Global contact
Issue 4-2009
Global Contact is KEMA’s worldwide quarterly magazine that is distributed among 13.000 of KEMA’s clients and relations. Global Contact is a broad platform. It includes news from around KEMA as well as articles providing insight into today’s critical energy and industrial trends and topics, and the divers projects KEMA and her clients are working on.
This issue features:
''Climate change calls for an energy revolution" -"Climate science has confirmed the need for a full transformation of the energy system, a radical departure from business as usual, starting now," according to Mr. Nobuo Tanaka, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency.
Is direct current the future?- In various fields, AC is coming under pressure from DC. KEMA supports a shift towards direct current, which offers various opportunities in times of transition.
Making the consumer-to-grid connection- Smart grid technology is redefining how consumers and their electric utilities interact with each other. When fully implemented, the smart grid will better enable customers to make sustainable energy use choices and manage their utility costs.
Power to the people: IT meets Energy- Big information and communication technogy companies, utilities and knowledge firms are developing advanced applications, tools and methods that are changing the way we use energy and connect with utilities. KEMA has been formally and informally involved with various players entering and redefining the utility space.
Saleof KEMA Quality: a major event in our history - With the formal sale of the KEMA Quality business to the German safety expertise concern DEKRA on 1 November 2009, KEMA has shed a core activity that was one of the organization’s cornerstones when it came into being more than eighty years ago. However, the divestment also marks an important step in KEMA’s ongoing development into internationally prominent, energy-related knowledge enterprise, specializing in business and technical consulting, and in the inspection, testing and certification of high-voltage products and systems. Pier Nabuurs talks here about the sale of KEMA Quality and about making use of opportunities.
Genuine performance testing - How can we tell whether the power plant that we’ve had built meets the specifications? Does the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) protect our interests properly? And what are a plant’s true output and heat rate after years in operation? KEMA’s experts travel the world in order to give completely clear and transparent answers to such questions.
Rail: a safe and environmentally friendly system- Both within urban areas and between them, electric rail transport is an environmentally friendly and safe alternative to moving people and goods by road. Nevertheless, even in the rail sector, there is scope for innovation-driven improvement in energy efficiency, data processing and safety.
Managing a safe and reliable gas infrastructure- Without the right information or tools to process information at the right time, a pipeline operator cannot make sound strategic decisions on the condition of any part of its pipeline network. PiMSlider is such a tool to process information in an integrated way.
Calibration then and now-Measurement is crucial to many industries, so instrumentation must be extremely accurate. Inaccuracy may lead to costly errors and can potentially be dangerous. KEMA has been providing a calibration service for well over 30 years. What's changed during that period and what do customers have to say about the service now?