The Kvarken Space Center is participating in EnergyWeek again this year. The four-day event brings together experts, influencers, and decision-makers in the energy sector, featuring interesting presentations, cases, and seminars throughout the week. Each day is dedicated to a different theme: Monday focuses on energy & climate, Tuesday on wind & renewable energy, Wednesday on energy storage, and Thursday on gas energy.

KSC’s Powered by Space seminar is held on Tuesday, March 12th from 15:00 to 17:00 in Vaasa City Hall’s Music Hall, and it gives insights in space technologies and energy transformation.

The Powered by Space seminar has a very strong business perspective, and one of the main speakers at the event is Tero Vihavainen, who serves as the Head of the Finnish Space Office, Secretary-General of the Finnish Space Committee, and the Finnish delegate in the ESA Council, the EUSPA Administrative Board, and the EU Space Programme.

The speakers of Powered by Space seminar and part of the Kvarken Space Center crew at EnergyWeek 2023

Sustainable Energy and climate change are some of the most challenging topics that need to be addressed right now. ‘How do we get to a sustainable energy system by conforming to the limitations brought about by the climate change agreement’? And ‘how do we transition to a low carbon economy?’ are questions that cannot be addressed easily. Moreover, the energy transition involves many actors and stakeholders that make finding a solution even more demanding.  

Space technologies and solutions can have a prominent role in addressing some of the energy related challenges. There is an exponential growth of available space-based data world-wide, including Earth Observation (EO), Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), Geographic Information System (GIS), satellite communication as well as weather and sea state information, both as open source and via commercial data providers. The rapid advances in space technology enabling the wealth of data have opened various opportunities for many industry sectors. This seminar focuses on the benefits and applications of space technology and data for the energy sector – especially for the energy transformation and a greener future. 

In addition to Tero Vihavainen, the event will include panel discussion and talks by Heidi Kuusniemi, Maria Inkiläinen, Jukka Rönnlund and Mikko Ranta.

Other projects operating under the University of Vaasa will also be presented during EnergyWeek’s Transition & Cyber Security and Zero Emission Data Centres seminars on Tuesday. These include REDISET and WSTAR. The Research Exhibition of Energy poster session, brought to you by the research platforms Digital Economy, VEBIC, and InnoLab, will take place on Wednesday. Be sure to check out these seminars and the poster exhibition too!

Check the event schedule and program from EnergyWeek’s website.