Season 1

EU Action Plan for the Digitalisation of the Energy System in CEE - Panel 3- TEB 2nd Forum

· 44m

TL;DR

Digitalization is crucial for Europe's energy transition, enabling grid optimization, renewable integration, and consumer empowerment, but faces regulatory and cyber security hurdles.

Synopsis

The panel discusses the EU's digitalization action plan, emphasizing the need for implementation, data interoperability, and regulatory reform to accelerate the energy transition. Experts highlight the potential of AI and digital twins to optimize grid capacity and integrate more renewables, moving beyond worst-case scenario planning. However, challenges include data silos, cyber security risks, and the slow pace of regulatory adaptation, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe. The discussion also covers the unique advantages of smaller CEE countries for innovation, the importance of investing in European digital technologies, and the need for standardized solutions to ensure equitable access and consumer empowerment. Critical vulnerabilities like widespread default passwords for PV inverters and the disconnect behavior of older PV installations are raised as major cyber security and grid stability concerns.

Key metrics

by the numbers · 8

1 GW
Bland wind and PV capacity
2.5 GW
Bland total installed capacity
62 years
Average UK transformer age
2,200 GW
US grid connection backlog
3 GW
Europe's spinning reserve
10 times
PV capacity vs. spinning reserve
0000
Common inverter password
9 GW
Austria's installed PV capacity

Topics

8 tags

Digitalization PolicyGrid OptimizationAI in EnergyData SharingCyber SecurityRenewable IntegrationRegulatory ReformCEE Energy Transition

Stats

Duration: 44m
Words: 7.0k
Questions: 27

Timeline

10 chapters

Austrian R&D for Digitalization
Sabina discusses Austria's R&D policies supporting the 4Ds of energy transition and international cooperation programs like Clean Energy Transition.
EU Policy Implementation Gap
Angela highlights the challenge of implementing high-level EU action plans and the difficulty of achieving a clear, unified vision among diverse experts.
AI and Digital Twins for Grid Optimization
Barat explains how AI and digital twins can move grid operations beyond worst-case scenario planning, enabling greater integration of renewables and EVs by using real-time data.
Bland Energy's Hybrid Parks
Michel details Bland Energy's experience with high renewable penetration (1 GW wind/PV, 2.5 GW total capacity) and the implementation of hybrid parks combining wind, PV, and BESS, requiring extensive digitalization.
Industry View on Grid Challenges
Alish from Siemens Energy discusses the unprecedented challenges to energy grids due to rapid renewable growth, increased consumption from heat pumps and EVs, and the need for digitalization.
European Digital Technology Investment
Sabina emphasizes the strategic importance for Europe to invest in its own digital technologies to reduce dependence on non-European suppliers and accelerate scale-up from research to market.
Equitable Digital Access in CEE
Angela addresses how the EU action plan can ensure equitable access to digital infrastructure in CEE, advocating for standardized technology adoption to allow these regions to build on Western European solutions.
Utility Data Sharing Challenges
Michel discusses the difficulties utilities face in sharing data, highlighting security concerns for online data and the need for standardization, trust, and clear governance frameworks.
CEE as Innovation Leaders
Alish argues that smaller CEE countries have a unique advantage for driving energy innovation due to their more controllable systems, citing examples of successful collaborations and technology development.
Cyber Security Risks of PV Inverters
Barat raises a critical cyber security threat: the widespread use of default passwords (e.g., '0000') on PV inverters across Europe, which could lead to a continental blackout given the high installed PV capacity versus spinning reserve.

Key insights

5 takeaways

01
Regulatory courage needed for grid optimization
Current regulations often rely on worst-case scenarios, leaving significant grid capacity unused. A shift in regulatory mindset is required to fully leverage digital technologies like AI and dynamic line rating for real-time optimization.
02
CEE countries are innovation leaders
Smaller Central and Eastern European countries, with their more manageable systems, are proving to be fertile ground for developing and testing innovative digital energy solutions, rather than merely following Western Europe.
03
Data silos hinder energy system progress
Despite abundant data, its fragmentation across different systems and reluctance to share between utilities, startups, and researchers significantly impede innovation and efficient grid management.
04
Cyber security is critical grid vulnerability
The widespread use of devices like PV inverters with default passwords poses a continental blackout risk, far exceeding Europe's spinning reserve capacity, demanding immediate regulatory and manufacturing intervention.
05
European digital tech independence crucial
Europe's over-reliance on non-European digital technologies for critical infrastructure introduces significant security risks, necessitating faster development and market adoption of indigenous solutions.

