Groningen Energy Summer School 2014

Groningen 18-29 August 2014

The Groningen Energy Summer School 2014 for PhD students takes an interdisciplinary approach to one of the hottest topics of the energy landscape: smart grids. By bringing together and combining a broad range of disciplines, this event will offer a unique opportunity to PhD students to become aware of different aspects of the energy transition, to develop novel insights, and to create synergy in approaches to smart grids. During the summer school, the participants will attend lectures by specialists in the field, present their own work, and play an active role in workshops and discussions.

The summer school will be held from 18 to 29 August 2014 in Groningen, The Netherlands. It is jointly organized by the Groningen Energy and Sustainability Programme (GESP) and by the department of International Relations and International Organisations. The Summer School is sponsored by the Canadian Embassy in the Hague, Globalisation Studies Groningen and the Energy Academy.

The Energy Summer School in more detail

Participants will have the opportunity to learn about how smart grids are shaped by the interaction of new roles for consumers, advanced Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), new markets, security of supply issues, informationalisation processes, valuation of assets and investments, technological innovation and (de)regulation. Participant will therefore extend their understanding with input about the technical, social, economic, legal and psychological dimensions of smart grids.

Bringing these elements together in a coherent manner is no simple task. The summer school will therefore be the occasion to address how experts from different disciplines collaborate in moving towards a sustainable and secure energy supply enabled by smart grid technologies. Participants will also gain a deeper understanding of how their own expertise fits in the dynamics of transition.

The summer school will provide PhD students with an opportunity to connect to new networks, to learn from experts in the field, including practitioners, and to discuss their own work. Group work on a case study will further ensure an interdisciplinary experience. Excursions will also be on the programme.

The key questions addressed in the summer school:

• What are smart grids?
• What is the role of smart grids in processes of decentralisation and globalization?
• What are the latest technological developments in smart grids and how can these be implemented most effectively?
• As projects involving multiple actors, how do smart grids configure the roles of the private and public sectors in the provision of collective goods?
• How do insights from various disciplines merge in discourses smart grids?
• How will current geopolitical tensions be affected by an eventual growth of smart grids?
• Will smart grids bring about transformations as radical as those we see in the deployment of internet/web/digital networks?
• What is the role of governments and regulation in smart grids?

Programme committee

• Prof. Dr. Jacquelien Scherpen, Faculty of Mathematics and natural Sciences, University of Groningen
• Prof. Dr. Marco Aiello, Faculty of Mathematics and natural Sciences, University of Groningen
• Dr. Frits Bliek, Smart Energy Collective, DNV KEMA Energy & Sustainability
• Drs Jessica de Boer, Faculty of Spatial Sciences, University of Groningen
• Prof. Dr. Hans Vedder, Faculty of Law, University of Groningen
• Prof. Dr. Jaap de Wilde, GSG & Department of IRIO, University of Groningen
• Dr Anne Beaulieu, Groningen Energy & Sustainability Programme, University of Groningen
• Margriet Halbersma, Groningen Energy & Sustainability Programme, University of Groningen
• Andrea Pagani, MSc, Faculty of Mathematics and natural Sciences, University of Groningen

Organizing committee

• Andrea Pagani, MSc, Faculty of Mathematics and natural Sciences, University of Groningen
• Margriet Halbersma, Groningen Energy & Sustainability Programme, University of Groningen
• Prof. Dr. Jaap de Wilde, GSG & Department of IRIO, University of Groningen
• Dr Anne Beaulieu, Groningen Energy & Sustainability Programme, University of Groningen