Global contact
Issue 3-2009
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:
A man with a plan - Influential, often times controversial – Jeremy Rifkin is a man with a vision. He speaks with Global Contact about the 3rd Industrial Revolution, its four pillars, and the role that knowledge and new business models will play.
Catalyzing the energy transition - The energy transition process is creating new energy value chains. New stakeholders are coming up and the traditional parties have to redefine their role. New expert fields and technologies have to be developed and the regulation has to be adjusted. KEMA is well positioned to play a intermediate and catalyzing role.
Going Electric, Safely The expected transition to widespread use of electric vehicles (EVs) depends to a large extent on the availability of safe, easy-to-use charging points. In the Netherlands, electricity company Eneco has a program for rolling out a network of charging points called NRGSPOTs. KEMA was asked to provide certification of this network, ensuring that the equipment is safe to use.
Sparkling High Voltage Laboratory -In October our new High Voltage laboratory will be officially opened. The lab has three sections areas, ultra high voltage, high voltage and medium voltage. It's a state of the art, powerful and very flexible for serving our clients.
The power of electricity and gas -Developments in the electricity and gas sectors are driving the concentration of consultancy and research & development capabilities. KEMA has therefore strengthened its position in the gas industry by acquiring Gasunie Engineering & Technology from European gas infrastructure company Gasunie.
Large scale integration of wind energy- The unstoppable growth of wind parks on land and sea presents all European stakeholders with new challenges. Among the most important of these is the connection to the electricity grid, particularly if the power is to be transported over long distances.
Co-firing biomass - As nations focus on controlling carbon, global demand for and production of coal-based electricity continues to increase. Building towards a sustainable generation future ultimately means balancing carbon objectives, energy demand and electricity affordability.
Outages bring hidden problems - The economic downturn is causing more and more industries to scale down production. However, shutting down a processing plant is not a risk-free business. Corrosion is liable to quietly compromise the plant while it is idle, leading to all sorts of problems when the machinery is started up again.