Following its biennial rhythm, this year’s KELI took place in Bremen from May 10 to 12, 2022. The conference was again rounded off by an accompanying trade exhibition with 12 exhibitors from the fields of electrification, automation, drive technology, engineering software, IT security, control systems and cyber security. Around 230 participants from Germany and abroad used the KELI as platform to find out about the latest KELI trends and discuss the technical challenges of current energy policy. Traditionally, the conference already began on the eve of the first day of the event with ample opportunity for professional and personal exchange and for visiting the trade exhibition at the informal get-together. On the following two days, ten sections focused on the following topics:
- Cyber security and IT security from the perspective of operators, manufacturers and service providers with regard to existing power plant automation and new approaches such as artificial intelligence (AI), functional safety and SIL requirements,
- System supporting controller behaviour and robustness against frequency gradients,
- Grid connection procedures for power plant operators complex and difficult to handle: exchange on views of a certifier and project experiences of an operator,
- Electrical safety,
- Extensive modelling, virtual power plant and central control rooms,
- Causes and effects of torsional vibrations on power plant turbine sets in the environment of changed grid conditions,
- News and innovations in diagnostics and maintenance,
- Optimisation and lifecycle considerations to improve economic efficiency and maintain future viability.
Decarbonisation of the energy supply eclipses all previous changes in industrial development. In his plenary lecture on “Decarbonisation with hydrogen – generation and operation of H2 in the energy system”, Stefan Basenach impressively described the challenges involved. On the one hand, the availability of existing (conventional) energy supply must be ensured until the last day, and on the other hand, these existing energy locations must be transformed into energy factories. The production of green hydrogen plays a decisive role in this transformation process.
The use of existing plants offers considerable advantages in terms of licensing issues, infrastructure, technology, know-how and, above all, personnel – an important resource whose scarcity is already becoming apparent today. Existing plants thus offer optimal conditions to continue to function as the backbone of a secure and CO2-neutral energy supply in the future. However, this requires significant changes in the operation of these plants. Today’s energy sites will develop into complex process plants and the simultaneous handling of a wide variety of energy sources (electricity, H2, heat, biofuels) requires extensive digitalisation of the processes. Without corresponding digitalisation and automation, neither generation and distribution nor the energy system as a whole will function.
In another plenary lecture by Harald Weber on the topic of “Ways to a secure and stable fully regenerative electrical energy supply”, the hydrogen storage power plant project “Reference Object Lausitz” (RefLau) in the Schwarze Pumpe Industrial Park was used as an example to show how completely new approaches to grid control and system management can be used to move towards fully regenerative electrical energy supply. Since the Watt steam engine, grid stability has been ensured by a staged system consisting of instantaneous reserve, primary, secondary and tertiary control. New volatile feed-in, in particular wind power and photovoltaics, are creating new regulation and control options for the grid. With increased decommissioning of conventional power plants, renewables must take over the tasks of securing grid stability and must also be able to safely control incidents up to island grid operation. This is a task that must be solved jointly by research institutions, manufacturers and associations.
The plenary lectures were expanded upon in a panel discussion on “Digitalisation on the way to becoming the key to the energy system of the future”. Operators and manufacturers discussed the topics of decarbonisation, digitalisation and automation and their impact on the future energy market. The outstanding role of networking and cooperation of all actors in the energy system was emphasised again. In addition, driving and flanking regulatory aspects are of great importance to demonstrate and prove the need and benefit of a cross-sectoral certification of green energy in order to comply with the upcoming EU programmes and to support decarbonisation.
As with the get-together on the previous evening, there was ample opportunity for intensive technical exchange and networking at an evening event at the end of the first day of the conference.
The section contributions of the second day were each concluded by short discussions of the papers held. It was noted that the overall mood was positive and that the conference participants continue to attach great importance to the KELI topics in order to adequately meet the challenges of a secure energy supply. In this context, autonomous sites and power plants are playing an increasingly important role.
University students, who can attend vgbe events free of charge, also took part in this year´s KELI conference. Around 15 students took advantage of the offer and actively participated in the lecture programme and seized the opportunities to establish networks. As already mentioned, the shortage of skilled personnel is one of the most serious current and future problems. Such vgbe events and the new networks established at the conference result in interesting contacts for prospective engineers as well as for operators and manufacturers.
The vgbe conference team would like to thank all participants, speakers and exhibitors for their interest and participation and looks forward to meeting again at the next KELI, which is scheduled to take place in Essen from May 14 to 16, 2024.
For more information, please visit the new vgbe event platform and vgbe energy journal.
