Praise for Groningen Centre of Energy Law

On Wednesday 28 September, the Groningen Centre of Energy Law (GCEL) celebrated its fifth anniversary with the conference ‘Five Years of Energy Law in Groningen – Academics meet Practice’. The GCEL was praised by keynote speaker Philip Lowe, Director-General for Energy of the European Commission, and Prof. Sibrand Poppema, President of the Board of the University of Groningen.

‘My staff and my Commissioner have really benefited from the discussion and training your centre has offered so far’, said Lowe. ‘It’s vital to have a dialogue between academic centres and the political world. We face huge challenges in the interaction of national and European law.’

In his welcome address Poppema praised ‘the great foresight’ in starting the GCEL five years ago. ‘It’s logical that the University started this Centre in Groningen. The Northern Netherlands is an area with incredibly large investments in the energy sector. That’s a major reason for the University to initiate an Energy Academy. We need skilled people who can work in the energy sector. The University has different centres that study the scientific, economic and legal aspects of energy. We want to bring all these different training programmes under one umbrella.’

During the one-day conference, members of the Centre presented their work alongside a selection of practitioners who have been supporting the Centre. ‘Today we are presenting work done over the last five years’, said Martha Roggenkamp, Professor of Energy Law and the proud Director of GCEL.

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Martha Roggenkamp

About the Groningen Centre of Energy Law