Upper Lusatian Energy Symposium

The main theme of this year’s event was sector coupling—that is, the integration of key utility infrastructure such as electricity, natural gas, heating, and transportation. This is necessary to achieve the ambitious goals of the energy transition and climate protection.

In addition to technical topics such as “Power-to-X” applications and flexibility methods, economic issues and barriers to social acceptance within the holistic energy supply system were discussed. The benefits of innovation are only convincing if the stakeholders also derive value from them. In a sustainable energy market, the stakeholders—as well as the supply infrastructure itself—must be reliably interconnected and resilient to outages.

Providing energy on demand from sources that are largely dependent on supply conditions is only possible by integrating and optimizing the various energy systems.

In addition to the plenary presentation by Dr. Dickert of ENSO Netz GmbH, the first day of the event featured discussions on IT challenges related to the digitalization of the energy supply. These presentations were supplemented by perspectives from the Social Sciences, including discussions on potential barriers to transformation. Finally, technical solutions to existing challenges took center stage in the expert exchange.

The lively discussions continued in the evening during a reception in the Bürgersaal of Zittau City Hall. In addition to a presentation by Prof. Tomlow on the symbiosis between building structure and energy consumption, illustrated using the example of natural ventilation, Highvolt Prüftechnik Dresden GmbH awarded a prize for the good final dissertation in the field of electrical engineering. The award winner was Mr. Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Florian Müller for his thesis on the implementation of weather-controlled overhead line operation for a selected 110-kV overhead line routed at 80 °C.

The second day of the event was primarily devoted to the broad topic of energy storage and promising research projects aimed at implementing sector coupling in a demand-responsive manner. The discussions among participants from industry, energy utilities, commercial, retail, and service enterprises, as well as decision-makers from municipalities and public institutions, provided interesting insights into the diverse approaches to solutions within the technical, economic, and legal frameworks. New ideas were sparked, and opportunities for collaboration among the various stakeholders were identified. Many participants reaffirmed their interest in ongoing cooperation.

There will be another Zittau Energy Seminar next year—marking its 30th edition. The next Upper Lusatia Energy Symposium will take place in 2020.