Exploring how we can better employ clean technologies in the power sector is an essential stepping stone to helping reduce global CO2 emissions. The latest CIGRE Women’s Network webinar, sponsored by BakerHicks, looked at a range of technologies within the power industry that have the potential to make a real difference.
With a panel of experts from across the sector, the online event provided insight into how clean technologies could be applied within their industry, covering everything from offshore generation and hydropower to the green supply chain.
The first speaker, Danielle Lane from Vattenfall, examined the rapid growth of offshore wind power generation over the last few years. Having witnessed a tenfold increase in the European market already, this is without doubt something that could positively influence decarbonisation. Focusing on the UK, she noted that the Government and major energy companies have agreed a target of 40GW of energy being generated by offshore wind by 2030. The knowledge to achieve this exists she said, but the question facing the industry is how to achieve it effectively, and in the time available.
Next, Gianluca Peviani of O2G looked at how we can be revamping offshore platforms as a green source of energy. He provided an electrical engineer’s view of the oil and gas industries and the current absence of hydropower. Introducing hydropower could make both industries a lot cleaner he argued, noting potential benefits in decarbonisation and cutting emissions.
Heinz Sittler from KUKBERG then took delegates through the potential benefits hydrogen offers in decarbonisation. He highlighted that one of the major obstacles to the use of renewables as opposed to fossil fuels is their cost. To maximise the use of clean, storable and environmentally friendlier fuels such as hydrogen, he argued that we must first unlock further cost reduction. This will eventually lead to its use becoming more commonplace, balancing out the power systems.
The final speaker was Sina Beckamn who provided a case study of how CO2 emissions are managed within the BMW Group. Key points included their use of renewable energy at plants and stabilising energy by storing power.
Delegates then had the opportunity to pose questions to the panel before a soft skills and networking session.
Kalliopi Karanthanasi, senior OHL engineer at BakerHicks, who sits on the committee for the CIGRE UK Women’s Network and helped organise the event, commented:
The CIGRE UK Women’s Network does great work not only in promoting careers for women in the energy sector, but in contributing to the overall development of the industry through its seminar series, and I’m proud to have the opportunity to be a part of this.
The webinar was the latest in a series of events being run by the CIGRE UK Women’s Network, further details on upcoming events can be found here.
