31 New IT for the Digital Energy of the Future
-
Khaled Popal
Abstract
The transition of the energy production towards renewable energy sources, the transmission and distribution of the renewable energies into smart grids, the mixed balancing and digital-enablement between production, storage, retail, and consumption of energy might become successful considering the huge investments and the transformational initiatives that energy companies are undertaking. This is the energy transition in short. The unrestricted guarantee of the ever-growing energy demand within the business industries and markets of the future remains major challenges with risks that cannot currently be really estimated or calculated accurately. Whereas regulation and legislation authorities are focused to shape the basis for the execution of the energy transition in an environment where forecastable and profitable investments can be made, the unforecastable energy demand of the future cannot be guaranteed in an affordable and sustainable way if you do not know how the energy networks will stay scalable and balanced between the mix of today’s and tomorrow’s renewable energy sources. On the other hand, if you do not involve the energy consumers in businesses, households, across countries, and societies in a connected way to each other, the energy transition will never become successful effectively. Consequently, many investments may continue to stay unprofitable and commercially not efficiently manageable. So, this is a very complex transformation and will require a complete transformation of today’s energy systems into new digital energy systems. The new energy systems of the future must be digital-enabled at every corner of the energy value chain, data-driven holistically, intelligent for self-scaling, optimized with a balance between the energy supply and its consumption through easy-to-use energy management and optimization mechanisms for everybody. We know that the use of digital information technologies will continue to play a central role in the success of the energy transition. I consider the energy transition to be an exorbitant project, which is about the largest and most complex digital business transformation for our global society. There are countries that are leading up quicker towards the future energy systems, other countries and societies are starting to scale in into this, but we prefer a way to scale up into the future digital energy systems in a holistic manner. What is needed is a new type of energy information technology (IT) that, on the one hand, can effectively digitalize the entire value chain of electrical energy supply (from energy production to energy delivery and storage towards energy retail and consumption services) and is also able to make the energy industry of the future economically efficient for everyone across businesses and households. This chapter provides my thoughts about the requirements and expectations for a “New Energy IT,” aimed at introducing the required business capabilities and digital efficiency to architecture the integration of digital technologies into every corner of the energy value chain through differentiated use of digital information technologies. The differentiation will be possible if technology can become better and more easily used, while technology stays literally invisible for the users without any barriers. A question that comes always into my discussions with my customers, colleagues, and partners is: “Is this a real energy transition, or rather an energy transformation, or it is rather an evolution towards something that will happen anyhow?” My view is that it is certainly an evolution into a continuous change and transformation mode to keep the transition of today’s energy systems into the future energy systems ongoingly transformed. In other words, it will be a mix between doing something new in transition efficiently and evolve it to transform and scale with the most effective results. This evolution must be settled in a way with wide acceptance by all involved in the industry, including suppliers and clients. We have experienced with the COVID-19 pandemic that it came into our lives to stay forever, and it has forced many businesses, people, and households to become and stay digitally enabled with access to using cloud-based technologies. Generative artificial technologies emerged recently to stay forever and revolutionize the way how we live, work, and exist in the world. For the enablement of the evolution into the future of energy systems through digital information technologies, I do not see any major hurdles anymore, as cloud and digital information technologies and other tools being available. The main barriers to overcome are to source in new technology for better outcomes, integrated into the architecture of energy value chain, with predicable investments and for higher usability. The enabling factor for the useability can only be achieved if businesses and households do develop new business, digital, and technological capabilities to become able to use the new technology in a differentiated way. Maybe the evolution of artificial intelligence technologies into generative artificial technologies and capabilities is the next push and transformation that will facilitate the rise of a differentiated Energy IT for us. The aim of my contribution to this book is to provide some thoughts, suggestions, and ideas for the introduction of differentiated IT and digital strategies, and guidelines for executional approaches on a “new Energy IT,” which can be useful to scale up the evolution of today’s energy systems into the future energy systems quicker and without major challenges. It is all about introducing new capabilities for businesses and for people to become enabled to use technology effectively for participation in the evolution of the energy transition efficiently.
