Paul Vickers to head operations at OptiGrid

Australian battery optimisation platform OptiGrid has appointed Paul Vickers as its new Head of Operations.

Based in South Australia, OptiGrid manages a portfolio of hybrid and standalone BESS projects, with shareholders including the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, IP Group, Hostplus, the University of NSW, Adelaide University and EnergyLab.

Vickers, who has a background in operations and program management across the energy and technology sectors, will be responsible for the delivery and performance of OptiGrid’s platform, which is built for the National Electricity Market (NEM). In his new role, Vickers will help ensure it meets customers’ operational, commercial and cybersecurity requirements.

“The energy market is evolving rapidly and businesses need software solutions that are tailored to their operational and commercial goals,” Vickers said. “I look forward to working with the OptiGrid team to help our customers maximise the value of their battery assets.”

Before joining OptiGrid, Vickers was Senior Project Manager at Northern Territory utility Power and Water Corporation, where he led delivery of the Territory Dispatch Engine, a critical infrastructure program valued at over $40 million. Here, he oversaw the building of the automated security-constrained unit commitment and economic dispatch optimisation platform underpinning the Northern Territory’s power system; enabling higher renewable penetration at lowest efficient cost.

Previously, Vickers was the Operations and Commercial Manager at HARD software, an energy technology and services provider specialising in trading and dispatch systems for solar, wind farms and energy storage in the NEM. At HARD software, Vickers led in the areas of product development, technical design and architecture, cybersecurity, regulatory compliance and customer experience.

He has also held senior leadership roles with Woolworths Group, TechnologyOne and APA Group.

“Paul brings a combination of operational leadership, experience in the energy markets and supporting customers on their technology platform execution to deliver on our strategic plans to grow and expand,” said Sahand Karimi, CEO of OptiGrid. “We are delighted to welcome him to the team.”

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