The primary forecasts on the future of global power requirements go in the direction of a substantial growth in consumption, even assuming that there will be major efforts undertaken throughout the world to make power production, distribution and utilization more efficient. Some even go as far as to predict at least a doubling of the primary energy needs by the middle of the century. This means that power engineering will be confronted with enormous challenges with a major focus in the field of materials.

Using fossil sources of energy containing carbon to cover the burgeoning demand for power would substantially intensify and accelerate the atmospheric changes we are already witnessing. With the aim of increasing decarbonization, one potential way to rein in these effects would be continuing with the development of conventional power conversion technologies. In the long term, renewable energies will figure particularly prominently within the global power system as a crucial element in efforts to rise to the challenges we are faced with. This not only includes providing power in the narrow sense of the term, but also coming up with new sources of energy for distributing and storing power. This evolution of the power system will take place before the backdrop of cost restrictions, sustainability and safety issues. The future power supply should be conceived to prevent geopolitical conflicts and eliminate the inaccessibility to energy still rampant in the world.