There are many things the Danish are famous for but who would have thought that they lead the world in energy independence? In 2006 Danish imports of energy actually fell -8% (minus eight percent!) whilst the rest of Europe rose by more than 2.4%.  So how has this been achieved? The answer lies in decentralised power distribution rather than the more traditional centralised approach. In Denmark, consumers can not only draw power from the grid but feed power into it as well – from solar panels and wind turbines. The key is a term called ‘smart-metering’ and may set the model for the future. You see in a generating station only a third of the energy used is converted to electricity which can then be fed into a grid. This change in generation has taken Denmark over 20 years to implement and I wonder just how far behind the UK is? Now in terms of power quality management I have no idea how good or not the system is but I suspect they are pretty hot on this to.

The Olympic Games start today in China. I wonder how many people realise just how important uninterruptible power supplies are to their every day activities. Take the new Beijing Airport. This now has over 12MVA of Riello uninterruptible power supplies supporting a range of functions, all designed to move people, plans and baggage as safely and as smoothly as possible. The installation is a great reference site for Riello UPS and demonstrates the silent part we play in making sure some of the world’s greatest events happen – without a glitch.