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Sem Oxenaar

@soxenaar.bsky.social

1.7K followers 370 following 80 posts

Excited about heat and building decarbonisation, working @regassistproj - heating & cooling / industrial electrification / district heating / heat planning

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Sem Oxenaar @soxenaar.bsky.social · Jun 23

How can we electrify industrial heat and at the same time unlock valuable flexibility for the grid? Electro-thermal energy storage (ETES) might just be the answer:

New policy brief together with @elianpusceddu

www.raponline.org/knowledge-ce...

#energysky

Flexing industrial muscle: Electrifying process heat with electro-thermal energy storage

European industry is a very large user of heat: around 1,900 TWh each year for a range of low- to high-temperature processes. Electrification of this RAP analyses the opportunities and benefits associ...

www.raponline.org

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Sem Oxenaar @soxenaar.bsky.social · 20h

Jaap 'flat protein disc' could be a solid option :)

Sem Oxenaar @soxenaar.bsky.social · 7d

Will Russia start importing refined fuels soon? Another clear reason why China is pushing electrification so hard: independence and resilience. www.reuters.com/business/ene...

Russia declares partial diesel export ban until year-end, extends gasoline ban

Russia has imposed a partial ban on diesel exports and extended an existing gasoline export ban until the end of the year, the government said on Tuesday.

www.reuters.com

Reposted by Sem Oxenaar

Louise Sunderland @louisesunderland.bsky.social · 9d

NEW RESEARCH: The future energy bill is an electricity bill.
We must Make Electricity Cheaper for households, businesses and industry.

How? …This feels like the defining question of the moment.

I’m happy to share @regassistproj.bsky.social 8 priority actions.
www.raponline.org/knowledge-ce...

Making electricity cheaper: RAP's eight priority actions

RAP identifies 8 priority actions to make electricity cheaper for European industry, businesses & households in the short, medium & long-term.

www.raponline.org

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Sem Oxenaar @soxenaar.bsky.social · 8d

Do you think this could work in other countries? Find this hard to imagine in e.g. NL or BE. Esp. as tile sidewalks are the norm.

Sem Oxenaar @soxenaar.bsky.social · 8d

Interesting! How does this work with permissions, does the municipality give you a permit to install the ducting?

Sem Oxenaar @soxenaar.bsky.social · 8d

The whole German part of the grid had been offered to the German state but they declined. Likely because of their borrowing restrictions? #Schwarzenul

Sem Oxenaar @soxenaar.bsky.social · 8d

Grid investment needs are ramping up. NL government is selling part of TSO TenneT to raise more capital for expansion & strengthening.

46% will be taken over by a Dutch pension fund, and the Norwegian & Singaporean sovereign wealth funds.

www.reuters.com/business/ene...

Dutch government sells nearly half of TenneT Germany for $11.3 billion

The Dutch government is selling 46% of power grid operator TenneT's German unit to an investor consortium for up to 9.5 billion euros ($11.3 billion), it said, kicking off the separation from a business it has long been trying to divest.

www.reuters.com

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Sem Oxenaar @soxenaar.bsky.social · 19d

Congrats! Optimistic timeline ;) an episode on plug-in solar could be useful for all those people without opportunity to do rooftop solar?

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Jaap Burger @jaapburger.eu · 20d

"the TSOs’ study undervalues the efficiency gains of alternative reconfigurations that split the bidding zone of 🇩🇪-🇱🇺 and that link them up with a bidding zone reconfiguration in 🇳🇱. ACER estimates the benefits [..] in the order of 450-540 million EUR per year, 70% higher than TSOs’ assessment."

ACER - EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators @eu-acer.bsky.social · 20d

💡ACER Opinion: #European #TSOs’ #BiddingZoneReview study broadly aligns with #EU legal and regulatory framework but significantly underestimates the benefits of re-shaping Europe’s #electricity #BiddingZones.

👉 www.acer.europa.eu/news/electri...

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Richard Lowes @richardlowes.bsky.social · 20d

I'm delighted to share two new translations of version 2 of our global heat pump policy toolkit, one in French and one in Polish (these sit alongside the English and Korean versions). This is a key international resource for growing clean heating. www.raponline.org/toolkit/heat...

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Sem Oxenaar @soxenaar.bsky.social · 21d

Milestone: in June 2025 solar became the biggest source of electricity in Europe for the first time! 19.9%, 53.9TWh according to IEA.

Share of electricition generation by source

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Louise Sunderland @louisesunderland.bsky.social · 21d

I'm delighted to introduce Tom Butler to our @regassistproj.bsky.social team.

Tom dedicates his career to decarbonising the big stuff - industrial clusters. In RAP he'll also focus on grid access & the economics of industrial ⚡. Tom joins me in London. Do say hi.
www.raponline.org/experts/tom-...

Tom Butler

Tom Butler is a junior associate for the Regulatory Assistance Project in Europe.

www.raponline.org

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Louise Sunderland @louisesunderland.bsky.social · 28d

Decarbonising industry - after 2 days strategising with partners I have some take aways:
1. #Electrification is THE no regrets option* to decarb European industry. ⚡is useful in all sectors. It may not offer full solution for some heavy industry, it does for most process heat. tinyurl.com/3c7h24bs

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Sander Tordoir @sandertordoir.bsky.social · 29d

If it were not so sad, it would be entertaining: Brussels and Berlin blame today’s car sector crisis on regulation that only bites in 2035—while Germany has already lost half its net car exports.

