VGB PowerTech: Renewables, Increasing flexibility and digitisation as main tasks for future power supply
- VGB PowerTech celebrates 100 Years of association history with White Paper “Energy is us” about future power supply
- Electricity has an important role for the whole energy sector
„“Politics and society need a better understanding of technology and the energy industry”, said VGB Chairman Dr. Georgios Stamatelopoulos. This is the main message of the white paper “Future Energy System”, which was published in the course of an online event on the occasion of VGB's 100th anniversary.
According to VGB, eight fields of action are important “which are essential for the success of the energy system transformation”. From the point of view of the worldwide active technical association VGB, these include the further massive expansion of renewable energies. “One example is the current discussion on the amendment of the Renewable Energy Sources Act in Germany”, said Mr. Stamatelopoulos at the opening of the online broadcast technical discussion with high-ranking representatives from politics and the energy industry.
In addition to a political reliable framework, Mr. Stamatelopoulos, who has been in office for a year, emphasised that it is important to strengthen flexibility in the energy system, with the provision of controllable energy playing a key role. He added that the potential of digitisation for the energy system transformation must be exploited in order to “make optimum use of the many plants of the future energy system”.
The occasion for the publication of the white paper is the 100th anniversary of the foundation of VGB in Leuna in 1920 as a reaction to an accident in a power plant. The objective at that time was “to develop technical expertise to make the supply of electricity and heat safe and reliable. Later, the no less important goals of environmental protection, resource conservation and efficiency were added”. Today, occupational safety is high, the power supply in Germany is reliable and internationally exemplary with an average interruption of 17 minutes, and the climate targets for the power sector for 2020 were already achieved in 2019.
For the next years, Mr. Stamatelopoulos is “optimistic for our industry. Because almost every discussion about the future begins and ends with the growing role of electricity in all areas of life. And we can do electricity. That is the motivating message. But it is also a fact that we have a lot to look forward to.”