Joris de Groot appointed CTO of Alliander
Alliander is working on a huge social challenge: creating a future-proof, sustainable energy system and, by doing so, ensuring that it can continue to provide timely and appropriate solutions for its customers in the future. This will require exponential growth over the next few years when it comes to expanding and increasing the capacity of the energy grids and customer connections. At the same time, Alliander is working to significantly optimise both energy and infrastructure use and the application of various technologies within the system. It is pulling out all the stops to facilitate economic growth, housebuilding and the ambitions of businesses and consumers.
As CTO, Joris de Groot will have an important role in addressing the challenge that Alliander is facing. He will be responsible for designing and further developing the energy system of the future. Together with national, regional and local stakeholders, he will continue to work on both the architecture of and planning for the integrated system of the future – a system that will incorporate various energy carriers, such as sustainable gases, electricity, hydrogen and heat. He will also focus on ensuring the smarter use of the energy grid, through the application of existing and new, innovative technologies, as well as on improving the matching of supply and demand (flexibilisation).
CEO and Chairman of the Board of Management Maarten Otto: “The transformation of the energy system is an urgent and highly relevant issue. We are continuing to work hard on this transformation by building and innovating, all with the aim of ensuring that we can offer an appropriate solution for all our customers by 2030. Thanks to his knowledge and experience, Joris de Groot knows what solutions are needed for our customers and how market parties can contribute to this. With his solid grasp of engineering and technology and his keen eye for the interests of all parties, he achieves results and knows what this demands from an organisation. All this will be of considerable value against the background of the huge amount of work facing us and our stakeholders. I am convinced that Joris is the right person to ensure, in his role as CTO, that our energy system is transformed in line with our customers’ needs.”
Joris de Groot on his appointment: “Stepping up the pace and scaling up as we plot a course towards a climate-neutral society has been a common theme throughout my career. The energy sector has already taken major steps in the energy transition, but social pressure continues to grow. We need to work on the transformation to a sustainable energy supply, making optimal use of the existing gas and electricity grids, as well as new energy carriers, such as hydrogen and district heating networks. As CTO of Alliander I am looking forward to working with our customers and partners to find solutions that will shape the energy system of the future. We will do this together and will need to have the courage to make choices, take action and work as efficiently as we possibly can.”
With the appointment of Joris de Groot as CTO, and the earlier announcement of the appointment of the COO Customers and COO Networks, all positions within Alliander’s new senior management structure have now been filled.