The Active Distribution System Operator (DSO)

Michael Pollitt is Professor of Business Economics at the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. He is an Assistant Director of the university’s Energy Policy Research Group (EPRG) and a Fellow and Director of Studies in Economics and Management at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. Michael is an elected Vice President (for Publications) of the International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE). He is a former external economic advisor to Ofgem.

Monica Giulietti is Professor of Industrial Economics at Nottingham University Business School since 2023.

Before joining Nottingham, she worked at the Universities of Loughborough, Warwick, Aston and Exeter. Her research focuses on competition and regulation in wholesale and retail energy markets, energy consumers’ behaviour, fuel poverty, distribution networks and decentralised energy resources. Throughout her career, she has frequently published in international journals and conducted research work for several governmental institutions and organisations.

Andrei Covatariu is an international energy and climate change expert. His activity focuses on climate and energy policies, concentrating on the energy transition process and its geopolitical, economic, and social challenges. Andrei’s views and policy analyses are constantly published and cited in international media. He holds multiple roles, working at the intersection of theoreticians (think tanks, academia) and practitioners (energy industry, international organizations, domestic), engaging with both private and public stakeholders, across Europe, the Middle East, and the United States.

Andrei is currently the Co-Chair of the Task Force on “Digitalization in Energy” and a Vice-Chair of the Group of Experts on Energy Efficiency at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). Simultaneously, he serves as a Non-resident Scholar in the Climate and Water Program at the Middle East Institute (United States), a Senior Research Associate at Energy Policy Group (Romania), and an Associate Lecturer at the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, teaching energy and environmental policies. In 2021, Andrei co-founded ECERA, a network of sustainability practitioners aiming to produce policy-relevant knowledge, helping governments, companies, NGOs, universities, and others navigate the various facets of sustainability.

In the past, Andrei has worked for other for-profit companies, or with different multilateral and international organizations (e.g. International Energy Agency, World Energy Council), think tanks (e.g. Harvard’s Belfer Center; Energy Policy Group), or NGOs (Climate Reality Project, Climate Interactive, etc.).

Andrei holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in nuclear engineering, a master’s degree in business administration, and a master’s in public policy (MPP) from the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, with a summer project at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School.

Daniel Duma has a background in political science (B.A), public policy (MSc) and economics (PhD) and has worked in the energy sector for almost 10 years, holding various roles related to public policy, development, finance and sustainability at Enel. Currently, he is a Research Fellow at the Stockholm Environment Institute.

In 2020, Daniel completed the MBA program at the University of Cambridge, Judge Business School, with a concentration in Energy and Environment. Daniel is also an affiliated expert of the Energy Policy Group, where he contributed to research projects on the green transition and economic growth. Daniel is a fellow of the Aspen Institute Romania since 2015.

Torsten Knop has 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 formation.

Sabine Crome is working as a Policy Officer in the “Internal Energy Market” unit at the Directorate General for Energy of the European Commission. Her main assignments relate to DSO regulation, demand side flexibility and electromobility.

Sabine Crome joined the European Commission in 2000. Previously to her current post, she worked in the Directorate General for Mobility and Transport and in the Directorate General for Competition in the field of State aid and merger control.