FRANKFURT (Reuters) - European power and gas networks, having coped with the 2022 energy supply crisis brought on by missing Russian gas supplies, now need to be put on a growth path to cope with future volatilities, E.ON Chief Executive Leonhard Birnbaum said on Wednesday.
"If Russian gas stops completely, the current grid infrastructure is not sufficient as we will have to supply eastern Europe and Austria via Germany," said Birnbaum, who also heads the Eurelectric industry lobby, in a panel discussion during the German BDEW utility association's annual congress.
"And only a bigger and more flexible power system can cope better with the intermittency of renewables," he added.
(Reporting by Vera Eckert and Riham Alkousaa, editing by Miranda Murray)
Leonhard Birnbaum is a German businessperson who has been at the helm of 11 different companies is Chief Operating Officer-Integration at E.ON SE, Member-Management Board at RWE Energy AG and Vice President at Union of Electricity Industry and on the board of 5 other companies. He previously was Chief Commercial Officer & Member-Executive Board at RWE AG and Chairman-Supervisory Board of RWE Supply & Trading GmbH (a subsidiary of RWE AG), Member-Supervisory Board at Wintershall Dea International GmbH, Chairman-Supervisory Board of E.ON Sverige AB, Chairman-Supervisory Board for E.ON Hungária Zrt., Chairman at E.ON Ceská republika sro, Chairman-Supervisory Board of E.ON Czech Holding AG, Chairman at E.ON Distribuce as, Chairman-Supervisory Board for E.ON Global Commodities SE, Chairman for Uniper Technologies GmbH and Senior Partner at Mckinsey & Co., Inc. (Germany). Leonhard Birnbaum received a doctorate from Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus and an undergraduate degree from the University of Karlsruhe.
View full profile| Linked companies | |
|---|---|
| EON SE | Chief Executive Officer |
Union of Electricity Industry
 Union of Electricity Industry Miscellaneous Commercial ServicesCommercial Services The Union of Electricity Industry operates as a trade association. The non-profit company is based in Brussels, Belgium. | President |
