The World Energy Council signs strategic alliance with the Paul Scherrer Institute

Date
01/30/2012

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llowing their successful collaboration on the "Global Transport Scenarios 2050" study, the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) and the World Energy Council (WEC) have signed a three year strategic partnership agreement. The contract signed between Dr. Christoph Frei, Secretary General of WEC and Prof. Alexander Wokaun, Vice-Director of PSI, will see Switzerland's world renowned research centre for natural and engineering sciences becoming a Project Partner on future WEC Scenario projects. Speaking at the signing of the contract in Villigen PSI, Switzerland, Christoph Frei said: "This is a win win for our two organisations. WEC will have access to PSI's state of the art energy-economics optimization model to provide quantification results for our scenarios and PSI will have access to our unparalleled network of energy leaders." Frei added: "This alliance provides a significant enhancement to WEC's mission to inform global, regional and national energy strategies. WEC and PSI working together will also be able to provide balanced and highly informed scenario projects to governments and governmental organisations seeking impartial analysis supported by transparent governance." Alexander Wokaun added: "It is a great opportunity to spread out the multi years' experience in energy economics modelling of the Paul Scherrer Institut, building on the role as honest broker and make the information available in a transparent way to as many stakeholders as possible." WEC's Director of Policy and Scenarios, Professor Karl Rose is now leading an expert panel of over 50 internationally renowned practitioners from more than 30 countries (including Project Partner IBM) to produce scenarios covering the entire global energy sector. Karl Rose explains: "Our explorative scenarios provide policymakers with a theoretically deeper insight than is often available to them through the normative approach." The result of this two year study will build on the analysis in the Global Transport Scenarios 2050 report, which was managed by WEC's Senior Project Manager, Dr Ayed Al- Qahtani, and will again describe two distinct scenarios. One will envisage a world where pure market forces prevail to create a climate for open global competition and solutions which are driven by lowest cost and the private sector. The other scenario will describe a more regulated world where governments decide to intervene in markets to promote early adoption of alternative technology solutions and invest in infrastructure putting common interests at the forefront. It is hoped that this report could be completed in time for the COP18 meeting to help inform policy makers of the future challenges and opportunities presented in the energy space. About WEC The World Energy Council (WEC) is the principal impartial energy policy forum promoting an affordable, stable and environmentally sensitive energy system for the greatest benefit of all. Formed in 1923, WEC is the UN accredited global energy body, representing the entire energy spectrum, with more than 3000 member organizations located in over 90 countries and drawn from governments, private and state corporations, academia, NGOs and energy related stakeholders. WEC informs global, regional and national energy strategies by hosting high level events, publishing authoritative studies and working through its extensive member network to facilitate the Energy Leaders' dialogue. Further details at www.worldenergy.org About PSI The Paul Scherrer Institute develops, builds and operates large, complex research facilities, and makes them available to the national and international research community. The Institute's own key research priorities are in the investigation of matter and material, energy and the environment; and human health. PSI is Switzerland's largest research institution, with 1400 members of staff and an annual budget of approximately 300 million CHF. About the Global Transport Scenarios 2050 Published in December 2011 the report examined the future relationship between energy and transport, building Global Transport Scenarios out to 2050. The expert team evaluated existing and potential fuel and transport technologies, both qualitatively and quantitatively to build two scenarios "Tollway" and "Freeway". The full report can be downloaded from www.worldenergy.org/documents/wec_transport_scenarios_2050.pdf

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