Opening Forum

Company: Aalborg University

Birgitte Bak-Jensen (Senior IEEE member 2012) received her M.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering in 1986 and a Ph.D. degree in “Modelling of High Voltage Components” in 1992, both degrees from Department of Energy Technology, Aalborg University, Denmark.

From 1986-1988, she was with Electrolux Elmotor A/S, Aalborg, Denmark as an Electrical Design Engineer. She is now Professor in Intelligent Control of the Power Distribution System at the Department of Energy, AAU Energy, Aalborg University, where she has worked since August 1988. She is also Vice Chair of AAU Energy, with responsibility for research.

Her fields of interest are mainly related to the operation and control of the distribution network grid including multi-energy systems, demand response, power quality and stability in power systems taking integration of dispersed generation and smart grid issues into account.

She is now PI of two European H2020 projects SERENE and SUSTENANCE.

Chair of the CIRED 2023 Organizing Committee

Graduated Master in Science, specialty Electrical Power System, Didier Bassleer first worked 23 years for a Belgian power generation company where he managed power plants, projects and the building of new power plants.

In 2014, he joined a smaller Belgian company specialized in critical back-up solutions, called CE+T Power. Acting now as COO for this company, he has the opportunity to manage teams in Belgium, China and India.

He first collaborated with AIM 25 years ago, for an event on the production of electricity and power plant management. Thanks to this opportunity, he joined the AIM board and has been acting as Chair for 6 years. On behalf of AIM, he led the creation of the CIRED aisbl and is now member of the CIRED Board of Directors. He was Chair of the CIRED Organizing Committee for CIRED 2019 in Madrid and was pleased to act again as Chair of the CIRED 2023 Organizing Committee.

Chair of the Italian CIRED National Committee

Antonio Cammarota is the Italian Representative within the CIRED General Assembly.

He joined the CIRED Community in 2005 and, in 2007, he was appointed as the Italian representative within the CIRED Directing Committee.

From 2012 to 2016 he also was member of the CIRED Technical Committee as the first Officer in charge of Working Groups and relations with Partner Associations. During his mandate he launched the CIRED Working Groups activity involving roughly 150 experts from around 30 Countries.

In Enel Group since 2002, he is currently responsible for Network Operation and Maintenance in the Regions of Abruzzo, Marche and Molise serving 2 million grid customers. Prior to this role, he held several positions of responsibility within the Enel Group covering different managerial roles in the areas of Technology, Innovation, Engineering, Operation and Maintenance including Head of Network Technology, Head of Network System and TLC O&M, Head of Network Components Standardisation and Head of Distribution, Market and Upstream Gas Industrial and Environmental Risk Management. He holds a Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering at the Federico II University of Naples.

Company: Enel Grids

Antonio Cammisecra became Head of the Enel Grids Business Line on October 1, 2020.

Prior to that, he was the Director of Enel Green Power (EGP) and Director of the Africa, Asia, and Oceania region. In October 2019 he became Director of the Global Power Generation Division.

He joined the International Division of Enel Group in 1999. He was then appointed Business Development Manager for Latin America. He joined EGP on its foundation in 2009 as Head of Business Development Italy, and in 2012 was named Head of Operations and Maintenance Hydro, Wind & Solar. He became Head of Global Business Development in 2013, leading a team of more than 200 people and working in over 20 countries across five continents.

He was born in Naples (Italy) in 1970 and studied Mechanical Engineering at the Federico II University and he received an MBA from Milan’s Bocconi University in 2004.

Company: EU Commission

Gwenole Cozigou is Director for Construction, Machinery and Standardisation in Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SME (DG GROW) of the European Commission.

An economist by training, he has been an official in the European Commission since 1985 in the fields of Enterprise, Industrial Policy and External Relations.

A former Deputy-Head of Office of Commissioner Liikanen in charge of enterprise and industrial policy, he has occupied several management positions in the following areas: Food Industry and Biotechnology; Coordination of the internal market legislation for goods; Enterprise and Industrial policy; Defence, Aerospace and Maritime Industries.

Since December 2008, he is a Director in DG GROW, in charge of competitiveness issues and EU internal market legislation for several industrial sectors, including REACH, medical devices, raw materials. He is currently in charge of construction, engineering industries and standardisation.

Company: T&D Europe

Yann has a comprehensive understanding of worldwide electrical markets, from low-voltage to medium-voltage applications, which he has developed over his 30 years in the industry. He has held positions in the areas of commercial, marketing, production, factory management, M&A, strategy and currently in industrial affairs & standardization within Schneider Electric .
In addition, of his active participation in international conferences,  he leads different mandates such as:

• Deputy President of T&D Europe, the European association of the electricity and Transmission & Distribution equipment and services industry
• Chairman of CEN-CENELEC “Industry Advisory Forum” (IAF)
• Vice-Chair of Orgalim “Green Transition” Working Group

CEI Chairman

Riccardo Lama is President General of CEI, the Italian Electrotechnical Committee, since 2019.

Graduated with honor in Electrical Engineering in the University of Rome “La Sapienza”, he has been working in the electrical energy sector for more than 30 years, performing managerial roles within Enel Group both in Europe and in Latin America and consolidating a strong professional background in the distribution business.

His fields of activity include network planning and development, components’ standardization, work methodologies, management services and organization, health, safety and environment, quality systems and processes.

He is presently in charge of optic fiber and electric mobility within E-distribuzione.

He is involved in CIRED activities since 2009, acting as Special Rapporteur in Technical Committee Session 5 “Planning of Power Distribution Systems”.

Chair of the CIRED Board of Directors

• Diplomed engineer from Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris.
• 3 years with the Commission of the European Union (DG Energy): work on the completion of the Internal Energy Market and on the development of cooperation with non-EU countries.
• 11 years with EDF R&D: in charge of the Transmission Network Economics and Design Group during three years and of the Power System Dynamics and Control Branch during four years.
• Regional manager for EDF and Gaz de France during six years, in charge of power and gas distribution and meters management: responsible for power distribution to about 700.000 customers.
• Presently Director for R&D in Enedis and Chair of the CIRED Board of Directors.
• Member of the Technology Committee of EDSO, French alternate member of the International Energy Agency WG on Smart Grids (ISGAN).

Company: EU DSO Entity

Mr. Ranieri is the first President of EU DSO Entity, the new European association of Distribution System Operators established in June 2021.

In Enel Group since 2000, he is currently Chief Executive Officer of E-Distribuzione S.p.A. Prior to this role, he has held several positions of responsibility including Chief Financial Officer of the Group’s subsidiaries in Romania and Slovakia. He also served as Head of Planning and Control of the Enel Group and of the Global Infrastructure and Networks Business Line. He holds a Master’s Degree in Corporate Finance at Luiss Guido Carli University in Rome.

Chair of the CIRED Technical Committee

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Markus Zdrallek studied Electrical engineering at the Technical University of Darmstadt/Germany. PhD- Thesis at the University of Siegen.

From 2000 to 2010 he worked for the German Power Supply Company RWE in several leadership positions of Asset Management and Operation Service in the grid business.
Since 2010 he is full professor at Wuppertal University in Germany, head of the department of “Power System Engineering”.

He served in the Technical Committee of Cired for twenty years, first as Rapporteur later as Chairman of Session 3. Since 2021 he is the Chair of the Cired Technical Committee.