{"id":15239,"date":"2019-05-02T11:00:02","date_gmt":"2019-05-02T19:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2019\/05\/02\/news-8988\/"},"modified":"2019-05-02T11:00:02","modified_gmt":"2019-05-02T19:00:02","slug":"news-8988","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2019\/05\/02\/news-8988\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Adapt to the New Energy Landscape"},"content":{"rendered":"

Credit to Author: Emmanuel Lagarrigue| Date: Wed, 01 May 2019 23:02:25 +0000<\/strong><\/p>\n

The energy internet will cause as much disruption as the internet caused over the last 20 years. The question is, what can you do now to prepare for it?<\/p>\n

That was a question on the minds of many energy, finance, and technology industry leaders at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) Summit.<\/p>\n

At the summit, two takeaways emerged that I want to talk about in this post. The first: There are no winners or losers yet, and new opportunities already exist for companies ready to innovate. The second: No single company can navigate the energy transition alone \u2014 we must all collaborate to succeed.<\/p>\n

1. The energy internet is already generating new opportunities<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

It is no longer a question of whether modular, decentralized energy technology will be deployed; it\u2019s a question of how quickly it will happen. And for early adopters of new energy technologies, there are clear opportunities to create new business models. A recent survey of the C-level showed that 68 percent of respondents expect their industry to be significantly disrupted by new innovations brought by technology in the next three years.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

The \u201cRethinking the Energy Internet\u201d<\/a> BNEF session showed that the energy industry is at the beginning of a digital transformation similar to one that revolutionized the IT and telecommunication industries. Because energy generation is increasingly decentralized rather than reliant on a central source, a single node going down is no longer a major interruption \u2014 the same as the internet. Disruptions are happening fast \u2014 the consumer internet went from being a curiosity to a staple of everyday life in less than a decade. This transformation will lead to a series of disruptions in the energy industry \u2014 and opportunities.<\/p>\n

The three primary dimensions to this decentralized energy network already exist, and are already being used to transform the new energy landscape:
– Distributed generation via microgrids
– Decentralized flexibility via electricity storage systems
– Decentralized data and control, via AI and machine learning<\/p>\n

Machine learning is a particularly potent opportunity in the energy internet, as it unlocks opportunities across the energy value chain. It can locate cracks in wind turbines, optimize solar generation, find cybersecurity anomalies, and much more. But many companies are only in the early stages of harnessing machine learning.<\/p>\n


2. Innovation and adaptation through collaboration<\/strong><\/p>\n

Companies and utilities are trying to determine just how to navigate this disruption. I participated on a panel on digital transformation, and the consensus among all speakers was that innovation through collaboration will be key to success in the new energy future.<\/p>\n

You can watch that discussion here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

In any uncertain market, it\u2019s wise to hedge your position with small bets and partnerships. That\u2019s why you see unlikely bonds forming between start-ups and utilities, between industrial giants and tech upstarts. And necessity breeds innovation; with a business-as-usual approach, many companies will simply get disrupted out of existence \u2014 digital transformation is a primary reason why half the Fortune 500 companies from 2000 are no longer on that list.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

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Start-ups bring agility and ideas, Fortune 500s offer expertise and market access. Utilities own infrastructure, and tech companies have digital knowhow. United, companies can rise to the challenges of the new energy landscape. Divided, they may fall.<\/em>
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Our strategy: Innovation at the Edge<\/strong><\/p>\n

How does this collaboration look in practice? It could look something like our Innovation at the Edge program. This program places many small bets at the edge of our business to solve new customer problems.<\/p>\n

We look for promising ideas<\/a> and people and provide them with the capital, expertise, and access they need to disrupt our industry. We incubate companies, form joint alliances with large companies<\/a>, and foster a culture of co-innovation. We believe these collaborative efforts will strengthen our business, but also move the industry toward a decarbonized and digitized model.<\/p>\n

Why we created the Innovation at the Edge program<\/strong><\/p>\n