Resilient by Design: Securing Europe’s Energy System Against Diverse Threats

Bruno Liebhaberg is Executive Chairman of the think tank Centre on Regulation in Europe (CERRE) which he founded in 2010.

From 2018 to 2021, he was also the first Chairman of the European Union Observatory on the Online Platform Economy. He is also an Honorary Professor at the Université Libre de Bruxelles’ Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management (SBS-EM ULB) where he taught from 1979 to 2018. Earlier in his career, he advised former European Commission President Jacques Delors on industry and R&D matters related to the completion of the EU Single Market.

He holds a Master’s in management sciences from SBS-EM ULB and a Ph.D. in Industrial Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

¹Also representing B.LIEBHABERG S.A., Director General
²Member of the Strategic Committee

Catherine Banet (PhD) is Professor of Law at the University of Oslo and Head of the Department for Energy and Resources Law, Norway.

Her legal research activities focus on energy market design, energy transport infrastructures regulation, support schemes and financing models, focusing on renewable energy and notably offshore wind, climate change mitigation measures such as carbon capture and storage (CCS), and hydrogen regulation.

Prof. Banet has a background from the private law practice (Norway, France), the European Commission (DG ENV), U.S. diplomatic mission and academia. She is a member of the Academic Advisory Group of the Section on Energy, Environment and Infrastructure Law of the IBA, and Chair of the Board of the Norwegian Energy Law Association.

Christine Banken works for the European Commission as Team Leader for Energy Security and Electricity in the Energy Security and International Relations Directorate (DG ENERGY). The work of her team focuses on security of electricity supply, the protection of critical energy infrastructure, climate adaptation, cybersecurity in energy installations, the screening of foreign direct investment cases concerning the energy sector, and the secure and sustainable supply of critical energy transition minerals. Before joining the Commission, as a consultant, she worked on different assignments in the energy, automotive and agriculture sectors helping Japanese clients optimizing their policy decisions or developing successful business strategies. Ms Banken holds a Master’s degree in Global Politics and Societal Change.

Dr. Paul de Bijl is Chief Economist at ACM (Authority for Consumers and Markets, the Netherlands). With Nicolai van Gorp and Gelijn Werner, he wrote the book ‘Handboek Platformeconomie Beleid en strategie voor de digitale samenleving’ (Koninklijke Boom uitgevers, 2023), now under contract with Cambridge University Press for an English translation. With Martin Peitz, he wrote the book ‘Regulation and Entry into Telecommunications Markets’ (Cambridge University Press, 2002; Chinese translation 2006). Paul is a senior member of TILEC (Tilburg University).

Peter is currently the Director of Engineering & Technology at Ofgem, which has a primary duty to protect the interests of electricity and gas consumers. This is a new technically focused directorate within Ofgem’s Infrastructure Group, focused on ensuring regulatory decisions are underpinned by sound technical advice, promoting technical innovation across the sector, and ensuring network companies develop, operate and maintain their infrastructure in the best interests of consumers whilst enabling a clean affordable secure energy system. Prior to this he was Ofgem’s Director of Analysis & Assurance, Interim Cyber Regulation Director, and Director of System Planning, Engineering & Technology, having joined as Chief Engineer in 2017. Prior to Ofgem, Peter had a long career with National Grid, holding several senior leadership roles across Gas and Electricity, Transmission and Distribution, in the UK and in the US, having begun his career with the company as a Power System Design Engineer. Peter is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the IET, with an engineering degree from Imperial College and an MBA from Warwick University.

Annika Brack is the Director for the Energy, Mobility and Sustainability (EMS) practice at the Centre on Regulation in Europe (CERRE). Previously, she served as representative for Uniper SE in Brussels and led the political affairs unit at 50Hertz Transmission in Berlin. Her experience also includes senior roles at an emerging technology think tank and the World Economic Forum. Annika is a UNAOC and WEF Global Leadership Fellow, with a background in international studies in Paris, Washington D.C., and Berlin.

Dr. Kong Chyong is an applied energy economist and policy analyst with a strong background and more than fifteen years of experience in applications of economics and operational research methods to energy and climate policy questions. Kong’s research interests include economics and geopolitics of Russian natural gas exports, with a focus on Russo-Ukrainian bilateral relations and impacts on Europe and global gas markets. He also works on large-scale modelling of power markets, with a focus on low-carbon generation sources and integration of renewables.

Currently, Kong is a Senior Research Fellow in Energy System Economics and Modelling at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. Before this, he was Senior Research Scholar with the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. Prior to joining Columbia University, Kong was a research associate with the Energy Policy Research Group (EPRG) based at the Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. Kong holds a PhD in Energy Economics and Policy (2011) and an MPhil in Technology Policy (2007) from the University of Cambridge. His PhD topic concerned Russia’s strategic natural gas export policy and Gazprom’s pipeline investment strategy.

Prior to his studies at Cambridge University, Kong was a researcher at the at the National Academy of Sciences in Ukraine.

Vasiliki Dimopoulou is Director, Energy and Climate Transition at PPC S.A. in Athens. In this role, she focuses on advancing the company’s strategy on energy transition, decarbonization, and climate-related initiatives, contributing to the integration of climate considerations into corporate strategy and long-term planning. Her work often focuses on the intersection of energy transition, market design in European power systems, while addressing issues such as climate resilience and energy price volatility in the context of climate risk analysis and transition planning.

