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.

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.

Matthew is Policy & Market Strategy Director at Piclo, responsible for analysing global electricity policy and entry into new markets. Piclo is the leading flexibility marketplace, supporting System Operators in the UK, the US, Australia and three European countries; and helping distributed energy resources access new markets and revenue. Matthew has a 20 year career in energy policy and programme delivery, both at Piclo and before that in the UK government. He holds an MSc in Energy Systems from Oxford University.

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.