• How quickly will electric heat pumps and micro-CHP grow?
• What is the scale of this opportunity for network operators?
• What challenges will they bring?
• How can the challenges be mitigated?

• Strategic development of new technologies related to smart grids and smart communities
• Model for future environment-friendly smart urban community, contribution to international standard establishment
• Positive energy building, EV car-sharing system powered by PV systems, energy consumption visualization and Community Energy Management System as building blocks for a smart urban community

• Smart grid environments are creating exponentially more data, enabling the deduction and generation of information never available before
• The big opportunity for higher efficiency lies in the combination of multi-dimensional data from many different sources based on deep industry expertise
• Building upon e.g.

• Key learning’s from M2M systems
• Challenge in managing data tsunami from smart meter monitoring system
• Concentrating on business driver: role of SLAs
• Tackling performance issues by a problem solving organization vs. by a pure asset replacement strategy

• What are the region’s drivers to move towards smart grids?
• Understanding the potential of modern technologies, such as smart metering for new business models and value-added services
• Challenges and potential of renewable integration - is CEE catching up?

• What is new on VPP in the Grid Management context?
• Who participates from a  VPP approach?
• How to start today with VPP

• Power shortages in Japan after March 11 earthquake
• Expectations of smart metering and demand response
• Experiences in the summer of 2011 and 2012

26 years after the Single European Act - are we any closer to a single electricity market? T&D developments – market activity or political issue?

The structure of the electricity system is changing fast. Rapid deployment of renewables, the needs to decarbonise European activities and the aging electricity system infrastructure present a significant and growing challenge to transmission and distribution systems across Europe.

What started with smart meters, originally devised for accurate billing, has spun into a multi-billion euro industry, where progressive utilities, new market entrants and pioneering technologies are opening up unparalleled commercial opportunities for savvy players in an incredibly dynamic and intensely competitive space. Progressive utilities are placing the consumer at the heart of smart grid and are devising transparency in billing and various consumer engagement programmes to build rapport and trust. 

• Presentation of a comprehensive model to quantify the effects of e.g. demand response on required network investments and electricity generation capacity
• Results of three scenarios show a robust positive NPV for the implementation of a smart grid
• Why is this asserted result hard to accomplish?