Skibo Energy Engineering Team
For the last ten years, the founders of Skibo Energy have been exploring energy storage solutions finally deciding to focus on engineering sensible thermal energy storage (TES) that will lower the cost of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) solutions. The Skibo Energy TES technology can also be tightly integrated with industrial processes to enable the use of the heat of the sun along with the reuse of any available waste heat. In May 2020, Skibo Energy was self-funded to begin the R&D and development of the TES initiative. Short descriptions of each team member are listed below.
Paul Klemencic CTO/CFO
In 2008, Paul began envisioning the powerful social, economic, and political shifts to permanently decrease our world’s dependence on oil. His vision of a customer first, efficient, and reliable renewable energy solution led to the formation of Skibo Energy in 2020. Paul’s expertise in the energy sector includes 18 years at Chevron, where he worked on drilling and refining power management solutions. This experience, when combined with his deep knowledge of Edward Deming’s Total Quality Management (TQM) methodology, fueled his passion for pursuing energy solutions that are simultaneously responsible to business, consumers and our planet. Paul has a BS in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.
Harry Levinson
Harry comes to Skibo Energy with decades of technical and management experience on large software projects for both government and industry customers. Harry began his career with 25 years at a small data communications company focused on high-speed hardware and software for Fortune 500 customers. His ability to view both the macro and micro systems engineering challenges then led to a successful 15 years at Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute. With Skibo Energy, Harry applies these same principles to renewable energy solutions. Harry has a BS and MS in Electrical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.
Darien Skifstad
Darien is a recent graduate from Carnegie Mellon University with a BS in Mechanical Engineering. He brings interest in sustainability, project management, structural engineering, thermal engineering, and engineering design. He has product test and evaluation experience for various hardware/software systems. He has developed the process simulation tools for Skibo Energy.
Vince Hartwell, Ph.D.
Vince brings deep experience in systems engineering after 15 years with L3Harris. He has successfully led teams of engineers on numerous projects (R&D and production oriented) related to precision pointing systems and prototype development of smart electro-optical systems. He has substantial experience with conducting tests and data analysis. He has a Ph.D. (experimental and numerical analysis focus) in Low-Temperature Semiconductor Optics Physics from the University of Pittsburgh. BS and MS degrees in Physics are from the University of Texas at Austin and the University of South Florida, respectively.
Wowzer Now
Wowzer’s experience includes multiple oil and gas construction operations. She has deep experience in managing materials in a streamlined, efficient, and functional manner to improve the material handling process. She creates and improves construction and manufacturing systems by digitizing everything. Tracking everything with a hard copy but by the end of the project turn over is a snap with every document searchable.