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Future challenges for the energy sector
29.07.2021

Future challenges for the energy sector

The energy transition to a decarbonised society, which counteracts the effects of climate change is not only a trend, but a necessity. Political authorities in the majority of countries around the world have finally got down to work and established guidelines to support this transition. Particularly in Europe, the strategy outlined in "The Green Deal" will allocate a large portion of the "Next Generation EU" recovery plan investment to finance this transition.

The other factor in solving the equation is technological development. In this sense, a clear effort has been made in the past few years to obtain increasingly competitive technology solutions related to renewable energies and electrification. Therefore, it has been possible to offer the market renewable generation solutions that are more competitive for the same installed power capacity than conventional generation facilities, and electrical energy has increased its share of consumption like never before with electric mobility, industrial heating and cooling, storage, etc.

The pace of deployment of the electricity infrastructure needed to accommodate new generation assets, electricity interconnections, new electricity consumers, self-consumption, etc., is key to facilitating investment in the technological development of the energy industry supply chain. This phenomenon must consider the specific reality of electricity generation based on the natural environment. Thus, conditions at certain geographical locations will be more favourable for the implementation of new generation plants: wind, solar photovoltaic, hydroelectric, biomass or biofuel.

Energy conversion technology must be developed to offer the best possible solutions in each case. In this sense, work is ongoing on power electronics platforms and electric generators to establish the optimal combinations that will provide the best yields from available energy sources: sun, wind, water, biomass.

On the other end of the power transmission line, lie electricity consumers, and therein lies the other energy challenge: achieve the most efficient possible consumption of available energy. Once again, energy conversion systems must be intelligently applied to current and future energy consumption needs, electric vehicles (road and rail), maritime electric propulsion systems for all types of vessels, and in the not-so-distant future, air transport.

Hydrogen has recently gained momentum as an energy application vector to be developed in the near future.

The challenges posed by energy for human beings are many, but thanks to power conversion technology we will be capable of meeting them to ensure sustainability. Always through the prism of renewable energies.

As we have been saying for some years now at Ingeteam, “the future will be renewable, or there won’t be a future”.

Our challenge is to place electrical and electronic technology at the service of the evolution required by the new solutions for harnessing renewable resources so that this almost infinite natural resource can be channelled towards achieving the final goal of electrical energy consumption: clean consumption.

Adolfo Rebollo
CEO Ingeteam

 


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