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CenSES annual report 2013
27
BEEER Conference
Bergen Economics of Energy, Environment and Re-
search Conference (BEEER), was organized for the third
time at the Norwegian School of Economics in May
2013. The conference has an environmental objective,
emphasizing to let young and not so young research-
ers meet, get to know each other, and give support
and resistance. The format is that the young at heart,
PhD students, get senior researchers as discussants
and the seniors get juniors as discussants.
The informal setting is emphasized in part through a
panel discussion on a topic with applied appeal, over
tapas and beers, this time the topic was “Will Europe
maintain its commitment in climate policy?”.
The conference was supported by CenSES, BKK, NHH,
NAEE and IAEE. The two latter contributed to a prize
for best master thesis. Invited keynote speakers were
Terry Barker (University of Cambridge), Richard Green
(Imperial College Business) and Scott Barrett (Colum-
bia University).
A new BEEER conference is scheduled to take place
12–13 May 2014.
IHSMAG
The IHSMAG project contributes with knowledge
and recommendations on how to develop integra-
tive smart grid solutions that take the technical and
social context of households into account. The project
involves partners from Norway, the Basque Country
(Spain) and Denmark. The project looks at changes
of the existing electricity system affecting all parts of
the system from the production side over the distribu-
tion net to the daily routines of the end-users. These
changes have to be integrated in order to ensure an
efficient and secure energy system. This calls for a
comprehensive design approach that supports the
transition of the system by drawing on the experi-
ences from existing demonstration projects and a
detailed understanding of the factors influencing
electricity production and consumption.
Households play an important role for the transi-
tion to smart grid. First of all, households represent a
substantial share of electricity consumption, and with
increased use of heat pumps and electric vehicles this
is expected to rise. Secondly, the highly uneven time
distribution of households’ electricity consumption
makes it particular important to study how house-
holds can contribute to create balance between
energy consumption and a fluctuating energy produc-
tion through load management and storage. Thirdly,
micro-generation technologies such as PV and small
wind turbines give households a new role in the fu-
ture post-carbon energy system.
Thomas M. Skjølsvold was employed as a Post Doc on
this project. Other resources are PhDWilliam Thrond-
sen, Thomas Berker and Marianne Ryghaug.
ETSAP
Through the participation in Energy Technology Sys-
tem Analysis Programme (ETSAP) via CenSES partner
IFE, we get access to energy system models and tools
and access to an international network on TIMES
modelling. IFE have participated in two international
ETSAP workshops and two workshops on develop-
ment of the global model ETSAP-TIAM.
In addition IFE have arranged one national workshop
with NVE, Enova and the research council. Work in
ETSAP is closely coordinated with RA2 in CenSES.
International cooperation
Scott Barrett, professor at Columbia University,
gave a keynote lecture and participated in the
panel debate over whether Europe can maintain its
commitment to emission reductions.