Javier Urchueguía, Chair of the RHC-ETIP

Javier Urchueguía, professor and researcher at the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), is the new president of the European Technology and Innovation Platform on Renewable Heating and Cooling (RHC-ETIP).

This is the first time that a Spaniard directs this institution, which brings together 800 entities, companies and research centers in Europe that are leaders in the field of renewable energy technologies applied to heating and cooling. The RHC-ETIP is an advisory body of the European Commission on Energy, that works in the research and development of renewable heat sources, both for air conditioning and for industry.

Urchueguía, international reference of the field

At the moment, Urchueguía is one of the referents of the Research Group of Information and Communication technologies against the Climate Change (ICTvsCC), pertaining to the Institute ITACA of the UPV. Among his research lines, he has extensive experience in the development of heating and cooling technologies for renewable energy sources, geothermal energy, heat pumps and biomass, and monitoring and simulation of energy systems.

Also, Urchueguía is a regular lecturer and author of more than 150 magazine articles in the field of physics and engineering. He has coordinated several European projects in the field of energy and chairs the Geothermal Technology Panel of the RHC-ETIP. In addition, he directs the Chair of Energy Transition of the Valencian Community, belonging to the Higher Technical School of Industrial Engineering (ETSII-UPV) and sponsored by the Department of Industry and Energy of the Generalitat Valenciana.

Challenges of European energy policy

For Urchueguía, “the decarbonization of the thermal energy sector -which accounts for approximately half of the energy consumption in Europe-, is one of the great pending challenges of European energy policy, since renewable energy still represents a low proportion with respect to the total heat and cold consumption.”

“The RHC-ETIP,” he adds, “has as its main mission to help identify the research and development challenges that will accelerate the market for clean energy in key sectors such as biomass, solar thermal energy, geothermal energy, pumps heat or district networks.”

Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for the RHC sector

Under its mandate, the RHC ETIP is already working on the new Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for the RHC sector, which will be published at the end of the year, and will be presented in the framework of the international ISEC 2020 conference, which will take place in Graz (Austria).

“This agenda will help to set key elements of European energy policy with regard to R&D&I for the next ten years,” concludes Urchueguía.

Source: UPV’s Information Office