Floor Alkemade

Phd candidate | Sector coupling for accelerating the energy transition

Institution: Eindhoven University of Technology
Work packages: WP3 Demand, storage and markets WP7 The human factor WP9 Societal values WP10 Integral models
In NEON: 2020 onwards
Now: Full Professor and Chair of Economics and Governance of Technological Innovation, Technology, Innovation & Society group, Eindhoven University of Technology (also EAISI Mobility and EIRES).

Leader of WP10 Integral models. Stated promotor of NEON PhDs Emiel van Druten and Tessa Leferink (the latter with Kees Maat, TU Delft); co-author with Naud Loomans and Willem Klok; listed as project manager of the TU/e WP10 project record whose members are Loomans, Khaleghparast, Shekhar, Maharjan, van Druten, Leferink, Klok, Rosero Abad and El Feiaz; member of Peter Hogeveen's doctoral committee.

Expertise: Economics and governance of technological innovation

Floor Alkemade studies the mechanisms behind successful innovation for sustainability, using data-driven and agent-based simulation methods. She holds a PhD in agent-based evolutionary economics (TU/e, 2004), worked at CWI and Utrecht University, and has been at TU/e since 2015; she holds an ERC Consolidator grant (2022).

About me

My whole life I have had the drive to understand the world and learn about new topics. I have done a bachelor in mechanical engineering and a master in hydraulic engineering. Since 2016 I work as an energy transition consultant at Witteveen+Bos, working on very different energy transition projects ranging from offshore wind to heat transition in the build environment. I live together with my girlfriend in Deventer. We often go cycling together, I like running whist listening to an energy podcasts and I do CrossFit and Survivalrun.

Personal Motivation

I enjoy working on energy transition because I can have a positive impact and it offers enough complexity to keep my curiosity satisfied. Getting a better understanding of the bigger picture of the energy and climate transition is my motivation to start a PhD next to my work as a consultant. I hope that with the NEON group we can explore and show in our New Energy Outlook how the transition can be accelerated in a sensible way. When I finish my PhD I want to be an authority in the field of energy transition.

SECTOR COUPLING FOR ACCELERATING THE ENERGY TRANSITION

I will apply several energy transition models, including the NEON Integral model, to explore:

Coupling offshore wind development to industry decarbonization and flexibility;
Coupling regional wind and solar to built environment decarbonization and flexibility.

I hope to find out how this can reduce the need for upgrading electricity grid infrastructure and prevent that the transition is slowed down by the pace of grid upgrades.

Link to other neon research

I work on and use the Integral model in my PhD with Floor Akemade as my promotor. In my paper on coupling offshore wind to industry I will try include innovation in Airborne wind energy and DC electricity grids. In my paper on coupling regional supply to build environment I will incorporate Local energy demand, storage and new market models including smart Charging mobility and local supply from Building integrated PV.