Conference Speakers

Savannah ALTVATER is Head of the Distribution & Markets Facilitation team at Eurelectric. In this role, she oversees the policy issues related to distribution networks and Eurelectric's business intelligence activities. She is engaged in different topics such as flexibility, digitalisation of the power system, planning and investment or grid integration of distributed energy resources. She holds a Master of European Public Policy from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

to be announced

Isabella Caschetto is Product Manager at SMA Solar Technology AG, where she is responsible for CAMOPO.com - a commercial optimization software for Hybrid Power Plants. Her focus is on developing digital products and business models for energy market integration and optimized plant operation. She has deep exercise in energy market and energy management and formerly served as energy consultant for industrial customers supporting them in optimizing energy purchasing and usage.

Andrew is the Strategic Portfolio Planner and Test Solution Architect for grid modernization at Keysight. Focusing on the overall energy transition, Andrew researches and synthesizes emerging trends in technology, global market dynamics, and evolving policies and regulatory frameworks to generate a deep understanding of the needs of the industry and to craft comprehensive roadmaps for addressing them. He works directly with industry leaders to define and develop test solutions for accelerating the creation of technologies for distributed energy resources (DER) and electric vehicle-grid integration. He also participates in various standard working groups and technical committees to help shape the future of DER and V2G. Andrew has over a decade of experience working with power and energy technologies in the utilities and tech sectors. He holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Carroll College, MT and a master's degree in electrical engineering from Montana State University focusing on advanced power systems, microgrids, and renewable energy integration.

Mr Clerens studied law at the University of Saarbrücken and the University of Mainz. Since 1996, he has worked as a consultant for a private company specialising in European Affairs in Brussels. In his capacity as Brussels Representative of different European associations, he has been involved in the climate and energy field since 2003. He has managed the EASE office in Brussels as Secretary General since its establishment in September 2011. Since then, EASE has grown from the initial 13 founding members to over 70 and is still growing rapidly.

Baerte de Brey works at Stedin, a Dutch DSO. Responsible for analyzing the longterm effect of electric mobility on the electricity grids, Baerte helps building a sustainable business case around this transition. This includes vehicle2grids, solving regulatory barriers and cyber security. He graduated from Leiden University in 2001 with a law degree and received a MBA from Nyenrode Business University in 2006. On behalf of Stedin, he is one of the executive board members of ElaadNL. ElaadNL is a collaboration of the Dutch DSO's and the knowledge and innovation centre in the field of (smart) charging infrastructure. As an expert for the European Commission he sometimes reviews collective European programs concerning EV interoperability and smart charging.

As Optimisation and Analytics Lead at Octopus Energy Group, Michael brings together optimisation design, market access and customer propositions to harness flexibility from domestic and commercial assets, at scale. Example products include Octopus Zero Bill Homes and Power Pack, both guaranteeing customers pay nothing to consume energy, covering entire homes and EV charging respectively. Michael holds a PhD in flexibility from distributed energy resources from Imperial College London.

Jozsef Farkas, Managing Partner at P3 group, is responsible for the software & energy domains at P3 group, a leading technology consultancy. With more than ten years of experience, he is an expert in smart charging infrastructure, standardization, and digitization within the energy sector. In his capacity, he spearheads the development and implementation of cutting-edge software solutions tailored to meet client needs, driving notable advancements in both the e-mobility and energy markets.

José Ferrari Careto spent most of his professional career in the Telecommunications sector, as a Board Member and Director of several companies. He first joined the EDP Group in 2003 as Board Member of companies in the gas sector, having left in 2006 to serve as a Member of the Board of Directors of the National Communications Regulatory Authority - ANACOM - for about 6 years. He returned to the EDP Group in 2012, as Member of the Board of Directors in several Business Units, Director of the Corporate Marketing and Customer Department and Director of the Digital Global Unit, where he led EDP Group's Digital and IT transformation program. He is currently CEO of the Portuguese Distribution System Operator, E-REDES, Chairman of EDP Redes España and Global Head of the Distribution Business of EDP Group.

Adrian Ferreira currently works as an electrical engineer in the area of innovation and new products, mainly involving renewable sources and distributed energy resources (DERs). He is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering at Federal University of Uberlândia, Uberlândia, Brazil.

