We are thrilled that our longtime colleague Dr. Evangelos Panos has stepped into the role of Energy Economics Group Head.
A researcher with the LEA Energy Economics Group since 2013, Evangelos has extensive experience in energy modelling and analysis. His areas of expertise include developing mathematical models; modelling energy supply, conversion, and demand; risk analysis; multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) under uncertainty; integrated sustainability assessment of energy policies; and software engineering.
“My vision is to build on the Energy Economics Group’s more than 40-year legacy of excellent energy systems analysis research. We will continue pursuing the new research directions introduced under the leadership of Tom Kober, who was the group head for the last 8 years, to become the destination for integrated systems analysis that helps shift society to sustainability and resilience,” Evangelos states.
He continues: “This is to be achieved by further developing the group's four closely interconnected research pillars: energy systems analysis; energy market analysis; consumer and societal energy behaviour analysis; and integrated assessment of the economy, energy and climate systems. In this regard, three strategic priorities are for the group: to advance the systems analysis, to enhance the group’s visibility and impact, and to provide an environment for research excellence.”
Currently, Evangelos and his team are working on:
- identifying efficient energy and climate policies in Switzerland to achieve the energy transition (project POLIZERO and OECD-IFCMA)
- developing the future configuration of a sustainable and resilient Swiss energy system (project SWEET SURE),
- fostering the co-evolution of societal and energy systems towards a net-zero emissions society (project SWEET CoSi)
- assessing flexibility needs and non-CO2 mitigation measures in the future energy system of Switzerland (project SCENE)
- assessing the role of sustainable fuels in the future energy system to mitigate the climate change (project SWEET Refuel.ch, project SHELTERED and the Synfuel Initiative)
- exploring the creation of positive energy districts for a sustainable future (project ATELIER)
- evaluating the deployment of wind energy in Europe by accounting for adoption, acceptance, environmental, landscape and other impacts (project WIMBY)
- assessing risk-averse equilibria in the future energy markets (project Maestro)
- evaluating the impacts across the entire energy system of the electric mobility and exploring smart ways of charging and charging infrastructure needs (project INTERCHARGE)
- developing a new generation of state-of-the-art, open-source toolbox with energy system modelling at its core, for planning and optimising the future energy systems from regional to European scales (project iDesignRES)
- further developing and improving the open-source TIMES energy system modelling framework of the IEA TCP ETSAP
We wish Evangelos a successful start in this new role.