Sector Coupling among most innovative areas in Energy: Lisa Davis, WEC Speaker

The 24th World Energy Congress Preview's interaction with one of Congress speakers Lisa Davis, CEO, Gas and Power, Siemens AG.

Lisa Davis, CEO, Gas and Power, Siemens AG in a brief conversation with the 24th World Energy Congress Preview emphasises on enhancing understanding of political, economic, and technological forces and trends shaping the energy industry. Edited Excerpts. 

WEC Preview: Which will be the most critical innovation areas now when the grand energy transition is rapidly accelerating?

Lisa Davis: Sector coupling, or Power-to-X, is definitely one of the most critical and interesting innovation areas. The industrial, building or mobility sectors offer significant opportunities to shift energy allocations by better integrating their high demand and storage capacities. Hydrogen technology, along with biofuels, is also heading in the same direction - emerging as one of the indispensable conversion and storage technologies for balancing demand and supply in an increasingly renewables-based energy system. They are presenting a sustainable alternative to oil and gas, given the long-term goal of decarbonising the energy sector.  

Another opportunity for innovation lies in how we manage the complexity in the grid and seamlessly integrate traditional and new elements across generation, distribution and consumption. There is a real need to address this to ensure continued reliability and also to realize the untapped potential of our power generation and delivery ecosystem. Finally, advances in the energy sector will, without a doubt, depend to a great extent on the degree to which we fully leverage the power of digitalisation. By increasing automation and intelligence in the system, rich data can be translated into better and faster operational decisions and leverage major efficiency and safety gains across the entire value chain. In the oil and gas sector, for example, service digitalisation can provide seamless monitoring of real-time conditions for optimising the uptime and performance of installation and extending the life of mission-critical equipment. Innovative approaches like these are critically important and are transforming the industry at a speed that was unimaginable just a few years ago. 

WEC Preview: What are your expectations from the 24th World Energy Congress?

Lisa Davis: As technological opportunities evolve and diversify, the energy sector needs to adjust its focus towards the right investments and innovations that accelerate sustainable progress from a systemic view. Operators need to discuss how they want to secure flexibility and supply; how they create suitable infrastructures; and how they want to enhance new possibilities to connect and turn consumers into dynamic actors. The World Energy Congress in Abu Dhabi gives us all an opportunity to enhance our understanding of political, economic, and technological forces and trends shaping the energy industry. That’s why we look forward to connecting with our customers and thought leaders from across the globe to discuss and collaborate on providing energy solutions for today….and tomorrow.

Siemens AG is the World Energy Council’s Partner. 

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DISCLAIMER: Except for the headline and minor editing, this write-up has been published from 'The 24th World Energy Congress Preview'. Devdiscourse is Media Partner of World Road Congress 2019 being organized in Abu Dhabi on 9-12 September 2019.