Flexible Grid and Innovative Grid Management

Torsten Knop spent his whole career in the utility industry. After a brief period working for an industry association he joined the RWE Group (today E.ON) in 1999. Here he was mostly focused on public affairs issues concerning transmission and distribution grids. With the start of formal regulation in Germany in 2005 he moved to regulatory affairs and is currently responsible for European Regulation at E.ON SE. He is an economist by qualification.

Adrian Gonzalez is a passionate energy transition professional, with background in electrical and industrial engineering, and holds an Executive MBA on the energy sector. He has become a power system expert by working +10 years in electricity transmission, firstly in the Spanish TSO, REE, and later for the European Network of the Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E), and several years as innovation and renewable energy consultant. Adrian works within the International Renewable Energy Agency, IRENA, as Programme Officer on Innovation and End-use sectors, where he contributes to promote accelerated deployment of renewable energy through systemic innovation.

With relevant experience in the electricity sector, he has dedicated much of its activity to innovation, business development, technology and transformation, while actively contributing to the development of European energy policies and their practical translation into digital and smart grids and their contribution to a consumer and community-centred energy transition. He is currently Director of European Policies and Projects at E-REDES, the DSO in mainland Portugal, responsible for the coordination of European activities and funded projects. He is a board member of the EU DSO Entity, Vice-Chair of ETIP SNET, and an active member, since its foundation, of E.DSO (formerly EDSO for Smart Grids). He also actively participates in European forums and platforms related to the energy sector.

Jan Kula is a Business Development Expert in CEZ Distribuce, a Distribution System Operator in the Czech Republic. He is responsible for reshaping company's strategy towards clean energy and Smart Grid Technologies. His expertise encompasses power engineering, EV charging stations infrastructure and Digitalization. Additionally, he serves as the vice-chair of the E.DSO Technology & Knowledge Sharing Committee and is a member of Eurelectric and the EU DSO Entity.

Patrik Lindvall is the European Sales Lead for Piclo. He is responsible for driving business development of Piclo's software solutions that help make electricity grids smarter, flexible and more sustainable. He has been working with data and software solutions for the past 15 years. Since 2015 he's been focused on the digitalising the energy landscape ranging from optimisation of industrial scale renewable energy plants to smart charging of EVs before starting to work with flexibility marketplaces at Piclo.

Jochen Kreusel is Senior Vice President of Hitachi Energy, Zurich, and Global Head of Market Innovation. He studied electrical engineering at RWTH Aachen University (Germany), where he was also granted his doctorate. From 1994 to 2020 he worked with ABB, where he held managing positions in marketing and technology. Jochen Kreusel is President of T&D Europe and member of the Supervisory Committee of VDE Association for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies. He is member of several committees of the European Commission and the German government on aspects of the future development of power systems. Moreover, he is honorary professor at RWTH Aachen University, where he is teaching power economics in liberalized electricity markets.