Welcome to POWER-GEN Europe 2013!

Conference director, Nigel Blackaby explains what attendees can expect from this year’s event

These are turbulent times for European power industry professionals. A viable framework for investment in new generation and supporting infrastructure is vital if Europe’s 20-20-20 energy transition targets are to be achieved, yet market uncertainty and lack of coherence between national and European policy are blocking access to capital in Europe.

Last year we argued that more integration was needed in the industry and this will still be a key theme this year. But I believe the title of this year’s show, ‘Keeping Europe’s Power Flowing’, reflects the urgency that is needed to find solutions to the energy crisis Europe is facing.

Once again, POWER-GEN Europe is being staged alongside Renewable Energy World Europe, creating a joint forum addressing the key issues across the entire spectrum of the power generation industry. This is the first occasion that POWER-GEN Europe has been held in Vienna in its 21-year history, but it is proving a well-judged and popular choice. Austria straddles western and eastern Europe and the event in June offers a valuable opportunity to share experiences between electricity professionals from every part of the continent.

With advanced mobile devices, electronic data and social media, dominating the way in which we communicate, it is increasingly important that we take time out to meet as an industry face-to-face, to discuss the issues of the day, become acquainted with new technologies and techniques and build the business networks that will open doors to new commercial and personal opportunities. The three days of POWER-GEN Europe offers all this through its comprehensive strategic and technical conference sessions, its vast exhibition floor and its various networking events. Despite the challenging market condition in Europe, there will be more exhibiting companies than ever in Vienna and a conference programme of high quality presentations across some nine parallel tracks. Our opening keynote session offers high level government and industry speakers and our big plenary debate, led by HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur, will reveal the truth about the challenges Europe’s power industry faces and what the future may hold.

This Pre-Show Guide contains the entire conference programmes for both POWER-GEN Europe and Renewable Energy World Europe with all sessions open to registered delegates from both events.

You will also find details of the many other activities that form part of POWER-GEN Europe such as the technical tours, workshop and networking events, not to mention a list of the
exhibitors you will have the opportunity of meeting in Vienna, plus a handy tool to help plan your visit. Most importantly, you can find out all the ways to register to attend POWER-GEN
Europe on page 45-46 and how you can take advantage of the Early Bird discounts on offer.
Any additions or modifications to the programme will be reflected on the respective websites:

www.powergeneurope.com

www.renewableenergyworld-europe.com

Our industry is undergoing a period of major and complex change. Emerging successfully from this transition will be those individuals and organisations that have embraced the change, developed and adopted new technologies and implemented visionary business strategies. Make sure you are in the vanguard of this change by joining us in Vienna this June when the industry gathers for POWER-GEN Europe 2013.

For more news on what this year’s show has in store watch out for future blogs which will announce this year’s keynote speakers and explore the issues to be tackled in the plenary debate

Pre Conference Workshop – Investing in the Balkans energy sector

In the lead-up to POWER-GEN Europe and Renewable Energy World Europe 2013, we are pleased to offer a workshop focused around the issue of investing in the Balkans energy sector.

The workshop will be taking place on Monday 3rd June, and will be led by Aleksandar Kovacevic, Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES), and Vladimir Gligorov, Senior Economist, The Vienna Institute of International Economic Studies (WIIW).

For a fee of €325, the workshop will provide a comprehensive assessment of the investment risks associated with the Balkans energy sector and an insight into the structure of risks, the reality of proposed investments, governance patterns, regulatory frameworks and experiences as well as the tools and understanding appropriate to access this emerging market. Both conventional and renewable energy will be covered.

Course highlights will include:

• Market data and analysis, data sources and statistics
• Supply and demand and power market evolution
• Overview of proposed investment projects (conventional and renewable energy)
• Natural gas supply and demand prospects
• Energy Community Treaty, legal framework and Environmental regulations
• Regulatory framework risks
• Financial, fiscal and monetary risks
• Structuring political risks
• Guide to Internet resources
• Course material will include an expert selection of publicly available documents on the Western Balkan energy market.

