Doctoral researcher Martin Roach developed an economic model for power-to-gas (PTG) that anticipates the EU and Belgian regulation of sector coupling. “Being one of the first to take into account market dynamics, it provides timely and valuable input to the debate”, says a proud professor Leonardo Meeus.

A considerable number of case studies on financial planning have been developed, but it is more difficult to find ones that deal with financial planning in a regulated environment. For the Future Grid Managers Programme, Professor Filip Roodhooft, along with colleagues from the Energy Centre, straight away developed two that play out in the regulated energy sector. In the leading roles are the Belgian distribution system operator (DSO) Eandis, now Fluvius, and the French transmission system operator (TSO) Réseau de Transport d’Électricité (RTE).

On your marks, get set, go! In mid-February, for the third year running, we organised a “digital sprint” course. Vlerick lecturer Willem Standaert, our students, our Chair partner Accenture and its clients AXA and Ores worked together in a digital ecosystem over the space of one week. And this is just one way of putting our Digital Chair with Accenture into action.

The energy transition is changing the energy ecosystem. In recent years, power generation and distribution have become more decentralised. DSOs now find themselves at the centre of change, operating the grid which all these new players – producers and prosumers – want to connect to and use. In 2018 the DSO Chair organised two workshops to discuss topical issues facing the future of DSOs: (1) energy communities and (2) regulatory sandboxes. This white paper provides a round-up of the findings and insights from each workshop as well as suggesting areas for further exploration.