Innovation with Energy.

Future Energy System

To bring INNOVATION to life it is necessary to imagine a different future for our energy system. By scrutinizing the current system one can imagine how a FUTURE ENERGY SYSTEM may look:

Imagine it is 2035 and RENEWABLE ENERGY generation has surpassed 90% of overall electricity generation. This means the system is running without hardly any FUEL. Almost no coal, gas or other fuels are needed anymore which means in correlation that the operational costs of the energy system decrease massively. They now mainly consist of maintaining the system and repowering old or broken assets. The power generation happens almost everywhere through decentralized photovoltaic and wind power plants.

If a region suffers from missing wind or sun, the energy can be routed in large CAPACITIES from one region to another by utilizing the newly-built high voltage lines. They have been built according to the network development plan of the Bundesnetzagentur, conceived in 2015. The new lines have been financed by fees on each consumed kWh over a period of almost 20 years. The need to automatically balance supply and demand for electricity made the energy system the ultimate application case for the Digitalization wave of the late 2010`s. As a result, the whole electricity industry has been successfully digitalized and works almost autonomously.

Such a system has, after all, one large consequence: Once in place, its operational COSTs are very LOW. This allows us to draw comparisons with the telecommunication network. Once sufficient network capacity has been installed by the introduction of fibers, flatrates have been born.

Does that mean, we will at some point have an energy FLATRATE? Yes, certainly we think so. A flatrate paid by the maximum line capacity similar to today`s internet connections. And this raises a number of open question:

  • What kind of regulation is needed for such a system?
  • What kind of market design is needed?
  • What kind of communication technology is needed to drive the DIGITALISATION?
  • Who are the market actors and what does the value chain look like?

We imagine such a future and attempt to answer these questions already today. Has this awoken your interest? If so, then please feel free to get in touch with us to work on the Energy System of the Future: RELIABLE. AFFORDABLE. SUSTAINABLE

Clients and partners

RWE Innovation Hub Enel Telekom Innovation Labs Dena Lange Nacht der Startups EIT Climate kic hubraum CfE Logo Incense Energy Accelerator Cleantech Businesspark Berlin-Marzahn EIT Idea Challenge Rohrbeck Heger GmbH EIT Digital Logo vattenfall