Hervé Bernard chairs the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA) since the incorporation of EERA in a legal entity (AISBL) in April 2014 and is member of the Supervisory board of the KIC InnoEnergy, part of the European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT). He is currently deputy-chairman of the CEA (Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission) and member of the French energy research alliance ANCRE. At the EERA congress, Hervé Bernard delivers the welcome speech and participates in the panel discussion on EERA in SET-Plan. Hervé Bernard has a long standing experience in research and development in low-carbon energies, defense and global security, information technologies and health technologies within the CEA, key player in research and innovation with strong relationships with industry partners and universities. He is widely involved in European and international partnerships of the CEA. Before acting as deputy CEO, he headed the Risk management Directorate covering for the whole organization the fields of security, nuclear safety, health physics, environment, crisis management, litigation and inspections. Previously, he headed the Cadarache centre where he launched in 2001 the European candidature of the site to host the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). Born in 1953, Hervé Bernard has been graduated as engineer from the Grenoble National Polytechnic Institute and took his PhD in solid state electrochemistry (1980). 1 András Siegler is Director of Directorate G - Energy, DG Research and Innovation, European Commission At the congress, András Siegler delivers a speech at the opening session.e EERA congress Dr. András Siegler graduated in control engineering and holds a doctoral degree in mechanical engineering and a postgraduate degree in economics. He started his career as a research engineer in mechatronics and computer aided design. Between 1996-2004, in various senior positions, he was in charge of the Hungarian policy, legislation and fund management for research including the use of EU funds for boosting R&I. Before joining the Commission in 2005, he represented Hungary in the research policy bodies of the EU, NATO, OECD and CERN.
Marie C. Donnelly is the Director for new and renewable sources of energy, energy efficiency and innovation at the European Commission, DG Energy, European Commission At the EERA congress, Marie Donnelly delivers a speech at the EERA Congress theme session Research for the energy market 2035. Previous to taking up this position, Marie Donnelly was Director for resources and communication in Directorate General for Employment and Social Affairs. She has a degree in Pharmaceutics and business administration and worked as industry group director for the Irish Chemical Industries in Dublin Ireland, before joining the European Commission. In her current position at DG Energy, she is responsible for the development of policy on renewables and energy efficiency, including the coordination of research and innovation actions supporting the development of low-carbon technologies, aiming at achieving the EU 20-20-20 targets. Christian Egenhofer Senior Fellow; Head of the Energy and Climate programme; Director of the Energy Climate House At the congress, Christian Egenhofer delivers the keynote speech at the theme session - Research for the energy market 2035. 2 Christian Egenhofer has more than 25 years experience on EU policy analysis in the areas of energy, climate, environment, transport and water. Currently, he is Associate Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Energy, Climate and Environment Programme at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) in. He is also Visiting Professor at the College of Europe in Bruges (Belgium) and Natolin (Poland), SciencesPo, Paris and Guido Carli LUISS University in Rome. From 1997 to 2010, he held a part-time position as Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy at the University of Dundee in Scotland/UK.
Uwe Remme, Energy Technology Policy Division, International Energy Agency IEA. At the congress, Uwe Remme speaks in the session Strengthening Europe s energy security. Uwe Remme is energy analyst in the Energy Technology Policy Division of the International Energy Agency (IEA), where he leads the energy supply side analysis within the Energy Technology Perspectives project. He has more than ten years experience in energy systems modelling and analysis. Prior to joining the IEA, he worked as researcher at the University Stuttgart on several national and European projects in the field of energy modelling as well as assessment of technologies and policy instruments. Uwe Remme studied chemical engineering at RWTH Aachen University, Germany, and Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, and completed a PhD degree in mechanical engineering at the Institute of Energy Economics and the Rationale Use of Energy (IER), University Stuttgart Mark O Malley is Professor of Electrical Engineering, director of the Energy Institute and Electricity Research Centre at University College Dublin, Ireland and co-founder of the International Institute for Energy Systems Integration (iiesi). At the congress, Mark O Malley speaks in the session Strengthening Europe s energy security. 3 Mark O Malley is the Professor of Electrical Engineering, director of the Energy Institute and Electricity Research Centre at University College Dublin, Ireland and co-founder of the International Institute for Energy Systems Integration (iiesi). He is a Member of the Royal Irish Academy and a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers and is recognized as a world authority on grid integration of renewable energy with active research collaborations in Europe, China and the United States, in particular with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. In EERA, Mark O Malley currently leads the development of a new EERA Joint Programme for Energy Systems Integration.
