The 6th European Conference on Green Power Marketing 2009 in Geneva attempted to index the different approaches and contributions to green power marketing. Participants agreed that the transition to a new energy era is well under way.
The 6th European Conference on Green Power Marketing 2009 was held on 1 and 2 October in Geneva. The event was a forum for market players and decision makers in the renewable energy (RE)industry. More than 170 experts from 20 European countries and the USA attended.
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. Attendees agreed that 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.
No smooth path
However, the path into the green future is not a smooth one. Several challenges need to be tackled first, such as policy, infrastructure, finance and supply and demand. “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”, according to the attendees.
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.
