The ‘COVID-19:
Accelerating a Better Energy Future for All’ online conference took place on 17 June, marking the
launch of the Road to Congress 2022 online event series. Minister of Energy of the
Russian Federation Alexander Novak and Secretary General and CEO of the World
Energy Council Angela Wilkinson were joined by leading experts in the energy
sector to discuss their vision of the transition to a ‘new normal’ after the
crisis. The conference was organized by the Roscongress Foundation and the
World Energy Council with the support of the Global Energy Association and
Rosseti.
Whether in terms
of falling energy demand, low oil prices, delays in payments, reduced capital
spending or, at the same time, improved environmental conditions, COVID-19 has
become a significant stressor for the global energy sector, its consequences
still uncertain. The possible scenarios for the flexible adaptation of the
sector to a new, post-crisis ‘normal’ formed the main topic of discussion at
the online conference.
Director General
of Rosseti Pavel Livinsky, Managing Director and Global Head of Commodity
Strategy, Global Research at RBC Capital Markets Helima Croft, and Member of
the Management Board of E.ON and CEO of Innogy Leonhard Birnbaum participated
in the discussion alongside Alexander Novak and Angela Wilkinson. President of
the Global Energy Association Sergey Brilev moderated the event.
Even
though the crisis is not over yet, we can already come to certain conclusions.
Global economy faced an unprecedented shock, unpredictable market behaviour,
changes to the very fabric of everyday life. With main economic indices going
down by 5%, the energy industry was bound to feel the effect. In April we saw
the demand for oil products decrease by 28–30%. However, the industry stayed
intact. Production of electricity, high-quality oil products, coal – nothing
was interrupted,” said Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation Alexander
Novak.
Minister
also noted that the future structure of the energy industry is bound to change,
thus the current forecasts will have to be changed accordingly. For instance,
the share of hydrocarbon energy was expected to
go down to 75% by 2040 from the current 85%. Yet now it is clear that this rate
will be lower. According to Alexander Novak, an implosion in IT, digital
systems and cloud technologies is imminent and it will without a doubt impact
the energy industry.
The key issues the speakers focused on during the ‘COVID-19:
Accelerating a Better Energy Future for All’ online conference included the
system’s ability to respond to crises of this kind, the possibility of
achieving energy balance, the cost of producing traditional and renewable
energy, and the centralization of energy networks.
“We are soon going to witness
the largest-scale redistribution of global capital in history, and making the
right investment decisions is more important than ever before. The global
energy community needs guidance, and the solution can be found in the exchange
of best practices and study of potential future scenarios. The World Energy
Congress offers a unique platform for this, bringing together representatives
of the energy community alongside new players and new users of a
consumer-oriented energy system,” said CEO of the World Energy Council Dr
Angela Wilkinson.
“The whole
situation with COVID-19 has once again confirmed that fast-tracking the
introduction of new technologies into all kinds of industries, from retail to
electric power, is the only way forward. It is largely thanks to the fact that
digital transformation has been one of Rosseti’s priority objectives in recent
years that the Russian power network has shown great resilience in the face of
challenges during the pandemic,” said Director
General and Chairman of the Management Board of Rosseti Pavel Livinsky.
The event took place with media support from the
Russia-24 and Bloomberg TV channels and Energy Policy magazine.
A recording of the event is available to view on the 25th World Energy Congress website, the Roscongress Foundation website and the YouTube channel of the 25th World Energy Congress.