The fourth team we are presenting from this year’s generation of SPOCK is also based on a “green” idea and belongs to the group of teams made up of employees of the University of Zagreb. The Green Energy Pal team consists of four PhD students from the Department of High Voltage and Power Systems at UNIZG-FER, whose goal is to optimize electricity costs for small and medium-sized enterprises, reducing their financial expenses while ensuring a greener planet and a better future for all of us.
Daily financial costs and the future of our planet. We believe you will agree that the mere mention of either of these two issues (if not both) makes most people’s hair stand on end, or fall out entirely. Moreover, it’s a common belief that cutting costs is possible only at the expense of environmental wellbeing, and that “noble” decisions to use eco-friendly technologies are reserved primarily for those with deeper pockets, who are either truly environmentally conscious or simply aiming to build a positive public image.
The founders of Green Energy Pal (GEP) disagree with that notion.
Our product is primarily aimed at small and medium-sized businesses, with the goal of optimizing electricity costs while respecting all the technical constraints imposed by our clients’ business processes. The motto “We use energy, save money and spare the environment” perhaps best summarizes our team’s modus operandi. Using a plug-and-play principle, we measure each client’s individual electricity consumption — both total and per each separate device. Additionally, we analyze the business process that determines when each device is turned on or off. Based on this analysis, the GEP app generates advice, alerts, and guidelines on how users can adjust their consumption schedules to save money without sacrificing the quality of their service or final product. The application also indicates how sensitive potential savings are to changes in user behavior, allowing users to assess whether following a given recommendation is worthwhile.
The idea is currently being developed by four PhD students from the Department of High Voltage and Power Systems at FER. Their shared interests and complementary skill sets guarantee a holistic approach to the problem and a bright future for the product.
Ivan Pavić is the team’s unrivaled expert on all things related to the electricity market. He possesses extensive knowledge of the ancillary services required for transmission and distribution networks to reliably and safely deliver electricity from producers to end users, as well as valuable experience in applying for various funding programs. The insights and practical experience he has gained help guide the strategic direction of this product.
Alen Hrga is the hacker of Green Energy Pal — in every sense of the word. Organizer of the first Blockchain Development Meetup in Zagreb, he is an expert in programming, data processing and automation. With his skill set and project experience, he oversees and actively develops both the software and hardware components of the product.
The third co-founder, Ivan Sudić, is a physics graduate and already a skilled power engineer. He spends his time at FER perfecting techniques for predicting losses in the power grid and exploring related machine learning topics that can be applied in this field. Many of his hobbies are tied to developing ideas for environmentally conscious entrepreneurship, where he strives to see positive results quickly — not in some distant future.
The last of the four co-founders, Domagoj Badanjak, is the team leader and a rising star. He is interested in the intersection of economics and power engineering, focusing his efforts on studying energy markets and optimizing participation in them. He believes in a sustainable business model based on eco-friendly technologies and in the commercial success of Green Energy Pal.
The idea was born out of casual office discussions about the topics we explore in our research and teaching at FER. We first demonstrated the potential benefits of our methods to our PhD mentors by placing fourth at a hackathon organized by the Hamag-Bicro agency (in a slightly different team composition than now). Realizing that we were truly on to something interesting, socially beneficial and commercially viable, we formed the current team of four and concluded that SPOCK was exactly what enthusiasts like us needed. Through numerous workshops led by top experts, excellent organization under M. Srbić and the inspiring atmosphere created by other participating teams, we hope to gain the knowledge necessary to further develop our idea. We place special emphasis on heeding advice in areas that are less familiar to us (marketing, business strategy, product testing, etc.) and on building a network of ambitious and entrepreneurial individuals and groups to motivate and support each other in breaking into the market. That is precisely the vision for our product — a successful market entry that will reduce electricity costs for small and medium-sized businesses while ensuring a greener future for the community.
Que Sera, Sera (“Whatever will be, will be”) – the title of the iconic 1956 song best describes the playful nature of the future. We too don’t know what the future holds, but we believe in our product. We expect continued successful development, progress in implementing new features and ultimately a unique solution for managing electricity consumption for small and medium-sized enterprises.
We are confident that potential clients will recognize the strengths of our product and that we will earn our place in the market. In conclusion, if Mars ever becomes colonized, we don’t want to limit ourselves with the saying that “the sky is the limit.”
