Meet energynautics:
Our Team, our Knowledge, our Experience.
Whenever we talk about energynautics, we refer to our team – the core value of our company which makes it your reliable partner for projects in the field of renewable energies. We stand for competence, flexibility and fast direct access to industry experts.
energynautics GmbH was founded, among others, by Thomas Ackermann, Ph.D.
energynautics‘ achievements – similar to those of other successful companies – have been possible thanks to the knowledge, performance and commitment of the people working here. We add pioneering spirit and flexibility to that as well as a strong will to stand up to new challenges, to get involved in novel projects and to find innovative, sustainable solutions.
Everybody working for energynautics has solid expertise, long-standing experience and an extensive network of international contacts. This enables us to develop a wide variety of innovative solutions for our clients.
Sound Expert Knowledge & long standing Experience:
Meet our Team
Ph.D.
Thomas
Ackermann
energynautics-Founder & CEO
Economic Expertise
and International Experience
- Combined Degree in Mechanical Engineering & Business Administration / TU Berlin
- Master of Science in Physics / University of Otago (New Zealand)
- Ph.D. / Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm (Sweden) Thomas Ackermann Ph.D. is the owner and CEO of energynautics with over 25 years of world-wide experience in the area of grid integration of renewables and electric vehicles. He provides research and consultancy services to the energy industry, especially regarding power system integration of renewable energies and innovative energy applications, as well as in the area of energy policy, i.e. deregulation of energy markets. He is frequently involved in consulting activities for government departments and electricity service providers on the matter of power system design and operation, as well as regulatory matters and grid code issues. He has successfully completed projects in Australia, Barbados, New Zealand and Vietnam. In addition, he is actively involved as lecturer at Universities and within capacity building courses in the dissemination of knowledge about the integration of renewable energies into existing power systems around the world.
Ph.D.
Eckehard
Tröster
CEO & Senior Consultant
Strong Research Link
Our Expert for Renewable Energies
- Dipl.-Ing. in Electrical Engineering specialized on Energy Systems, Renewable Energies and Electrical Machines / Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany
- Ph.D. on „Permanent Magnet Induction Generator for Wind Power Application” / Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany Eckehard Tröster Ph.D. is CEO and Senior Consultant at Energynautics and manages projects in all areas of grid integration of renewable and decentralized generation, dealing with issues on all voltage levels. His current main working area is related to the modeling of combined heat and power plants for certification purposes according to the German medium voltage directive. He therefore actively participates in numerous working groups related to the development of technical regulations for measurement, simulation, model validation and certification of renewable and decentralized power plants. Furthermore he has many contacts in the energy business and is a lecturer at the International Department of the Karlsruher Institute of Technology (KIT).
Ph.D.
Nis
Martensen
Senior Research Engineer
Simulation and Practice
Our Specialist for Modelling and Grid Codes
- Dipl.-Ing. in Energy Systems / Clausthal University of Technology
- Ph.D. on „Virtual Power Plants with Micro-Cogeneration“ / Technical University of Darmstadt
Nis Martensen Ph.D. is an expert in modeling and design of renewable energy in power systems and power system dynamics, with particular experience in hybrid systems and distribution networks. He contributes to grid code development worldwide. Dr. Martensen is an expert user of the power system analysis software DIgSILENT PowerFactory.
Jan-David
Schmidt
Senior Engineer R&D
- Jan-David Schmidt studied Electrical Engineering focusing on power systems at the Technical University of Darmstadt.
- Since July 2013, he has been an employee at Energynautics. His focus is the development and validation of dynamic models.
- Jan-David Schmidt has extensive knowledge in the creation and validation of dynamic models, including wind power plants, PV systems, and internal combustion engines. As a result, he has ensured a successful certification for a variety of simulation models.
- He advises network operators and regulatory authorities on the application of planning principles for low and medium voltage grid to evaluate such networks.
- Based on his extensive knowledge of dynamic models, he carried out dynamic simulations for network studies in Central America.
Peter-Philipp
Schierhorn
Senior Engineer R&D
- Peter-Philipp Schierhorn studied Electrical Engineering at the Technical University of Darmstadt and has been employed at Energynautics since 2014.
- Mr. Schierhorn possesses considerable expertise in transmission grid and power system global issues such as generator dispatch, electricity markets, system services and system optimization using various software tools (including Energynautics’ own software tool ENAplan), as well as detailed knowledge of the properties of conventional generation.
