Ideas and innovations for the future of energy supply revealed at Electrify Europe

Electrify Europe, Europe’s first dedicated conference and exhibition for the new digitalising power sector, brought together established and new players in the energy scene focusing on the convergence in the industry.

With over 4,500 visitors and 300 exhibitors, Electrify Europe is the world’s first event dedicated to the convergence of power generation, and transmission and distribution. This year’s event opened with highly anticipated keynotes from Jo-Jo Hubbard, Chief Operating Officer at Electron, César Alejandro Hernández Alva, Senior Energy Analyst at the International Energy Agency (IEA), and Dr. Michal Losch, Director General at the Federal Ministry for Sustainability and Tourism (BMNT). The speakers offered diverse perspectives on key trends for Europe’s power industry, including energy generation, blockchain, digitization, and decentralization, provided exclusive insights from the energy industry’s most highly-respected experts.

Hubbard’s motivating presentation demonstrated the opportunities offered by blockchain, revealing that it should not be seen as a disruptive technology, but as one that can support change and offer better opportunities than traditional, central IT structures. She spoke about how the blockchain technology will support the integration of new market players, such as micro producers and smart households, and make processes more efficient and cost-effective.

Another talk on this topic from Dr. Sönke Gödeke, Partner at Pinsent Masons LLP, revealed that utilities can become operators of decentralized IT platforms that enable direct exchange between electricity providers and end customers.

Meanwhile, motorsport legend, Jutta Kleinschmidt, debated on a panel of other automotive and technology experts in the e-mobility Arena. In this Arena experts discussed the possibilities of how electric vehicles can contribute to grid stabilisation, the development of charging infrastructures for public transport, logistics and private electric cars, and how e-mobility can find more acceptance among end customers.

Other exhibition highlights included technical tours, lively conference sessions, panels, workshops, a Mission Innovation Session and an innovation challenge, with the winner revealed as linear asset management company, Scanbots.

Nigel Blackaby, Director of Conferences at PennWell stated that the show was an “excellent trigger to initialise cross-industry collaborations covering multiple topics, attendees and objectives from different branches, such as energy, engineering, renewables or mobility”.

Next year Electrify Europe will rebrand to POWER-GEN Europe and will co-locate with European Utility Week, 12-14 November 2019, in Paris. “By co-locating POWER-GEN and European Utility Week, we will be able to offer a truly end-to-end power event for the whole electricity value chain. The co-location will facilitate an unparalleled meeting place for the entire power & energy sector in Europe and one which will help to facilitate the acceleration of the clean energy transition” declares Clarion Energy Managing Director Rick Wall.