Grid Singularity is an awarded, open source energy technology startup, placing the individual and the environment at the centre of the energy market by developing the energy exchange engine (d3a.io) and cofounding the Energy Web Foundation (EWF). Grid Singularity simulates and operates interconnected grid-aware energy marketplaces, facilitating market participation by connecting aggregators and grid operators through an application interface.

Ewald Hesse leads the Grid Singularity venture, rooted in the founder’s extensive experience in the energy sector and acute interest in distributed business models. He also serves on the Energy Web Foundation Council, and the advisory board of several startups (Verv, Kivu Technologies, Leap) and Scytale Ventures.
Hesse previously worked as regional director for business development and strategy in Southeast Europe at Andritz Hydro. Earlier, he explored technology transfer and joint ventures in China and European automobile sector at Metzler and ABB. He graduated with a Dipl.-Ing. Science degree in Mechanical Engineering and Project Management from the University of Konstanz, Germany. As part of the study program, he also attended the Polytechnic University in Hong Kong. He speaks English, German and Russian.

Dr Ana S. Trbovich is Grid Singularity co-founder and COO, developing grid-aware peer-to-peer energy exchanges, and co-founder and Vice Chair of Energy Web Foundation, energy blockchain technology venture. She serves on UNECE Carbon Neutrality and DENA SET Hub Advisory Boards, and previously as board member at the European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT), Axa and the Belgrade Philharmonic. She teaches Innovation and Entrepreneurship and has consulted on good governance, competitiveness and innovation policy for international organizations, including the EU and the World Bank, having previously served as Assistant Minister in charge of Serbia’s EU Accession. She holds a PhD from the Fletcher School and Master Degrees from the Fletcher School and the Harvard Kennedy School.

Erwin Smole is the Grid Singularity co-founder. Boasting over two decades of experience in the energy sector, he now serves as Member of the Executive Board at Stadtwerke Klagenfurt.
Previously, Smole held senior management positions in utilities, regulatory authority E-Control, and PwC. He has further been engaged in strategic business advisory for government and international organizations (UNDP, EU), as well as a range of energy market entrepreneurs. Smole is a recognized expert in development of new business cases in the both regulated and non-regulated energy market segments. He holds a MSc in Electrical Engineering from the Technical University of Graz and an MBA from the California Lutheran University, USA. He is Associate Professor at the University of Applied Science in Carinthia, Austria.

Dr. Aeron Buchanan, co-founder of Grid Singularity, has helped Grid Singularity form its blockchain vision. He received a Computer Vision doctorate from Oxford University Robotics Department, after working as an algorithm designer for the special effects industry and reading Engineering and Computer Science for his undergraduate degree. He has since designed algorithms for UAVs, started tech companies building blockchain technology and light-show controllers, and acted as a consultant to economics and ecological research laboratories. He is currently a consensus platform technology consultant and Vice President of the Web 3 Foundation.

Co-founder of Grid Singularity, Dr. Jutta Steiner is also the co-founder of Parity Technologies. She previously served as Chief of Security for the Ethereum Foundation, overseeing security audit and integration prior to the launch of the public blockchain in 2015. Jutta also co-founded Project Provenance, where she pioneered the use of blockchain technology to foster transparency in supply chains. She has helped found and advise a number of additional organizations and she holds a PhD in Applied Mathematics from the University of Bonn, following which she started her career as a consultant for McKinsey.

Co-founder of Grid Singularity, Dr Wood was the Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of the Ethereum Project. He is the co-designer of the Ethereum Protocol, author of its formal specification, and is the creator and author of the first functional Ethereum implementation. Dr Wood designed and stewarded the Solidity language, was the project chief of the IDE, and designed and implemented the Whisper protocol. He has pushed “state-of-the-art” in analysis tools and programming languages, as well as co-founded several technology startups. He has presented to numerous audiences around the world, from keynotes at regional technology conferences, to musings on the future of legal systems at Harvard. Dr Wood holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of York. His new initiative is the Polkadot protocol, which will connect public and private blockchains so that they can inter-operate.

Colin Andrews is a Community Energy Researcher at Grid Singularity, engaging with the diverse Grid Singularity ecosystem to effectively integrate intelligent decision-making agents, incentives design, and distributed optimization. He previously worked in the analytics and optimization of supply chain logistics, and holds a Master's Degree in Computer Science focusing in Machine Learning and a Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering, both from the Georgia Institute of Technology, USA.

