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Iris van Veghel, moderator and initiator of the program, calls the program a test of collaboration on “the grid of the future,” for example, by drawing lessons from the growing problems with the increasingly heavily loaded energy grid. This is not just about implementing new technology, but emphatically about making better use of what is already there. 'We cannot implement new technology everywhere in the grid to know exactly what is happening in the grid in real time. Because a lot is already being recorded, the program's main commitment is to gain new knowledge about the grid on this basis.'

True co-creation

Van Veghel calls the program a crowning achievement of the 'strategic alliance' between the university and Alliander that has now existed for two and a half years. 'It is not a one-off course. Precisely because we have been working intensively together for some time, we can set up a program that benefits both parties.' For Alliander, for example, the importance of retaining its professionals. Van Veghel: 'With CHARGE you have something interesting to offer these people because it connects to the problems in their daily work.'

The course is a true co-creation, Van Veghel illustrates, on the one hand, the expertise provided by data professionals from the university, with on the other - half of the program - working on cases from the day-to-day problems of network operators. The underlying idea is that participants can immediately apply the new knowledge to their daily work. The major problems require the input of a wider range of parties, says Luca Consoli, one of the lecturers: “As a knowledge institute, you can't do it alone; market parties or administrators can't solve the problems in isolation. A party that thinks it can do it alone often complicates the problem unnecessarily.'

Distributing scarcity

Although the emphasis is on data analysis (when and where exactly do the bottlenecks present themselves?), there is also room for the social and ethical dilemmas. The latter is in the hands of Luca Consoli, among others. The senior lecturer at the ISIS (Institute for Science in Society) highlights, for example, the decision-making process: 'Who do you give priority to when there is scarcity? To residents, to industry, to institutions? At what point should you address congestion where? Professionals have to play chess on many boards at once. The process is complicated.'

With a problem like grid congestion, you can go two ways, Consoli illustrates a common dilemma with social issues: do you react immediately to the new circumstances (in this case, expand grid capacity all the time?), or do you take measures to prevent the problems (how can you contribute to reduced energy demand?) 'The program emphasizes a real deepening of data analysis,' Consoli says. 'But within the companies there also needs to be sustainable navigators who oversee the whole picture.'

CHARGE is a in the energy sector. This first edition, of a possible annual program, starts in early November.