This workshop will be particularly beneficial to sales and business development personnel from OEMs and service providers, as well as bankers, investment officers and business development managers from strategic investors as well as energy traders.

Join us on Monday 3 June, between 13:30-17:30 at Schubert 1-2, 1st Floor, Congress Center, Messe Wien. To sign up, just register as a visitor or delegate to POWER-GEN Europe here and then select the Balkans Workshop option.

Austria leads by example to host Renewable Energy World 2013

With more than 30% of its total energy demand already coming from renewable energy, Austria is the ideal location for the forthcoming Renewable Energy World Europe Conference and Exhibition 2013. In this blog, David Appleyard, Conference Director, outlines some of the main developments in Austria’s renewables policy, as well as the key points that will be addressed at this year’s event.

Despite on-going economic headwinds and the fact that the apparently unconstrained growth of a few years’ ago has been replaced with a more measured approach, renewable energy continues to represent an attractive investment in Europe and beyond.

Indeed, according to Austria’s Federal Ministry of Economy, Family and Youth, the country is aiming to increase its share of renewable energy to 34 per cent by 2020. This fundamental transition is being lead by Verbund AG, the country’s largest electricity provider which supplies around 40 per cent of electricity demand in Austria, largely from its more than 100 hydroelectric installations.

Of course, as impressive as Austria’s renewable energy credentials are, it cannot be taken in isolation. In a recent white paper, Deutsche Energie-Agentur GmbH (dena) and Verbund emphasised the importance of collaboration between Germany and Austria, particularly in the development of the transnational electricity market, the improvement of conditions for pumped storage and in expansion of the grid.

This issue of collaboration between countries emphasises the challenge of integrating large volumes of renewable energy – much of it variable output – into Europe’s energy mix without disrupting energy supplies and competitiveness. This is perhaps the key issue of the coming decade, and will be discussed at length at this year’s event, with an entirely dedicated track.

The industry is also now moving into a more mature phase, in which pure business models are set to steadily supersede state subsidised renewable energy markets. This trend is also reflected in our conference programme, with much of our strategic track focused on finance, markets and risk management. We also maintain our strong technical content with a track dedicated to this theme.

With so much on offer in Vienna, Renewable Energy World Europe offers a unique opportunity to not only develop strategic and technical knowledge, but also to make great contacts, develop commercial and financial prospects and do vital business. It is therefore with immense pleasure that I extend my personal invitation for you to join us in Vienna this June for the ‘must-attend’ energy event of the summer.
If you are interested in attending Renewable Energy World Europe 2013, please click here to register: http://www.renewableenergyworld-europe.com/register.html

Making the case for unity

In the final installment of our series of guest blogs, Nicolas Kraus, Policy Officer of EPPSA, examines how political indecisiveness across the continent has stifled growth in the European power sector, and calls for greater unity to ensure Europe remains competitive.

The European power sector is in desperate need of investment and innovation, but it is easy to see why neither has been forthcoming. Current regulatory signals given by European and national policymakers make it difficult for investors to identify a long-term return on investment, causing the market to stagnate. Green technologies must be pushed to reach 20-20-20 targets, but long-term planning is not possible because the agreed political framework keeps changing. The recent back loading of allowances by the European Commission to increase carbon prices is a prime example.

Investments are rapidly needed to ensure generation adequacy, which implies new flexible resources and building new generation facilities to complement variable wind and solar generation and ensure sufficient capacity is available to meet demand. Conventional power plants are no longer working at their design load for most of the time, and therefore this part load operation takes place at much less efficiency than the design efficiency. In addition, the feed-in of intermittent energy sources in spots where no consumption exists, changes the existing grid system, which was created for conventional power to distribute and transmit electricity to the point of consumption and therefore forms a spider’s web around the generation plant.

