In an exclusive interview with Enlit, the CEO of the German Energy Agency (DENA), Andreas Kuhlmann, says it’s time to speed up the energy transition, not just in Europe, but across the world, and innovative start-ups often hold solutions that needs support.
Kuhlmann acknowledges that the current energy crisis has created a difficult short-term situation for Germany in particular, but he believes the current circumstances should be a catalyst to accelerate change.
“It’s a very difficult situation for Germany indeed. So we really have to push the button,” he insists.
“On one hand, we have to make some detours regarding coal and all this fossil stuff, because we have the gas problem. But on the other hand, we really have to speed up accelerating renewable energy efficiency, and all the other innovation issues. I mean, this is the time to be at energy transition.”
Find out more about:
Enlit on the Road
The German Energy Agency (dena)
Horizon Europe: Five EU projects made in Germany
Kuhlmann, who is a qualified physicist, believes that while new technologies are the key to the energy transition, a long-term perspective is required in order the lay the building blocks for change.
“The thing is that if we really want to be successful with energy transition and fighting climate change, we need to have a longer perspective, because it’s about infrastructure,” he explains.
“It’s about building all that stuff, renewables and everything. It’s about changing habits as well. So we really have to kind of organize [ourselves] in a specific way, have a long perspective.
“But on the other hand, we need to be open for changes. Because my experience is every five years, we get new things, impulses, which maybe help us. It’s in this crisis right now, with all the high energy prices, we also see the huge dynamic, many people are really thinking, well, what can I do to be independent to have a cheaper in the future? And what today it’s difficult, but I think it will help.”
Kuhlmann, who is also Chairman of the DENA Management Board, helped create the international innovation initiative ‘Start Up Energy Transition’, which now brings together around 1,500 startups from all over the world. He believes the current crisis will help foster more innovation.
“It is a crisis indeed, and we have to take care of people at the moment, those people who can’t afford energy prices…it’s a very big issue for the governments, I think, not only in Germany,” he notes.
“There are chances, high prices change the mind of the people, and of the companies. Everybody is now looking for innovation for energy efficiency for renewable solutions. So nobody’s looking for cheap fossil solutions, but cheap, renewable solutions. And I think that will really help startups innovation, and that also will help us fighting climate change.”
Watch the full video for further insights from the interview, which took place at the SET Tech Festival in Berlin.
Join Enlit Europe in Paris and be part of the conversation about the energy transition
in Europe and beyond.