Carmen Gimeno is the Secretary General of GEODE, the European association representing the interests of 1200 private and public energy companies for both electricity and gas in 14 European countries. She is also a Managing Partner at Verdia Legal in Barcelona, where she has been working since 1995. Her expertise in energy law is built upon over 20 years of experience in this field. Ms Gimeno holds a Law degree from the University of Barcelona (1992). In 1993, she became a Member of the Bar Association of Barcelona. In the same year, she earned a postgraduate degree in Business Management Techniques at the Business Studies School of the University of Barcelona. She also studied Political Science and Sociology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and completed a study period within an Erasmus Programme at Ruprecht-Karls Universität in Heidelberg, Germany, specialising in International and Community Law (1990-1991).

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.

Christopher works as Data Scientist at The Mobility House to generate a clearer visibility over the flexibility assets such as charging stations and vehicles connected through the backend in the portfolio. In parallel, Christopher continues his work as a scientist with the ISEA Institute, RWTH Aachen University. Christopher's research focusses on applying machine learning and big data algorithms on public charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. Key questions are how the existing infrastructure can best be used, how future expansion is best placed, and how electric vehicles can positively interact with the electricity grid. Through the platform www.mobility-charts.de as well as appearances in various conferences, he is a leading voice on charging infrastructure usage in Germany. As part of electric mobility, he also focusses on buffer batteries and home energy storage systems. He has experience in the fields CAPEX/OPEX projection for power and gas grid assets, power grid and power market modelling, wind energy tenders, and renewable energy technology. He further has an extensive IT and programming background with projects completed in database management and back-end development.

As a senior associate in Berlin, Andreas Jahn focuses on issues relating to the German 'Energiewende', or energy transition, helping develop and advance regulatory options for a carbon-neutral power sector, including demand-side resources and tariff design. He also supports RAP's work throughout Europe. Jahn has extensive experience with power markets and regulation, as well as knowledge of the German national political arena. Prior to joining RAP, Jahn was responsible for all energy policy and regulatory matters as the director of regulatory affairs at lekker Energie, a German electricity and gas provider. Through his work as a senior expert for the Association of New Energy Suppliers, he gained valuable insight into political decision-making processes and legislative procedures. He was also a member of the Federal Ministry of Economics' task force on legislation to implement grid regulation in Germany. Andreas Jahn has extensive knowledge of the technical, environmental, and political aspects of energy markets through his degree in environmental science from Leeuwarden (Netherlands) and Bingen (Germany). In addition to his native German, Andreas speaks fluent English and advanced Spanish.

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.

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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.

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.

Johannes Linder is Director of System Design & Innovation at BELECTRIC, one of the leading EPC service providers in the development, construction and operation of solar power plants in Europe. His department calculates the basis for a large number of design and technology decisions - including for new photovoltaic applications such as agrivoltaic or hybrid systems. Before joining BELECTRIC in 2013 as an International Project Manager delivering utility scale projects in Europe, Australia and India, Johannes Linder worked for several start-up-companies and developers in the industry and was a certified PV expert by TÜV Rheinland.

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.

Sebastian Mahlow, Managing Director of ison GmbH with almost 20 years of experience in the energy transition. After building up the electricity and biogas portfolio at LichtBlick SE, he went on to connect over 1,000 mini-CHPs to create Germany's first virtual power plant at residential level. Most recently, he launched the energy-as-a-service business at LichtBlick and founded the company ison in 2022 to leverage flexibility potentials for prosumers.

Daniel Maré Dias is a skilled Sales Manager based in Lisbon, Portugal, with around 15 years of experience in the areas of the energy transition , digitalization and sustainability . Holding a Master's in Electrical and Computer Engineering from IST (Lisbon) and a Postgraduation in Sales Management from INDEG ISCTE Executive Education (Lisbon), Daniel began his professional journey in Czech Republic in the area of renewable energies . In 2013 Daniel joined Siemens in Portugal, where he has actively contributed for significant sales and business growth in the energy automation and grid software areas . Presently Daniel is spearheading next generation initiatives in the areas of microgrids, grid software and electric mobility, actively shaping the future of sustainable energy transition.

