Energy market at the crossroads.

Where is the energy transition taking us?
Prof. Dr. Rolf Wüstenhagen, Director, Institute for Economy and the Environment, University of St. Gallen

Professor Rolf Wüstenhagen, Good Energies Professor for the Management of Renewable Energies and Head of the Department of Economy and the Environment at the University of St Gallen, recently spoke as a visiting lecturer at the Entrepreneurial School®.

Energy was very much on the agenda at an event held in the framework of the MCI Alumni & Friends lecture series on the evening of September 24.

For Professor Wüstenhagen, the current picture shows a clear trend to the increased use of renewable energies. The ratio of non-renewable to renewable energies will shift from 80:20 to 20:80 according to the St. Gallen Professor. The reasons are to be found not only in nuclear power plant disasters like Fukushima but also, and above all, in the potential for renewable energy to benefit from economies of scale, thus leading to lower prices.

The challenge for policy makers is to take climate change seriously and to act today to set the stage for the increased use of renewable energy tomorrow and create the stable conditions needed for that purpose and at the same time, Professor Wüstenhagen added, reduce the future level of costs. The speaker also pointed out that energy storage was a particularly important aspect of the use of renewables.

The subsequent lively discussion chaired by the MCI’s Rector Dr. Andreas Altmann rounded off a successful evening.

Einladungsflyer_Wuestenhagen.pdf