Future market energy technology

Power electronics is one of the central components in energy generation, processing but also in the efficient use in devices. Advanced electronic components are used to control motors and actuators. Distributed, renewable energy sources such as photovoltaics or small power plants require advanced feed-in devices and converters to feed energy into the public grid.

When using modern battery technology, sophisticated battery management systems are used to ensure that the energy storage devices have a long service life and are operated gently. When processing large amounts of energy, safety must never be neglected. These are all challenging topics that require experienced developers.

Energy generation used to be strongly centralized through the use of large power plants. This structure is currently changing radically. Energy sources such as wind, sun or water have smaller dimensions, are geographically distributed and in part directly at the consumer. The coordination between generation and consumption must be very close. The energy producers and consumers, as well as the grid infrastructure, need modern network connections to exchange data in a timely manner and to be able to control systems remotely.

Energy technology without networking no longer exists. This must be taken into account with all security aspects, in the sense of security, from the very beginning in the embedded system. Access security, encryption and authentication must be ensured in the long term and adapted on an ongoing basis. All this places high additional demands on embedded developers.

Whether it's an inverter for in-house photovoltaics or a control system for the boiler - first impressions count, and smartphones undoubtedly set the design trends. Device manufacturers differentiate themselves through their external appearance and user experience. This increases acceptance and reduces the learning effort and error-proneness of the operator. Multilingualism and appealing graphics ensure market success. Web interfaces allow convenient access to a device via the network using a web browser.

In this way, device manufacturers can offer service personnel or end customers access to device functions. In addition to the actual logical development of the operating functions, graphic design and analysis, creation and optimization of the user experience are also required. This is the only way to create frustration-free, easy-to-learn and intuitive products.

Generation, distribution and consumption of energy must be continuously optimized to minimize losses. The energy flow must be continuously adapted to external conditions such as weather, availability and consumer behavior. Surplus energy should be directed to the right consumer at the right time or stored for later use.

Fluctuations between supply and demand are to be balanced as economically as possible. The complexity of distributed energy systems can no longer be controlled and managed by central administration. Instead, clever control systems and artificial intelligence directly in the devices ensure greater efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Today's energy technology thinks for itself. This calls for specialists in machine learning and AI.

For the customized embedded platform of a device in power engineering, many adaptations and optimizations are necessary, both technically and economically. Legislators are also constantly prescribing new standards and regulations. In order to create a robust hardware and software platform for series production, the costs for integration, ongoing maintenance and expansions must be considered from the very beginning and over the entire product life cycle. Despite rapidly changing requirements, power engineering demands a long service life for its devices.

Even at the device design stage, care must be taken to ensure that long-life components are used, preferably from multiple sources. In the event of a discontinuation, a quick response is required to ensure the integrity of the hardware and software platform. The embedded software must be designed to be extremely stable, fault-tolerant and robust. Updates, e.g. in case of new threat scenarios, must be able to be applied quickly and securely. In any case, beyond development, a long-term stable partnership with the development partner is essential.