PONTON BLOG

PONTON Conference 2025 on September 18/19, 2025

Dear colleagues in the energy industry,

we are excited to announce the upcoming edition of our PONTON Conference, once again in the dynamic Open Space format as we believe that each of our clients, partners, and stakeholders has unique insights worth sharing. So, we look forward to discussing the latest developments and innovative ideas in the energy industry.

To kick off the conference on Thursday, 18 September, we’ll have an inspiring keynote from Herbert Saurugg, an internationally recognized expert in blackout and crisis preparedness based in Vienna. As President of the Society for Crisis Preparedness (GfKV), he is dedicated to preparing for large-scale power outages and the failure of critical infrastructure.

In the afternoon, we will hold Open Space sessions, allowing you and your colleagues to shape the program. Last year, we saw spontaneous collaboration between grid operators, traders, and energy suppliers, leading to intense discussions across the normal silos in our industry.

In the evening of the conference day, we invite you to enjoy dinner and a social event by the scenic Alster lake in the heart of Hamburg. On the next day, Friday, 19 September, we will host break-out workshops for different expert groups.

This invitation is for clients, partners, and friends. We are looking forward to seeing you on September 18/19 2025. Should you have any questions, please contacts us at events@ponton.de.

Agenda for the PONTON Conference 2025 on September 18, 2025

Venue: Sturmfreie Bude Alster, Im Alstertower, 13th floor, Lübecker Straße 1, 22087 Hamburg

Travel instructions:

By Public Transport: Nearest U-Bahn station: Lübecker Straße (U1/U3), use exit towards Alsterschwimmhalle. Station is only two stops from Hamburg Central Station (Hauptbahnhof)

From the Airport: Take S1 to Hamburg Central Station (approx. 25 minutes)
Then continue with U1 or U3 to Lübecker Straße, see above.

By car: Parking is available in the underground garage of the Novotel.
For navigation, please use the following address: Bozenhardweg, Hamburg

Access to the building Alstertower is located directly next to the Novotel.
Take one of the two elevators to the 12th floor,
then walk one flight of stairs up to the 13th floor.
The venue is a rooftop location with a view.

Dress code: business casual.

Time Topic
12:00 – 13:00 Light Lunch
13:00 – 13:45 TBD
13:45 – 14:00 Tilo Zimmermann: Introduction, explaining the Open Space format
14:00 – 14:30 All: Writing up proposals for discussion, voting, assigning to slots
14:30 – 15:30 Open Space conference, three tracks in parallel with the following themes:
Track 1:
Powering the Future

Networks, Markets & Resilience in an Age of Disruption and Decentralization

  Track 2:
High-Level Security in the Cloud

System Operators and IT Safety in the Context of Cloud Operations and Migration

 Track 3:
Best Practices for Energy in Europe

Learning from Our Neighbours: Energy Communities, Smart Metering & Regulation
15:30 – 16:00 Presentation of results from first set of three tracks, discussion
16:00 – 16:30 Networking break
16:30 – 17:30 Open Space conference, second set of three tracks in parallel, continue themes as above or topics proposed by you!
17:30 – 18:00 Presentation of results from second set of three tracks, discussion
18:00 Michael Merz: Closing Remarks, end of first conference day

Agenda for the PONTON Conference 2025 on September 18, 2025 (Social Event)

The venue for the social event on Thursday, September 18 is Rowing Club Alemannia 1866,
An der Alster 47a, 20099, Hamburg-St. Georg. Dress code: “business casual”.

Public transport: Hamburg Hauptbahnhof or U-Bahnhof Lohmühlenstraße (blue line U1).

Time Dinner reception and party at Rowing Club Alemannia 1866
19:00 – 20:00 Sunset Reception, welcoming address
20:00 – 21:30 Dinner Buffet
21:30 – 00:00 Party with open bar and dance floor

Agenda for the PONTON Conference 2025 on September 19, 2025 (Focus Workshops 1)

Venue: PONTON GmbH, Dorotheenstraße 64, 22301 Hamburg

PPAs have been an enabler of European energy markets for many years, increasingly replacing traditional instruments in forward trading. With the increased volatility in energy markets and unstoppable rise in renewable energy, the PPA volumes are growing fast.

This rising volume, complexity and variability between PPAs represents a growing burden on people and systems, especially in deal capture, settlement, risk assessment and valuation. What we need in the PPA is simplification and standardization, potentially followed by automation along the PPA value chain. Such development would make PPAs viable for high volumes of smaller trades as well.

To this end, PONTON started a pro-bono project in 2024, bringing together experts from trading, back-office operations, legal, IT, and risk management. The project is aimed at standardising the building blocks of PPAs. This workshop is the first time we will go public with the preliminary results.

Your insights and expertise are crucial to shaping the future of PPA standardization. We look forward to your participation.

Time Topic
10:00 – 10:15 Introduction by Tilo Zimmermann
10:15 – 11:15 Geert van Wijngaarden (EWE): Standardised Business processes for PPAs, observations from the perspective of the Back Office

Carsten Bartholl (Taylor Wessing): Can one size fit all? Designing a standard term sheet for physical and financial PPAs

Franziska Danz (ION): Making a common Data Model fit different ETRM systems – perspectives from the vendor of OpenLink and Allegro
11:15 – 11:30 Coffee break
11:30 – 12:30 Andreas Breier (Hengeler Mueller): Building client-specific PPA contracts using standard Contract Definitions

Thomas Sonnenberg (PONTON): Mapping the standard PPA Data Model to a term sheet, using AI to build a mapping tool.

Tilo Zimmermann (PONTON): Governance and roadmap of the PPA standard definitions project
12:30 – 13:30 Lunch
13:30 – 14:30 Discussion: Next steps, general discussion

Agenda for the PONTON Conference 2025 on September 19, 2025 (Focus Workshops 2)

Venue: PONTON GmbH, Dorotheenstraße 64, 22301 Hamburg

This workshop is intended for current and prospective users of PONTON integration products, wo wish to get ready for coming regulatory changes (mainly REMIT2, go live at end of 2026) and for increased efficiency in operations.

  • Ponton E/A, an integration tool connecting ETRM systems to processes like eCM, eRR (REMIT and EMIR) and eSM
  • Ponton X/D, a mapping tool for mapping XML documents to and from databases
  • Ponton oCM, a cloud-hosted solution for confirmation matching with counterparties not electronically matching, collocated with the CMS

We will cover new developments and business functionality. Apart from sharing our roadmap, we look forward to collecting your wishes and input for the PONTON integration products.

Time Topic
10:00 – 10:15 Thomas Sonnenberg: Welcome, introductions, goals for the workshop
10:15 – 10:45 Thomas Sonnenberg: Coming changes with REMIT2 and implications for integration layer
10:45 – 11:45 Holm Hinrichs, Alex Kartashov:
Implementing REMIT2 in Ponton E/A, new API interface
11:45 – 12:30 Stefanie Gräwe-Volger: outbound Confirmation Matching – full automation of your confirmation process, without needing resources from your IT department
12:30 – 13:30 Lunch
13:30 – 14:30 Collecting wishes and priorities for development

Agenda for the PONTON Conference 2025 on September 19, 2025 (Focus Workshops 3)

Venue: PONTON GmbH, Dorotheenstraße 64, 22301 Hamburg

Project Ownership unlocked – What management needs to know.

Time Topic
09:00 – 09:10 Welcome, introductions, goals for the workshop
09:20 – 10:30 Project Ownership unlocked – What management needs to know.