Thong Vu Van Research & Development Senior Advisor supports Research & Development Committee working groups and the GRID+ project at ENTSO-E. At the congress, Vu Van Thong speaks in the session Is there a limit to how much renewable we put into the grid? Thong Vu Van, an R&D Senior Advisor supports R&D and Asset management activities of European TSOs within ENTSO-E. He leads several task forces to draft the R&D Roadmap, Demand Side Response policy paper, contribute to a study on replacement wave and define Asset Management Roadmap. He is active in the Strategic European Technology Plan and the European Smart Grid Task Force. He obtained a PhD degree from the University of Leuven, Belgium, a master degree from the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand and an engineer degree from Hanoi University of Technology, Vietnam. He worked before for a consultant company on energy strategy in Belgium and Electricity of Vietnam (EVN). Helfried Brunner, deputy head of business unit Electric Energy Systems Austrian Institute of Technology AIT, EERA JP Smart Grids. At the congress, Helfried Brunner speaks in the session Is there a limit to how much renewable we put into the grid? 4 Helfried Brunner is with the Austrian Technology of Technology, thematic coordinator for power system planning and operation and responsible for related projects in this topic. He is AIT representative within the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA) Joint Program on Smart Grids and Technical Coordinator of the EERA Integrated Research Program ELECTRA. He is member of board of the National Technology Platform Smart Grids Austria and lecturer in the field of electricity networks at the University of Technology Vienna and the University for Applied Sciences Technikum Vienna. He is Austrian ExCo member within the IEA International Smart Grid Action Network ISGAN.
Gustaaf Boon, GDF SUEZ and VUB. At the congress, Gustaaf Boon speaks in the session Subsurface low-carbon energy geological CO2 Storage and related geoenergy. Gustaaf Boon graduated as mechanical engineer at the K.U.Leuven. PhD thesis on The dynamic behaviour of turbo-generator foundations. Joined Laborelec (the R&D centre of Electrabel/GDFSUEZ now) in 1983 where he worked as a vibration specialist and was later on contact person for the power plants. In April 2006 he joined Electrabel Metier Generation as manager for Carbon Capture and Storage and Technology Watch Coordination. Inside the GDF SUEZ group he was the initiator of the Road project (CCS) in partnership with Eon. Joined the Direction R&D of GDF SUEZ in 2010 as Corporate Technology Intelligence Officer, dealing with the general coordination of Technology Watch for the different Groups activities. Since 2007 he teaches at the University of Brussel and since 2011 at the University of Gent. Jonathan Pearce, British Geological Survey, EERA JP CCS. At the congress, Jonathan Pearce speaks in the session Subsurface low carbon energy geological CO2 storage and related geoenergy. 5 Jonathan Pearce is leader of the CO2 storage team at the British Geological Survey with over twenty years of experience in CO2 storage research. Jonathan has led a number of research projects in the UK and including coordinator of EC Framework projects and has undertaken studies in many countries in Europe and internationally. Jonathan was a technical advisor to the UK Government during their competition for a first full-chain, full-scale CCS demonstration. Jonathan is storage sub-programme coordinator for the European Energy Research Alliance responsible for coordinating joint programmes on CO2 storage and setting priorities for future research for H2020. He is a steering board member of European Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage Laboratory Infrastructure (ECCSEL), which seeks to provide coordinated research facilities for CCS research. He is a member of the CCS Association Technical Working Group and is the Deputy Director of the GeoEnergy Research Centre (GERC), which is a joint initiative with the University of Nottingham.
