By Cameron Murray, Reporter at Solar Media

Battery energy storage company Field has hired the former CTO of Royal Mail to optimise the deployment of its growing energy storage portfolio.

Jochen Alt joins Field as CTO from AI-driven waste management solutions provider Greyparrot.AI, before which he led a team of 140 engineers at Royal Mail. His appointment comes a month after Field hired a new general counsel, VP of supply chain and lead data engineer.

Field said Alt’s several decades of experience in Internet of Things (IoT), data analytics and solving complex optimisation problems will be invaluable as the company moves into its next phase of scaling up its assets.

He will lead the data and software engineering team and oversee the build-out of Field’s optimisation technology for its assets. The company said the technology will maximise margins, reliability and efficiency.

Optimisation software is a growing component of energy storage as the sector moves away from contracted grid ancillary services towards merchant energy trading, which requires more sophisticated management of the asset.

“Technically, I find the task of optimising renewable energy extremely compelling, and I’m looking forward to being in a fast-moving environment where everyone is constantly pushing for progress,” said Alt.

“Coming in as CTO at this early stage of Field’s growth means that everything I do will be high-risk and high-reward, with the opportunity to really leave an impact on the world with the help of a brilliant team.”

Field recently grew its pipeline to 775MW of energy storage in the UK with the acquisition of a 20MW/40MWh battery storage site in Newport, South Wales, earlier this month. It also raised £46 million in investment from Triple Point Energy Efficiency Infrastructure Company (TEEC).