Energy Governance

Your role in this programme

Energy Governance will familiarize you with energy governance aspects. Governance is the process of making and enforcing decisions within an organization or society. In the energy market, these ‘rules of the game’ have been built around fossil fuel-based energy production and consumption. With an increasing share of renewable energy, with their different characteristics, these rules will change. Old energy markets have been largely separated: electricity, heat and transportation. New energy markets are more integrated with electricity also being used for heating and riding vehicles. This will change the shape of energy markets, with consumers also becoming energy producers, electric vehicles becoming virtual power plants and businesses being paid for not using energy.

You will be introduced into all these developments and challenged to rethink what this means for the ‘rules of the game’, the governance. You will be encouraged to take different ‘roles’ in the energy market and think about at actions to be taken by governments and private businesses while coping with market changes.

The programme will consist of four main courses during two periods:

• Introducing energy governance (period 1)
• Rethinking the market organization of future energy systems (period 1)
• Formulating energy strategies, based on new energy governance insights and applying these to a project (period 2)
• Project assignment (period 1 and 2)

Within these blocks you will be able to build a solid knowledge base, as well as apply this knowledge to concrete project assignments from Hanze’s research community. You will be able to make a difference!

In the second period you will work at ENTRANCE - Centre of Expertise Energy, where multidisciplinary research takes places on the latest energy solutions. It’s a lively hotspot for meeting innovative companies, system operators, municipalities, researchers, and professors. They will involve you in their questions and projects tapping into your gained insights on energy governance.

Projects

Examples of projects for you to work on are:

• Market Organisation of the Dutch Energy System (MODES) – focussing on the Netherlands energy system MODES will, as asked by the Netherlands government, rethink energy market structures for a 2050 society without greenhouse gas emissions, as well as required steps during the energy transition.
• Policies for Positive Energy Districts (Pol4PED) – With case studies in Groningen, Vienna, Zurich and Paris Pol4PED will analyse solutions that enable city districts to produce more energy than they consume. Technically these solutions exist, but do they make economic sense, and will household be willing to change their behaviour. Pol4PED will work on those questions.
• Emission Free Construction Sites – aims to reduce the emissions from construction sites and thereby reducing their climate environmental footprint. The main focus is on the regulation of generators that currently use fossil fuels. These generators will be replaced by hydrogen fuelled generators. Switching to hydrogen requires a legal framework that is yet to be designed. 

In the video below, Professor Wytze van der Gaast tells more about the minor:

What will you achieve?

After completing this programme you will have gained insight into the public and private decision making processes related to the energy transition. The programme will provide you with the knowledge and skills for developing solutions for energy transition related issues.

With the minor you are qualified to work as an advisor to the public or private sector, be it energy companies, industrial plants, consumer organisations or local governments. Or you become an innovator working on energy-related projects and startups. Closer to home you could help initiatives in your local community. 

This video, created by ExxonMobil gives you a general idea of the challenges and opportunities in today's energy markets. Are you fascinated? If so, this pogramme is perfect for you!

Admission & application

Are you a student at Hanze University of Applied Sciences and would you like to enroll for this minor? It can be done via Osiris. A place in this minor is awarded based on a draw. For more information go to Mijnhanze.nl under 'Knowledge base - student' ('Weten & Regelen').

Are you studying at another university in The Netherlands and would you like to enroll for this minor? Then visit the website Kies Op Maat (KOM).

Students from our partner institutions abroad can apply for this programme as an Exchange Programme. For more information about the steps for our exchange application process click here.

No background in the area of law, economics and technical studies is required. The lectures are set up in an interdisciplinary manner and background reading is provided so that all can participate in this course.