Geert Verbong heads the research program “Transitions and transition paths: the road to a sustainable energy system”. This program is funded by the Dutch research council and Senter/Novem, set up to encourage the cooperation between social scientists and engineers and natural scientist in the energy domain. The program consists of 4 projects, two of which are performed by the System Innovations and Sustainability Transitions (SI&ST) group.

1. Energy systems in transition: a multi-regime analysis of the energy system 1970-2000. This post-doc project (Rob Raven) explores patterns and mechanisms in the interaction of multiple regimes and the relationships with new technologies, e.g. combined heat and power, and co-firing of biomass and coal in electric utilities.

2. Managing biofuels. This PhD project (Johanna Ulmanen) analyses the dynamics in bio-fuels from the perspective of Strategic Niche Management. This project explores the role of protection in the development of niches for bio-fuels in the Netherlands, Sweden and in Europe in general.

3. Networks of the future (Eindhoven University; Electrical Engineering department). This project explores new topologies for future transmission and distribution electricity networks and new developments of components and systems for regulation and storage of energy, e.g the development of semi-autonomous Microgrids or Smartgrids where supply and demand are balanced on a local or regional level.

4. Sociotechnical scenarios (Twente University). This project develops a new tool to explore and stimulate transition to a sustainable electricity system. This tool will be used for developing a set of socio-technical scenarios for electricity systems in cooperation with the experts from the energy domain. These scenarios are based on the transition paths typology developed in the Historical Transition Pathways project.

The program will be finished in the spring of 2007 with the exception of project 2 (May 2008).