Abstract
The transition of the energy production towards renewable energy sources, the transmission and distribution of the renewable energies into smart grids, the mixed balancing and digital-enablement between production, storage, retail, and consumption of energy might become successful considering the huge investments and the transformational initiatives that energy companies are undertaking. This is the energy transition in short. The unrestricted guarantee of the ever-growing energy demand within the business industries and markets of the future remains major challenges with risks that cannot currently be really estimated or calculated accurately. Whereas regulation and legislation authorities are focused to shape the basis for the execution of the energy transition in an environment where forecastable and profitable investments can be made, the unforecastable energy demand of the future cannot be guaranteed in an affordable and sustainable way if you do not know how the energy networks will stay scalable and balanced between the mix of today’s and tomorrow’s renewable energy sources. On the other hand, if you do not involve the energy consumers in businesses, households, across countries, and societies in a connected way to each other, the energy transition will never become successful effectively. Consequently, many investments may continue to stay unprofitable and commercially not efficiently manageable. So, this is a very complex transformation and will require a complete transformation of today’s energy systems into new digital energy systems. The new energy systems of the future must be digital-enabled at every corner of the energy value chain, data-driven holistically, intelligent for self-scaling, optimized with a balance between the energy supply and its consumption through easy-to-use energy management and optimization mechanisms for everybody. We know that the use of digital information technologies will continue to play a central role in the success of the energy transition. I consider the energy transition to be an exorbitant project, which is about the largest and most complex digital business transformation for our global society. There are countries that are leading up quicker towards the future energy systems, other countries and societies are starting to scale in into this, but we prefer a way to scale up into the future digital energy systems in a holistic manner. What is needed is a new type of energy information technology (IT) that, on the one hand, can effectively digitalize the entire value chain of electrical energy supply (from energy production to energy delivery and storage towards energy retail and consumption services) and is also able to make the energy industry of the future economically efficient for everyone across businesses and households. This chapter provides my thoughts about the requirements and expectations for a “New Energy IT,” aimed at introducing the required business capabilities and digital efficiency to architecture the integration of digital technologies into every corner of the energy value chain through differentiated use of digital information technologies. The differentiation will be possible if technology can become better and more easily used, while technology stays literally invisible for the users without any barriers. A question that comes always into my discussions with my customers, colleagues, and partners is: “Is this a real energy transition, or rather an energy transformation, or it is rather an evolution towards something that will happen anyhow?” My view is that it is certainly an evolution into a continuous change and transformation mode to keep the transition of today’s energy systems into the future energy systems ongoingly transformed. In other words, it will be a mix between doing something new in transition efficiently and evolve it to transform and scale with the most effective results. This evolution must be settled in a way with wide acceptance by all involved in the industry, including suppliers and clients. We have experienced with the COVID-19 pandemic that it came into our lives to stay forever, and it has forced many businesses, people, and households to become and stay digitally enabled with access to using cloud-based technologies. Generative artificial technologies emerged recently to stay forever and revolutionize the way how we live, work, and exist in the world. For the enablement of the evolution into the future of energy systems through digital information technologies, I do not see any major hurdles anymore, as cloud and digital information technologies and other tools being available. The