Training for a sustainable, secure, and affordable world: insights from the FSR Alumni Day
This is the first installment of the Topic of the Month: Building capacity for a sustainable, secure and affordable world
In today’s evolving energy landscape, staying ahead of emerging trends and challenges is crucial for professionals around the globe, and our school is committed to fostering lifelong learning and supporting our alumni by providing continuous updates on the most relevant and timely topics.
In this frame, the annual FSR Alumni Day held on the 25th of October 2024 in Florence was a great opportunity to reconnect with our alumni network, share updates, exchange views with key experts in the field and engage in collaborative discussions.
The FSR Alumni Day gathered former participants, faculty, and staff for a day of networking and discussions on current EU energy and climate policy challenges.
Hosted at the EUI campus in Florence, the event opened with a panel discussion on priorities for the upcoming European Commission, featuring Eugenia Del Rosario from DG ENER, Catarina Sikow-Magny, former Director for Green Transition & Energy System Integration and recently appointed FSR Part-time Professor, and one of our founders Jorge Vasconcelos, also FSR Part-time Professor.
"The Draghi report highlights an important problem in Europe: we are in an overregulation mode. And we are trying to accelerate too much the development of legislation: is it credible to reach real agreements on complex matters in a matter of months?" Jorge Vasconcelos, FSR
After the panel debate and an ice-breaker activity, participants attended workshops on critical energy topics, including gas and hydrogen infrastructure, renewable energy integration, electricity markets, and the EU Green Deal.
Workshop: Gas and Hydrogen
“An Incentive Scheme for Developing a European Hydrogen Industry”
Course Directors: Ilaria Conti and James Kneebone
This session explored strategies for integrating renewable and low-carbon gases into Europe’s energy mix—a priority for the EU and national governments. Developing the hydrogen industry may require significant subsidies or cross-subsidisation by current gas market players and consumers, raising concerns about long-term impacts, including potential burdens on taxpayers and risks of stranded assets. As the EU faces limited public resources and competing decarbonisation technologies, we ask: How should the EU support clean hydrogen growth? On what grounds should it be justified, and what options are most efficient and low-risk?
Workshop: Regulation and Integration of Renewable Energy
Should renewable energy characteristics drive electricity market re-design?
Course Directors: Lena Kitzing, Mario Ragwitz
This session discussed the question of how a better match between renewable energy characteristics and electricity market design can be achieved. Should it be by re-designing electricity markets to accommodate these new characteristics, or should it be by adapting renewable energy projects so they can better integrate into existing markets? Should it be a combination of both, or something completely different? We will go into depth with the topic of market integration and discuss how to increasingly facilitate efficient layouting and operational decisions by renewable energy projects, increasing flexibility provision.
Workshop: Electricity Markets
Offshore systems: current challenges and comparison with onshore systems
Course Directors: Tim Schittekatte, Ellen Beckstedde
This session focused on the ongoing challenges faced by offshore systems and explore why certain proposed solutions in offshore market design might be perceived as experimental compared to the traditional approaches employed in onshore electricity markets
Workshop: EU Green Deal
What comes after the European Green Deal? Europe’s New Competitiveness Deal and its effects on EU climate and energy policy
Course Directors: Nicolò Rossetto, Torbjørg Jevnaker
This session explored the role of the EU’s overarching strategic priorities for the development of energy and climate policy initiatives in the next political cycle. You will have the opportunity to discuss how the energy transition in Europe will be affected by a more competitiveness-oriented agenda and how this builds on or departs from the EU Green Deal. Polls will be used to engage and facilitate an exchange of views and national experiences. As a result, you will not only become more aware of the multiple objectives and tensions associated with the different goals of energy and climate policies but also learn how, in some circumstances, it is possible to deal with those tensions successfully.
These sessions enabled participants to engage deeply with complex issues such as designing fair incentive schemes for clean hydrogen, rethinking electricity markets to better support renewable sources, and advancing Europe’s climate goals.
Feedback from our alumni
More testimonials from Linkedin
This continuous feedback helps the school refine the training portfolio to address emerging learning needs and new frontiers in research. Together, we strive to anticipate future trends, drive impactful dialogue, and contribute to a sustainable energy future.
These discussions are especially relevant as we approach COP29, where many of these topics will take centre stage on the global agenda. In the following installments of this Topic of the Month, we will focus on the 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference taking place in Azerbaijan from 11 November to 22 November, and explore the contributions of our research team, mainly in the climate area.
