Consortium
REINFORCE
European Consortium Partners
The REINFORCE project brings together a strong and complementary consortium of partners from different European countries. It consists of four main organisations with expertise in energy systems, modelling, optimisation, and emerging technologies:
1) FEN Research GmbH (FENR), representing the Green Energy Center Europe, acts as the project coordinator. FENR contributes extensive experience in renewable energy systems, Living Labs, and real-world implementation.
2) The Università degli Studi di Firenze (UNIFI) provides expertise in multi-energy system modelling and simulation tools. UNIFI is responsible for advancing and developing the MESS simulation framework.
3) The Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) contributes deep knowledge in optimisation and stochastic programming.UPC focuses on developing advanced optimisation models for energy communities and market participation.
4) Alpine Quantum Technologies (AQT) brings cutting-edge expertise in quantum computing and hybrid computing systems.
AQT explores the potential of quantum technologies for solving complex energy optimisation problems.
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Dipl.-Ing. Dr. techn. Nikolaus Fleischhacker
FEN Research GmbH
Lead WP1, WP2 and WP8
Nikolaus Fleischhacker studied Civil and Environmental Engineering and Domotronics at the University of Innsbruck and worked there in research and teaching on structural engineering. He is CEO of FEN Research and heads the EWest and HyWest research centres, focusing on the transformation of energy systems and green hydrogen.
Dr. BSc. MSc. Niusha Shakibi Nia
FEN Research GmbH
Lead WP1, WP2 and WP8
Niusha Shakibi Nia has a background in physics, materials science, electrochemistry and project management and completed a PhD on electrodeposited coatings. Her postdoctoral research at the University of Innsbruck focused on energy conversion and catalyst materials for fuel cells and electrolysers; since 2021 she has worked in research team management at FEN Research.
BSc. MSc. Nick Kachelriess
FEN Research GmbH
Lead WP1, WP2 and WP8
Nick Kachelriess studied Environmental, Process and Energy Engineering at MCI and worked on research projects in wastewater treatment, particularly the removal of micropollutants. He later began graduate studies in Chemical Engineering at the University of Innsbruck and has worked as a project assistant at FEN Research since 2022.
BSc. MSc. Johannes Mütterlein
FEN Research GmbH
Lead WP1, WP2 and WP8
Johannes Mütterlein works with FEN Research on applied energy-transition projects, including activities related to hydrogen mobility and the HyBus project. He has also contributed to applied engineering research projects at FEN Systems, including work on high-performance thermal technologies.
Dr. Milena Guevara Bertsch
Alpine Quantum Technologies GmbH (AQT)
Lead WP6
Milena Guevara Bertsch completed a PhD in Physics at the University of Innsbruck on optical clocks with trapped ions. Her research spans trapped-ion precision spectroscopy, quantum simulation and computation, hardware characterisation and experimental quantum-error mitigation, and she has contributed to AQT's trapped-ion quantum-computing platform.
Jonathan Malcolm
Alpine Quantum Technologies GmbH (AQT)
Lead WP6
Assoz. Prof. Dr. Thomas Monz
Alpine Quantum Technologies GmbH (AQT)
Lead WP6
Thomas Monz is a quantum physicist at the University of Innsbruck and co-founder and CEO of Alpine Quantum Technologies. His research focuses on trapped-ion quantum computing, quantum algorithms and quantum error correction, while his work at AQT advances compact rack-mounted quantum computers and their integration with high-performance computing infrastructure.
Dr. Juris Ulmanis
Alpine Quantum Technologies GmbH (AQT)
Lead WP6
Juris Ulmanis is Director of Quantum Technologies at Alpine Quantum Technologies and works on making trapped-ion quantum computing accessible for practical research applications. His recent work includes cloud-accessible quantum hardware, resource-efficient quantum algorithms and error-mitigation methods on trapped-ion processors.
Dr. Andrea Ademollo
Università degli Studi di Firenze
Lead WP3 and WP4
Andrea Ademollo studied Energy Engineering at the University of Florence and has conducted doctoral research on the techno-economic integration of hydrogen in hard-to-abate industries and energy communities. His work includes integrated hydrogen energy systems, sector coupling and concepts combining renewable generation with energy communities.
BSc. MSc. Mattia Calabrese
Università degli Studi di Firenze
Lead WP3 and WP4
Mattia Calabrese holds a Master's degree in Energy Engineering and works as a researcher at the University of Florence. His research focuses on renewable energy communities, green hydrogen in multi-energy systems and the development of the Multi Energy System Simulator (MESS).
Prof. Carlo Carcasci
Università degli Studi di Firenze
Lead WP3 and WP4
Carlo Carcasci is Associate Professor of Energy and Environmental Systems at the University of Florence. His research covers complex energy systems, gas-turbine modelling and cooling, hydrogen blending in gas networks, multi-vector energy systems, renewable energy communities and sector coupling.
Prof. Bruno Facchini
Università degli Studi di Firenze
Lead WP3 and WP4
Bruno Facchini is Full Professor of Energy Systems at the University of Florence and Director of its Department of Industrial Engineering. He leads research on heat transfer, combustion, gas-turbine cooling and advanced energy systems, with extensive experimental work and industrial technology-transfer activities.
Prof. Javier Heredia
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
Lead WP5 and WP7
F.-Javier Heredia is Associate Professor at UPC and holds a PhD in Operations Research as well as a background in Physics. His research focuses on numerical and stochastic optimization applied to electricity markets, power-system operation, smart grids and energy communities.
Jan Jettmann
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
Lead WP5 and WP7
Jan Jettmann's research at UPC focuses on the participation of energy communities in electricity markets. His Master's thesis developed a multi-stage stochastic-programming framework for optimal bidding in day-ahead, reserve and intraday markets under uncertainty in renewable generation and electricity prices.
Dr. Cristian Pachon Garcia
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
Lead WP5 and WP7
Cristian Pachón-García completed doctoral research at UPC on dimensionality reduction and interpretable machine learning. His work includes scalable methods for multidimensional scaling of large datasets and explainability methods and open-source software for machine-learning models.
Dr. Albert Solà Vilalta
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
Lead WP5 and WP7
Albert Solà Vilalta holds a PhD in Optimization and Operations Research and works at the Department of Statistics and Operations Research at UPC. His research focuses on mathematical optimization for the energy transition, including energy communities, electricity markets, energy-storage coordination and sustainable energy-system planning.
