Welcome to the latest issue of Future Power Technology.
This month, we turn our attention to the Ukraine crisis, and consider what the impacts of Russia’s invasion could be on the region’s power infrastructure. While needs such as food, medicine and housing are among the most pressing for the millions of people displaced by the war, heat, light and power are no trivial things, and each family moved from Ukraine reshuffles the balance of supply and demand for European power.
Poland, in particular, has become a focal point of this crisis, with close to two million Ukrainians displaced to Poland alone, putting significant pressure on a national energy mix that was already mired in the complexities of transitioning away from a generations-old reliance on coal. With no end in sight to the hostilities, we ask how Europe’s energy markets will adapt to this sudden shift in power demand, and whether adaptable thinking could make or break Europe’s new energy landscape.
Elsewhere, we consider some of the latest cutting-edge technologies to be trialled in the power industry, from sophisticated monitoring technology at Welsh hydropower plants to augmented reality glasses in German nuclear facilities. The technologies themselves are nothing new, but any successful implementation of such processes on an industrial scale is something to be celebrated, and we ask what the future could hold for such technological innovation in the power industry.
We also look at two challenges facing the global energy industry on a much broader scale. Colorado is grappling with simultaneous needs to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels and expand its grid infrastructure, while the power sector as a whole is starting to pick the pieces up after two years in the quagmire that is the Covid-19 pandemic. How the decision-makers in these sectors respond to these crises could set a precedent for similar challenges in the energy industry, and will set the tone for generations of change to come.
For all this, plus our usual range of news and views, plus the latest from Ukraine, read on.
JP Casey, editor