"We’re in the second phase of wind energy development," said Germany’s senior energy official, Thorsten Herdan.
"The first stage was to develop the technology to bring down costs. This has been done. The challenge in front of us now is the need for flexibility — in storage, grids and demand-side management," he said.
"A lot of politicians still haven’t understood that. They’re still looking for an alternative to coal and gas for baseload supply.
"Production and infrastucture have to go together. There’s no point in producing power if you can’t get it to the customer," Herdan told delegates.
‘More flexible power systems and appropriate market design will be needed for reliable and cost-effective system integration," Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, said in the same session.
"The next chapter in renewables development is to increase their penetration in the transport, construction and heating industries," he added.
"Decarbonisation efforts are disproportionately focused on the power sector, which accounts for just 20% of energy use, and not enough on heat and transport."
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