Maciej Mazur is the CEO of PSPA, an organization he managed to build up from the ground into one of the the largest NGO in Poland and the CEE, with nearly 300 members and over 100 institutional partnerships. Since 2023, he has also served as the president of AVERE - The European Association for Electromobility. Maciej is a seasoned professional in the energy sector and economic issues, he has been present on the alternative market sector since 2012, especially in relation to electromobility. Among his many experiences, he was involved in the development of the largest infrastructural investments in Poland as well as consulting for companies from the energy, oil&gas, automotive, financial and FMCG sectors. He is a frequent speaker and author of numerous publications in the fields of electromobility, decarbonization, shaping public policy in transport and aligned industries.

Bruno Moedim is a Segment Owner at Kempower. He is responsible for energy solutions in charging hubs where he helps with the strategic direction of the energy management offering, particularly focusing on maximizing the usage of electric mobility assets to clients.

Dr. Thomas Müller is co-founder and CTO of SPiNE GmbH. He is responsible for technical implementation of the SPiNE local and cloud software stack. He formerly served as Technology Lead and Product Manager in various companies in the energy sector, including coneva GmbH (a 100% subsidiary of SMA AG) and Vattenfall. He has deep technological expertise on all levels of energy flex, from steering local flexible assets like electric vehicles and heatpumps and storages, to forecasting and optimization, aggregation and pooling within virtual power plants, and finally energy market integration including FCR, Day-Ahead and Intraday markets.

Alexandre Neto is Sales Manager for Americas and Iberia for the Microgrids and Renewable Integration portfolio at Siemens. He has deep international experience in innovation in the energy industry and has been working on energy management for more than 15 years. Since his engineering studies at Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon, Portugal, he has developed a strong passion for renewable energy generation. Throughout his career, he has dedicated himself to devising innovative solutions that enhance the flexibility of electric systems, allowing them to seamlessly integrate more renewable energy sources in a reliable manner.

José Queirós de Almeida - CEO Greenvolt Communities. Founder and CEO of Greenvolt Comunidades (Greenvolt Group), national and international leader in solutions for Energy Communities and Collective Self-Consumption of Energy. More than 20 years of international experience in renewable energy (Greenvolt Comunidades, Ideatest, Eesti Energia, EDP Energias de Portugal, OMIP/MIBEL), in different markets (Portugal, Spain, Estonia, Sweden, Finland, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania), including Distributed Solar, Electric Mobility, Energy Efficiency, IoT Platforms, etc.. Degree and postgraduate degree in Business Law (Coimbra University). MBA from LisboaMBA/UCLA Anderson Management School. DBA (PhD) from Nottingham Trent University in Management.

Mr. Kyle Ryan is a Senior Solar Engineer of RWE Renewables. He is responsible for coordinating project engineering activities and expertise during Development, Construction and Operation of solar photovoltaic plants, in Europe and Australia. He is also responsible for creating and maintaining specifications and processes to ensure quality and best practice in solar photovoltaic projects, across the international team. He has actively contributed to solar photovoltaic growth for the company, especially in the United Kingdom and Spain. He is now also the solar lead for hybrid plant design.

Marcel Schepers is product manager for flexibility marketing within EnBW Trading and the virtual power plant of EnBW and in this role responsible for the battery marketing business and offered range of services. He has deep expertise and insights about the flexibility markets, especially in Germany. Before he joined EnBW Trading, he formerly served as a consultant for the German energy industry and was part at the generation department of EnBW where he was involved in the development of large-scale battery projects.

Dr Frank Schlichting is the CEO of Kiwigrid. He studied applied physics at TH-Darmstadt and the University of California at Berkeley. After graduating, he moved to TU-Berlin, where he earned a doctorate in engineering. Parallel to his studies, Frank worked as a software developer at DaimlerChrysler InterServices. After completing his career in science he was involved in the development of the Volkswagen Autostadt as Head of Technology Development and Knowledge Management. Following positions at Atmel Semiconductors and the high-tech start-up Nanotron Technologies, in 2014 Frank became CEO/CTO at Solare Datensysteme in the field of renewable energies, leading on management, product development and internationalization for 6 years. In 2020 he became the CEO of Kiwigrid.

