In this age of dynamic change, digitalisation isn’t an option. It’s the linchpin for seamlessly integrating diverse energy sources while ensuring overall grid stability. It is a crucial component of managing the complexity of the evolving grid.
Decarbonisation, digitalisation, cost pressures, and a rapidly changing power generation and consumption landscape are key factors transforming the energy and resources industry.
Mining and metals, oil and gas, and power and utilities companies all face a common challenge: How to marry short-term commercial pressures with the need to reshape their businesses for the future.
New digital technologies and changing customer expectations are creating a new energy world that is more complex, competitive, and challenging.
Survival for these industries depends on their ability to develop new capabilities, different operating models, and a mindset centred around agility and collaboration. However, industry leaders can’t solely focus on the future while forgetting the now – all of this must be balanced with managing and optimising today’s operations.
The industry can find and implement lasting solutions to address the energy trilemma of supply security, affordability, and sustainability. At the centre of organisational strategies is an investment in foundational capabilities, both infrastructure and systems, that will underpin the broader industry transformation.
These capabilities include managing a complex portfolio of suppliers and partners, leading with digital, adopting renewables and emerging technology at scale, building flexibility into the energy system, and putting customers and employees first.
Digitalisation is more than a buzzword; it creates real business value for all stakeholders throughout the energy sector – renewable plant owners and operators, power grid owners and operators, and large energy users such as data centres, mining, and transportation, to name a few.
Energy leaders stand on the cusp of opportunity as pressure increases to optimise energy both locally and system-wide, harness massive amounts of data, and synthesise it to gain insights and respond to practical challenges.
This includes reducing the cost of maintaining existing assets while investing in new infrastructure, enabling highly secure information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) infrastructure and limited in-house digital expertise, among others.
Electrical utilities and power generation companies have decided to invest in digital technologies to progress their business. Over the next few years, that trend will only accelerate.
Trends to watch for digitalisation:
- Renewable energy sources are the fastest-growing segment of power generation. Whether operated as standalone entities – such as gigawatt (GW)-sized wind farms or solar plants – or combined with hybrid or virtual plants, renewables are at the forefront of the decarbonisation and electrification of the economy.
- Digitalisation provides essential tools to simplify and contextualise massive amounts of data generated from the grid. Creating new value through transforming or creating end-to-end business processes and their associated business models, such as selling energy-as-a-service.
- A comprehensive data strategy is required to connect mission-critical communications, Internet of Things (IoT), Cloud, and edge computing devices and create an end-to-end customer view. This information can then be lever-aged to create digital twins so customers can pen test configurations and loads, etc, to explore how assets react to dynamic demand changes. This can be further enhanced by AI-based applications for interaction.
- Leveraging a software framework will reduce time to value, easing system integration and enabling new service offerings. Enabling business process improvements by the application of digital technologies such as condition-based or predictive maintenance of assets.
- With increasing complexity and evolving technologies, the focus on trusted partnerships and solution providers is vital to bridging gaps.
Hitachi Energy advances digital portfolio with new AI-powered solution
Hitachi Energy has launched a new artificial intelligence (AI)-powered energy forecasting solution, Nostradamus AI.
One of the first AI forecasting solutions purpose-built for the energy industry, Nostradamus AI is a modern AI engine that can generate forecasts estimated to be over 20 percent more accurate than some industry targets.
The solution optimises energy investments, trading strategies, and revenue opportunities, streamlines operational efficiencies and resource planning, and ensures transparency for regulatory compliance.
Nostradamus AI was developed to bridge existing AI and forecasting solutions’ capabilities while providing a platform for scale and future growth.
Hitachi Energy Nostradamus AI is a cloud-native solution that can easily scale from a single forecast to more than 100,000 forecasts. With users’ future forecasting needs in mind, the AI engine can, for example, generate predictions for the renewable generation of a single wind turbine and solar farm or thousands of different load points.
Practical solutions to common industry challenges
Hitachi Energy’s strong IT/OT and AI capabilities make digitalisation possible, enabling customers to generate real business value in terms of reliability and resilience, efficiency, flexibility, safety, security, and sustainability.
Managing the complexity of tomorrow’s energy systems involves leveraging the digital transformation expertise across the Hitachi Group, helping customers adapt to the evolving energy landscape, maximise the value of their assets and contribute to a sustainable and resilient power system.
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