(W)education Wednesday #12: Interviewing Vian, Product Assistant at Energo!

Name: Vian Hu

Position: Product Assistant

Hometown: Anhui Province, China

Fun Fact: The company organized a band, which includes a guitarist, bassist, piano, drummer, and singer. I am very happy to be the bass player in our company band. I remember that the first song that everyone rehearsed was “Under Mount Fuji”. I was very happy at that moment.

Hi Vian! Can you briefly introduce your responsibilities at Energo?

Hello everyone, I am Vian. I am in the product department, mainly responsible for the design and development of our company’s energy trading-related products. I usually communicate heavily with the design department and our developers, in an effort to promote the realization of our product vision and the achievement of our goals.

What projects have you been working on recently?

Recently, I am mainly responsible for the P2P trading project. In the future, we hope that users can realize peer-to-peer energy trading even in a small microgrid. In such a microgrid, producers and sellers can use photovoltaic panels to produce clean energy, which is treated as an asset in the energy network. Since it is an asset, it can be bought and sold — through our P2P trading products, producers can sell clean energy, and consumers can purchase clean energy. Thus, clean energy in the grid can be exchanged in peer-to-peer transactions to achieve a clean and autonomous energy community.

What difficulties have you encountered while working on this project, if any?

As we have been developing the P2P trading project, we have encountered questions regarding usage scenarios, such as whether the amount of daylight is sufficient, whether the user can switch between the main grid and clean energy sources, whether the producer wants to use energy while selling it, and so on. Users’ needs are different depending on the project and thus, usage scenarios will be different as well. As such, clear initial requirements are of great help to us in terms of effective project development.

In addition to this project, what other projects do you plan on designing moving forward?

After our P2P trading project, we will also develop an EV-based project. In the future, we will cooperate with hardware producers to build new energy vehicle charging stations that are driven by solar photovoltaic panels. In these charging stations, consumers can use Energo’s self-designed EV charging app to find a suitable charging post. Excess electricity generated by the connected solar panels is also effectively stored to create a clean and economical energy supply for the charging station.

Why did you choose to join Energo Labs? What do you like most about Energo?

I like Energo team members the most. Everyone is very energetic! It not only makes me feel happy to work here, but most importantly, members of the team can work hard for a common goal. This is the coolest thing to me.

Thanks so much, Vian! It was great getting the chance to talk to you today!

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(This interview has been edited for length and clarity.)