Hydroelectric power is reliable and renewable, but it’s not without its challenges. That’s changing with innovative companies like Natel Energy. In this episode, Gia Schneider, Natel CEO, discusses the fish-safe turbine the company has developed and how they are reinventing the future of hydroelectric power. 

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Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder

Gia Schneider co-founded Natel Energy in 2009 with her brother, Abe Schneider. Natel delivers high-performance fish-safe turbine and plant designs informed by industry-leading CFD modeling and analysis. Now serving as CEO of Natel, Schneider was inspired at a young age by her father, an inventor of novel renewable energy technologies, and has spent more than 20 years working in the energy industry.

She previously served as a partner at EKO Asset Management Partners, and held past roles at Credit Suisse, where she established the energy trading desk and carbon emissions desk, and led commodity-focused work at Constellation Energy and Accenture.

Gia was selected as a 2022 Grist “Fixer,” an honor given to the top 50 emerging climate and sustainability leaders; she has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Energy as a Clean Energy Champion and is an Unreasonable Fellowship recipient.

She received Chemical Engineering and Economics degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and currently serves as a board member of the Fresh Water Trust and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) National Council.

Reinventing Hydropower: Balancing Generation, Reliability, and the Environment