Power Electronics and Renewable Energy Systems – a perfect match for a sustainable society

The energy consumption is steadily increasing very rapid due to more people on the earth, better<br />living conditions as well as we are trying to live in areas where the energy demand is high. The<br />economy growth in the last century has not been possible without low prize of energy which has been<br />achieved by fossil fuels. Looking into the future – the fossil fuel resources have a time limit – which<br />can appear faster than expected – both because of the limited resources but also because the market<br />can suddenly increase the prize. Therefore there is a demand to come up with sustainable energy<br />solutions for energy production like wind turbines, hydro power as well as photovoltaics. At the same<br />time it is evident that by the use of new technology it is possible to make energy saving. In both<br />situations power electronics are making this possible – we are using power electronics to interface<br />renewable sources to maximize the energy yield from wind turbines and photovoltaics as well as<br />smoothly integrate it to the grid. Also in many applications we use power electronics to interface a load<br />with the grid and control the behavior of the electrical equipment according to the demand. In many<br />cases power electronics is able to ensure a large amount of energy saving like in pumps, compressors<br />as well as in ventilation systems. Also the transportation gain a lot of using electricity instead of fossil<br />fuel – clearly made possible due to the power electronics. <br /> Denmark is one of the societies which have been the frontier of implementing the renewable<br />technology and has today covered more than 50 % of the electrical energy consumption by means of<br />renewable and has as ambition to be fully independent on fossil fuels in 2050. Already in 2035 100 %<br />of the electricity will be covered by renewables. At the same time the energy consumption has not<br />really increased for 20 years despite the GDP has grown by more than 60 % - much is enabled by<br />energy efficient technologies based on power electronics. So renewables and power electronics are a<br />perfect tool for a sustainable society.