The energy market is seeing a transformation no less profound than the digital revolution, as you’ll hear in this DLD26 conversation between Bastian Gierull (Octopus Energy Germany) and Heike Freund, COO of Munich-based fusion startup Marvel Fusion.
To Gierull, there’s a clear parallel to the smartphone revolution. Initially, “these little supercomputers” seemed a bit clunky, he notes – but then, “it feels like overnight, everyone had a little supercomputer in their pocket.”
Something very similar is now happening with clean energy production, Gierull argues. “For the first time ever, energy is now a technology”, he notes, as solar panels, batteries, and EVs are following steep adoption curves, with costs dropping “by 90% to close to 100 percent” over the past two decades.
A crucial difference remains, however: Breakthrough industrial technologies, such as fusion energy, continue to require a long-term vision, patience and plenty of capital. “Building something in the deep tech space, conviction always comes way before when you see the visible results”, Heike Freund observes.
Watch the video for further insights into the rapid adoption of clean energy technologies and find out why Bastian Gierull is convinced that in the near future, “we’ll have so much energy that it’ll be free most of the time.”
