The main theme of this year's event was sector coupling, i.e. the networking of important supply structures such as electricity, natural gas, heat and transport. This is necessary in order to achieve the ambitious goals of the energy transition and climate protection.

In addition to technical topics such as "Power-to-X" applications and flexibilization methods, economic issues and social acceptance hurdles in the holistic energy supply system were also discussed. The advantages of innovation are only convincing if those involved also benefit from it. In a sustainable energy market, the players and the supply structures themselves must be reliably networked and resilient to outage events.

A demand-oriented supply of energy from sources that are mainly dependent on supply is only possible by coupling and optimizing the various energy systems.

In addition to the plenary lecture by Dr. Dickert from ENSO Netz GmbH, information technology challenges in the digitalization of the energy supply were discussed on the first day of the event. The presentations were supplemented by social science considerations, including potential transformation obstacles. Finally, technical solutions for existing challenges were the focus of the expert exchange.

The lively discussions continued in the evening at a reception in the citizens' hall of Zittau town hall. In addition to a presentation by Prof. Tomlow on the symbiosis of building structure and energy consumption, illustrated by the example of natural ventilation, Highvolt Prüftechnik Dresden GmbH awarded a prize for the best final thesis in the field of electrical engineering. The winner was Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Florian Müller with a thesis on the implementation of weather-controlled overhead line operation for a selected 80 °C 110 kV overhead line.

The second day of the event was primarily dedicated to the major topic of storage and promising research projects for the demand-oriented implementation of sector coupling. The discussions held by participants from industry, energy supply companies, commercial, retail and service companies as well as decision-makers from local authorities and public institutions provided interesting insights into the wide range of solutions in the technical, economic and legal environment. New food for thought was provided and interfaces for cooperation between the players were revealed. Many participants confirmed their interest in ongoing cooperation.

There will be another Zittau energy seminar next year, which will be the 30th time. The next Upper Lusatian Energy Symposium will take place in 2020.