Ronnie Belmans

Interested in the most current thinking on the energy transition? Then you have to listen to Ronnie Belmans. He is a full professor at KU Leuven, teaching techno-economical aspects of power systems, electrical energy and regulatory affairs, among others. His research interests include smart grids, the security of energy supply and the techno-economic aspects of the liberalization of the electricity market. He is also vice president of the KU Leuven Energy Institute as well as co-founder and CEO of EnergyVille, a research collaboration in Genk specializing in energy in smart cities and buildings, between KU Leuven, VITO, imec and UHasselt. Since 2017 Belmans is chairman of the board of directors of the VREG, the Flemish regulator for electricity & gas markets. He is also honorary chairman of the board of directors of ELIA, the Belgian transmission system operator.

Belmans received his MSc degree in electrical engineering in 1979 and a Ph.D. degree in 1984, both from KU Leuven, Belgium. In 1989 he added a Special Doctorate from KU Leuven and in 1993 a ‘Habilitierung’, from the RWTH, Aachen, Germany.

His qualifications and experience make Belmans ideally positioned to talk at and& Leuven about the energy transition, offshore wind farms, solar panels, batteries, home automation, renovation of buildings, a smart grid system … indeed, he is quoted as saying that there are a thousand exciting and thriving projects that can contribute to the energy transition. Get ready to hear some of them!