Pull quotes

6 quotes

What is missing is that we have to bring this into implementation.
Angela
So we're leaving out a lot of grid capacity on the table. So we can be integrating lot more renewable energy.
Barat
The two biggest challenges is the topic of data structure, data quality, decision making.
Michel
Digitalization is really the lowhanging fruit.
Alish
It's really key that in Europe we invest more in their own digital technologies because we at the moment too much in dependent on Chinese and US technologies and that's really a risk for this critical infrastructure.
Sabina
The spinning reserve of Europe is approximately 3 GW and we have 10 times that amount of photoolike installed in Europe and cyber security is extremely important in this situation and do the most famous password for all these inverters that is connected there 0000
Barat

Transcript1010 cuesClick a timestamp to jump

I would immediately come to the
questions and would like to start with
Sabina some regulatory perspective.
So what do you think what are the
implications of the EU action plan for
digitalization of the energy system
research and innovation and how would
you address this in Austria?
>> Yeah, thank you very much for the
question and thank you for the
invitation. I think first of all I
can echo that we really also
support the 4Ds of energy transition.
We also have implemented this principles
in all our R&D policies in the
ministry of innovation. Yeah, we are
responsible for energy R&D. So in my
case for the energy programs and for
industrial transformation
and there of course all these
topics are funded in different R&D
programs. So we have the major
program is the energy R&D program.
it's located in the Camden energy fund
but since two years we are funding it
also additionally from the ministry.
we have especially for this
digitalization which is a it's a cross
cutting topic it's an own research
priority in most of the programs in
energy transition of course we have a
specific focus on it but we have
other programs where we also see more
and more digital projects coming up
like for example in the metro cities
in the industrial transformation
information or in programs of mobility
or heat transition and that's the
national part and of course we also are
working a lot with international
programs it was mentioned by Angela the
clean energy transition which is the
major one for energy projects where you
can really cooperate with countries
30 countries I think you only need
three partners from three different
countries but it's really a good
opportunity But still there is a
need to integrate better these
central and European countries because
it there are lacking I think research
partners from that side and we also have
IA programs where you can also
cooperate with I think more than 50
countries in the world and there are
many in all different energy
energy topics.
>> Thank you very much. So to continue with
angular you already touched the legal
framework in your talk as well and
Sabina mentioned some challenges ahead.
So from your perspective what the
current are the current and planned
politics on European and even local
level sufficient or is there anybody
thing missing what would you like to
have there if you can choose anything?
>> Yes. as I already mentioned in my
speech there are many things happen
in Europe and also the European
action plan is very have high goals
and I think this is very good but
what is missing is that we have to
bring this into implementation.
So when I talk about my topic I yes and
so we thought we will start a
revolution. So we point out a
clear methodology, a clear way how to
work together, specify together and so
on and then everything would be
interoperable. So that's what we
thought. Now it's about five or seven
years later and we don't have the
community in the energy sector yet.
So what I learned is that we have to
take smaller steps but we have to do
them and I think that is really
important al also on European level
I'm in the smart energy expert
group from u from the commission and
there's u so many experts on their topic
and it's so hard to bring them together
to develop a clear vision because
everybody is
sees his own expertise, his own topic is
one of the most important and then it's
very hard to get this overall picture.
But this is what we will need in the
next years and we have to accelerate
this and there are so many solutions we
can use them. If we combine them then we
can make two steps in one
approach.
>> Thank you very much. So you need an
energy bridge you would like to say with
that.
Okay then I would like to go to the
research point of view now. So but you
as well coming back to your talk a bit.
So you talked about digital twins
obviously and that predictive analytics
are often mentioned as game changers
together with dig digital twins. so
from your perspective again how close
are we to moving beyond pilots and
toward real deployment and if digital
process twins were integrated tomorrow
what immediate benefit would utilities
like Bungland and GC see from that?
>>.
Yeah, absolutely. like I
mentioned in my presentation, I think we
are at this AI inflection point. So
because when we transition from very
manual
engineers sitting in front of the
computer and then crunching numbers and