Laurent Schmitt has joined dcbel early January 2022 as CEO of Dcbel Europe as well as head of Utility vertical while funding Digital4Grids. He has been working for the last 25 years through the Automation, IT and Digitisation of the Power Industry. Before joining Dcbel, he was the Secretary General of ENTSO-E for the past 4 years and Global Smart Grid Strategy Leader at General Electric Grid Solutions. Laurent worked in Europe, the United States and Asia, on all sectors of the electricity value chain from power generation controls, intro trading and market, Grid management as well as DER integration and Microgrid community. Laurent has contributed to several strategic committees in CIGRE, IEC, EPRI and is now the Chair of the Digital Committee of SmartEn (the European association for Demand Side Flexibility). He has several times been named among the most influential people of the European Smart Grid industry and is very active through is LinkedIn and Twitter accounts. Laurent is French national, strong believer in the need to accelerate the Energy System transformation towards Prosumers to reach netzero ambitions by 2050. He graduated in Power System Engineering from Supélec in Paris and holds an Executive MBA from INSEAD, France.

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Kieron is Senior Manager at Octopus Energy Group. He is responsible for delivering new customer propositions making energy more flexible. His work includes creating Saving Sessions, the largest UK customer demand shift programme ever with 1.9GWh shifted over 14.5 hours from 700,000 customers, and Intelligent Octopus, the largest smart charging virtual power plant in the UK with 800MW and 125,000 electric vehicles. Kieron is a Fulbright Scholar and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Serge is the CEO of Jedlix BV, the leading European software platform enabling zero-emissions charging of Electric Vehicles in the home domain. Serge is an entrepreneur in IoT and smart energy. He has led business model transformations and ecosystems build-ups for multinational telecom & internet groups in EMEA and Asia for more than 30 years. Based in the Netherlands, Serge is leading Jedlix BV since 2019 to unlock the value of EVs charging and discharging processes, both for EV drivers, the eMobility and energy ecosystems.

Grid Leader with 32+ years of international experience in Power Grid sector covering, transmission & distribution including the latest technological resources employed in today's grid to meet the energy transition with renewable resources. Sankara holds 17 International Granted patents. He is very active member of Cigre, PSRC WG committees. Sankara has authored and presented 70+ combined conference papers and Journals over the last 20 years.

Laurent Talbot is Head of Energy Storage Germany at Statkraft, based in Düsseldorf. The Energy Storage teams develops battery storage systems for the German market, both stand-alone and co-located. Laurent led the feasibility study for Project Zerbst, Statkraft's first hybrid PV-BESS project in Germany, which was awarded a CfD at the Bundesnetzagentur's 'Innovation Auction'. He joined Statkraft in 2017 to set up the market access and PPA business for French PV & Wind project developers. Prior to Statkraft, he held business development, sales and origination roles in market access, PV modules manufacturing and sustainability strategy, in Germany, the UK and Spain. He is passionate about accelerating the energy transition through innovation, and is a member of the Steering Committee of the German-French Office for the Energy Transition (DFBEW/OFATE). Laurent studied international business in France and in the US, and holds an MBA from the European School of Management and Technology in Berlin.

Dimitrios Tzelepis, with degrees in BEng, MSc, and PhD, is a leading expert in power system control, protection, and automation. As co-founder and CTO of SMPnet, he is committed to digitalizing power grids and leads its technology strategy. His instrumental role in shaping intelligent, software-defined electrical grids has led to the creation of the Omega suite, a state-of-the-art, virtualization-ready grid management platform that provides adaptive optimization and real-time control of power grids. Dimitrios impacts the global energy sector through his involvement in technical committees. He has authored over 70 publications and driven advancements in power grids, including developing Grid Codes in various regions and pioneering projects, patents, and prototypes for the industry.

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.

Ing. Rick van Beek is Energy Consultant for Dutch DSO's and member of the expert panel of EU DSO Entity - EG Data & Interoperability. He is involved in introducing the energy data exchange framework in the Netherlands and development of EU Implementing Regulations on energy data interoperability and processes. He has extensive experience in development and implementation of energy market processes, with an explicit focus on customer data control.

Dr Vlachos is a highly seasoned technical expert with more than 15 years of experience in working with large corporations and consulting firms offering his services in more than 30 countries by participating in projects that merge the worlds of energy and information technology. From 2017 he is focusing at the crossroads of blockchain and energy by advising Ministries, National Regulatory Authorities, and Utilities worldwide. Dr Vlachos holds a Bachelor and a PhD on Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. He is also a member of the European Technology & Innovation Platform - Smart Networks for Energy Transition, the CEN-CENELEC Focus Group on Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology, and the IEEE P2418.5 Standard for Blockchain in Energy Working Group.

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