Bardan Cells Director and Founder Cameron Edwards was in Munich last week attending the The smarter E Europe from the 11th - 13th May. This event was the first big post COVID electrical energy storage conference in Europe and showcased over 480+ providers of power storage solutions and products. The event featured four exhibitions - Intersolar Europe, ees Europe, Power2Drive Europe and EM-Power Europe.
“Creating a new energy world” was the theme of The smarter E Europe, Europe's largest platform for the energy industry. The focus was on renewable energies, decentralisation and digitalisation of the energy industry as well as cross-sector solutions from the electricity, heat and transport sectors.
Key takeaways according to Cameron were:
"The sector has significantly accelerated in the last two years with major advances in applications, energy distribution and integrated solutions. This appears to be the focus for European companies. The number and breadth of EV charging solutions was unexpected.
There was little in the way of cell manufacturing and upstream companies. Almost all companies integrated Asian cells/ packs & modules into energy solutions. Still little interest on where the materials come from and a blissful ignorance of how to grow supplies of critical raw materials. Many new entrants and the older established companies seemed like dinosaurs with lipstick. Brand spending can’t help them but acquisitions will.
Thermal management was especially unsophisticated. Little evidence of how to speed up the grid transformation even with greater renewables coming on line. The greatest surprise was how fast projects can progress these days in times of crisis. The Ukraine invasion has turbocharged projects, some even without approvals in Germany! The European hydrogen fetish only seems to be growing. Energy security trumps sustainability. I look forward to seeing these technological solutions developing."
Cameron Edwards, Munich - Germany, 2022 @ The smarter E Europe