energy-market expertise and over 6GW of successful power projects across renewables, storage, thermal space, as well as extensive experience in digital transformation with several of the largest IPP's and regulated utilities in the US.

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Erik Schwartz, Director of Capital Markets

Erik Schwartz works with financial institutions investing in energy, guiding investment teams through quantitative insights that strengthen asset valuation, portfolio strategy, and long-term decision planning. With more than two decades in energy-market leadership across Refinitiv, EnergyGPS, Energy Ventures Analysis, Genscape, and Point Carbon, Erik developed a skill set centered on market intelligence and commercial development that supports disciplined capital deployment.

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Join Our Presentation!

Riding the Rocket: Aligning the Industry to Navigate Massive Load Growth, Embedded Congestion and Increased Volatility


Tuesday, October 27, 11:50am - 12:35pm (45 minutes)
Location: WaterWay 6 & 7
Track: Power Market

Discussion Topics:

  • Expectations for load growth
  • Interconnection bottlenecks, and implications for the market
  • Capacity market design uncertainty and investment signal risk
  • Translating market volatility into commercial, trading, and capital decisions
Panelists:

Joe Nyangon, PhD

Vice President of Solutions (Americas) at
Energy Exemplar

Robert LaFaso

Director of Market Intelligence at
Ascend Analytics

Ryan Killam

Head of North American Power at Six One Commodities

Terry Embury

Vice President, Head of Trading and Market Operations at AES Clean Energy

Moderator: Ryan Ulk

Head of Wholesale Supply & Trading at Hanwha Energy

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About Ascend Analytics

Ascend Analytics is the leading provider of market intelligenceand analytics solutions for the power industry. The company’s offerings enabledecision makers in power supply, procurement, and investment markets to plan,operate, monetize, and manage risk across any energy asset portfolio. Fromreal-time to 30-year horizons, their forecasts and insights are at thefoundation of over $50 billion in project financing assessments. Ascendprovides energy market stakeholders with the clarity and confidence to successfullynavigate the rapidly shifting energy landscape.