It was agreed between EU Member States that by 2014, the internal energy market must be completed as a key instrument to economic growth. This communication sets out ways to ensure the market fulfils its potential as soon as possible, with interventions that are well designed and effective throughout Europe. However, national structures that have evolved over the past few decades are not easy to change. A more cohesive approach to decision-making at national and EU level is clearly necessary. In the past, the only way to do this was indirectly through the environment competences of the European Commission. Article 194 of the Lisbon Treaty gave the EU some shared competences with Member States on energy matters, but this is not enough! Member States still have the final say on the type of technology they use (i.e. renewable energy sources, conventional, nuclear), which makes it difficult for the EC to ‘Europeanise’ the internal energy policies of Member States.

Looking further afield, the case for unity is bolstered by the fact that other continents already have their houses in order. It’s no secret that the EU is not immune to global activities, but the major challenge today is to agree on how far the EU can carry the global climate change burden on its own without a binding global agreement on CO2 reduction. The issue is whether Europe can remain competitive as energy prices rise while other regions reduce them, especially if the ‘green economy’ does not materialise as hoped.

2 OBE honourees and a host of CEOs make up our current Power 100 Top Ten

Two month’s ago we started the search for the 100 most influential voices in the European power generation industry and with three month’s left to go, ten nominees have already distinguished themselves from the pack.

Graham Cooley, CEO of ITM Power tops the list with a considerable lead. ITM Power designs and manufactures Hydrogen Energy Systems for Energy Storage and Clean Fuel production. Second on the list is Howard Johns, Founder of Southern Solar, a solar panel installation company based in the UK.

We are delighted to see Juliet Davenport in joint third place. As a recent honouree of an OBE and the only female chief executive in the UK’s renewables industry, Juliet is a true pioneer it is likely that she will continue to garner votes in the coming months. Another OBE recipient, Dale Vince also features on the list and as the founder of the first green electricity company in the world he is another truly influential figure in the European power generation industry.

As the search is pan-European in scope, we’re happy to see the list is fairly diverse; with nominees from Italy, Finland and Belgium in the top ten alone. There is also variety in speciality of the companies on the list, from anaerobic digestion to wind power; a broad spectrum of the energy mix is represented in the list.

Undoubtedly this top ten will change many times before June 6th so please keep an eye on our blog, where we’ll be tracking all movement on the list.

To let us know your choice, please send us a tweet at @POWERGENEUROPE, using the hashtag #Power100
e.g.

Kate Garratt @kate_garratt: @POWERGENEUROPE I’m voting for Frank Hyldmar of @Elster_global for the #Power100

Current Top Ten
1. Graham Cooley, CEO, ITM Power
2. Howard Johns, Founder and MD, Southern Solar
3. Juliet Davenport, CEO, Good Energy
4. Dale Vince, Founder, Ecotricity
5. CSDR Inc
6. Rick George, former CEO, Suncor Energy Inc
7. Fulvio Conti, CEO and General Manager, ENEL
8. Angie Bywater, Project Manager, Methanogen UK Ltd
9. Yrjö Norri, VP Sales, Kopar Group
10. Frank Hyldmar, CEO Electricity, Elster Group

The European power industry needs one set of rules rather than 27

In the latest in our series of guest blogs, Peter Ramm, COO at Advanced Power Europe and member of the POWER-GEN Europe advisory board, examines the reasons behind the lack of investor confidence in Europe’s power sector, and argues that increased investment in thermal plants, a low carbon transmission system, and greater harmonisation across member states is what’s needed to restore certainty and economic growth

In light of ENEL president Fulvio Conti’s recent comments that Europe’s power sector is currently ‘uninvestable’, I have to agree as far as new thermal assets are concerned.

The key issue is that, if you are going to put a long-term asset into construction and operation, you need to have a reasonable level of regulatory and market certainty such that making an investment is going to have a rate of return over that 30+ year lifetime. What we have today however, is a large number of policy and regulatory changes that are making the energy market uncertain.

