Valentin Bertsch

Valentin Bertsch holds the chair of Energy Systems and Energy Economics at Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany. Prior to this, he was head of the Energy Systems Analysis Department at German Aerospace Center (DLR), Germany, and professor of Energy Systems Analysis at the University of Stuttgart, Germany. During 2015-2018, he managed the ESRI’s Energy Policy Research Centre (EPRC) and was joint programme coordinator for the energy and environment research area. Valentin specialises in economics of energy systems and markets, energy systems integration, power systems analysis under consideration of grid constraints and, more generally, system integration of renewables, storage technologies and (flexible) loads.

Moreover, he is an expert in multi-criteria decision analysis under uncertainty. He works on the combination of energy systems models and multi-criteria decision analysis as well as the design of participatory decision approaches for the energy sector. He also conducts research on multi-criteria assessment of energy technologies and policies, social acceptance of renewable energy and energy infrastructure technologies as well as behavioural aspects of consumer decisions related to energy technology adoption and use. Valentin studied applied mathematics at the University of Karlsruhe, Germany, and the Université Joseph Fourier in Grenoble, France. He has a PhD in applied economics from the University of Karlsruhe, Germany. Before joining the ESRI in 2015, his posts included Head of the Research Unit 'Distributed Energy Systems and Networks' at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Senior Analyst for Energy Economics within EnBW Trading in Karlsruhe, Germany.