then doing network planning and
operation and not bringing in real-time
data and getting inputs from from you
know all these different sensors that
are out there and using them to be able
to make better informed decisions. I
think that's the turning point. So we
should be able to get all this
information that's out there and put it
into one system again single source of
truth and then use this to make
decisions. This is this is going to be
far better than what's being currently
done right now because right now so
utilities DSOs TSOs they only use worst
case scenario.
So we're leaving out a lot of grid
capacity on the table.
So we can be integrating lot more
renewable energy. We can be integrating
lot more electric vehicles, heat pumps,
so on and so forth into the current
infrastructure already if we are able to
get real-time information and predict
and optimize it better. But right
now we're not. So we're only assuming
the worst and optimizing the system
based on this worst case scenario. So I
think that needs to change immediately
and digital twins and AI can help us do
that to make better decisions.
>> Very interesting. So I now have to be
careful to not get into the discussion
working for a TSO but better continue
with Michel at this point of view. So we
already heard in the morning from Mr.
Enza about the high ambitions in Austria
regarding climate goals and
decarbonization and Bland is here in
Austria and I think in the whole of
Europe a pioneer as well regarding
integration of renewable energies and so
I guess you have already handled quite
some challenges through the introduction
of such amount of reable renewable
energies in your region and have there
been already been measures implemented
with focus on digitalization which is
our topic here and are you ready or are
you already do doing that that you share
your experiences with energy suppliers
in other regions and in particular in
central eastern Europe which is our
focus here and those might be facing
questions you had to answer already so
they could learn a lot from you I guess
>> okay good afternoon ladies and gentlemen
it's a pleasure to be here thanks for
for the invitation you mentioned
at the very beginning we should be an
energy independent so-called
2030. Yeah, that's the plan. That's the
strategy. whereas independent is
a special a special discussion maybe
what that means in particular. I take it
as a compliment actually that energy has
what do you say 150% of its
electricity needs covered by its own.
Maybe you from a TSO perspective
see that a little different maybe.
but we actually in Bergland at the
Bland are very proud of this and of
course u our portfolio at the moment
we have around 1 gawatt of wind and PV
installed at Bland Energy. In Burgland
we have around 2, 500 megawatt or 2.5 GW
of installed capacity capacity in total
and a maximum load of let's say 300
megawatt. So this also this already
implies that there's a lot of need for
digitalization otherwise we wouldn't
have a chance to feed in all that energy
and yeah what's what's the limit
actually that we see or or the biggest
challenge that we see is the limited
grid capacity we would do more if we
could yeah
mostly yes but also of course I agree
there's a lot a lot of space for
digital improvement definitely this
goes in parallel and but in
Burnland we implemented so-called
hybrid parks so we have we're coming
actually in Bland from from from the
wind production side so we developed
our wind parks starting from 1997 up to
now so we were only a wind operator
first and now we have a capacity a
grid capacity for wind and Then we add
another double capacity of wind in PV
and now we adding another
amount of B storage systems to full
hybrid parks. So we have for example 100
megawatt of grid capacity. Then we have
installed there 100 megawatt of wind,
100 megawatt of PV and then another 100
megawatt of best systems. And this
implies of course that we need a certain
amount of digitalization and the
challenges are huge. Definitely imagine
the controller for the system for
example it's very very complex to
to calculate all the incomes
that's coming from the market from the
grid operator coming from the
optimization of the grid. So this is
this is a big challenge. The
monitoring is a challenge because the
the digitalization components that you
use are all of different generations. So
you need to get that on a certain level
and what I see is the two biggest
challenges is the topic of data
structure, data quality, decision
making. Yes. agree. But from a
system security perspective, the data
quality is decisive. And of course,
we're coming in into a power system,
so-called democratic energy system.
that is a very welcome way, but it also
on the other hand increases the complex
complexity a lot. And also the topic of
cyber security is also a very big
challenge. That's what we see from our
first experience.
>> Thank you very much. So I hope we can
cover this topic as well in this panel
if we have enough time. And now we heard
the perspectives from regulatory, we
heard the research possibilities, we
heard the needs from suppliers. And now
I would come to Alish and ask you what
is Seammen's energy's take on the
digitalization of the energy systems and
do you develop tools already to help
enabling it and what is the view of the