- At Energynautics, he was involved in a number of studies in Central America, India and South East Asia and is experienced in working in developing countries and with small island power systems.
- Mr. Schierhorn possesses considerable expertise on German and international grid codes and regulatory frameworks. He was one of the contributing authors of an IRENA study “The Role of Grid Codes,” published in 2016.
Daniel
Masendorf
Electrical Engineer R&D
- Daniel Masendorf studied Electrical Engineering and Information Technology at TU Darmstadt. During his studies he specialized on electrical power engineering with the focus on energy conversion and electrical power systems.
- He has been employed at Energynautics since May 2016. One of his focuses is on simulation model development of different power plants.
- Daniel Masendorf is experienced in the field of model development of combustion engines to proof FRT ability. Those models are validated according to Technical Guidelines 4 from the German institute FGW. Additionally, he developed simulation models from other kinds of power plants, for example wind turbines, and power grids.
- Besides model development, he is involved in measurements in grids with power quality analysers (PQAs) and phasor measurement units (PMUs) and the associated evaluation of data.
Leonard
Hülsmann
Renewable Energy Engineer R&D
- Leonard Hülsmann received his bachelor’s degree in renewable energy engineering from the University of Stuttgart and a M.Sc. double degree from the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) for completing the Master program ‘Energy for Smart Cities’ at the KU Leuven, Belgium, and KTH Stockholm, Sweden.
- Employed since January 2017, his core areas at Energynautics are Smart Grids and voltage control in distribution grids.
- He demonstrates his knowledge and experience in projects about the modelling and validation of distribution grids, in which various Smart Grid technologies and voltage control concepts are implemented, e.g. innovative technologies like on-load tap changers and batteries or using reactive power control by renewable energy plants.
Thorsten
Schlößer
Energy Engineer R&D
- Thorsten Schlößer studied Energy Engineering at RWTH Aachen. During his studies, he specialized on renewable energies with a focus on electromobility, modelling of building heating demand and corresponding implementation of heat pumps.
- He has been employed at Energynautics since September 2018. His main focus is on the development of power grid integration concepts that account for the expected rise of electromobility.
- For this purpose, he designs simulation models to analyze charging behaviour in the context of grid load relief by smart charging algorithms or conventional grid expansions.
- Additionally, Thorsten Schlößer is versed in the area of further low voltage network grid loads such as conventional household loads, photovoltaic feed in and heat pump loads. Moreover, he has extensive knowledge on communication standards in the context of the upcoming smart meter gateways.
Alice
Vieira Turnell
Electrical Engineer R&D
- Alice Turnell holds a master’s degree in electric power engineering from KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden, and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Federal University of Campina Grande, Brazil.
- She joined Energynautics in 2018, and has seven years of experience in renewable energy grid integration. At Energynautics, her main expertise includes techno-economic assessment of battery energy storage systems providing grid support services, generation expansion planning studies for island grids considering renewable energy, and distributed generation grid integration analyses such as hosting capacity analysis and recommendations for grid code requirements.
Pia
Henzel
Electrical Engineer R&D
- Pia Henzel studied Electrical Engineering and Information Technology with specialization on Electrical Power Engineering at TU Darmstadt. Her studies focused on grid integration of renewable energies and future energy systems.
- Employed by Energynautics since September 2020, her core areas include power system analysis, grid expansion studies and smart grid development. Amongst others, she is working with DIgSILENT PowerFactory, Python and PyPSA.
- Her current main tasks are variable renewable energy transmission grid integration studies on island grids, the development of a smart grid-supporting control of prosumers in distribution grids and compiling geographically detailed load and generation projections taking into account photovoltaic systems, heat pumps and charging stations. She has project experience in Europe, Central & South America and Southeast Asia
Rabea
Sandherr
Engineer for Renewable Energies
- Rabea Sandherr completed her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering as a double degree from htw saar and the Université de Lorraine, in France. For her master’s degree, she then studied energy management at Trier University of Applied Sciences.
- She completed her master’s thesis at James Madison University in Virginia, USA on the conceptual design and feasibility analysis for deployment of microgrid power on a local island in the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia.
- She also gained experience in solar and photovoltaic-thermal energy systems implementation, PV module characterization, and system simulation of the thermal side of solar heat pump systems.
- Rabea Sandherr joined Energynautics in July 2022.
Raad
Alsayyed
Electrical Engineer R&D
- Raad Alsayyed studied Energy Engineering at the German Jordanian University in Jordan. During his studies, he specialized in renewable energies with a focus on energy storage and modeling and simulation of Power Electronics in renewable energy systems.