Jorge Ballesteros is an intern at Grid Singularity investigating how artificial intelligence could improve trading strategies of decentralized energy resources. He previously gained distributed ledger technology experience while working with Vattenfall on a project to validate flexibility commitments. Jorge is currently a second year EIT Innoenergy Master student in Smart Electrical Networks and Systems and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Energy Engineering from University Carlos III de Madrid, having studied in 5 different countries between Europe and North America. Jorge is extremely passionate about energy transition, innovation and new technologies, and has actively participated in hackathons like the Odyssey Momentum.

Andrea Bertolini is a Research and Development intern at Grid Singularity. He holds a double master’s degree in Sustainable Energy Systems from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden and Instituto Superior Técnico in Portugal. In his master thesis, developed in collaboration with EDP Innovation, Andrea addressed the problem of real-time electric vehicles charging scheduling with the use of deep reinforcement learning concepts. Previously, he obtained a BSc in Energy Engineering from the University of Bologna, Italy. His interests lie in the digitalisation of the energy sector.

Rafael Ernane Dalpra is Lead Frontend Developer at Grid Singularity, with a strong track record as an entrepreneur and software engineer with 14+ years of experience. He was co-founder and CTO of Seekr (now Hi Platform) for the first seven years of operation, followed by a period of consulting for companies from across the globe, including the official Formula1 Fantasy game. Highly motivated, creative, and efficient, with an eye for user experience, Rafael loves bringing interactive products to life based on behavioural science and design and with a mission to leave the world a better place.

Dr. Hannes Diedrich is Backend Software Engineer at Grid Singularity. Prior to that, he implemented a satellite data cloud platform at Geoforschungszentrum Potsdam. Hannes graduated in Meteorology and specialised in satellite remote-sensing and data analysis in his PhD at the Free University of Berlin, Germany.

Christopher Dietrich is Research Scientist at Grid Singularity. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Energy and Environmental Engineering from the University of Applied Sciences in Sion, Switzerland. He is deeply interested in decentralization of the energy market and in smart energy systems. In his free time, he is attempting to master machine learning and crack some hackathons.

Muhammad Faizan is working as a Backend Engineer at Grid Singularity. His area of interest is decentralized and intelligent electrical network. He has a Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering from NED University and a Master Degree in Renewable Energy from Universität Freiburg, with MSc thesis on Ethereum based Energy Trading Platform with OLI Systems. Before moving to Germany he worked in a Karachi based vertical integrated electric utility company where he uncovered a need for innovation in the energy industry that inspired him to pursue graduate studies and contribute to positive change.

Ravineesh Goud is Software Development Intern at Grid Singularity, with keen interest in applying machine learning to optimise decentralized energy markets. He is pursuing a Masters in Web Science at the Universität Koblenz-Landau, Germany. Ravineesh worked as IT Manager in the State Electricity Distribution Company in India for over six years, implementing projects in coordination with the Government of India Ministry of Energy. He holds a Bachelor degree in Information Technology from the National Institute of Technology in Bhopal, India.

Dr. Sarah Hambridge is the Grid Singularity Energy Exchange Engine Product Owner, pushing the envelope on decentralized energy markets, peer to peer trading, and grid balancing, secured by smart contracts and blockchain technology. Before joining Grid Singularity, she completed a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at North Carolina State University and has interned at Siemens and Sandia National Laboratories.

Hassan Hammoud is an enthusiastic and dedicated software developer, with three years of experience in implementing business solutions by using Python and Django frameworks, as well as React. Hassan enjoys the thrill of tough architecture challenges and complex software designs. He earned a Bachelor degree of Computer Science at the Lebanese International University, excelling as one of top students in his class.

Tina Hesse is Human Resource and Finance Manager at Grid Singularity. Simultaneously persistent and open-minded, she stirs the Grid Singularity back office operations with commitment, diligence and enthusiasm. Passionate about numbers and learning, Tina holds a degree in Management and Economics from Paderborn University in Germany, where she specialized in Taxation, Accounting & Finance.

Leo Hille is Business Development Lead at Grid Singularity, working at the intersection of product and market. Aligning technology with the regulatory requirements of energy markets and pushing go-to-market strategies is the focus of his work. Prior to joining Grid Singularity, Leo worked as Product Owner at Sonnen, responsible for the group’s overall digital product portfolio. Earlier he headed the start-up and innovation team at the German Energy Agency - dena. He has a Diploma degree (Dipl.-Ing.) in Power Supply Engineering and Management from Brandenburg University of Technology, which included an academic semester in world political history and international economic relations at Orkan University Istanbul.

Lana Ivina is a Blockchain Engineer at Grid Singularity, helping our energy exchange transition to web3. She holds a Master of Science Degree in Quantum Field Theory and a Bachelor of Science in Physical Electronics from Lomonosov Moscow State University. Lana previously worked as a developer at CryptoIndex and TokenAnalyst, specializing in smart contracts and data privacy.