Missing a forest of nine million by staring at a tree.

Sander Tordoir @sandertordoir.bsky.social · 29d

Woah. China now exporting cars at a staggering clip of 9 million vehicles annually.

For comparison: Germany’s pre-Diesel scandal peak was 4.5m.
And Germany was always far less one-sided: it imports 2x+ as many cars as China (in absolutes).

What happened to the idea this would self-extinguish?

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Isabel J. Kim @isabel.kim · Sep 1

one morning, when gregor samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a very hungry caterpillar

the very hungry caterpillar superimposed on an illustration of gregor samsa from the metamorphosis as a beetle

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Tagesspiegel Background @tspbackground.bsky.social · Sep 3

Die Netze werden ausgebaut, die Entgelte steigen – die Entwicklung beeinflussen, kann auch die Verteilung der #Netzkosten. Diese will die Bundesnetzagentur mit #AgNes angehen. Das erste Diskussionspapier ist ein Anfang, findet @andreasjahn.bsky.social 👉 t1p.de/mm9oy @regassistproj.bsky.social

Titel des Standpunkts von Andreas Jahn, Senior Associate beim Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP): "Langfristige Systemeffizienz sollte Ziel von AgNes sein" aus dem aktuellen Briefing Energie & Klima.

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Jaap Burger @jaapburger.eu · Sep 2

Great work by Maarten Staats to make all available grid hosting capacity maps in Europe accessible via one website. What started with the simple question: why doesn't this exist yet is now here via the bookmarkable URL gridcapacitymaps.eu

European Grid Capacity Maps

Interactive Open Access tool showcasing European electricity grid capacity resources with supply maps, demand maps, and simplified view for energy transition professionals.

www.gridcapacitymaps.eu

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Jaap Burger @jaapburger.eu · Aug 25

A new take on district heating and flexibility: can dynamic pricing help reduce overall heating costs? The short answer is yes, and automatic controllers would reinforce this effect. Peak heat demand, sometimes also from fossil sources, can thus be reduced.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The left graph shows production costs, consumer prices and target demand over a 24-hour period. The first two are negatively correlated with the third.
The right graph shows the production cost reduction in five different demand response scenarios: up to 52.6%.

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Regulatory Assistance Project @regassistproj.bsky.social · Aug 25

🚨 NEW FROM RAP AT CEM16 MEETINGS 🚨

Energy regulators are hidden catalysts of the clean energy transition. Governments can change that.

By setting clear climate targets and giving regulators an explicit mandate for decarbonisation policymakers can accelerate progress.

Read how: bit.ly/47Gnaor

Pathways for empowering regulators to advance decarbonisation Pathways for empowering regulators to advance decarbonisation

Countries around the world have committed to decarbonisation targets, as they collectively strive to limit global warming to 1.5°C. Rising to this complex RAP explores how governments can empower regu...

bit.ly

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Jonas Nahm @jonasnahm.com · Aug 19

1/14 China's July export data reveals tensions in its economic strategy. While "New Three" sectors posted strong growth, the sustainability is questionable amid global overcapacity concerns and trade restrictions.

www.caixinglobal.com/2025-08-19/c...

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John Gibbons 🇵🇸 🇺🇦 🇪🇺 @thinkorswim.bsky.social · Aug 17

Back in 2015, various meteorological modelling exercises for 2050 produced extreme heat #climate scenarios like the below.

Except this isn’t a model, it’s today’s temperature chart for southern France & the Iberian Peninsula.

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Sem Oxenaar @soxenaar.bsky.social · Aug 7

@oilchange.bsky.social @laurievdburg.bsky.social ?

Sem Oxenaar @soxenaar.bsky.social · Aug 6

From laggard to leader 🥳, the Netherlands hit 25% share of solar PV in electricity generation in 2024. Expecting Spain to overtake next year, as NL is reaching limits of solar absorption on the grid.

Jenny Chase @solarchase.bsky.social · Aug 6

I do bloody love this chart. Who'd have thought, 20 years ago, that solar would be ~10% of world electricity generation by 2024 - and over 20% in some countries, rising rapidly in others?

Definitely not me. When I started this job I hoped to be part of a solution for maybe 1% of global electricity.

A chart from https://docs.nrel.gov/docs/fy25osti/95135.pdf , sourced to the IEA as of April 2025, showing solar power as % of generation in different countries. This varies between over 25% for the Netherlands, through about 24% for Spain, about 14% EU average, about 8% for the US to almost nothing in Norway. Text says that the IEA reckons global is about 10%.

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News Eye @newseye.bsky.social · Aug 4

This is amongst the most impactful two minutes of broadcasting I’ve ever seen.

By Emma Murphy, International Editor, ITV News. #Gaza

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Regulatory Assistance Project @regassistproj.bsky.social · Aug 1

☀️As summer rolls along, we’re revisiting some of our 2025 publications. We're covering a few pieces you may have missed, just in time to wrap up your summer reading.

First up: a look at Denmark’s approach to district heating.

bit.ly/3GSJ4dv

Making Europe’s homes ‘Hygge’: Danish lessons on district heating

Denmark has steadily advanced district heating over decades. RAP explores the lessons policymakers can learn from the nation's experience.

bit.ly

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