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CenSES annual report 2014
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International Cooperation
BEEER Conference
NHH hosted the 5th annual Bergen Economics of Energy
and Environment Research (BEEER) conference in May
2014. The event was a great success, bringing together
the research community on the economics of energy and
environment with participants from all over Norway and
Europe.
Driving the Energy TransitionTogether:
Research & Innovation for the Energy Union
Marianne Ryghaug,
key note speaker at
SET-Plan
On “Energy Citizenship” Professor Marianne Ryghaug,
Deputy Director of CenSES attended the SET-Plan confer-
ence Rome, as a key note speaker 9-11 December, 2014.
The 2014 SET- Plan Conference fell at a crucial time, when
momentum is gathering towards the development of the
SET Plan Integrated Roadmap and an Action Plan promot-
ing stronger collaboration between Member States and
with the EU in areas such as energy e ciency, competitive
low-carbon supply of energy, and system optimization
including smart cities and communities.
Gathering 500 energy stakeholders from across Europe, the
SET Plan conference facilitated debate around the EU’s key
energy policy targets for 2030: sustainability, competitive-
ness and security of supply and the importance of research
and innovation in achieving them.
After an overall political introduction about the Integrated
Roadmap, Session 2 provided an overview of the needs
and expectations for the European energy system of key
European stakeholders: Industry, Research, Civil Society and
Private Investors.
Ryghaug presented The Citizens Perspective. In her speech
she covered the needs of civil society towards a low carbon
energy system for Europe; the main expectations of the
area with respect to the development of a low carbon
energy system and the speci c research and/or innova-
tion challenges the community is facing to contribute to
a competitive, sustainable and secure energy system. The
presentation focused on the role of citizens and contribu-
tion of social sciences and humanities in the development
of a low carbon energy system for Europe, important factors
that may trigger the engagement of citizens towards new
low carbon energy technologies; and the main elements for
an active participation of citizens in the energy system and
related policy making.
Ryghaug argued that policy makers expect and need people
to become more active participants in energy systems in
order to reach ambitious climate goals: “While citizens in
the past has been understood as passive, we now see a
potential for a conceptual shift where we will have to think
di erently about how to engage users and communities
towards new low carbon energy technologies”. Knowledge
about energy citizenship Ryghaug claimed to be vital for
the success of the SET plan.
CenSES Post doc Johannes Mauritzen presented the e ect
of oil prices on eld production. In his recent work with
Jonas Andersson, he found that the main impact of oil
prices on eld production occurs in the planning stage for
the eld.
The BEEER conference also included presentations from
Norwegian master students for the best master thesis.
CenSES master students Gørild Slettjord Andersen and Ellen
Krohn Aasgård from NTNU won the award for their thesis
on bidding in the day-ahead electricity market. This annual
award, from Norwegian Assocation of Energy Economics
(NAEE), encourages master students around Norway to
strive for robust and relevant master research.
A new BEEER conference is scheduled to take place in
May 2015.