On June 21, Xavier Piechaczyk, chairman of RTE’s board of directors, was elected President of Think Smartgrids, an association that federates the French smart grids stakeholders.
Photo credit : Mikael Lafontan
The Think Smartgrids board elected Xavier Piechaczyk president of the association on June 21, 2023. He succeeds Marianne Laigneau, chairwoman of the Enedis board of directors, who held this position since June 25, 2020.
As chairman of Think Smartgrids, Xavier Piechaczyk’s mission will be to bring French smart grid players together and contribute to the sector’s development, both in France and internationally. The association’s strategic orientations focus in particular on the operational implementation of energy consumption management tools and the development of electrical flexibility, made possible today by technological progress, and that will play a major role in reinforcing the competitiveness of the electrical system. Issues surrounding the resilience of the electrical grid, the acceleration of electrification, the deployment of renewable energies, as well as the skills and training program necessary for smart grid players, will also be among the priorities of the agenda of the new presidency.
Finally, Xavier Piechaczyk intends to make Think Smartgrids a key actor of the industrialization of French smart grid technologies, to the benefit of consumers, and to help local authorities improve their attractiveness and decarbonisation efforts.
Xavier Piechaczyk warmly thanks Marianne Laigneau for her work as chairwoman of Think Smartgrids. Over the three years of her mandate, Marianne Laigneau and the board have succeeded in establishing the association’s legitimacy towards economic and institutional stakeholders, by demonstrating the importance of smart grids technology in developing electrification and decarbonization.
“The energy transition needs technological, operational and industrial solutions to ensure an increasingly optimal management of our producers and consumers. This is the challenge that Think Smartgrids is facing: federate the entire French smart grids ecosystem in order to create conditions conducive to the development of these solutions ” declared Xavier Piechaczyk, chairman of RTE’s board of directors.
In addition to the appointment of Xavier Piechaczyk as chairman, Hervé Champenois, member of the board of directors and Chief Technical Officer of Enedis, becomes first vice-chairman of the association, replacing Olivier Grabette, Director of European Industrial Affairs at RTE. Hugues de Bantel, co-founder of Cosmo Tech remains 2nd vice-chairman of Think Smartgrids, like Rodolphe de Beaufort, deputy managing director of GIMELEC, who retains his position as treasurer, and Régis Le Drézen, that remains managing director of the association.