Kristina Espersen has studied Sustainable Energy Planning. She currently works at PlanEnergi.

For Kristina Espersen, energy systems are about thinking big and seeing connections across solutions and technologies. As a project manager at PlanEnergi, she helps to bring Danish knowledge and energy know-how into the world.

ENERGY PLANNER AT PLANENERGI

During the programme of Energy Planning at Aalborg University Kristina Espersen has had an internship at the Danish Embassy in London. The knowledge she picked up on there, is now beneficial to the company PlanEnergi. Here she works as a project manager and is part of selling Danish knowledge about district heating systems to freezing Brits. 

Today district heating only makes up two percent of the total heating in the UK, but it is politically determined that this share should be increased to at least 16 percent by 2030. Therefore, they are looking to Denmark, which is an expert in district heating.

-I know the British energy sector quite well from my internship in London. Here I worked with influencing the British government to implement district heating, says Kristina Espersen. 

-PlanEnergi had had a cooperation with a British company previously, and when I was hired, it further developed from there. Now we see the British market as an opportunity for the company, she says.

THE BIG CONNECTIONS

To Kristina Espersen sustainable energy solutions are not about looking at the individual, technical solutions, but about taking the journey in helicopter perspective, regardless of it being in Denmark or the UK.

- You have to look at the connections. You can't put up a wind turbine without also looking at the environment, urban planning, and the political angle. As an energy planner, I look at the whole system and how the systems interact, she explains.

- It's definitely the international perspectives that attracts me. It is exciting working with district heating systems in Denmark, but what drives me is being able to circlate it in Great Britain and also other places of the world. 

For her employer PlanEnergi, the young energy planner with a global outlook is highly valued.

-We benefit greatly from Kristina’s knowledge about the British conditions, and at the same time she has quickly build up skills within strategic climate planning. The broad profile as an energy planner means that Kristina has many skills that can be put to good use in a company like ours. At the same time, it gives her good opportunities to expand her knowledge - for the benefit of PlanEnergi and for the expansion of sustainable solutions nationally and internationally, says Head of Department at PlanEnergi Aarhus, Linne Laurberg Jensen.

READY FOR CHANGE

That things are rapidly changing doesn’t scare Kristina Espersen. One of the things she highlights from her time as a student, is the ability to constantly acquire new knowledge that can build on top of the old. 

-I am very happy that I have learned to study new things and constantly acquire new knowledge. The technological development happens faster than you can write books about it. The mathematics, systems and programs might not change, but everything we use them for does, so it is incredibly important to have the ability to keep up, she says.