- Employed by Energynautics since September 2021, his main focus is on developing remote control concepts for grid connected photovoltaic systems and electric vehicle charging stations.
- He is familiar with Internet of Things communication protocols and their utilization in the power systems context. Furthermore, he has expertise in developing tools to manage, analyze and visualize large power system datasets.
Andreas
Hösl
Physicist
- Andreas Hösl studied physics at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. He did his master thesis on the topic of algorithmic methods in shock simulation at the Max-Planck Institute for Plasma Physics.
- He received his Ph.D. on the topic of electron-detachment in Pulsed Townsend Measurements at the high-voltage lab at ETH Zurich. The comparison between experimental measurements and simulation allowed the group to determine fundamental parameters of insulation gases commonly used in high voltage equipment.
- From 2020 he worked at Merck KGaA as a data scientist with a focus on recommender systems, at the Chief Digital Office and later the Analytics Center of Excellence.
- In 2022 he joined the growing Energynautics Team, working on modelling of energy systems and software development.
Pratik
Hirani
Electrical Engineer R&D
- Pratik Hirani studied Electrical Engineering and Information Technology at Darmstadt University of applied science. During his studies, he specialized in electrical power systems with a focus on electrical system modeling and smart grids.
- He is employed at Energynautics since March 2022. His focuses are on Photovoltaic feasibility studies and power system planning.
- Pratik Hirani has experience in the field of energy market and control reserves. He worked with German transmission system operator TransnetBW on developing a monitoring system for secondary control reserves. He also did his Master Thesis at TransnetBW focusing on German balancing energy market study and future market design.
Atefeh Zomo-
rodimoghadam
Electrical Engineer R&D
- Atefeh Zomorodi-Moghadam holds a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran, and has seven years of experience in power systems. Since joining Energynautics in 2023, she has been actively involved in power system analysis, with a particular focus on distribution networks, and has contributed to international projects.
- At Energynautics, she is mainly involved in studies related to grid connection of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) and performing various power system simulations/analyses in DIgSILENT PowerFactory, OpenDSS and NEPLAN, considering the integration of renewable energy sources. She has project experience in Germany, the Caribbean, Bangladesh, Iran, and several African countries.
Sevgi Can
Erensoy
Energy Engineer R&D
- Sevgi Can Erensoy has a masters in Energy Technologies from KIT (Germany) with a specialization in Energy Economics. She did her post-master studies on Social Science Perspective on Energy Innovations in Grenoble École de Management.
- Sevgi joined Energynautics in June 2022.
- She has 2 years of academic research experience focused on battery and hydrogen technologies which followed up with case-implementation studies for Berlin.
- She worked as a pan-European (32 countries) power and balancing markets analyst for 2 years. She wrote white-papers, periodical market screenings and trend analysis articles for power traders, interconnector operators, TSOs. She completed due-diligence of several utility scale batteries embedding long-term price models.
Ph.D.
Mohammadreza
Barazesh
Electrical Engineer R&D
- Mohammadreza Barazesh holds a Ph.D. in Power System Engineering from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran.
- With eight years of experience in power systems, he has designed and developed asset management software for transformer health monitoring and worked on smart metering, microgrid and substation maintenance projects. He joined Energynautics in April 2023 and has since contributed to several international energy projects.
- At Energynautics, he is mainly involved in power transmission studies using PyPSA. These projects include large scale network, generation and load modeling, dispatch optimization, market modeling and security analysis. He has project experience in Iran, Europe, South Africa and South East Asia.
Niclas
Rhein
Electrical Engineer R&D
- Niclas Rhein studied power engineering at Mannheim University of Applied Sciences and earned his master’s degree in electrical engineering at RheinMain University of Applied Sciences. His studies focused on renewable energies and communication networked IT systems.
- He has mastered expertise in replicating real substations as a 3D model using point clouds, practical application of C programming, IoT applications, machine learning and neural networks, and grid-friendly integration of electric vehicles
- He joined Energynautics in October 2022 as an electrical engineer focusing on the grid-friendly integration and cost-optimized usage of consumers and generators in the low voltage grid such as EVs, heat pumps and PV.
- In addition, he has expertise in the planning and development of electronic circuits and related software.