industry in general regarding the
biggest challenges in the optimization
of the energy system and are you
actively investing in the integration of
AI for example.
>> Yeah, thank you very much for the
question. I must say I loved the
statement so far. I loved also the
presentation of Barat. I think we have a
very much in common. So in order for
this to be a discussion, we need to look
at it from a few different angles. But I
think everybody here is
completely on one page that
the challenges to the energy grids are
really unprecedented.
we have seen so much growth of
renewables and let's face it
nowadays this has indeed become the most
cost effective way how to add extra
capacity to the grid if you
want to buy build a power plant I'm not
even talking about nuclear plants but
just classical power plants it
takes a long time to do it so the
fastest and the cheapest way is to add
renewables that there is definitely no
going back from that what that does Of
course, as everybody here also knows is
that it adds a lot of uncertainty into
the system, unpredictability into the
system. We are getting much more
dependent on weather, on being
able to predict accurately what the
weather forecast looks like., and I
will also go back to what you said,
but there is a lot of data out
there, but it is in silos. we do not
have so that's why that picture
remains with me really very much you
know the data silos need to be
broken down regarding
digitalization I also think if if we say
now renewables are the answer to the
extreme growth of demand that is the
one side of the coin the other side is
also the consumption because also the
consumption has changed a lot
you have you mentioned heat pumps
electrical cars, we are talking about
electrifying everything and that adds
even further to the complexity. So I
think there is just no
alternative to digitalization of the of
the power grids and to make use of
all of this data. you mentioned
artificial intelligence. Yes, of course,
artificial intelligence is needed to
interpret all of this, but it also adds
a little bit to the problem because
artificial intelligence is one of the
biggest drivers of consumption nowadays,
So, it goes actually hand
in hand. But all of this happens you
know in a period of tremendous growth
and then we have remarkable
projects like the salsber light for
example here which we all know how long
it took to build and we just don't have
the time available in Europe to do
that consistently because we will run
out of road I'm afraid., in the US
for example, where the AI
growth is super strong, there are
estimates that I think above 2, 200
gawatt cannot be connected to the
grid. That that's about two times the
size of the entire grid. the same
situation we have in many places. And
on the other hand, how old are these
networks? in Europe on average
I heard the other day in the UK the
average age of the transformer is 62
years right so yes we also
produce very good transformers here in
Austria and yes they do last that long
but it's not something that you
should so now it's a big boom it's it's
everybody is trying to find assets to
use and to add to the grid so that's why
coming back to your question I think
digitalization is really the
lowhanging fruit. what I see as one
of the challenges however and that has
also been touched upon is the regulatory
environment because I also think that
here Europe needs a lot more courage
because everything is based on
the worst case scenario and the
regulatory bodies will need to make that
shift in order to enable guys like you
to take maximum use of this
technology. Yeah. And that's it's an
interesting future that we have in front
of us for sure.
>> Thank you. That's a perfect hand over to
Sabina with the regulatory perspective
again please. and I would like to ask
you are there any specific measures and
research priorities hearing all of that
now from the first round of questions
that should be tackled from your
perspective and what could you do to
help?
yes I can say that maybe all our
programs they are more or less challenge
driven so we don't fix the research
topic in advance we frame it quite open
so that the yeah most interesting and
and yeah the best projects can be
funded according to the needs on the
market but I want to maybe mention
some aspects that I haven't heard so
much so far. I think it's really
key that in Europe we invest more in
their own digital technologies
because we at the moment too much in
dependent on Chinese and US
technologies and that's really a risk
for this critical infrastructure. So
all the developments that are in the
process I think they need to come faster
to the market and should then also be
yeah rolled out and bought and yeah
that's also already the second point
that we need to be faster in the scale
up because in the past we did well
the innovation then it took some time
and we had some demonstration
projects and for example for the energy
communities I know it because we
financed the first projects pilot
project in the year 2008. So it took
more than 10 years 13 years until
this was established really in a
in a law. So
now we need really to
do everything at the same time. Do the
research projects then implement it in a
demonstration and fed it directly
into into the regulatory fra framework.