Jean-Pierre Birat, SPIRE and ESTEP. At the congress, Jean-Pierre Birat speaks in the session The first fuel of energy energy efficiency in industrial processes Jean-Pierre L. Birat is presently the Secretary General of the European Steel Technology Platform, based in Belgium, and has various consulting & associative activities. Formerly, he was a company world expert at ArcelorMittal. He has authored and co-authored more than 400 papers and conference presentations. Petter E. Røkke SINTEF, EERA JP coordinator EEIP. At the congress, Petter E. Røkke speaks in the session The first fuel of energy energy efficiency in industrial processes Peter Røkke started working for SINTEF in 2005, mainly focusing on CCS and was coordinator of the FP7 project "European Value Chain for CO2 ECCO". Since 2011 he has been Research director with responsibility for areas within Bioenergy, Combustion and Energy Efficiency and was recently appointed as coordinator for the new EERA JP "Energy Efficiency in Industrial Processes - EEIP". He has a Master and PhD degree from Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU 6 Dirk Vansintjan, REScoop. At the congress, Dirk Vansintjan speaks in the session Social innovation local energy communities As student (1977-1982) active in the progressive student movement, ecological movement, antinuclear movement and peace movement in Flanders/Belgium. Involved in the founding of the green party in Flanders (1980-1985). Co-founder of the co-housing project in the watermill of Rotselaar (70 kwe) and active in an NGO focused on co-housing, renewable energy and monuments (1985-2000). Co-founder of renewable energy sources co-operative Ecopower (1991). Co-founder of Organisatie voor Duurzame Energie Vlaanderen (ODE-Vlaanderen) in 1996, the sector organisation for renewable energy in Flanders. Cofounder and vice-president of REScoop.be (2010) and president of REScoop.eu (2013), the federations of groups and cooperatives of citizens for Renewable Energy in Belgium and Europe. Ecopower now has 50.000 members and supplies 1,5% of the Flemish households with green electricity. REScoop.eu is now associate-member of Cooperatives Europe
Daniela Velte, Tecnalia, EERA JP e3s At the EERA Congress, Daniela Velte is panelists at the session Social innovation local energy communities. Daniela Velte has been working for TECNALIA's Innovation Strategies Division since April 2006 and is presently responsible for European Programmes. She works with the Office of Technology Evaluation of the European Parliament (STOA) on energy technologies and is the coordinator of the EERA Joint Programme e3s Economic, Environmental and Social Impacts of Energy Policies and Technologies. Prior to joining Tecnalia, she was partner and senior researcher at Prospektiker European Institute for Futures Studies and Strategic Planning for 15 years. During this time she was in charge of managing most of the company's European research projects. She also conducted numerous studies for the Strategic Planning Department of the Spanish utility Iberdrola and managed the company s strategic observatory during eight years William F. Christensen is Deputy Director General, heading the Section for Research and Technology in the Norwegian Ministry for Petroleum and Energy. At the congress, William F. Christensen participates at the session EERA in the SET- Plan 7 Until February 2013 William F. Christensen worked in the International Affairs Unit in the Ministry. He returned to the Ministry in August 2009 from the position as Energy Counselor at the Royal Norwegian Embassy to the US. William Christensen has served in many different positions at the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, covering both petroleum offshore issues and promotion of renewable energy and energy efficiency. From 2000 to 2003 he served as Head of Section at the Department of Energy Systems at the Institute for Energy Technology in Norway. In this position he worked with energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in the EU and in the Central- and Eastern European Countries. William Christensen holds a Master in Mechanical Engineering from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in 1986.
