POWER-GEN Europe and Renewable Energy World Europe 2013 announce keynote speakers

Conference programmes to address investment and integration

London, UK, 9 April 2013 – POWER-GEN Europe and its co-located event Renewable Energy World Europe, the leading event for the international power industry, has announced its opening keynote speakers for 2013 and unveiled more details on its conference programmes which will focus on the entire spectrum of the power generation industry.

Reinhold Mitterlehner, Austria’s Federal Minister, Economy, Family & Youth, and Alexander Novak, Russian Minister of Energy, will be representing government.  Philippe Cochet, President of Alstom Thermal Power, and Marc H. Hall, Director for Energy, Wiener Stadtwerke, will speak on behalf of industry.

A viable framework for investment in new generation and supporting infrastructure must be put in place if Europe’s 20-20-20 targets if to be achieved and this will one of the major topics being addressed at the conference.  Europe aims to transform its power market through a more climate-friendly energy policy and more renewables, but this has to be enabled in the most cost-efficient way.

The Renewable Energy World Europe conference programme will examine the issues facing those building and operating utility scale renewable energy facilities. Strategic sessions will look at the competitiveness of the sector, policy and finance as well as managing risk. As the event is in Austria, hydro power will take centre stage both as a generator of baseload capacity and as a storage mechanism. Electricity storage is another theme that is addressed in both conference programmes and several new and innovative approaches will be examined. There will also be sessions on wind and solar technology as well as the important role that bioenergy is now playing, especially in combined heat and power applications.

Greater integration of the national energy markets in the EU is reliant on new, large-scale transmission infrastructure to support the trading of electricity between countries and to connect remotely-located renewable generation plant to centres of consumption.  There will be a joint conference track dedicated to looking at how the integration of power grids is gaining momentum, and the practical steps and investment decisions being taken in the areas of interconnection, large-scale reinforcement and offshore transmission.

Technologies, retro-fit and modernisation projects that achieve significant increases in efficiency will be featured in the presentations offered at POWER-GEN Europe.

“Our industry is undergoing a period of major and complex change. Emerging successfully from this transition will be those individuals and organisations that have embraced the change, developed and adopted new technologies and implemented visionary business strategies,” said Nigel Blackaby, conference director. “It is increasingly important that power professionals come together to discuss industry issues, become acquainted with new technologies and build the business networks that will open doors to new commercial and personal opportunities. The three days of POWER-GEN Europe offers all this through its comprehensive strategic and technical conference sessions, its vast exhibition floor and various networking events.”

This is the first occasion that POWER-GEN Europe has been held in Vienna in its 21- year history. Austria straddles western and eastern Europe and the event in June offers a valuable opportunity to share experiences between electricity professionals from every part of the continent.  Despite the challenging market conditions in Europe, there will be more exhibitors than ever in Vienna and a conference programme of high quality presentations across nine parallel tracks. For more information and the full conference programmes please visit the respective websites: www.powergeneurope.com and www.renewableenergyworld-europe.com

-ENDS-

About PennWell events

POWER-GEN Europe and Renewable Energy World Europe are owned and organised by PennWell Corporation. These events form part of a series staged annually in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, and provides exhibitors with an international ‘one-stop-shop’ for penetrating markets and presenting their products and services to a global audience. For delegates and visitors, the events offer a dedicated forum tailored to their specific regional needs, putting them in touch with suppliers of solutions to their particular problems. The conferences address topical issues critical to the development of power generation in the host region. www.powergeneurope.com 

Media contact:

Amy Redhead
Tel:  +44 (0) 20 7242 8867
Email: amy.redhead@aspectuspr.com 
Web: http://www.aspectuspr.com