The CIGRE Paris session, which ended just four weeks ago, was a mix of optimism and anxiety. The conference was attended by more than 9,000 attendees from 120 counties, out of which 35% were from the electrical utilities and 25% from the manufacturing sector. In past sessions, attended by PTR, focus was on optimization and improvements to make the grid more efficient, communicative, and more secure. These themes, though still present, took a back seat as much of the world faces an unprecedented energy crisis. As all attendees in CIGRE already know, this will only be possible with massive investments made to existing and new infrastructure, at a scale never seen. According to IEA, global electricity grid investments reached USD 290 billion in 2021. However, all stakeholders at the conference agreed this investment needs to increase several fold to ensure that the power grid is ready for clean energy transition.

Four members from the PTR team attended CIGRE 2022 session: Mike Sheppard, Chris Burg, Saqib Saeed, and Greg Sheppard. Below is their take on the conference and a summary of the key findings:

PTR’s Head of Research, Saqib Saeed, interviewed Peter Wells (CEO of Smart Wires) in Paris at CIGRE 2022. Peter brings over three decades of leadership experience in the clean energy sector, from products & services to manufacturing. Prior to joining Smart Wires, Peter was the CEO of Onshore Wind for Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa at GE Renewable Energy and has held positions of SVP and COO at VESTAS Americas and CEO at UpWind. PTR thanks Peter Wells for doing this interview with us and sharing his insights on the inhibitors and accelerators of energy transition.