Ad van Wijk is part-time Professor Future Energy Systems at TU Delft, the Netherlands. He is guest professor at KWR Water Research Institute to develop and implement the research program Energy and Water. He is special advisor to Hydrogen Europe, representing European industry, national associations and research centers to develop European hydrogen policies with the EU commission. He is hydrogen ambassador at the ‘New Energy Coalition’ to realize the green hydrogen economy in the Northern Netherlands. And he holds several advisory and supervisory board positions.
Van Wijk has studied physics and did his Ph-D on Wind Energy and Electricity Production at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. He worked as an Researcher and Associate Professor, between 1983 and 1997 in the Department of Science, Technology and Society at Utrecht University.
In 1984, van Wijk founded the company Ecofys, which eventually grew into Econcern. Econcern developed many new sustainable energy products, services and projects. Examples include the 120 MW offshore wind farm Princess Amalia in the North Sea, several multi-MW solar farms in Spain, a solar cell manufacturing plant Solland and a bio-methanol plant in the Netherlands.
Since 2011 van Wijk is appointed as professor Future Energy Systems at TU Delft. His research focus on the energy systems of the future. Especially he will do research on hydrogen energy systems and fuel cell cars and has realized ‘’the Green Village’’ at the TU Delft campus.
Van Wijk achieved many important prizes for excellent entrepreneurship. Amongst others he was Dutch entrepreneur of the year in 2007 and Dutch top-executive in 2008. Van Wijk was honored by KWR, by appointing him Honorary Fellow in 2018