The ABCs of the German Energy Industry

• The energy transition as a global transformation process
• Sustainability and climate protection in energy supply – developments at local, national and global levels
• Blackout scenarios and the importance of security of supply

Fundamentals – Energy and Electricity

• What is energy?
• Energy forms, types and resources
• Difference between kWh and kW and their practical use
• Voltage, current and frequency – basic technical principles

• History and emergence of the market roles
• Definition of the market roles

Technology – Electricity

• Value creation stages of electricity supply – from generation to end consumer
• How power plants work and which types serve different purposes
• Renewable versus conventional power plants
• Net-generation – an overview
• Electricity-storage

• Transmission: the electrical grid and balancing supply and demand
• Household-connection, consumption and metering

Decentralization - Electricity

• Key-figures
• Dispatch, redispatch and reversal of the flow-direction

Legal Framework – Electricity

• Development of legislation and regulatory authorities
• Relevant laws, regulatory interdependencies and key contents

• Responsibilities and interaction of market roles
• Control areas and cooperation of transmission system operators
• Unbundling of market roles and regulatory separation requirements
• Basic and default supply
• Contractual relationships in the electricity market

Market Processes – Electricity

• Overview of the most important electricity market processes

• What is natural gas? Technical properties and occurrence
• Combustion processes
• Applications of natural gas
• Billing of natural gas consumption

Technology – Natural Gas

• Value creation stages of natural gas supply – from source to end consumer
• Key technical regulations governing gas networks

Legal Framework – Natural Gas

• Regulatory differences between electricity and gas markets
• Additional gas-specific legislation
• The Cooperation Agreement (KoV) in the German gas market

Market Processes – Natural Gas

• Supplier switching under GeLi Gas and differences compared to GPKE
• Balancing under GaBi Gas and daily balancing procedures

• Trading and sales structures
• Market structures for electricity and natural gas procurement
• Energy price determination
• Grid charges and incentive regulation
• Price components of electricity and natural gas
• National and international price comparisons
• Taxes, levies and surcharges

• The need for a heat transition
• Fundamentals of heat and cooling supply
• Heat and cooling technologies, including heat pumps and district heating systems
• Decarbonisation of heat supply
• Key regulatory provisions

• Climate Protection and Sustainability
• Energy Efficiency and Energy Services
• Digitalisation and Smart Metering
• Decarbonisation
• Decentralisation
• Sector Coupling (Power-to-„X“)
• Hydrogen
• E-mobility