And for that also we have established
in some of the research programs
combinations. For example, in the
transformation of industry, you can now
apply for a research program
together with an investment program. So
you can get carpex and R&D opex funded
at the same time so that we can support
this this process from the research to
the demonstration. And the third part I
think it will be tackled in the last
session is this user aspect. I think
it's it's also very important that the
technology yeah is made for the
users and for people and that this is
already considered in the in the
research design and yeah that's
integrated and that's what we are
looking in the in the project
criteria for example we really looked at
gender aspects in the topic are
essential.
>> Thank you very much. so to come back
a bit of on the focus of this conference
to central eastern Europe and Angula
again back to you., what do you
think? How can the European Union ensure
equitable access to digital
infrastructure across urban and rural
regions in CE? Because it's, let's say,
easier in digital centers or capitals to
to have such a change, but in the rural
areas, it might be even harder. And how
does the European Union action plan
address the unique digitalization
challenges faced in these regions and
compared to Western Europe? because
already in the last panel Carol for
example mentioned that Slovika is like 5
years behind Austria concerning smart
meters and other challenges in that
regard. So what's your take on that?
>> Well the EU action plan shows that
talks about common data spaces and u
and consumer empowerment and digit
interability standards. So if you make a
roll out of digital technology then
it's use it's doesn't make
doesn't matter where you are located. So
in the central European and
eastern part they face big challenges
like they have old grits and lack of
investments and the action plan
foresee funding for that but
they should invest in standardized
technology. So in the same way
like we do in the western Europe
European countries and they can build on
on our solutions. So in the in the
example of smart meters, the first
generation of smart meters were not so
smart but now they developed and now
they can when we in roll out smart
meters in central and eastern Europe
then they can build on these experience
and we should really take care that
these investments follow these
standardized solutions well otherwise
they can't participate in digital
markets and so on. So we really should
think that harmonization on European
level is
the law there also.
>> Do if this is already
happening? Are they talking to each
other?
>> I know how how difficult it is on
European level. well I don't know if
they do it already but we have to try to
do this and really show that the
investments go in the right direction
there.
>> Okay. Thank you very much. So coming
back to the research perspective but
and I want again talk about technologies
obviously with you. So what are emerging
technologies? What emerging tech digital
technologies are most promising for
transforming the energy system after
all. And as we all know and we heard
about it in the second panel as well
already, the most valuable asset here is
data of course.
>> And is there any one major puzzle piece
missing for you which is maybe even from
regulatory perspective necessary to
facilitate data sharing which is key I
guess.
>> Yeah, absolutely. I've already
highlighted this in my presentation. I
think it's important to break the silos
first of all crossber data exchange
especially from the research perspective
because right now it's still not very
conducive at the moment it's it's it's
difficult to get data from from
different countries because of course
first of all the network
operators are very conservative and they
it's it's valuable data of course they
don't want to share this yeah in Austria
for example AIT is in Austria so that
makes it a bit more easier
compared to getting data from a network
operator outside of Austria. So we need
to somehow break these or reduce these
barriers. Yeah. In my opinion. So in
terms of digitalization technologies
themselves obviously AI there
were some in for example my first
local energy community project was
called clue project. This was in 2018
and I was a coordinator there and
back then we were pushing for
blockchain. that was like a big deal in
2018 and I can definitively say that
we will not be pursuing that anymore.
the one reason of course is because the
law of local energy community in Austria
really hinders this. There's not really
any peer-to-peer market possible
because it's energy accounting at least
in the current version of the law. So
that's definitely dead in Austria. But I
think there's still some interest in
some other parts of Europe about this
and that's actually really
interesting to see people are
still pursuing this. That's that's
actually great. yeah, I'm happy about
that. But I would say definitely AI is
the next big thing and I really
see a lot of advantages with that.
for sure. So
I hope that answers your question. I
don't if there were any other specific
technologies that you were interested
in.
>> Of course, I would be happy to talk
about any any technology with you, but I
think in looking at the time it answered
