It is not only chemical giants or glass companies that are affected. Machine builders would also be affected in the supply chain. Industry representatives have been warning for weeks about a halt in gas supplies from Russia.

Currently, policymakers are trying to reorganize the supply side of energy. In other words: suppliers from Qatar, Australia or the USA should lend a hand and compensate for possible supply shortfalls from Russia. In addition, more gas will be coming from Norway and the Netherlands during the summer to fill the gas storage facilities for the cold months. Floating temporary liquefied natural gas terminals are expected to be available by 2023. In addition, the use of renewable energies should be expanded more rapidly. The commitment on the supply side is understandable, but the demand side seems left out in the cold.

Companies need to save energy. That's why energy managers are in demand right now. At the HANNOVER MESSE 2022, you will find the right solutions for this – not only software but also hardware. The topic of Power-to-X will play a major role. Power-to-X refers to all processes that convert green electricity / green power into chemical energy carriers for electricity storage, electricity-based fuels for mobility or raw materials for the chemical industry. Exhibitors will present complete solutions for this, in addition to components.

Moreover, direct current plays a role in industry. Direct current (DC) is considered a future key technology for integrating renewable energy sources into the production process. The decisive advantages of this technology are that it avoids costly energy conversions within the production process, provides a simple exchange of energy between energy sources, storage facilities, production plants, and individual machines; it also delivers greater availability of production plants due to a more stable network. With DC voltage, harmonic filters are eliminated, power quality increases, classic rectifiers are a thing of the past, conversion losses could be reduced, and drive systems become more compact. There is also enormous flexibility in the use of DC converters. "In the future, we will experience a simple energy exchange and the factory will become a prosumer," emphasizes Prof. Dr. Holger Borcherding from the Management University of East Westphalia-Lippe in an interview with Danfoss .

His vision: The factory draws energy from the external AC grid, which is converted once. Internally, the machines, motors and storage units use a DC network. This leads to fewer power outages and saves energy. Borcherding has been researching the topic for years.

But software can also support energy managers in their work. Many companies now rely on machine learning to analyze and predict consumption. At HANNOVER MESSE, you will find exactly the right partners for AI projects in industry.