Current developments, legal framework conditions and digital solutions: 25 conferences and seminars ensured that an intensive exchange of ideas could take place amongst the 2,000 participants at the E-world Congress 2017. Around 150 top-level speakers from politics, business and science provided information and discussed current opportunities and challenges in the energy industry - from international market developments to innovative business models.
Focus on the International Gas Market
The gas market currently exists in the area of tension between increasing uncertainty on the demand side, and a globalisation of trading. This year the topics focused on at the established International Gas Market Conference were therefore “The future of Gas as a Fuel” and “Markets and their Dynamics”. Peter Fraser, Head of Gas, Coal and Power Markets at the International Energy Agency, gave an overview of the role of natural gas. In a lively debate, analysts from two prominent think tanks, Kirsten Westphal (SWP) and Georg Zachmann (Bruegel), discussed the Nord Stream 2 project. In the afternoon session, Peter Abdo, Managing Director & Global Head of Origination & LNG at Uniper Global Commodities, amongst others, offered an analysis of whether the LNG glut will really happen or not.
What does digitization mean for the energy industry?
Under the title “Digitization - Innovative New World?”, experts shed light on the opportunities and potential of digitization. The comprehensive digital transformation of the energy system, and what this means for safeguarding the future, was explained by Ute Redecker, Digital Grid Manager at Siemens, and Jens-Michael Peters, Head of Digital at innogy and COO at eprimo. Stefan Preuss, expert in digitization and Managing Director of QUANTIC Digital, presented the demands for digital utilities of the future. Renowned representatives of Engie, Arvato Systems, Salesforce and eneco analysed and discussed the effects on all business areas - from the development of new business models and changed customer loyalty to sales approaches.
The city of the future
For the first time this year, the conference tackled “Smart infrastructure for smart cities”. Which solutions for urban energy infrastructure already exist, and how these interact, was the topic of a presentation by Christoffer Greisen, Project Manager at the pilot project EnergyLab Nordhavn. Christian Kulick, Area Manager Smart Home & Smart City at Bitkom explained how digital solutions can create a Smart City 2.0 and talked about the competition “Digital Model Town”. Sustainable mobility in public transport and transparency as the precursor to energy efficiency were also the focus of talks by Bilfinger Efficiency and ABB.