my question. Thank you. Thank you. And
so I want to pass over to Mic again. And
so we heard about in within Austria it
might be easier to get some data for
research at least. And so what do you
think? How can data sharing between
utilities, startups and public
institutions like it be intensivized to
foster innovation because I guess in the
end everybody profits from innovation
and is there something missing in
particular from Bungland and Gil's
perspective and have you set any steps
already to provide researchers and
innovators access to relevant data or
are you little bit protective of the
data?
>> It's a tricky question for utility.
The second question maybe first
yeah we do have a lot of initiatives
with universities with companies develop
developers also startups and from
this from this perspective when we when
we want to innovate or develop a product
or bring in a new solution I think to
develop this the data exchange is
not the issue actually because you can
more or less portion the data and
then or an anonymize the data and then
work on it. but when it comes to
online data it gets a little bit more
tricky and this is mostly a security
problem so far and coming back to the
first part of the question
to foster innovation
standardization that's been said
several times already that's a key issue
from my point of view also mindset is a
big topic you said smart meters I was
still at the university in the
university when the smart meters came in
the first smart meter generation and the
greatest fear of the users was then the
grid operator can see when I'm watching
TV and when I switch on my oven for
example that was the greatest fear at
that time so it's a it's also a
mindset and the data is seen as a
proprietary asset more or less and
when we want to develop the world that
we see in the future. This is must be
more seen as a shared source more or
less where everybody can profit from. I
think it's a soft a soft parameter but a
very important one and connected to
these to this parameter I see trust
and governance. I think they
they influence each other and they need
to have clear rules. Who's the owner of
the data? What's the utilization of the
data? so if you have governance you
can build in trust and then you more or
less reduce the barriers of
interconnecting and exchange data. I
think there's framework has developed in
the last years. There's a lot of things
still to do but you have a way better
framework than like 5 years ago. So
the framework is good but the solution
to really transfer the data then is very
individual still. That's a big challenge
from my point of view.
Okay, challenges ahead. Thank you very
much., Alish, you already grabbed the
mic. Very good., so CE countries are
often seen as followers in digital
energy transitions and we also heard
that from a member of parliament from
Slovakia today., how can countries
change the picture and become leader and
maybe even leaders in energy innovation
rather than followers in the EU digital
transition? And do you think that
collaboration with other institutions
like CTP and Bland Energy can accelerate
this process?
I would start with basically
disagreeing on that. because I think
actually the smaller countries
featuring in central and eastern
Europe have a really unique advantage
in the sense that they are small. So the
systems are a bit less controllable. I'm
not going to use the word sandbox, but
that is actually exactly what.
And to drive that point home, we have
actually as as Simmons energy seen some
of the most innovative solutions and
data application cases come out exactly
out of these countries. We have had a
very very fruitful cooperation in
Croatia. We have signed bit less than
a year ago a strategic cooperation
partnership with the TSO in Slovenia
with ALS exactly specifically for the
purpose of jointly developing new
technologies, new solutions.
it's it helps that most of these grids
are also quite I would say mature in the
sense of stability and they also
possess a certain I would say reserve
they must be of course you cannot try
new technologies on grids that that
are in dire need of investment. but
that that is certainly one thing. I can
also give you a very good example. We
have acquired less than a year ago a
company that is an Austrian company or
so but originally from Slovenia that
is focusing and developing
solutions for the dynamic line rating
application and dynamic line rating I
think is the most the biggest lowhanging
fruit that we have here. they have
been developing this solution for like
15 years. And how did they do it? Well,
they did it because they were able to
test it in collaboration with the local
TSO also in Austria power grid.
That is the case. So I think
innovativeness is really in the blood of
this part of the world. And but when
it comes to finding new solutions, I
would not say that we are
behind other regions. I would
actually argue the opposite. So I would
encourage everybody to do that.
>> I'm really glad to hear that honestly.
Very good. so we have still time for
next round of questions. 10 minutes.
Perfect. So I would like to get a bit
into risk and chances of digitalization
in particular and start again with
Sabina if I may. So what do you think
what impact will digital systems have on
achieving the EU's climate and sust