Victor
Breburda
Mechanical Engineer R&D
- Victor Breburda studied Mechanical Engineering specialising in Clean Energy and Process Engineering at TU Darmstadt. His studies focused on the conversion of energy sources as the basis of industrial processes across the entire energy value chain
- He has experience in modelling and optimising small- and large-scale energy systems and comprehensive understanding of effective modelling and optimisation strategies for VRE integration. Additionally, he has worked on energy storage design and regulatory compliance, and possesses expertise in rapid prototyping using 3D printing and CAD design.
- Victor joined Energynautics in July 2024
Andrés Felipe
Acosta León
Electrical Engineer
- Andrés Felipe Acosta León holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and a Master’s Degree in Renewable Energy from the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, Germany. He has gained experience in power system analysis through his more than five years of professional experience in both the public and private sectors. He joined the team in 2025 and contributes with his experience in international renewable energy grid integration projects.
- At Energynautics, he uses his expertise to assist stakeholders in emerging economies across Africa and Latin America. His proficiency spans various power system analysis tools, transmission planning studies, and meta-heuristic optimization techniques.
Lukas
Wolff
Physicist
- Lukas Wolff studied Physics at the University of Heidelberg and completed his PhD degree in Quantum Optics while working at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg. His scientific work focused on the simulation, development, and evaluation of experiments at large-scale x-ray accelerators. He joined the team in 2025.
- With his expertise in predictive analysis of infrastructure and methodology he is involved in transmission grid modelling, grid expansion planning, and dispatch optimization in projects in Europe, Latin America, and other regions.
Jad
Nasr
Renewable Energy Consultant
- Jad Nasr holds a master’s degree in Renewable Energy Engineering and Management from the University of Freiburg, Germany. His studies focused on renewable energy systems, Power-to-X technologies, and project management. He also holds professional experience in management and cleantech consulting.
- Jad’s core areas include techno-economic analysis of various energy technologies, renewable energy project assessment, and battery energy storage systems (BESS). He completed his master’s thesis at Forschungszentrum Jülich, where he analyzed the impact of Power-to-X technologies on future energy systems using an energy system optimization model. His expertise also includes market research, quantitative analysis, as well as consultancy services within the energy industry.
Jonas
Hülsmann
Electrical Engineer R&D
- Jonas Hülsmann completed his master’s degrees in business administration and engineering at the Technical University of Darmstadt in 2019. He obtained a Ph.D. in electrical engineering at the Energy Information Networks and Systems Lab at the TU Darmstadt in 2024. In his PhD thesis, he developed machine learning tools to improve the explicability of optimization-based tools for modeling energy systems.
- At Energynautics, he is involved in optimization projects for operation planning, generation capacity expansion planning, or grid expansion planning. Further, he is involved in capacity building training about building and operating energy system models using the open-source package PyPSA.
Marketing, Events & Administration:
Uta
Betancourt
Event Coordinator
- Uta Betancourt has a degree in English and Spanish as Dipl.-Linguist.
- At Energynautics she is responsible for coordinating the events as well as for the communications with speakers and event partners and for compiling the workshop’s proceedings.
Anke
Ost
Senior Marketing and Event Manager
- Anke Ost graduated with a Master’s degree in Business Administration and Political Science.
- At Energynautics, she is responsible for the organisation of events with a focus on process planning and participant registration. She also creates the editorial content for the website, newsletters and other marketing materials.
Kathrin
Moser
Event & Marketing Assistant
- Kathrin Moser holds a bachelor’s degree in tourism and has years of experience in event management.
- She is responsible of conference logistics at organizing the events of Energynautics. Furthermore, she is the contact person for the sponsors and supporting partners of the events.
Sebastian
Spohr
Media Designer
- Sebastian Spohr completed a dual study program in Digital Media
- At Energynautics, he is responsible for the design of graphical content for the website, newsletter and marketing materials. He is also responsible for the photographic and video documentation of events.
Andrea
Veigl
Accountancy & Contracts
- Andrea Veigl completed a dual study programme in business administration and has worked in various sales and administrative positions.
- At Energynautics, she is the commercial assistant responsible for accounting, contracts and administration.
Regine
Horn-Fricke
Administration & Accountancy
- Regine Horn-Fricke holds degrees in industrial business management as well as graphic design. At Energynautics, she is working in the accounting department and is mainly reponsible for the validation of the travel costs.
- Furthermore she assists the Workshop Team.
Darja
Barthel
Marketing & Social Media
- Darja Barthel completed her Master’s degree in Media and Communication Sciences at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and has held various positions in marketing and sales.
- At Energynautics she is responsible for the management and implementation of external corporate communications, in particular the company website and social media.