On (the) T at… WATT Infra

Via Jessie Oosterbosch, office manager at Watt Infra, Cecile and Boudie were invited to take a look at this innovative company on Strijp-T. On a sunny Friday afternoon they stepped into the atmospheric office on the ground floor of the Innovation Powerhouse. In the cozy canteen – with Rowwen Hèze in the background – they spoke with Robbert van Gompel, director and partner at WATTt Infra.

What does your organization do?

“We have called ourselves theMakers of the Energy Transition,” says Robbert enthusiastically. “With a team of 35 people we work on sustainable energy projects across the Netherlands. Think of engineering, procurement and realization of grid connections for large ground-mounted solar and wind parks on land, battery parks and energy hubs. We do a lot of civil engineering, electrical engineering and installation engineering work. In addition, we are active in district heating. For this we, for example, also work for Ennatuurlijk, which is also located here on Strijp-T”.

“Strijp-T as a home base is perfect because of its location. Many of our young employees come from the TU/e and live on Strijp-S or elsewhere in the area. They cycle to the office. But it's more than that: this building was once a Philips power station – you can feel it. It has soul. And the community here is lively. The annual Strijp-Tournament, for example, is really a party.”

Watt Infra also invests in the future. “With ourWATT Experience laten we studenten kennismaken met ons werk. We conclude with a BBQ on our terrace. We also recently organized, together with our neighbors from VBTI and IBIS Power, an event for 50 TU/e-students, with demos and presentations in the central hall.”

What is your role?

"I am the founder of WATT Infra and as General Director I with great pleasure occupy myself with sales and the the guiding of the further growth of this company. When we started here, 3 years ago, we were 15 people. Now we are a scale-up with 35 colleagues. And still a close-knit group. On Friday at 15.30 uur the 'after-work drinks tune' sounds, the music gets louder and we drink a beer together on our favorite terrace."

And finally, before you all go eat fries, whose place do you want, and why should we go to the T next time?

 “Pay a visit to our neighbor Albert van Breemen of VBTI. He works with a young team on cool AI projects. Really worth it!”