She is a member of the Climate Change and Decarbonization Working Group at Eurelectric.

Prior to joining PPC, she spent nearly two decades at McKinsey & Company, specializing in power and natural gas markets and advising energy and industrial clients on strategy, regulation, and decarbonization. Her work focused on energy market analysis, strategic planning, and supporting decision-making in an evolving and increasingly interconnected energy system.

She holds an MSc in Economics and Finance from the University of Strathclyde.

Olivier Franz is a regulatory expert focusing on energy markets and energy networks, with additional knowledge in financial regulation. Recently, telco regulation has become part of his portfolio, particularly in the FttX environment. He teaches energy economics and regulatory economics at various institutions, including TU Berlin. During his tenure within innogy (now merged with E.ON), smart metering was a significant aspect of his work. Recently, he has also been actively involved in E-Mobility-related projects.

Leigh is the Head of Security of Supply and Markets Regulation at the Utility Regulator and has worked in energy since 2010. She leads three wholesale and retail energy market teams across the supply chain from generator to end-consumer, with a strong focus on governance and compliance. Leigh has led teams through the energy transition, including licensing of the first battery storage in NI, regulation of closure of NI’s coal plant, winter and emergency preparedness for security of electricity and gas supply, and modification of the regulatory framework. Leigh was previously an Actuarial Analyst in the private sector, and she spent three years working as a Regulatory Specialist in industry. Leigh has a 1st class honours degree in Law & Accountancy from the University of Dundee and eight years’ experience of Non-Executive Board membership and voluntary mentoring experience.

Alessandro Lazari is a Postdoctoral Researcher and Fellow at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience (CRISR), University of Salento, specialised in Critical Infrastructure Protection, Resilience, and Cybersecurity. He is Advisor to the Office of the Military Advisor at the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, the national authority for Critical Entity Resilience in Italy. He holds a Master’s Degree in Law from the University of Bologna, a specialisation in Law from the University of Lecce, and a PhD in Computer Engineering, Multimedia and Telecommunications from the University of Florence.

Alessandro Lazzarini is a senior engineer with several years of experience in the fields of long-term energy scenario envisioning and power grid development planning. Involved since 2019 in analysing and addressing the challenges posed by climate changes to the Italian Transmission System Operator, Terna, He has contributed to the development of an innovative, probabilistic and forward-looking methodology aimed at assessing the level of resilience of the power grid to extreme weather events, in order to identify the interventions needed to reduce both the vulnerability of the grid infrastructures and the expected energy not served (EENS) to the end-users. He has also contributed to the identification and planning of new grid reinforcements evaluated with the Resilience Methodology and to the draft of the first Terna’s Resilience Plan, in which are collected all the initiatives planned by Terna to increase the transmission network resilience to extreme weather events.

Giancarlo Spagnolo is Professor of Economics at the University of Rome Tor Vergata and research fellow at EIEF, Rome; CEPR, London; MaCCI, Mannheim; and at SITE -Stockholm School of Economics.

He is an internationally recognised expert on Competition Policy, Public Procurement, and Anti-Corruption. He has published many widely quoted scientific articles in leading international academic journals and has co-edited Cambridge University Press’s Handbook of Procurement and CEPR’s eBook Procurement in Focus: Rules, Discretion, and Emergencies.

He has founded and directed for four years the Research Unit at the Italian Central Procurement Agency (Consip), and has advised many national and international institutions, including the World Bank, the European Parliament, and the European Commission.

Prof Dr Paul Timmers is a research associate at the University of Oxford, Oxford Internet Institute, professor at European University Cyprus, visiting professor at KU Leuven and the University of Rijeka, senior advisor EPC Brussels, President of the Supervisory Board Estonian eGovernance Academy and CEO of iivii.  Previously, he was Director at the European Commission/DG CONNECT where has held responsibility for legislation and funding programmes for cybersecurity, eID, digital privacy, digital health, smart cities, and e-government. At the European Commission, he was also a cabinet member of European Commissioner Liikanen. He worked as manager of a software department in a large ICT company and co-founded an ICT start-up. He holds a physics PhD from Radboud University (Nijmegen, NL), MBA from Warwick University (UK), EU fellowship at UNC Chapel Hill (US), and a cybersecurity qualification from Harvard. His main interests are digital policy, geopolitics, and Europe. He frequently publishes and speaks on the interplay of digital developments with sovereignty, cybersecurity, industrial policy, and sectoral policies such as digital health and is regularly advising governments and think tanks.

Mónika Zsigri works for the European Commission as Head of Unit of Energy Security and Safety in the Energy Security and International Relations Directorate (DG ENERGY). Previously, she was Head of Unit responsible for joint purchasing of gas and international outreach in support of the EU’s diversification strategy. She has over 15 years of experience on different aspects of EU energy policy, including the reduction of methane emissions, LNG and storage, as well as energy security, energy infrastructure and regional cooperation. In the past, she has worked in the area of cohesion policy in support of the twin transition to a green and digital economy. Before joining the Commission, as management consultant, she worked on different assignments in the energy and telecommunications sectors helping clients optimizing their business processes or developing successful business strategies. Ms Zsigri holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration.