Recap of the NEFI Technology Talk: ElWG – Updates for Manufacturing Companies

© OÖ Energiesparverband

The new Electricity Industry Act (ElWG) introduces a wide range of changes for customers, electricity producers, and all other market participants. It establishes a modern framework for a fundamentally transformed electricity market shaped by renewable energy, digitalisation, and decentralised generation. Incentives for flexibility, such as dynamic electricity pricing and grid access, system-supporting storage, bidirectional charging, and the opening of markets for flexibility services, are intended to improve overall system efficiency.

The focus of the event hosted by the OÖ Energiesparverband on 14 April in Linz was on what these changes concretely mean for manufacturing companies, and how businesses can make use of new opportunities such as flexibility, storage solutions, and energy sharing to reduce costs and enhance supply security.

In his opening remarks, Dr. Gerhard Dell, Energy Commissioner of Upper Austria and Managing Director of the OÖ Energiesparverband, outlined the current status and outlook of the energy transition in industry. Dr. Benedikt Ennser, Head of the Energy Section at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs, Energy and Tourism, presented the legal changes for businesses introduced by the ElWG. The technical implications for companies were explained by Prof. Dr. Alfons Haber, Board Member at e-control. The NEFI offering for companies was presented by Christiane Egger, Deputy Managing Director of the OÖ Energiesparverband and member of the NEFI innovation network steering committee.

The second part of the event focused on opportunities for flexibility in industrial energy systems and the intelligent use of storage technologies. Dr. Kerstin Pfleger-Schopf, Deputy Head of Chair and responsible for operational NEFI management at the Technical University of Leoben, provided an overview of demand side management and presented concrete tools for leveraging flexibility options. This was followed by a presentation from Dr. Gerald Steinmaurer, Head of the Center of Excellence and Energy Research at the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, on intelligent energy storage solutions.

The event was attended by more than 80 participants, who actively engaged in discussions with the experts and raised highly targeted questions on the topics presented. The event concluded with informal networking and expert discussions over refreshments. This NEFI Technology Talk was organised by the NEFI partner OÖ Energiesparverband.