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Last week I participated in the Impact CEE Conference. It was professionally organized, had a rich and fleshed out program filled with strong messages. The “energy and resources” panel hosted a number of interesting presentations, especially by Bertrand Piccard, a Swiss entrepreneur who circumnavigated the Earth in a solar-powered plane; and by Jarosław Brody, TAURON’s Vice-President of the Management Board responsible for development. The organizers also invited a representative of VPPlant, i.e. myself to give a speech,” – writes Grzegorz Nowaczewski, CEO of Virtual Power Plant.
I was most impressed by the Swiss businessman, because he turned declarations into concrete action. Bertrand Piccard encouraged everybody to wisely use our planet’s energy sources and to improve energy efficiency instead of blindly increasing the volume of produced energy. I hope the Impact CEE participants will forever remember Piccard’s message “let’s ask difficult questions, let’s not be afraid of breaking old rules.” The key to success will be the determination to redefine business models related to the consumption of energy carriers shaped by history. This is what happened in the case of the famous plane, among others, whose source of energy was the Sun. Bertrand Piccard’s plane was produced by shipyards because aviation technology producers refused to cooperate. Similarly, in the nearest future, renewable energy may replace traditional technologies. One can argue about the pace of this transformation, but the trends are already irreversible.
A few years ago, it would be unthinkable for a representative of a traditional energy company to declare joining the current of changes that are impacting technologies and expectations of energy consumers. Jarosław Broda pointed to the opportunities and risks that have been revealing themselves in the last few years. Adding new streams of renewable energy necessitates incessant financing to balance the grid and introduce measures against black-outs. On the other hand, we have at our disposal the achievements of the technological revolution, such as effective processing of big data. At the same time, energy storing technologies are being improved. The increasing number of electric cars will also create new opportunities for the development of the energy sector.
Tauron manages an infrastructure that provides electricity for ca. 5.5 million people. Tauron’s clients expect uninterrupted energy supply, which is why the company is focusing on limiting risks every day. The creation of innovative projects for electricity production, requires a new approach, which includes opening up to failures and learning from them. Such an attitude is characteristic of start-uppers. Together with its partners, Tauron launched the ScaleUp program, which within a few years will widen the array of services to include those based on the achievements of digital economy.
I am glad that my presentation, in a way, linked the speeches by Bertrand Piccard and Jarosław Broda, because I spoke about the environmentally friendly examples of energy management that translate into saving even a quarter of the consumed power. This is possible when a building is plugged into the (virtual) Power Plant, which generates “negawatts”, while maintaining the comfort perceptible by people in optimized spaces. Intelligent building systems lack perfection in energy efficiency, especially when it comes to the optimal usage of forced ventilation systems. It is worth to improve them by using technologies, such as Enabler DSR – designed by Polish scientists and entrepreneurs.
The limits of innovation in energy are disappearing thanks to the achievements of the digital economy. Importantly, across Europe, energy companies, such as Tauron, have understood they need innovation. The example to follow are enthusiasts of modern, environmentally friendly technologies, who initiate somewhat wild projects, such as Bertrand Piccard from Switzerland. We do not have to be ashamed because in Poland, we have enough brave and talented entrepreneurs. Let us hope that Polish energy companies will be consistently aware of the opportunities and challenges that the future is bringing. I would like the sparks of the Impact CEE to ignite more positively crazy projects, which will become a new Polish specialization, also in the export area.
