Digital Transformation for Power: Making it Real

The new wave of dominant technologies: mobile, analytics, Big Data, cloud, the Internet of Things (IoT) and smart machines are impacting every industry. Europe is predicted to spend 50 b€ on digital transformation with 330 b€ of estimated annual economic benefits by 2020.1  Accenture predicts that the digital platform economy will account for 25% of global GDP by 2020.2   The WEF estimates that the digitalization of electricity could unlock $3.1 trillion in industry and societal value over the next decade.3

The digital transformation of the power and utility industry is real, well underway and non-reversible.  At last year’s Minds + Machines conference, GE hosted utilities and power producers representing 15% of the world’s electricity, a clear indication that digital is going mainstream.  These companies shared how they were reevaluating their business models, organizational structures, assets and technologies to support their next phase of growth by embracing machine data and analytics for informed decisions.

A Dramatic Result from Digital

Each organization will approach digital transformation from their own point of reference, market situation and business drivers. A2A in Northern Italy, for example, had plans to close its Chivasso plant because it was no longer profitable in a competitive market. The ability to cycle quickly and efficiently to gain dispatch was simply not economically feasible. At least not until analytics and software created a highly tuned operating environment that changed the financial equation entirely. Hear the story directly from the management team at A2A:

Taking Transformation Across the Enterprise

Nowhere is this industry’s accelerating shift to digital better exemplified than in power leaders leveraging a unifying technology platform to gain economies of scale, cross-enterprise visibility and speed to market. Exelon, a fortune 500 company, is implementing their vision to drive positive business outcomes across their operating portfolio by leveraging a common platform in Predix. 

The ability to gather and examine massive amounts of machine data across an entire operating fleet unlocks a world of transformative possibilities. Hear Exelon executives speak of their vision and digital strategy:

We expect this year’s Minds + Machines Europe event in Berlin in June to be as compelling as the last. Top global power and utility executives from Gas Natural Fenosa, EDF (Dalkia), Enel, Iberdrola, Fortum and Sonnen will discuss how they are making digital transformation a reality for their organizations, sharing important stories and lessons around employing digital across the entire Electricity Value Network – from generation through transmission and distribution to customer management.

Please join us for what I expect to be provocative, timely and practical discussions about key facets of digital transformation, including the rise of new business models, essential role of digital platforms, increasing rate of innovation, intelligent environments, powerful new analytics and optimization, the emerging digital workforce, new grid configurations and more.

Let me ask you the following questions:

• What steps have you taken to leverage software and analytics to drive your digital transformation?
• Do you see other players making a move?
• What are the biggest barriers you’ve faced on your journey?

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1 European Commission: Digitalizing European Industry

2 Platform Economy: Technology-driven Business Model Change from the Outside In, Accenture

3 WEF & Accenture: The Digital Transformation Initiative Executive Summary 2017