Panelist
Paul Kenny
Paul joined EHPA in September 2024 as our Director General.
Paul is a mechanical engineer with a Master’s degree in energy and is recognised as a leading energy policy expert in Ireland and the EU. Paul ran a local energy agency – an organisation promoting the transition to clean energy at a local level – for eight years. As part of this role, he established an early and successful one-stop shop, which brings together home energy upgrade services for consumers. He worked as an expert for the EU’s ManagEnergy programme, which supports local and regional governments as they work towards their energy savings targets.
More recently he has worked as the policy advisor to the Irish climate and energy minister, having helped steer the transformation of the Irish energy system with a significant increase in building renovation, a large increase in heat pump and other renewable energy technology deployment. Paul worked hard to demonstrate the opportunity of heat pumps in Ireland, through both starting up a retrofit company with heat pumps at the core, academic work to provide evidence to policymakers and supporting policy development both external and internal in the Irish government.
Panel 5: How to Deal with Penetration of Renewables in the Grid?
Thursday, January 16th
16:15 – 17:45 | HG F 30 | Audi Max
Moderator: Albert Kammerer (Ansaldo Energia)
Panelists: Yunhe Hou (The University of Hong Kong), Paul Kenny (EHPA), Frank Robin Muller (Amprion), Brett Oakleaf (NREL), Andrew J. Owens (Hitachi Energy), TBC (Amprion)
Abstract:
Power grids have been built on the concept of centralized power production. Large power units in the 10-1’000 MWe range provide steady base load power supply which is dispatchable on demand. Their capacity has been typically matching the local demand for power and therefore providing a stable and reliable power system. However, with the ever increase of renewables, the existing power grids must adapt. Several factors strain the capacity of power grids: intermittency of renewable power, increased distance for power transmission, lack of large-scale storage and lack of reactive power. This panels addresses this trend and highlights the challenges and possible solutions.
