About Us

A Vision to Make a Difference...

Quidnet Energy was launched in 2013 with the vision of building breakthrough energy technology to accelerate the energy transition. Utilizing existing hydroelectric and industrial machinery supply chains, Quidnet Energy is about repurposing existing resources to quickly marshal implementable solutions to our most pressing energy and climate challenges.

Quidnet is exciting imaginations in the clean energy business for its potential as a game-changer in the energy transition for its modular, long duration, low-cost storage and grid balancing capabilities. In the past two years, leading energy innovation organizations—all with extremely rigorous technical review processes—have registered their support for Quidnet’s solution through significant financial backing.

During 2020, Quidnet turned the corner from proof-of-concept to full scale deployment with three new projects initiated in New York, Texas and Ohio and more planned for 2021. Quidnet is currently on track to fully commercialize its long duration storage facilities in the 2023-2024 timeframe, in time to deploy to meet aggressive state and regional long duration storage goals.

Breakthrough Energy’s Bill Gates Highlights Quidnet Technology in Recent Blog Video

2013

7+ years of breakthrough energy technologies

$35+M

Investor and government funding

4+

Development projects

The resources to make it happen

Quidnet Energy partners with leading investors and agencies to fund the development of our solution

Our Team

Joe Zhou

Chief Executive Officer

Joe leads the Quidnet team in its mission to revolutionize energy storage and facilitate the transition to a zero-carbon electric grid.

Joe Zhou

Joe Zhou

Chief Executive Officer

Joe leads the Quidnet team in its mission to revolutionize energy storage and facilitate the transition to a zero-carbon grid. As a child, Joe traveled around the world with his parents who worked for large energy companies. That experience inspired his life-long commitment to game-changing energy innovation. He earned his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Alberta, going on to work as an energy consultant across the globe prior to entering Harvard Business School to earn his M.B.A. Following a successful run with a battery storage company that he helped grow, Joe was introduced to Quidnet and became its Chief Executive Officer.

Howard Schmidt

Co-Founder & CTO

Howard oversees of the technology development of Quidnet’s Geomechanical Pumped Storage solution.

Howard Schmidt

Howard Schmidt , Ph.D.

Co-Founder & CTO

Howard oversees of the technology development of Quidnet’s Geomechanical Pumped Storage solution. He grew up in San Antonio, Texas and attended Rice University in Houston where he earned his B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry. He went on to teach at Rice and direct the University’s Carbon Nano Technology Lab. As part of this program, Dr. Schmidt worked with private sector companies in chemical battery storage. That work honed his understanding of the challenges facing chemical batteries as grid-scale storage. Combined with his experience in petroleum geology, he developed Geomechanical Pumped Storage technology with Quidnet co-founder Aaron Mandell to establish the company in 2013.

Bunker Hill

Vice President Of Engineering

Bunker joined Quidnet in January 2021 after more than two decades of directing engineering and development for Schlumberger, a global leader in the energy industry.

Bunker Hill

Bunker Hill

Vice President Of Engineering

Bunker joined Quidnet in January 2021 after more than two decades of directing engineering and product development for Schlumberger, a global leader in drilling, production, and processing technology for the energy industry. He earned his B.S. in physics from Texas A & M University and an M.S. and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering – robotics  from the University of Texas at Austin.

Jason Craig

Chief Operating Officer

Craig is responsible for assembling and managing the people and systems necessary to catalyze Quidnet’s rapid scaling across North America.

Jason Craig

Jason Craig

Chief Operating Officer

Previous Managing Director, Denham Capital; Newfield Exploration drilling & reservoir engineer, Chicago Booth MBA

Scott Wright

Vice President of Operations

Scott is an experienced project manager with expertise in renewable power and energy storage as well as petroleum engineering and geology.

Scott Wright

Scott Wright

Vice President of Operations

Scott is an experienced project manager with expertise in energy storage as well as petroleum engineering and geology. Scott has over a decade of engineering management experience, spanning drilling, completions, and surface facility construction across North America. He is a registered Professional Engineer in the state of Texas and earned an B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin.

Henry Lau

Project Manager

Henry has led a variety of complex exploratory, resource extraction, processing, refining, and storage, projects in the oil and gas sectors.

Henry Lau

Henry Lau

Project Manager

Henry has led a variety of complex , resource extraction, processing, and refining, projects in the oil and gas sectors. Prior to joining Quidnet, Henry managed drillings and completions operations for Chevron across the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. He earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Alberta and an M.B.A. from the University of Cambridge.

Cliff Mauroner

Staff Geologist

Cliff is responsible for geologic siting and project development, including working with regulatory agencies to permit individual projects and develop permitting processes.

Cliff Mauroner

Cliff Mauroner

Staff Geologist

Cliff is responsible for geologic siting and project development, including working with regulatory agencies to permit individual projects and develop permitting processes. He previously worked as an exploration geologist for the Hunt Oil Company. He earned a B.S. in Geology from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and an M.S. in Geophysics from Southern Methodist University.

Lisa Li

Analytics Manager

Lisa’s background is in engineering and analytics consulting, most recently helping companies improve their supply.

Lisa Li

Lisa Li

Analytics Manager

Lisa joins us from Denver, Colorado and will be working to tackle digital and analytics priorities across the organization to help us better understand our data, think about problems in different ways, and continue our evolution as a data-driven company. In her free time she enjoys propagating rare plants, painting, and hiking. chains by helping stakeholders better understand how and why they are performing the way they are, and what areas they can improve in. 

Board of Directors

Christina Karapataki

Breakthrough Energy Ventures

Investor at Breakthrough Energy Ventures; Venture Principal at Schlumberger Corporate Venturing, Forbes 30 Under 30 in Energy

Mike Biddle

Evok Innovations

Managing Director at Evok Innovations; founded MBA Polymers, the world’s leading multi-national company recovering plastics from end-of-life durable goods (300 million lbs/yr in Europe and China).

Matthew Nordan

Prime Impact Fund

Co-founder and Managing Director of Prime Impact Fund; more than two decades focused on cutting-edge technologies as an investor, advisor, and analyst.

Our Advisors

Dan Goldman

Advisor, Project Finance & Development

Founding Partner of Clean Energy Ventures & New Energy Capital; VP InterGen; President/CFO GreatPoint Energy

Susan Hollingshead

HR and Corporate Services Advisor

Previously Chief People and Corporate Services Officer at Sungevity, Chief People Officer at Vendini, and HR Advisor to Marin Clean Energy

Aaron Mandell

Co-Founder and Advisor

Co-founder Coatue (acquired by AMD), GreatPoint Energy, Oasys water, AltaRock, Sirtris (acquired by GSK), and Zafgen (IPO)

Mark Zoback

Geomechanics Advisor

Stanford Professor of Geophysics, Secretary of Energy’s committee on shale development & environmental protection

Locations

Wholesale Electricity Market Regions

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Join our list of prequalified subcontractors and discover how to bid on future projects.

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If you're looking for a rewarding position working for an exciting new company, then Quidnet is the place for you.

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