sustainability goals after all? Will it
be a major puzzle piece or just one
small among many?
>> Yeah, thanks for this question. I just
wanted to add to the last round because
Barat did not mention it on the AI
that we currently also open an AI
factory Austria at AIT that's a big
laboratory for learning and testing
AI innovations from Austria and it's
open for industry public and
researchers and I hope there will be
many energy related AI technologies also
de developed and tested there. yes
concerning
the digital systems of course as it
was mentioned during the day this
is a great enabler for the climate
goals but what we have seen in the past
we already heard it in other
presentations that also on the EU
level we had very different pillars
and they did not they were not
coordinated very well. So we had the
green deal with all the different
elements but we lost a little bit the
competitiveness area. So it was
not really linked to it and now we
see that we are losing competitiveness
and there are the discussions that this
need to be changed for the next
framework program that all the different
policies and it need to be linked
better together like education
policy, innovation but then also the
industrial policies and also yeah the
qualification side
and yes that's the discussion going
on the European level that really the
framework program and the EU
competitiveness fund and the industrial
policy will be integrated and yeah that
we still follow the climate goals but
also don't lose sight on the on the
competitiveness.
>> Okay, thank you very much. It's for sure
important to keep competitive and
Angula. So another big chance I think
and it was mentioned today with energy
communities and such things. So how can
digitalization empower consumers to
actively participate in energy markets
like being consumers providing demand
response and such stuff and we don't
really have to get deep into that topic
but I think it's also a very interesting
topic. how can digital tools help to
reduce energy poverty and improve energy
access in underserved communities?
probably
>> well consumers can be can profit from
digitalization because there are many
new to tools and so on but they have to
be interoperable because consumers don't
want to they want to have plugandplay
tools and not install drivers from
anywhere like we did 20 years ago. So
if if a consumer has a PV and a and a
storage and an EV u electric vehicle
for instance they need to be able
to talk together otherwise he can just
use it like we did it with for sale
cars for instance. So we really
have to look that we can provide
solutions that are harmonized together
that have platforms which can
share data and then we open the
access to new market models like this
demand response and peer-to-peer trading
and so on. So this I think we have to
do we the legal framework the
technology providers we really have to
look to provide those assets in a in an
interroper way and for vulnerable
households if they have low threshold
access to those tools then we can
provide solutions for them to make
their consumption visible and so on.
So they have already some tools to
work on this and if they are able to
participate for instance in energy
communities because they have a smart
meter and so on then there can be
solutions where we can help them
without many other efforts.
>> Okay. Thank you very much. Interesting.
and to finally address the elephant
in the room, I guess, which is data
security, cyber security.
>> Yeah, right.
>> And not you're not the elephant in the
room, but
there is of course an extensive
exchange of data and ongoing out there
and progressing digitalization beers
increased cyber security risks. So what
are the main threats or maybe the two
main threats from your perspective to
data security associated with
digitalizing energy systems and
>> what do you think how can they be
mitigated so people trust into data
transfers
>> right elephant is my favorite animal so
yeah I don't mind so I think I want to
highlight especially you're from APG
grid operator so I think it was also
mentioned earlier one of the
very important how should I put So a
concern, a security concern would be
this massive amount of photovoltaic
installations across Europe which is
reaching significant amount of
share of our energy share in Europe and
all of these are manufactured in a
different country and we don't have
control over the these devices. So the
spinning reserve of Europe is
approximately 3 GW and we have 10 times
that amount of photoolike installed in
Europe and cyber security is extremely
important in this situation and do you
know the most famous password for all
these inverters that is connected there
0000
so I think it's it's a huge
vulnerability that we are currently I
think ignoring in my opinion so we
should definitely put high focus on this
this issue and try to get control of
all this distributed inverter based
devices that are across Europe and
it's directly linked to the inertia of
Europe. The spinning reserve is 3 GW
where we can lose one nuclear power
plant in Europe and still be connected
and then the frequency is still stable.
But just imagine that there is a cyber
attack on all of these inverters and
then everything turns off. We cannot
recover from this. So there's going to
be a continental blackout. Yeah, I think
