Growing up with a passion for aviation and energy systems, Dario dos Santos Rocha pursued his masters studies in energy technolgies through the InnoEnergy Masters+ program, obtaining two masters degrees from universities in Portugal and France. Those experiences were built from a background in mechanical engineering and industrial experience on energy efficiency projects, both conducted in South Africa.

Dario is now a Research Engineer at Kitepower, and a PhD Researcher in the Wind Energy Group at TU Delft. Both roles converge towards the research focus of developing an operational and contol framework that can enable grid-serving operations of airborne wind energy systems for deployment into grid networks, accounting for load balancing and grid stability parameters.