Defuse the Energy Future

On Friday the 22nd of April 2016, I attended the mini-conference-debate organised by Elia System Operator and UCL (BE), and smoothly moderated by Yan Kuszak. The 3 panels assembled 9 visionaries, mostly Belgian bright thinkers with a subtle German touch. Being appointed Special Rapporteur for the debates, I made an attempt to summarise their thoughtful words, which I would like to share with you.

Gentle disclaimer: those are my words to express my understanding of theirs; my words do not engage the speakers and/or their respective employer in any way.

Debate #1 - Revamping the concept of energy efficiency

Flexibility versus Sobriety

Panel was made of Prof. R. Belmans (KUL), Dr. G. Wallenborn (ULB) and L. Vercruysse (Viessmann).

1. Energy efficiency (EE) is about doing as much as we can with a certain quantity of (primary) energy. The real problem with EE is that people don't care about it; they do not consume electricity per se; they use things that consume it. EE is an engineering problem!
2. The vast majority of people are not ready yet to revisit their living standards, to change/adapt their habits at home and work.
3. To improve EE, engineers and companies must offer products/services that improve perceived living standards in one way or another. Perception of what matters is different from one person to the next, so there is no one-size-fits-all solution. There are (will be) solutions that together (will) deliver EE. Some (will) buy them because it improves their lives or because it's cheaper, and others because it's more socially responsible.

Debate #2 - The Super, The Micro and the Smart

What kind of electricity network do we want?

Panel was made of the controversial Prof. D. Ernst (Ulg), A. Torreele (Elia) and B. Gouverneur (Synergrid).

1. The Super-grid, i.e. the large infrastructure for transmitting electricity over long distances, is already creating value by enabling exchanges and mutual support across Europe.
2. Off-grid solutions, i.e. small to medium parts disconnected from the main grid, don't make sense in our context considering the existence of a grid, except maybe in a very few remote places.
3. Micro-grids may (speakers debated fiercely over it) create distortion in the way people are treated, and may hence be discriminatory in a way, which is the reason why some Distribution System Operators (in Wallonia) are trying to ban them. Indeed, why would the people directly connected to the grid pay more taxes that others in a micro-grid?

Debate #3 - Tomorrow, we shave gratis

Get the market ready for renewables

Panel was made of E. Druenne  (Engie), J. Matthys-Donnadieu (Elia) and P. Kreutzkamp (Next Kraftwerke).

1. In the early days of renewables, experts thought that 10% penetration would be a technical issue. Today, 30% penetration is not and more will not be either. Technically, 100% is feasible.
2. Yet economically there is a huge issue. Traditional utilities are suffering a lot because the price of electricity is lower and lower whereas conventional power plants (gas, coal...) are still needed to balance the system, i.e. to produce electricity when there are little wind and little sun. There is no level playing field... yet!
3. There is an integrated EU electricity market that is growing (in coverage at least) as we speak. Yet energy policies of the EU countries - managed at country level - play havoc with it.  This can be somehow compared to the € zone issue: one currency + multiple monetary policies = regular bumps.

Conclusions

The energy future wasn't defused as speakers focused on the current situation that is alarming - to say the least - enough to require full attention.

1. Improving Energy Efficiency means changing/adapting our way of living to decrease our energy consumption. To do that, we need to get the right incentives rather than get the incentives right (to paraphrase a common statement about doing things), for people to get high adoption and for companies to develop new products/services.
2. The Future of Grid seems uncertain as Super-grid champions, Smart-grid champions and Micro-grid champions oppose rather than work hand in hand to develop an integrated solution. We need a Super-Smart-Micro-grid sooner than later. 
3. Technically, anything is possible - economical, we are still in trouble [Editor's note: and long will be]. The current market design is far from being sufficient to enable our Energy Future: fair competition wanted!

As a personal conclusion, I would just add that it's striking how market parties and system operators couldn't care less about the end-consumer. I want them to refocus NOW and get a customer-centric approach NOW towards energy.

And you? What is it that you want?

Editor's note: Huge thanks to Elia for organising such an open debate. Feel free to message me if you want to know my personal view on any of these topics.