We also need to return to demand growth, as with growth there will be a need for additional thermal or dispatchable power plants that produce power whenever this is required to meet demand. Current investments in renewables largely provide energy and are either intermittent or un-dispatched in nature. Therefore, these plants are displacing the energy provided by existing thermal plant but not their dispatchable capacity. With increasing demand the existing plant would be unable to cope, leading to the need for additional generation.

Europe’s gamble

You could argue that Europe is taking a bet on future fossil fuel costs being high as they are investing heavily in subsidised generation to reduce the dependence on fossil fuels. However, if the global price of fossil fuels goes down, Europe will have invested in, and will be paying for, expensive equipment and thereby become less competitive in a global market.

There’s also a pressing need to rebalance the transmission system. The current model is basically set for large power stations in certain locations and the transmission of power from those power stations to the demand centres of the large cities and industrial areas. With the low carbon objective however, the new power stations will be offshore wind, distributed solar or distributed thermal plants. The topology of the transmission system therefore needs to reflect that change.

While there has been some progress, as with all major projects, gaining permits to build transmission lines and associated substations takes time.

Need for joined-up approach

The reduction of carbon to the EU’s 2050 target will mean significant investments and there is a need for joined-up thinking to ensure that this is done in the most economically efficient manner. As all the costs will ultimately be passed on to the consumer and any excessive investment increases the risk that Europe becomes less competitive in a global market.

Each EU country tends to approach the electricity market in a different way and when looking at renewables subsidies as an example, renewable power plants are being built in some countries and not in others. This leads to inefficiencies as the plants are built where the subsidies are highest rather than in the most economic location. There is a need to remove these dislocations happening at national boundaries. I believe that current mechanisms are inappropriate and that subsidies should be the same irrespective of which country you are in. Investors would then be looking at constructing plants at locations where they make most economic sense.

Ultimately, there is a need to harmonise across all member states such that there is one set of rules for power systems across the continent.

Why it’s a question of politics versus science for European power

In the second of our guest blogs examining the factors shaping the policy and investment strategy in the European power market, Dr. Jacob Klimstra, Energy and Engine Consultant and member of the POWER-GEN Europe advisory board, discusses the barriers to growth and what Europe can learn from the US.

ENEL president Fulvio Conti recently described the power sector as being ‘uninvestable’ and on the face of it, this would appear to be true. Certainly, the growth forecasts for Europe’s power industry are disappointing. On average, investment is set to grow by 0-2% per annum according to latest figures from Eurelectric (the Union of the Electricity Industry), and most of this will be focused on renewables, which are intermittent sources of power generation that require back-up. Yet there is little incentive to invest in back-up equipment.

Some people believe that an open, interconnected, and integrated European electricity market is the key to reinvigorating the sector. But while electricity and energy are the engines of the economy and they have to be as cheap as possible, I have yet to see any evidence that an open market leads to a real drop in prices. So I don’t believe that this is the right mechanism. Rather, it would be better to follow the traditional model where national energy companies are controlled by the state and are supported by long-term investment ensuring citizens have access to reliable and cheap electricity.

EU decision-making stymied

However, one of the biggest issues today is that the policy determination for the power industry is dominated by decision makers that believe everything is a matter of opinion, not scientific fact. We need more scientists and engineers involved directly with the decision-making processes.

In the US for example, it is common practice to set up committees that include representatives from users, suppliers, manufacturers, and academics. By finding the right type of experts, they find the right solution. This is what was achieved with gas quality in the US. The current wrangling over deteriorating gas quality in Europe is an example of how EU decision-making is stymied by bureaucracy and lobbying.

At the same time, it is vital that we nurture Europe’s next-generation of scientists and engineers. Globalisation dictates that multi-national firms will locate their sites where the workforce is best educated, and where labour and power costs are most competitive. We therefore need to place more focus on fuelling the engine that generates wealth for Europe – i.e. the power industry – by furnishing the next-generation workforce with the skills and technical expertise necessary for Europe to compete on a global basis.