Connecting the All Electric Society
Welcome on the way to a sustainable future: Discover with us the big picture of an electrified, digital world - for a climate-neutral future.
On the way to a sustainable electrified future
Social and technological change
In a world in which social and technological developments are increasingly going hand in hand, we are facing crucial challenges: Decarbonisation, sustainability and demographic change. These come up against technological megatrends such as artificial intelligence, digital twins and electric automation.
In the face of these challenges, a common goal is essential. All industries must work together to create a sustainable world. Since 1996, HARTING has been pursuing a vision that is more relevant today than ever: ‘We want to shape the future with technologies for people.’
Integration of the sectors
This vision contributes to a larger picture of the future: the All Electric Society. It represents a world that is both highly electrified and digitalised and meets the criteria of climate neutrality. To achieve this, close co-operation between the relevant sectors is required.
HARTING has designed a vision of these integrated sectors that unites energy, agriculture, infrastructure, mobility and industry.
All in all, the AES makes me optimistic because with our Connectivity we can actively shape the future with vigour and passion.
The way to open technologies
In order to bring the sectors closer together, we need to pursue the transition from individual, sector-based solutions to open technologies and standards even more consistently. The connecting elements between the sectors will be energy - in this case electricity - and data flows.
Already established technology standards such as Ethernet IEEE 802.3, the digital twin standard IDTA, ODCA for direct current technology and OPC UA for standardised data exchange are key levers for integrating the sectors.
International standards are an important orientation for our products, but they do not make individual requirements superfluous. For example, environmental conditions, such as use under water, remain a characteristic differentiator in our product development.
Energy everywhere, connected, on demand: the opportunities of the All Electric Society
Download our tec.news issue ‘Electrifies me!’ here and read how we interpret the All Electric Society and use it as an opportunity for us to strengthen the ‘power and data’ lifelines between the sectors even more with our connectors.
Opportunities for innovative companies
The All Electric Society offers innovative companies the opportunity to expand their portfolio. For HARTING, this means that industrial connection technology will become even more of a lifeline between sectors. Our vision is thus undergoing a further evolution: Connecting the All Electric Society!
The lifelines: Data & Power
In order to enable sector coupling, the two essential lifelines “data & power” are required. They are mutually dependent, with the energy flow being responsible for the energy coupling. Data takes over the communicative part, through which information on energy requirements is exchanged.
Data
Data streams are the backbone of digitalization and enable communication between sectors. Various data aspects are relevant to the implementation of the All Electric Society, including Data integration and standardization: standardization of data formats and interfaces is necessary in order to network different systems and components. This facilitates data exchange and interoperability between different devices and platforms. A purely hardware-based standardization of the data connector is not sufficient for a control system. This is where the digital twin offers a promising alternative. Together with experts from various industries, IDTA is developing so-called submodel templates that make this possible. Digital twins are virtual models of physical systems or components. They enable precise simulation and monitoring of processes, which leads to improved control and maintenance.
Smart grids: The continuous collection and analysis of data from energy generation, storage and consumption enables the efficient use of available resources. Real-time data helps to optimize demand and supply and avoid bottlenecks.
Power
The vision of the All Electric Society {AES) is based on a total energy supply from 100% renewable sources. Electrification plays a central role as the basis for this. Connectors and energy transmission solutions are essential for the construction and operation of this electrified infrastructure.
The efficient use of energy is another key factor. Technologies such as energy management systems and electrical automation make a significant contribution to reducing energy consumption and making industrial processes more sustainable. These technologies ensure that energy is used exactly where and when it is needed, resulting in better use of resources.
The “energy lifeline” of the All Electric Society becomes tangible through the use of AC and DC grids and intermediate storage. These storage solutions can take the form of batteries (electron storage), molecular storage (e.g. hydrogen, methane, e-fuels) or mechanical solutions (e.g. hydroelectric power plants). The choice of storage technology depends on the required storage duration and response time. Each of these solutions offers specific advantages and is used depending on the requirements.
Sectors
In the All Electric Society, various sectors play a central role in ensuring a CO2-neutral energy supply. At HARTING, we focus on the following sectors of our society: energy, industry, mobility, infrastructure and agriculture.
Each of these sectors is crucial to creating a sustainable and electrified world.
Sector coupling is at the heart of the All Electric Society. It makes it possible to optimise the use of energy generated exclusively from renewable sources - from generation to conversion and storage through to consumption
Energy
In a world where renewable energy takes centre stage, our connectors and cabling solutions provide the reliability needed to safely generate, transmit, convert and store energy.
Agriculture
With our technology, we support the agricultural sector in the transition to electrical systems to enable more environmentally friendly production and higher yields.
Infrastructure
Our robust and intelligent connectivity solutions enable the creation of a modern infrastructure that is essential for AES.
Mobility
The mobility of the future is electric. HARTING is helping to realise this vision with high-performance components for rail vehicles and in the field of eMobility with electric vehicles.
Industry
Our industrial connectors are an important element in the automation of industrial manufacturing processes.
