A dead heat in the regional energy transition. Towards collaboration in heat infrastructure development

Side session, organised by Toyah Rodham

Chairs Aad Correljé and Claude Ménard

In this session we will discuss the ongoing process of developing a regional heat (infra)structure in the Energy Strategy Region (RES) Rotterdam/The Hague. This process involves a large variety of public and private parties, such as municipalities, provincial and national governments, the energy companies, heating grid operators, and financing parties. While these parties have different preferences for values that should be guaranteed by a future heat structure – carbon neutrality, sustainability, affordability, justice, efficiency, and so forth – as well as how to steer on these values, they must find effective ways of collaboration. In this session, we will present the outcomes of a research project on different models for steering on values which was carried out in 2021 in cooperation with all stakeholders. In the session, a number of these parties will present their current hurdles and challenges to be discussed by a panel of academics and practitioners.

Programme:

• Presentation by the RES Rotterdam/The Hague on the complex and challenging task of developing a regional heat system
• Presentation by the TU Delft. Regional heat: a Collective Action problem with different future solution-trajectories
• Interactive Panel Discussion

Biographies of facilitators and panellists

• Astrid Madsen is an independent expert and advisor on energy and climate programmes and policy. Currently, Astrid advises the Energy Strategy Region (RES) Rotterdam-The Hague on regional heat, for which she works together with the involved municipal and provincial governments as well as many other involved stakeholders. In her work, Astrid can draw on 20+ years of experience at the City of Rotterdam, where she fulfilled a wide range of roles such as head of the department Wastewater Maintenance and Strategic Advisor on the energy transition.
  In addition. Astrid worked for Doctors without Borders in 2004 and 2009 and was a board member of the Dutch branch of this organisation in 2021 (Artsen zonder Grenzen). Ms Madsen holds a Master of Science degree from the Twente University, The Netherlands. For the Regional Energy Strategy Rotterdam-The Hague she works as a strategic heat transition advisor.
• Stephan Brandligt was the deputy mayor of the city of Delft from 2012 until 2022. In this period the energy transition was one of his responsibilities. He was the driving force behind the planning of a large District Heating Network in Delft. In the Rotterdam -The Hague metropolitan area he was responsible for the adoption of the Regional Energy Strategy. He is President of Climate Alliance Netherlands (Klimaatverbond) and Vice-President of Energy Cities, both networks of regional and local authorities active in energy transition. Mr Brandligt graduated from the TU Delft in Aerospace Engineering.
• Margreet van Gastel has worked in public administration for several years, amongst others a member of the Gelderland Parliament, the Vice chairman of the Arnhem-Nijmegen city region and the alderman in Arnhem on environment, spatial planning and public space. After public administration Margreet has been involved in various assignments for the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate, advising the Ministry on matters such as energy saving and the energy transition. Furthermore, Margreet is a member of the Board of the Climate Alliance Netherlands, the Gelderland Energy Agreement and chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Overijssel Energy Fund.
• Claude Ménard is a Professor (Emeritus) affiliated to the Centre d’Economie de la Sorbonne, and has published extensively in international journals on the economics of organizations and institutions and on infrastructures and regulation. His most recent books are Network Infrastructures: Technology Meets Institutions (with Rolf Kunneke and John Groenewegen; CUP, 2021); and Advanced Introduction to New Institutional Economics (with Mary Shirley; EE, 2022). More information is available on http://claudemenard.net
• Sander de Jong works as business advisor at EBN, and as a senior research fellow at the TU Delft. Before he worked at the Directorate-General of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, amongst others in the Dutch gas building and on ownership unbundling of the energy companies. He also worked at the Fortis Global Energy Group in Italy structuring project and balance sheet finance. At EBN he worked in the Dutch gas building, on the Groningen tremors, and on EBN’s contribution to the Dutch heat transition building up EBN’s geo energy team. Currently, he is project manager of the co-operation between the Regional Energy Strategy Rotterdam The Hague, and Invest-NL, EBN and Gasunie.  At the TU Delft he works on a PhD on economic perspectives on business case analysis and their impact on market-based subsidies for renewable energy.
• Peter van Asperen is Senior Manager Energy Transition at PwC. He is a legal expert on public – private partnership structures for the delivery of critical (energy) services and infrastructures. In the last few years, Peter has primarily been concerned with the organisation of the heat transition. In his current role (which he fulfils since May 1^st, 2022), he advises several heat companies and governmental organisations, for example on issues concerning both the current and upcoming Collective Heat Act. Prior to working at PWC, Peter worked for the Authority Consumer & Market (ACM) – the Dutch energy market regulator – for nearly seven years, where he was Program Manager Heat and as such responsible for the coordination of all heat-related activities of the ACM. He also has extensive knowledge of and experience with electricity and gas market regulation.
• Mark de Bruijne is Assistant Professor at the Organisation & Governance section of the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management (TPM) at Delft University of Technology. His expertise regards how technological dynamics and institutional fragmentation influence the governance of  public values such as reliability and security in critical infrastructures. Of particular interest to him are the managerial dilemmas that arise in infrastructure (re)development as a consequence of seemingly contradictory societal needs and demands.
  Mark has participated in a variety of infrastructure-related research and consultancy projects, such as an exploratory study to security issues in the privatization of the airport operator NVLS, and was involved in the Parliamentary inquiry to the privatization of government services carried out for the Dutch Senate.