6th European Conference on Green Power Marketing 2009
THE FUTURE OF GREEN POWER:
ACHIEVING AN ENERGY REVOLUTION
IN CHALLENGING TIMES
The European forum for market players and
decision makers in the renewable energy industry
1 and 2 October I Geneva, Switzerland
With more than 170 experts from 20 European countries and the USA, the 6th European Conference on Green Power Marketing 2009 in Geneva has proven once again to be the key European forum for market players and decisionmakers in the renewable energy industry. Our series, renowned for outstanding quality and relevance of presentations, has proven once again to be able to gather sizable audiences even in times of economic crisis and extensive cost-cutting across companies. Here a selection of our participants' comments:
A fantastic programme of key players in the sector and perfect organisation in a great location! The premier renewables marketing event!
Invest two days – and you'll know all the key players and the market in Europe!
A good opportunity to bring together players active in this challenge and to have latest milestones & projects on-site.
92 % of respondents indicated that information exchange was their main reason for coming. Networking is another important factor for 86 %. Beyond top-quality contents and organisational excellence, GPM can by now safely rely on its reputation as a networking platform. Was the conference worthwhile for our participants after all? 94 % (!) answered in the affirmative to this question! 74 % of responders said they were determined to come again to another Green Power Marketing event.
The agenda was ambitious: how achieve growth in the wake of the financial crisis? Above all, the conference aimed at giving momentum to the energy revolution which all are striving for. Participants were all but unanimous: the transition to a new energy era is feasible and already well under way, and all stakeholders are fully engaged in being part of it. However, the path into the green future is not a smooth one; “business as usual” will hardly suffice to attain the targets set by the European Commission. Several challenges need to be tackled first: (i) in policy, through effective support schemes; (ii) in infrastructure, through grid integration and extension; (iii) in finance, through extensive but stable funding; (iv) in supply, through more transparent disclosure; and, finally, (v) in demand, through more ample consideration of sustainability.
With the economy and finance in the grip of 2008’s slump, it is now politics that shows every sign of becoming a main boost for the green power market. While policy, not least with the EU RES Directive, has dashed forward to set the pace of the transition, it is no longer supply, or finance, that constitutes a bottleneck for further growth, but rather infrastructure.
The grid is a crucial factor for increasing green power flows throughout Europe. It has to keep pace with innovations in generation technology and the development of cooperation mechanisms, offshore plants and decentralised production sites. Expanding the transmission grid for cross-border transfers and increasing its flexibility represent one of the most urgent tasks facing the industry.
