Biography
Dr. Heinz OSSENBRINK, born in 1951, has a PhD in Nuclear Physics from Hahn Meitner Institute, Berlin and joined the European Commission's Joint Research Centre in 1982. He built up the JRC's activity on Photovoltaics when Europe started its research and pilot programme for Photovoltaic systems.
In 1995 he became Head of the Unit for Renewable Energy, and expanded research and support activities to Energy Efficiency and Bio-Energy, notably Biofuels. His work is dedicated to the scientific support of EU legislation for Renewable Energies and Energy Efficiency. More recently, he was developing the Unit's portfolio to support Africa's efforts for a renewable energy supply, as well as projects around "Energy and Location", which comprise the science support to the "Covenant of Mayors", research into the "Decarbonisation of Urban Areas". His multidisciplinary team comprises about 50 scientists, covering fields like materials science, physics, electrical and building engineering, energy economy, agriculture and geographical information systems.
His publications cover measurement and testing methods for photovoltaic generators, economic assessment of renewable energy, global environmental impacts of extended bio-fuel and bio-energy use and the economic assessment of Energy Efficiency policy as a means for Climate Change mitigation.
He served since 1995 as Programme Chair for the series of European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conferences, and since 2005 also for the European Biomass Conferences. He chairs since 12 years the Technical Committee 82 of the International Electrotechnical Commission, and guided in this function many international standards on photovoltaic technology.
Living on the shores of Lake Maggiore in northern Italy he practices sailing and skiing, and is deeply interested in global sustainability issues, in particular the ecological footprint of energy systems.
