Manager Product Development
Robben Riksen has been working at Dutch DSO Alliander since 2018 and since 2021 at GOPACS, the national platform for congestion management and ancillary services in the Netherlands. First as product owner and later as product manager of the IT teams of GOPACS, Robben has been involved in the development of the GOPACS platform since the early stages. In his current role as Manager Product Development, Robben is responsible for the product roadmap and ensures alignment between GOPACS development and the implementation of Dutch congestion management solutions by grid operators and market participants.
GOPACS, short for Grid Operators Platform for AnCillary Services, is an important platform to reduce capacity shortages in the electricity grid (congestion). The platform helps to keep the grid reliable and affordable. GOPACS is a collaboration of the Dutch grid operators and unique within Europe. While the electricity grid is being strengthened and expanded, GOPACS helps grid operators better match electricity supply and demand to reduce congestion.
GOPACS allows large and small market players to easily monetize their available flexibility and help resolve congestion and voltage problems. Also, the cooperation of grid operators ensures that solving a transportation problem in one part of the electricity grid does not cause a problem in another part of the grid at another grid operator. GOPACS is not a trading platform, but a marketplace for ancillary services. For GOPACS, the grid operators have teamed up with several energy trading platforms, such as ETPA and EPEX SPOT. Through these platforms, participants can submit their flex offers to GOPACS.