Our team
Co-founders
Andreas Knoll
Founder and Managing Director
Andreas Knoll has more than ten years of leadership experience in renewable energy, focused on project development and international market entry. He was part of the founding team of Etrion Corp. and built up Etrion Solar's activities in Italy and later Japan. In 2015 he founded Wohnquadrat Berlin GmbH, a real estate developer that has developed and built over 140 condominiums.
Marco Northland
Founder and Managing Director
Marco Northland has worked in infrastructure development since 1998, first in telecommunications. From 2005 he was General Manager Europe at SunPower Corporation, a solar module supplier, developer and EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contractor. In 2008 he founded Etrion, which built and operated a solar portfolio in Europe, Japan and Chile. He listed Etrion in Sweden and Canada and financed it through corporate bonds and non-recourse project finance.
Giora Salita
Founder and Shareholder
Giora Salita entered renewable energy in 2007 after 18 years in software. He has since closed renewable energy transactions with an enterprise value of over $3 billion. His experience covers developing, building and operating utility-scale energy assets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Chile and Japan. He has worked for private-equity-backed companies, listed companies and family offices. He graduated from Warwick Business School and completed executive studies at INSEAD.
Planning and permitting
Lena Klanten
Head of Project Management
Lena Klanten is a graduate architect (Dipl.-Ing.) from TU Darmstadt. At Gruber + Kleine-Kraneburg Architekten in Frankfurt am Main she worked on projects including the Federal President's Office and the IG Metall headquarters. Registered with the Berlin Chamber of Architects since 2004, she has worked freelance since 2009. She is a registered energy efficiency expert (dena). Since June 2025 she has coordinated the projects at BESSMART Energies.
Emanuel Wolf
Head of Planning and Permitting
Emanuel Wolf is a graduate engineer-architect (Dipl.-Ing.) from TU Dresden, registered as an architect since 2014. He first worked for offices in Zurich, Switzerland. From 2013 he was a project manager at Steinhoff | Haehnel Architekten in Stuttgart. In 2018 he opened its Berlin office as branch manager, later becoming associate partner. Since 2024 he has led design and permit planning at BESSMART Energies, coordinating the service providers involved.
Clara Wunderlich
Project Architect
Clara Wunderlich holds a Master of Science in architecture. During her studies she worked in several architecture offices on resource-efficient and ecological construction. She joined BESSMART Energies in October 2025 as a project architect, moving from architecture into renewable energy.
Grid and technical planning
Simon Hartmann
Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
Simon Hartmann started his career as a grid service technician at a utility. He specialises in large solar, battery and grid projects. Since 2019 he has been a self-employed engineering consultant, advising investment houses on transactions. In 2022 he co-founded PH Consulting Engineering in Rome, a team of 15 energy experts. He holds a bachelor's in energy and building technology and a master's in engineering and business administration.
Petri Visser
Head of Technical Planning and Approval
Petri Visser is Head of Technical Planning and Approval for grid connection and battery energy storage (BESS) projects. He takes projects from early technical concept through planning and approval. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Architecture and spent nearly a decade in South Africa's development sector before moving to Austria, where he earned a Master's in International Business Studies at Fachhochschule Kufstein. He entered the renewable energy sector in 2022, working on solar PV design, simulation and owner's engineering, and has since moved to focus entirely on BESS development. His work combines design thinking and technical depth to turn complex sites into projects that can be approved and built.
Site origination and acquisition
Marco Kieslich
SITE ORIGINATION AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Marco Kieslich has led land scouting for BESSMART Energies since early 2024. Before that he spent over two years in project and land acquisition for a real estate developer in Berlin. From 2011 to 2021 he held various positions in real estate in South Africa. After training and studies at Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH in Munich, he worked there for four years as a project manager.
Rainer Knoll
Site Acquisition and Strategic Projects
Rainer Knoll led sales teams for IT infrastructure services to large companies at Digital Equipment, Sun Microsystems and IBM. At IBM he held profit and loss responsibility for the Multivendor Services unit. He was Key Account Manager for Daimler Chrysler and Toshiba, and started his career as a logistics planner and project manager at Logistic Consult GmbH. Since 2024 he has supported BESSMART Energies in site acquisition and strategic projects.
Project management
Cian Northland
Project Manager, Business Development
Cian Northland developed and manages a web-based platform that tracks BESSMART Energies' battery storage projects from initiation to ready-to-build. He previously worked in impact analysis at Pictet Asset Management and Lundin Energy, among others. He holds a degree in sustainability management from SUMAS, Switzerland, and is certified in project management.