| Professional comment: | ||
Strong growth in energy sector markets |
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| The energy sector is facing enormous investments worldwide. The investments are naturally large in rapidly growing economies, but the pace is fast also in Europe. Power generation capacity and electricity networks built a few decades ago have now come or are coming to the end of their lifetimes. They must be replaced with new ones. In addition, the EU targets for emissions reduction, renewable energy and energy saving demand large investments right across the energy sector. The International Energy Agency IEA has estimated the global energy sector investment requirement at USD 33,000 billion and USD 4,000 billion in Europe by the year 2035. Power generation and networks account for 50% of the global requirement and almost 70% of the European requirement. The remainder is investments connected with fuel supplies, processing and transport. In Finland, the investment requirement of the whole energy sector is estimated at a good 40 billion by the year 2035. Demand for new operators and ideas As a result of the climate targets and the quest for self-sufficiency, the energy sector is undergoing a more severe transitional period than ever before. Transport is a large and growing consumption sector. In transport, the trend is towards biofuels, electricity, and possibly the use of hydrogen in fuel cells. In Finland and Europe, the electricity and district heating sector are committed to carbon-neutral energy production by 2050. Finland relies on renewable energy and nuclear power. Europe also has faith in carbon capture and storage. Completely new innovations are also thought to emerge, for example in the field of energy storage. In any event, the need for new technology is acute. There is great potential for energy saving in the service industries, households, and buildings. Increased efficiency in energy production and use is clearly moving from solemn speeches to reality. The rapidly proliferated heat pumps are a good example. Exploitation of information technology brings new possibilities to energy saving, at the same time allowing local renewable energy to be used efficiently. An energy cluster enterprise that is adaptable and a pioneer in this transition period is a success story of the future. Welcome to Tampere to present new energy solutions and to learn about them! Pertti Salminen Chairman of the Executive Committee of Finnish Energy Council |
 Pertti Salminen Chairman of the Executive Committee of Finnish Energy Council |
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