And what an amazing experience it has been! As I relax now back home, drinking my delicious Portuguese tea in my brand new mug, gifts from Grid Singularity’s wonder woman (aka Ana Trbovic) and munching on world-renown Belgian chocolates, courtesy of Ease’s Patrick Clerence, I cannot help but reminiscence a bit. Don’t blame me, it is beyond my control.

This year’s event was special for many reasons. First of all, it beat both a ‘well established’ pandemic and a brand new variant. Sort of like 2 in 1 package deal. Not too shabby, I would say. Second, it brought the people of the industry – loads of them – back together. It was truly amazing watching over eight thousand people socially interacting while keeping a safe distance. And fun. I won’t lie. The whole world learnt how to smile with the eyes instead of the mouth this year.

But for me, the most interesting and touching element was witnessing first-hand how important this event is for the people of the industry. From industry experts volunteering to help out whenever was needed (e.g. surprise moderations and participations to panel discussions), to actively promoting the event online inviting more people to participate. I would say that this year’s production team was much larger than what you can see in the picture. Grateful to each and every one.

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As for the talk of the town during this year’s Enlit Europe? Well the Oscar goes to renewables in general and green hydrogen in particular. Some of the best attended and discussed sessions at the event were those focused on green hydrogen, its use for electrification, how to support its integration to the grid and how fast we can create the correct, safe and resilient infrastructure to accompany the production.

Second place is a tie between the recognition of the important role of the consumer and the always present in any top five energy list, smart metering. The transformation of consumers to prosumers and the next rollout of smart meters seem to interest the sector experts a lot. But also the market in general and how it can deliver the Fit for 55 bill steered quite some interest.

What was in everybody’s mind, however, was indeed the need for collaboration between various actors of the energy sector, as well as sector coupling. There should be no silos in the sector as there are many lessons to be taught and learnt. And to inspire us all.

As Paddy Young, the Enlit Europe’s director, said: ‘I’ve come back completely inspired after the long-awaited first edition of Enlit in Milan. Busy stands, packed theatres and excitement that was almost tangible. It showed to me the power of in-person meetings, those planned and especially those spontaneous meetings that bring an unexpected value to your day to day life. At Enlit we would like you to gain knowledge you didn’t know was out there and meet people you didn’t know you needed to meet. This is where a great deal of the excitement came from but so much came from the fact that we could finally meet again, nothing can replace the power of the human touch though. What the last two years have taught us is that our new Enlit online product will massively augment it’.