main barriers to overcome are to source in new technology for better outcomes, integrated into the architecture of energy value chain, with predicable investments and for higher usability. The enabling factor for the useability can only be achieved if businesses and households do develop new business, digital, and technological capabilities to become able to use the new technology in a differentiated way. Maybe the evolution of artificial intelligence technologies into generative artificial technologies and capabilities is the next push and transformation that will facilitate the rise of a differentiated Energy IT for us. The aim of my contribution to this book is to provide some thoughts, suggestions, and ideas for the introduction of differentiated IT and digital strategies, and guidelines for executional approaches on a “new Energy IT,” which can be useful to scale up the evolution of today’s energy systems into the future energy systems quicker and without major challenges. It is all about introducing new capabilities for businesses and for people to become enabled to use technology effectively for participation in the evolution of the energy transition efficiently.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- List of Contributing Authors V
- Foreword by Professor Andris Piebalgs, Former EU Commissioner for Energy XI
- Foreword by Dr. Peter Körte, Chief Technology Officer & Chief Strategy Officer at Siemens AG XV
- Preface of the Editors XIX
- Contents XXV
- Abbreviations XXXI
- Frequently Used Metric Prefixes and Physical Quantities XLV
- 1 History and Current Challenges of Electrical Power Supply Systems 1
- 2 General Technical Aspects of the Electrical Power System: A Case Study of the German Power System in Transition 37
- 3 Power Sector Transformation: An Indian Perspective 53
- 4 Major Non-technical Questions of Today’s Energy Supply: Between Energy Policy and Regulation 95
- 5 Scenarios for the Energy System 111
- 6 How Europe Regulates the Internal Energy Market 127
- 7 Requirements for the Reliability of Energy System Planning 137
- 8 Currents of Change: Electrification for a Greener Future 151
- 9 Understanding the Levelized Cost of Energy 167
- 10 Influence of CO2 Targets on Energy Planning: Optimal Energy Supply from a Climate Perspective 185
- 11 Energy Planning With a Special Focus on Hard-To-Abate Sectors and Decarbonization 203
- 12 Energy Storage Technologies in Support of the Energy Transition and Climate Neutrality 235
- 13 Electrical Supply Infrastructure Under Transformation 249
- 14 Innovation (Not Only) in the Grid Sector: Market and Regulation Also Require Reinvention 275
- 15 Challenges of Today’s Energy Distribution 303
- 16 Resilience: Considering Disruptive Events in the Energy Planning of Buildings and Neighborhoods 335
- 17 Siemens Princeton Resilient Campus: Defining the Future of Energy with a Sustainable and Reliable Microgrid 351
- 18 Introduction to Energy Trading and the Role of Energy Exchanges 361
- 19 The Role of Power Exchanges (PX) in the Energy Transition: Between Cross-Border and Local Trading 375
- 20 Energy Markets, Grids and Flexibility: A Future Market Design for a Decarbonized Energy System 395
- 21 Local Trading Within Energy Communities 419
- 22 Verification Methods for Renewable Electricity: Guarantees of Origin, PPAs, and Renewable Fuels of Non-biological Origin 435
- 23 The Unique German Smart Metering Approach in Contrast to International Strategies 453
- 24 Real-Time as a Natural System Boundary 473
- 25 Internet of Things (IoT) and Sensor Technology in Electrical Energy Supply Systems 495
- 26 The Perfect Storm: Where the Energy Transition Meets the Digital Transformation 509
- 27 The Dark Side of Digitalization 529
- 28 Artificial Intelligence and Data Efficiency 543
- 29 Aspects of Data Protection and Security in Smart Electronical Systems out of “European Perspective” 565
- 30 Actively Shaping the Digital Transformation Process with Systemic Organizational Development 581
- 31 New IT for the Digital Energy of the Future 609
- 32 Connecting and Digitalizing the Energy Sector with a Dynamic IT Strategy 629
- 33 Information Security and Digitalization at Distribution System Operators 649
- 34 Digital Efficiency – a Powerful Tool! 671
- 35 Asset Management in the Energy Transition: Requirements and Technologies 695
- 36 Power Shortage Situation 715
- 37 Blackout: The European Electricity Supply System in Transition 733
- 38 Everyday Life Without Electricity in the Household Customer Sector 781
- 39 Technical Requirements and Implications of Functioning Sector Coupling 791
