Exhibition Ticker - The European Smart Grid Conference 2013: Save the Date

Summary

The European Smart Grid Conference 2013 will bring together stakeholders from both the energy and telecommunications sectors, including the policy-making communities, to debate the most pertinent issues relating to the EU-wide roll out of intelligent energy networks. The successful convergence of these major infrastructure sectors will dictate the successful delivery of the European smart grid. This conference will examine what needs to be done to achieve such cross-sector collaboration.

The conference will focus on the following issues:

    Ensuring a stable regulatory and investment climate

•     The impact of the EU budget on investments in major infrastructure projects linked to the roll out of smart grids

•     Creating common standards

•     The role of the consumer in the future smart grid

•     Grid stability and security

•     Privacy and security

•     The future for energy storage and new technologies such as Power-to-Gas

•     Global smart grid developments

Further Information

The website http://www.eu-ems.com will be updated regularly with updates, however, for further information in the meantime on the conference, or to discuss how your company can become involved, please contact Charlene Selmer on +44 (0) 2920 783 024 / charlene.selmer@forum-europe.com.

Agenda:

Session 1: Regulatory and Financial Framework
The issues of regulation and finance for the grid are critical. Without a stable regulatory and investment environment, smart grid deployment will not reach an EU-wide scale. What models and policies are being developed that can deliver progressive smart grid implementation and which respect both national idiosyncrasies and EU-wide concerns? What can be learnt from current grid projects, test beds and R&D programmes?

How is Europe’s Projects of Common Interest (PCI) progressing and is this the most effective way of managing infrastructure investments given their transnational nature? Will private investment really plug the quoted €60 billion funding gap, particularly given the recessionary environment? Are the envisaged mechanisms for recouping such investments, for instance via tariffs likely to deliver?

Session 2: Standardisation and Grid Technologies
As with any new and emerging technologies and systems, the “proof of concept” stages are critical. These developments must at some stage however be accompanied by a commitment to common standards, delivering interoperability and flexibility, and therefore avoiding technology lock-in. This session will provide an update on standardisation for the grid and will look at some of the key technologies and sectors where work is underway. The session will also provide benchmarking data relating to implementation of smart grid technologies in Europe.

Session 3: Consumers and the Grid
The future smart grid demands greater interaction with the final consumers of electricity. This includes a shift in their role from, in some instances, consumer to prosumer; that is to producers of energy. In order to enable such interactions, the necessity to capture significant amounts of data that would previously have been private gives rise to important data privacy, consumer rights and security questions. How can these be tackled without damaging grid development or consumer confidence? Are current incentives to produce energy (such as feed in tariffs) for technologies such as micro-generation sufficient? Fundamentally, what role is envisaged for the local level where the grid meets its mass market?

Session 4: Grid Stability and Security
Processes across the smart grid are dependent upon infrastructures and technologies based on advanced ICT. From industrial control systems, computer networks, intelligent devices, distributed control systems and home network hubs, a malicious attack on a system with such dependencies would be potentially catastrophic. Where is Europe in terms of securing the grid from cyber attack? What demands will the smart grid place on existing infrastructure and what preparations are required to ensure grid stability?

Session 5: Energy storage and large-scale renewables integration – what are the implications?
The ability to store electricity produced from renewable energy sources will be key in the smart grid future. How is Europe ensuring that regions producing significant energy from such sources are connected to regions where appropriate storage is available? Will a smarter grid in fact mean that storage becomes progressively less important as energy management and efficiency increases? What will the regulatory and standardisation implications be as a result of innovative solutions such as Power-to-Gas? Finally, what are the market and competition challenges for energy storage providers in Europe?