GuoZhen Jiang is a Data Visualization Expert at Grid Singularity. He has a stellar record in frontend development, demonstrating a keen interest in data and 3D visualization and proficiency in translating UI/UX designs into functional interfaces, integrating data from various back-end services and databases. He completed a Bachelor of Computer Engineering at the Beijing University of Technology.

Estefani is a Digital Designer at Grid Singularity, going outside the box to visualize our team’s creation. After she completed a Bachelor's Degree in Graphic Communication in 2016 in Montevideo, Uruguay, she worked internationally and across different industries, from fashion to software, gastronomy, architecture, and now energy. Estefani specialized in UX design because of her obsession to simplify a function into the essential. She is an avid learner, thrilled to translate conceptual thinking into a visual image, enhancing Grid Singularity user experience.

Sai Karthik Yadav Mekala is a Testing Intern at Grid Singularity. He is pursuing Masters studies in Computer Science at the Universität Passau, having earned a Bachelor’s in Computer Science from the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University in Hyderabad, India. Previously, he worked as a Software Developer Intern at IBM Germany Research and Development GmbH and as Research Assistant at the Deggendorf Institute of Technology’s Technologie Campus Freyung.

Fatuma Mohamed is an Energy Engineer at Grid Singularity. She holds a B.Sc in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the University of Nairobi. She was awarded the highly coveted full DAAD scholarship and obtained an M.Sc in Renewable Energy from Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Germany. Previously, she worked for the Kenya Power in Nairobi as a protection and commissioning electrical engineer for large power projects. She has a specialisation in photovoltaics and has strong interest in decentralised energy system modelling.

Eric Müller Moreno is a senior product designer helping to visualize Grid Singularity’s peer-to-peer electricity exchange, building on over a decade of digital product design for companies like IBM, Deloitte, Universal Music, and organizations like the UN, applying a mix of product methodology with UX, Data Visualization and User-Centered Design. He completed his Bachelor Degree in Product Design in Brazil, and a Masters Degree in Product Design Innovation at IED Madrid and Project Management at ESDEN Madrid, Spain. Eric takes a structured approach to design and loves to study behaviors and culture in order to create great things that make sense to people. His work has been recognized by IDSA, IDEA Awards Brazil, and featured in the Milan Design Week at “Casa IED” and the London Design Week. He has been hailed as one of the 20 promising product designers of 2017 by Arts Thread Magazine Selects.

Pierpaolo Pantone is Backend and API Integration Engineer at Grid Singularity, with over five years of experience in backend and machine learning engineering. He is an ardent supporter of open source development and a champion of interdisciplinarity, holding a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and a Master’s degree in artificial intelligence and machine learning from the University of Edinburgh. Pierpaolo actively contributes to the team’s positive communication and readable code. In his free time, he is either playing improv theater or passionately talking about it.

Marcelo is DevOps & Security Engineer at Grid Singularity. He has more than 10 years of experience of systems and infrastructure design for the financial and trading markets, including experience in the energy industry. Marcelo holds a Bachelor Degree in System Analysis from Universidade Bandeirante de São Paulo, Brazil.

Maheen Sajid is a Junior DevOps Engineer at Grid Singularity, with two years of experience in designing, building, testing, delivering and supporting web services and applications in the ICT sector . Maheen holds a Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering from the National University of Science and Technology in Pakistan.

Natalija Sandic is Community Development Lead at Grid Singularity, where she manages key community partnerships and supports the development of Grid Singularity ecosystem. Prior to diving deep into energy blockchain space by joining Energy Web Foundation, Natalija worked in the wider field of tech innovations, working with startups and leading the international cooperation efforts first at a Booz Allen Hamilton-managed competitiveness development project and then at the Serbia Innovation Fund. Natalija has a Master’s degree from FEFA, Belgrade in Applied Economics, specializing in renewable energy policy, and she is a German Marshall Fund Fellowship alumni.

Srinidhi Sridharan is pursuing a Master's Degree in Embedded Systems at the Technical University of Chemnitz, Germany. She has worked as a Research Assistant at TU Chemnitz, engaging in several research topics including the development of a smart home IoT application by incorporating a Deep Learning model. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from the RMK College of Engineering and Technology in India. She is passionate about machine learning, data visualization and embedded systems applications.

Spyros Tzavikas is Grid Singularity backend and blockchain software engineer. He previously worked at Younicos as a senior software engineer, creating software and simulation solutions for renewable integration, off-grid systems and battery energy storage systems. Earlier in his career, he created server side software for mobile network optimisation for Citrix Systems.