Powering tomorrow Navigating the energy transition landscape 2024 - Flipbook - Page 24
Digitalization,
automation, and
data in the energy
transition: New
opportunities,
new risks
“The Energy Transition is a Technological
Revolution,” reads a recent headline from
the Rocky Mountain Institute, a non-profit,
non-partisan organization focused on
accelerating the clean energy transition.
They’re right. As pressure to meet net-zero
goals mounts, so too does the need for
innovative digital, automation, and data-driven
technologies – be it software tools to improve
carbon capture, smart meters designed to give
consumers greater control over their energy
usage, connected devices that enable predictive
maintenance, automation that drives renewable
energy production and e昀케ciency, and even
learning systems through Arti昀椀cial Intelligence
(AI)–the list continues to grow.
AI will also play a signi昀椀cant role in renewable
energy forecasting, accelerating the energy
transition. Programs have been developed
by global technology company IBM, as part of
the United States (U.S.) Department of Energy’s
SunShot Initiative which combines self-learning
weather models, data of historical weather,
real-time measurement from local stations,
sensor networks, and cloud information from
satellite imagery and sky cameras. These
re昀椀ned forecasts, when combined with a grid
management system that balances supply
and demand, can be used to increase, and
optimize the output of solar and other
renewable resources.
But, as with all new technologies, leveraging
these tools comes with its share of risks which
need to be carefully managed. Key areas that
executives should keep top-of-mind include:
Band 1
Data Protection, Europe-wide,
Chambers Europe, 2023
24
• Cybersecurity: Heightened
interconnectivity and digitalization can
leave organizations increasingly vulnerable
to cyberattacks. Be it an attack on Colonial
Pipeline or Ukraine’s power grid, hacks by
bad actors in this space can have signi昀椀cant
economic and national security consequences,
creating additional risk for all. This explains
why in the EU and U.S., new laws and
standards regulating the protection of critical
infrastructure (e.g., new power plants, grids,
etc.) have intensi昀椀ed compliance pressures for
energy producers.
Hogan Lovells | Powering tomorrow: Navigating the energy transition landscape
