Energy & Resources

A climate-friendly, sustainable and safe supply of energy along with the products of the process are among the greatest technical challenges of our time. This encompasses the sustainable use and processing of regenerative energy and the providing and storing, e.g. by batteries and fuel cells. Future technologies also include high-voltage direct current transmission (HVDC) and the decentralized integration of energy sources of varying scales into power grids along with the regulating of dynamic network behavior (“smart grids”).

Attention needs to be paid to the fact that while an invention can operate across systems, system-spanning protection alone is rarely appropriate. The protection should instead apply to the parts of a system which are actually commercialized. This needs to be taken into account when drafting an application and during prosecution.