Alex Van den Bossche, General Chair
Welcome to EPE’21 ECCE Europe in Ghent, Belgium
I’m happy to invite you at the 23rd European Conference on Power Electronics and Applications, EPE’21 ECCE Europe, which will take place in Ghent, Belgium, from 6 to 10 September 2021. After many years the conference, which started in Brussels in 1985, returns to Belgium after a long travel around Europe…
The conference covers subjects from components, design, modelling to many types of applications. I’m mainly motivated by the fact that power electronics will be a silent but key technology for solutions in almost all future areas of production, transport, household, office, technology and environmental solutions. Also the designs for niche applications are of interest for a certain audience. In fact, power electronics is a glue technology converting all kinds of electrical energy, where it often creates the added value. We see fast growing research and applications in electric mobility and solar PV for the moment. In electric cars for sure, from charging, to drives and many auxiliaries (larger truck types will get a breakthrough whenever more competitive batteries will be available). Many things have still to be developed around PV converters. The inverter lifetime is still significantly lower than the PV panels themselves. Also in terms of scale, a growth must be accomplished: in Flanders the level of PV is 2 panels per inhabitant. However, at the actual panel price it could be 10 to 20 times higher. So, more conversions, more direct, local use and also more long-distance transportation will be needed.
The EPE ECCE Europe Conference is the place where you can meet the people, colleagues and exhibitors in the field.
The conference will take place at the ICC Gent, in the “Citadel park”, between the railway station, the headquaters of the university and the city centre. Ghent is at the confluence delta of the rivers “Schelde” and “Leie”. By the 13th century, after Paris, Ghent was the biggest city in Europe north of the Alps. With 50 000 inhabitants, it was bigger than Cologne or Moscow at that time. (At present, there are over 260 000 people living in Ghent). The city evolved in all periods, leaving a great number of intresting historical places.
In Belgium, distances are small. Direct train connections from Brussels Airport are available, but also from Lille, Antwerp, Cologne, Paris and London.
The local organising committee and I look forward to welcoming you to Ghent.
We are sure you will enjoy your stay.