this is super important. That's why I
want to like highlight this. And of
course, I want to echo what Sabina
mentioned about the AI factory. so we
also welcome all of you to submit to
this and be part of it. Yeah, but that's
that's one of the biggest
vulnerabilities that we face right now.
>> So how do we get people to change the
passwords from 0 0?
>> I think this is directly linked to what
Angela just mentioned. So everything
needs to be automated. So we this is one
additional step is too much for a
lot of people. So this needs to be
inherently integrated into what we
sell on the European market. So there
needs to be a very strict regulation on
on cyber security and make sure that
this is somehow already integrated. So
the manufacturers need to put this
in their devices already so that it's
it's safe for everybody. And then there
should not be another step where people
go and change the password.
>> Yeah. Good point., for the Wi-Fi,
that's the case, for example, there, but
that's more important obviously to
people that nobody connects to their
Wi-Fi., for sure.
>> So, Michelle, I would like to continue
with you., what are the key barriers
to creating interoperable and secure
data ecosystems in the energy sector?
What measures have been set by Bung and
Energy, for example, to locally ensure
your data security, if you're allowed to
share that information?
of course at a certain level but
let me get back on this. Of course the
democratization of the energy system has
also its risks in cyber security. We
need to face that but not with fear
but more with just being aware of
that. That happened all the time and it
still happens and I think that that
what's we should care about. I don't
know if somebody in here knows the
50.2 hertz problem of PV starting
2000 around 2000. Yeah. Where they had a
normative regulation where they said PV
should disconnect immediately at the
frequency of 50.2 Hz or 49.8
hertz automatically because there were
just a few PV assets in the
grid. So that doesn't really matter. And
with this regulation, the first PV
increase up to 2010 2012 went into the
grid and we had gigawatt in Europe 30
40 gawatt of PV installed with this
characteristic. So if the frequency
would have gone to 50.2 hertz, you would
have lost
gawatt gawatt 10 15 20 gawatt of that
power with a primary regulation reserve
of 3 gaw. So then now another bad news
the biggest power plant in Austria is
not controllable controllable in a
way from a system security point of
view. PV again so we have more than 9 GW
of PV installed at the moment 80% of
these are not controllable from a
security point of view. So that's not
good news. And then electric vehicles
they coming into the grid. How do they
react when you have a blackout and the
grid power is coming back? How do they
react? That's crucial for getting a
stable grid grid restoration. So
these are things actually that we should
just be aware of and we should think of
when we bring in thousands of units the
digital units what is the system need
for them and what is the effect when
some something goes wrong. I know
there's always the utilities are very
conservative and they are very on
the break. but still they have their
system security somewhere in mind and
that's what breaks them a little but I
think it's a good it's a good balance if
you have the progressive way of
innovation and on the other side you
have the utilities who are okay
taking care of the of the overall
security I think in the last years we
have done a good job in Europe so far
>> that's very positive thank you for that
and so for the last question to Alish
how does a fully digitalized energy
system in CE would look like by 2030
which is in 5 years already and what
milestones must be achieved to get
there. So what will be maybe the
contribution of seammen's energy in
achieving this vision and please a short
answer because somebody's getting
nervous about it.
>> I think my colleagues touched many of
these points already but u I think
crucial is there are different
starting points to getting there. So the
first thing that needs to happen is it
was mentioned standardization
and making as much use of the
data as we can. I wish in 2030 we will
indeed have a fully digitalized energy
system. Not just in terms of putting it
to better use as we have heard, but
definitely also in terms of system
reliability and security because all of
these assets are under immense strain
and we really really are working towards
achieving a transparency of the assets
installed for TSOs so they can be
reliably used. And also last
but not least that they can be tested
virtually under difficult different
stress conditions so that we cover all
of the scenarios in a digital manner
and ensuring that the physical system
remains stable. I think that is key and
I wish in five years we're all going to
say yeah good job. Thanks.
>> Thank you very much to all of the
panelists. Was a great discussion very
interesting for me as well. Thank you.

EU Action Plan for the Digitalisation of the Energy System in CEE - Panel 3- TEB 2nd Forum

Regulatory courage needed for grid optimization

CEE countries are innovation leaders

Data silos hinder energy system progress

Cyber security is critical grid vulnerability

European digital tech independence crucial