- 40 Transition from Planning to Implementation of District Projects with Sector Coupling 819
- 41 Green Hydrogen Potentials for the Power Sector in Germany 831
- 42 Electricity is Easy, Fuels are Hard: Lessons from the Maritime Industry 843
- 43 Project example “pebbles” 867
- 44 New Digital Technologies Find Their Way into the Grid Sector 889
- 45 Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG), and Digitalization in the Commercial Real Estate Industry 909
- 46 Scenarios for Training and Continuing Education 923
- 47 Electricity Market and Electricity System Transformation: North American Perspective 943
- Index 953
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- List of Contributing Authors V
- Foreword by Professor Andris Piebalgs, Former EU Commissioner for Energy XI
- Foreword by Dr. Peter Körte, Chief Technology Officer & Chief Strategy Officer at Siemens AG XV
- Preface of the Editors XIX
- Contents XXV
- Abbreviations XXXI
- Frequently Used Metric Prefixes and Physical Quantities XLV
- 1 History and Current Challenges of Electrical Power Supply Systems 1
- 2 General Technical Aspects of the Electrical Power System: A Case Study of the German Power System in Transition 37
- 3 Power Sector Transformation: An Indian Perspective 53
- 4 Major Non-technical Questions of Today’s Energy Supply: Between Energy Policy and Regulation 95
- 5 Scenarios for the Energy System 111
- 6 How Europe Regulates the Internal Energy Market 127
- 7 Requirements for the Reliability of Energy System Planning 137
- 8 Currents of Change: Electrification for a Greener Future 151
- 9 Understanding the Levelized Cost of Energy 167
- 10 Influence of CO2 Targets on Energy Planning: Optimal Energy Supply from a Climate Perspective 185
- 11 Energy Planning With a Special Focus on Hard-To-Abate Sectors and Decarbonization 203
- 12 Energy Storage Technologies in Support of the Energy Transition and Climate Neutrality 235
- 13 Electrical Supply Infrastructure Under Transformation 249
- 14 Innovation (Not Only) in the Grid Sector: Market and Regulation Also Require Reinvention 275
- 15 Challenges of Today’s Energy Distribution 303
- 16 Resilience: Considering Disruptive Events in the Energy Planning of Buildings and Neighborhoods 335
- 17 Siemens Princeton Resilient Campus: Defining the Future of Energy with a Sustainable and Reliable Microgrid 351
- 18 Introduction to Energy Trading and the Role of Energy Exchanges 361
- 19 The Role of Power Exchanges (PX) in the Energy Transition: Between Cross-Border and Local Trading 375
- 20 Energy Markets, Grids and Flexibility: A Future Market Design for a Decarbonized Energy System 395
- 21 Local Trading Within Energy Communities 419
- 22 Verification Methods for Renewable Electricity: Guarantees of Origin, PPAs, and Renewable Fuels of Non-biological Origin 435
- 23 The Unique German Smart Metering Approach in Contrast to International Strategies 453
- 24 Real-Time as a Natural System Boundary 473
- 25 Internet of Things (IoT) and Sensor Technology in Electrical Energy Supply Systems 495
- 26 The Perfect Storm: Where the Energy Transition Meets the Digital Transformation 509
- 27 The Dark Side of Digitalization 529
- 28 Artificial Intelligence and Data Efficiency 543
- 29 Aspects of Data Protection and Security in Smart Electronical Systems out of “European Perspective” 565
- 30 Actively Shaping the Digital Transformation Process with Systemic Organizational Development 581
- 31 New IT for the Digital Energy of the Future 609
- 32 Connecting and Digitalizing the Energy Sector with a Dynamic IT Strategy 629
- 33 Information Security and Digitalization at Distribution System Operators 649
- 34 Digital Efficiency – a Powerful Tool! 671
- 35 Asset Management in the Energy Transition: Requirements and Technologies 695
- 36 Power Shortage Situation 715
- 37 Blackout: The European Electricity Supply System in Transition 733
- 38 Everyday Life Without Electricity in the Household Customer Sector 781
- 39 Technical Requirements and Implications of Functioning Sector Coupling 791
- 40 Transition from Planning to Implementation of District Projects with Sector Coupling 819
- 41 Green Hydrogen Potentials for the Power Sector in Germany 831
- 42 Electricity is Easy, Fuels are Hard: Lessons from the Maritime Industry 843
- 43 Project example “pebbles” 867
- 44 New Digital Technologies Find Their Way into the Grid Sector 889
- 45 Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG), and Digitalization in the Commercial Real Estate Industry 909
- 46 Scenarios for Training and Continuing Education 923
- 47 Electricity Market and Electricity System Transformation: North American Perspective 943
- Index 953
