The organizers of the DIS Energy Group, Meike von Levetzow and Florian Cahn, welcomed the approx. 40 participants on 13 September 2023 from 11:00-12:45 am as part of the Berlin Dispute Resolution Days 2023. They spoke with Christian Güthert, Managing Director of EDF Deutschland GmbH, about the current challenges in the energy sector.
The focus was on the energy turnaround. Christian Güthert gave a brief overview of the broad offerings of EDF in Germany in the area of innovative alternatives to conventional models. This includes renewable energies, batteries, hydrogen, virtual power plants (VPP) and gas transport network as well as gas storage options. The discussion provided insights into the legal and factual challenges in the mission to accelerate Germany's transition to clean energy and shed light on how the arbitration scene can support this mission. As the biggest challenge Christian Güthert identified the transition from a small number of large nuclear or coal-fired power plants to the new market structure of a large number of small feed-in plants. In consequence, more smaller projects have to be handled with new players and the role of financial investors increases. His plea to the arbitration community was clear: smaller projects call for quicker, more efficient arbitration proceedings.
Meike von Levetzow