Siemens Grid Software chief Sabine Erlinghagen demystifies the digital solutions to enable a 21st-century, future-proof grid.
Electricity demand is predicted to at least triple by 2050, and by 2030 there is expected to be a seven-fold increase in distributed energy resources, a potential 18-fold rise in electric vehicles, and 50 million more heat pumps in Europe. All of which will put an intolerable strain on many grids which Sabine Erlinghagen says are already “at full capacity.” However, she adds that this problem can be fixed… and the solutions lie in digitalisation and software. She explains how.
What are the most urgent challenges the grid is facing?
It’s clear that many grids, particularly distribution grids, are at full capacity and can’t take new connection requests for distributed energy resources. The hardware infrastructure that would need to be built to support this increased demand would take years to come to fruition. Increasing grid capacity whilst keeping it stable at decentralised and intermittent resources is one of the most prevalent challenges we face right now. To understand just how urgent this is — in some parts of Europe it’s estimated that we need to double the grid capacity in seven years. To solve this, we need to start thinking smart and fast to develop solutions that work at speed and scale. This is where software and digitalisation come […]
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Image : Enlit – Sabine Erlinghagen, CEO of Siemens Smart Infrastructure
