Hydropower experts

Dr. Gilbert Frizberg is the initiator of eHydro500 and as a founding managing director, the company benefits from his many years of experience and networking in the energy sector. Gilbert Frizberg is partner and president of the           F-Energies Group, which has operated hydropower plants for over 119 years. In this role, he has outstanding expertise in areas such as energy generation through hydropower plants, the distribution and sale of energy as well as extensive connections to the Austrian and European energy industry. Until 2017, Gilbert Frizberg was Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Verbund AG, one of the largest European energy suppliers (> 130 hydropower plants) with a focus on hydropower. In addition to managing his own group of companies, which includes an electrical engineering company (Hereschwerke) and a turbine supplier (Global Hydro Energy GmbH), Gilbert Frizberg held various management positions. Among them he was Vice President of the Styrian Chamber of Commerce, Member of the Austrian National Parliament (in this role also energy spokesman for the Austrian People's Party) and Vice President of “Österreichs Energie”, previously the Association of Austrian Electricity Companies (VEÖ).

Dr. Günther Rabensteiner did his doctorate in the field of power plant construction and deployment planning at the Technical University of Graz and, after working as senior assistant, he became an expert in planning, construction, operation and maintenance of large international power plants at Tauernkraftwerke AG, Salzburg, Tauernplan Consulting GmbH, Salzburg and Verbund Engineering GmbH, Vienna as a division manager. From 1999 he was CEO of Verbund Trading AG. The focus was on optimizing the use and sale of electricity production on the international electricity markets.

In 2011 he was appointed to the group management board of Verbund AG, Vienna, of which he was COO until 2018 being responsible for the international power plant park of over 10,000 MW only in the hydropower sector. In addition to his position on the board of directors, for many years he was member and chairman of the exchange councils of EEX (European Energy Exchange Leipzig and EPEX Spot Paris), President of OVE (Austrian Association of Electrical Engineering) and EUREL (Convention of National Societies of Electrical Engineers of Europe, Brussels). Until 2020 he was President of the Vienna Economic Forum and is a member of the Supervisory Board of FLORENGY AG.

Wolfgang Kröpfl had a significant role in building up the enso group from the start. Since enso GmbH became an asset manager in the hydropower asset class in 2008, he has been responsible for enso's M&A activities in particular. His areas of responsibility - project selection, acquisition and operation - require the best knowledge of the local markets and the ability to quickly set up a local network. In more than 30 years of professional experience, he has gained extensive knowledge in project development, especially in the areas of automation technology and electromechanics for hydropower plants. After studying at the Graz University of Technology and working at the Institute for General Electrical Engineering and Basic Research, Kröpfl was a graduate engineer working in the field of conventional and nuclear power plant technology in Germany.
Since 1996 in Dr. Frizberg’s company group, he was responsible for the development of several corporate divisions and their internationalization (China, Mexico, Kuwait, etc.) and at the same time took over the development of the enso Group, which he leads as CEO together with Georg Schweighofer (CTO, COO). The power plant portfolio implemented in the core project enso hydro GmbH comprises 24 power plants in 3 regions.

Jürgen Gaisberger joined the Hereschwerke Group after graduating from the HTL [polytechnic] for electrical engineering. As a project manager, he was in charge of major international projects (including Mexico, China, Iceland and many more). In the enso group he leads the team for evaluating investments. Responsibilities include starting with feasibility studies, coordinating activities in the context of due diligence, purchase reviews, right through to the specifications for the operating phase and the programs for operational optimization. After the purchase, he coordinates the ongoing investment valuation in cooperation with investment controlling.

Ulrike Krapinger holds a degree in business administration and has been responsible for reporting and controlling at enso since 2008. Before that, she worked as an assistant to the management of the Hereschwerke Group, primarily in the area of investment controlling. The main focus of her work was the supervision of due diligences and the support and coordination of legal and organizational issues. She played a key role in building the enso hydro GmbH portfolio in the finance department and was responsible for the implementation of financial reporting.

Jürgen Jelly is an entrepreneur and co-initiator as well as a board member of eHydro500.

He founded several companies, successfully built them up and sold them before focusing on investments, mergers & acquisitions and his own project development. He studied business and corporate management in Austria and M&A (postgraduate) at the New York Institute of Finance and Innovation & Commercialization at MIT.

In addition to his entrepreneurial activities, he teaches at universities in Austria and Germany.

As part of his entrepreneurial activity, he worked on a project volume of around EUR 10 billion, with projects in the field of renewables accounting for around 600 MW.