Guiding Principles: Change? For sure!
Amprion is preparing the way for a climate-neutral, secure and efficient energy system, but is also changing as a company and striving for sustainability. What this means is explained by the company’s managing directors Dr Hans-Jürgen Brick (CEO), Dr Hendrik Neumann (CTO) and Peter Rüth (CFO).
Sustainability is the big issue of our time. What does this mean for you?
Dr Hans-Jürgen Brick, CEO
Dr Hans-Jürgen Brick: If we want to achieve the climate targets set, it is absolutely essential that we build a sustainable energy system. And that is what we are doing at Amprion. For us, sustainability means paving the way for a climate-neutral energy system ...
Dr Hendrik Neumann: ... and to coordinate it safely and efficiently so that the lights never go out. At Amprion, we’re always looking to serve society’s general interests: we are playing our part towards ensuring the highest level of system security possible so that people are guaranteed a totally reliable power supply. That is our mandate and mission.
Peter Rüth: At the same time, our company is changing: Amprion itself is becoming more sustainable – and at high speed. All areas of the company are involved in and affected by this transformation process. And the sustainability report bears witness to that.
Among other things, you are incorporating sustainability into your management system. What does that mean in concrete terms?
Peter Rüth, CFO
Rüth: In future, we will be reviewing all processes within the company to see whether they really take ecological and social aspects into account. In this way, we will incorporate sustainability into our corporate management.
Brick: It is equally important to embed sustainability in our corporate culture. We need to recognise that sustainability is not just a catchword, an empty cliché, but a corporate goal to which we all should and can contribute.
Rüth: Our workforce is open to this. We have an incredible number of new, young employees. They expect their employer to adopt a sustainable approach to its business, and are working day in, day out to integrate renewable energies into the energy system. This is one of our core tasks.
You want to contribute to a sustainable energy system. What’s it all about, in your view?
Dr Hendrik Neumann, CTO
Rüth: We are convinced that electricity will play a key role in the energy system of tomorrow. Decarbonisation, electromobility, digitalisation – wherever you are, the economy and society are totally dependent on electricity.
Neumann: But electricity is just one part of the system. We need to view the energy system in its entirety: the energy sources (electricity, gas and hydrogen) – but also the sectors (industry, mobility and heating). Because everything is connected to everything else.
Brick: We are developing solutions that maximise the benefits to the economy and society in respect of climate-protection and economic aspects.
Neumann: We are already working to bring this about today, for example, by following the NOVA principle in our grid expansion work: grid optimisation first, upgrading second, then expansion. This means that existing power lines are optimised first, before we consider other, more extensive measures.
Rüth: In addition, we believe in robust planning: Even under rapidly changing conditions, everything we decide and implement now must be viable in the long term.
Neumann: And last but not least, it’s important to develop and upgrade the System Operation and Control Centre. By means of innovative and powerful technologies, we have made our main control centre in Brauweiler fit for the future. It can play a key role in coordinating the climate-neutral energy system of tomorrow.
How do you deal with the fact that grid expansion projects are met with protests?
Rüth: Our business model is based on political and social consensus. We need to maintain this, otherwise we will have no chance of pushing ahead with grid expansion. This is why we are so keen to communicate with the citizens affected.
Neumann: We want to explain to people why our projects are so essential to building a sustainable, climate-neutral energy system. And we explain to them how we reconcile the interests of man and the environment as well as other licensing issues in relation to route planning. We will never be able to accommodate everyone, but we do our best.
Sustainability has become a key value driver. Why?
Brick: Sustainability is part of Amprion’s DNA. Naturally, we feel solidarity with mankind, the environment and the economy. It is because of this solidarity that we do what we do.
Rüth: No company today can afford to ignore the environmental and social dimensions of its actions. At the same time, more and more investors are looking for companies that operate in accordance with the principles of sustainability. These interests find each other in the equity market. We want to exploit this opportunity to shoulder the enormous investments required to build the energy system of tomorrow.
Where can Amprion become even more sustainable?
Rüth: We’re already doing a lot, but a review has also highlighted some gaps that we want to close. By closing them, we’ll further reduce our emissions. This is also the case in the new project centre we are currently building in Dortmund. Its heat and power supply systems are based on geothermal energy and photovoltaics. Furthermore, we’re looking for solutions to compensate grid losses in a climate-neutral manner.
Brick: We have our work cut out for us. But we will get there – driven by our desire to make a significant contribution to a sustainable energy system and our own future viability.
