09.10.2009 – 10:54

The future of green power: Achieving an energy revolution in challenging times

- Indication: Picture can be downloaded free of charge under:
     http://www.presseportal.ch/de/pm/100003893/?langid=2 -

With more than 170 experts from 20 European countries and the USA,
the 6th European Conference on Green Power Marketing 2009 on 1 and 2 
October in Geneva has proven once again to be the key European forum 
for market players and decision makers in the renewable energy (RE) 
industry. But it was more than a mere gathering of experts. Above 
all, the conference was an attempt to index the different approaches 
and contributions to green power marketing currently afloat and 
redirect them towards one clear and shared objective: achieving a 
true energy revolution. Participants were all but unanimous: the 
transition to a new energy era is feasible and already well under 
way, and all stakeholders are fully engaged in being part of it.

However, the path into the green future is not a smooth one; 
"business as usual" will hardly suffice to attain the targets set by 
the European Commission. Several challenges need to be tackled first:
(i) in policy, through effective support schemes; (ii) in 
infrastructure, through grid integration and extension; (iii) in 
finance, through extensive but stable funding; (iv) in supply, 
through more transparent disclosure; and, finally, (v) in demand, 
through more ample consideration of social issues. For a real 
revolution to take place, a change of perspective is needed, with the
present national and regional points of view on energy embedded in a 
wider global framework.

One crucial factor in all scenarios for increasing green power 
flows throughout Europe is the grid. Flexible generation is not 
sufficient, and must be complemented by flexible transmission. The 
grid has to keep pace with innovations in generation technology and 
the development of cooperation mechanisms, offshore plants and 
decentralised production sites. Expanding the transmission grid for 
cross-border transfers and increasing its flexibility are keys to 
balancing the different generation sources, and represent one of the 
most urgent tasks facing the industry.

In this respect, the creation of a European "supergrid" is both 
ambitious and critical for the future of Europe's green energy 
network; particularly so because cooperation mechanisms between 
member states, and between member states and third countries, as 
foreseen in the new RES Directive, have been identified by all key 
players as a viable instrument to fulfil national RES targets. Two 
constraints yet remain for the modernization of the grid: investments
and regulation.

The role of this latter, not only with regard to grid 
infrastructure, was a subject of frequent mention in debates at the 
conference. Indeed, sound and stable energy policies and effective 
support schemes, together with the ambitious targets fixed by the EU 
(20% renewables in electricity mix by 2020) and the Swiss Government 
(efficiency and renewable energy action plans) are the cornerstone of
RES development. RES, this was the echo of all sessions, must be at 
the heart of national, regional and international energy regulation.

Transparency in RES certification was raised as another key 
challenge for the energy sector; speakers did not tire of pointing 
out its critical importance for building up interest and confidence 
with customers of green power. Clearer coordination between 
compulsory statements and voluntary certificates - and between green 
power labels in particular - is needed to safely steer the market 
through the energy revolution ahead.

Contact:

Green Power Marketing GmbH
Zurich, Switzerland
Tel.: +41/43/322'05'56
Fax.: +41/43/322'05'59
E-Mail: info@greenpowermarketing.org
Internet: www.greenpowermarketing.org