These are turbulent times for Europe’s power sector. Fabien Roques, Senior Vice President, Compass Lexecon and POWER-GEN Europe and Renewable Energy World Europe Advisory Board member discusses how to survive the storm, flexibility is more important than ever.
As Aesop’s fable of the oak and the reed begins, there is a storm coming. The tall and mighty oak proudly boasts that only he will be strong enough to survive the oncoming winds and that the humble reed in his shadow will surely perish for being too weak. The reed remains quiet, but come the morning the oak has broken in two while the reed remains standing.
The moral of this story? Flexibility is vital. And today’s energy industry should take note.
The sector is undergoing a profound transformation and to weather the turbulent changes of a switch to renewables, power generators will need to bend like the apocryphal reed. As the stubborn oak discovered to its cost – resistance is futile.
What’s driving this? In a word, renewables. After years of discussion we’re finally moving into a new power paradigm, with renewable generation and active consumers – the so-called pro-sumers – at its core – and at quite some speed.