Paul Verhoef, is currently Head of Unit Renewable energy sources in DG Research and Innovation of the European Commission. At the congress, Paul Verhoef participates at the session EERA in the SET-Plan Prior to his current position in the European Commission, Paul Verhoef was Head of Unit for Research and Innovative Transport Systems at DG Mobility and Transport, and Programme Manager of the EU Satellite Navigation Programmes Galileo and EGNOS. Paul Verhoef has had a number of policy functions in the European Commission since 1990 in the areas of space, telecommunications, electronic commerce, and Internet and the EU satellite navigation programmes, and worked as a member of the Cabinet of the responsible Commissioner for Information Society. In his earlier career, he worked for the United Nations in the South Pacific, Eutelsat in Paris, the European Space Agency in the Netherlands, and Philips Electrical Industries of New Zealand. Paul Verhoef is from the Netherlands and has a M.Sc Degree in Electrical Engineering. Hans-Günther Schwarz is Strategic Programme Coordinator for Energy and Urbanisation Research at the Austrian Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology. At the congress, Hans-Günther Schwarz participates at the session EERA in the SET- Plan 8 Studied Physics in Munich and at Vienna Technical University; co-ordination of environmental technology research at the Austrian Federal Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology (BMVIT) since 1993; development and implementation of the strategic technology programme Factory of Tomorrow under the Austrian Programme on Technologies for Sustainable Development (1999-2008); Initiator of, and Austrian delegate to ERA-NET SUSPRISE (2003); Austrian delegate to IEA-CERT (2006-2008); Seconded National Expert at the European Commission (2008-2010), implementing the online-platform NETWATCH; Since 2010: strategic coordinator at BMVIT of Austria s national programmes on urban issues and participation in trans-national programme initiatives related to energy and urbanisation RDI (SET-Plan, European Innovation Partnership Smart Cities and Communities, Smart Cities Member States Initiative, ERA-NET Smart Cities and Communities, and Joint Programming Initiative Urban Europe); policy coordinator of the JPI Urban Europe.
Julian Blanco, (Industrial Engineer by Seville Univ., 1985 and Ph.D. by the Univ. of Almeria, 2003) has 28 years of experience having worked at different sectors. CIEMAT, EERA JP coordinator CSP. At the congress, Julian Blanco participates at the session EERA in the SET-Plan. Dr. Julian Blanco works at the PSA since 1990 and he has been involved in 27 International and 18 National R&D+i projects related with different solar technologies. Associated Director of Plataforma Solar de Almeria (PSA), Spanish alternate member of Executive Committee of IEASolarPACES Program and coordinator of Joint Program on CSP of the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA). He is author/coauthor of 10 books as well as 24 chapters in others. He has also co-authored 96 publications in indexed international journals and more than 200 contributions to different International Congress and Symposiums and 5 patents. H index = 36. He has been Honorary/guess editor of Books/Journals/Conference Proceedings 5 times, giving multiple invited talks and keynotes at international events. He has directed 2 PhD Thesis. He was awarded with the Grand European Prix for Innovation Awards, in 2004. Teresa Ponce de Leão, EERA vice-chair and President of the Board of Directors of LNEG. At the congress, Teresa Ponce de Leão delivers the closing speech. Teresa Ponce de Leão, Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Engineering- University of Porto (FEUP), is President of the Board of Directors of LNEG and is Professor at the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at FEUP. Furthermore, she is member of the Board of Directors of Wave Energy Center, member of the Scientific Council or EnergyIn (Portuguese Cluster for Energy Technologies) and EnerGaia (Energy Agency of Vila Nova Gaia city), member of the consultancy Council of APVE (Portuguese Association for the Electric Vehicle), vice president of ADENE (Portuguese Energy Agency), vice-president of the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA) and vice-president of European Sustainability Energy Innovation Alliance (ESEIA), member of EG Energy Education and Training Initiative of the Advisory Group for Energy FP7, of the Integrated Roadmap H2020 and of the Advisory Group for infrastructures and e- infrastructures H2020, member of the Consultative Board at Engineering School at University of Minho and of the IRENA/ADFD Advisory Committee. 9