Following the roundtable at Utility Week Forum, the Energy Geeks turned their spotlight on several challenges that need to be resolved for the promise of the energy transition to be delivered for consumers, for incumbent and new system actors and, more widely, for the British economy and the planet.
Comment from Rich Hampshire, Vice President, Digital Utilities, CGI
This first article in a series provides a route-map through the subsequent articles that will explore five key areas in depth and challenge the existing approaches.
Defining the destination
The Geeks’ opening question of, “Have we lost sight of the destination?” builds on the previously identified importance of DESNZ’s and Ofgem’s work on creating their much-anticipated vision for digitalisation of the sector.
This vision is needed to provide system actors with the clarity to align their business strategies. It should guide governance decisions by establishing a clear “Highway Code” for the sector, while helping to coordinate and prioritise the many digitalisation programmes and consultations currently underway.
Guiding the delivery of digitalisation
The Energy Geeks outlined 10 principles to guide digitalisation. Of these principles, the need for a cultural shift is something supported by CGI’s previous research in collaboration with Utility Week, “Paving the Way to Net Zero”. This identified the role of regulation in driving behaviour, especially in how data is treated as an asset.
That same research supports the Geeks’ principle of anticipating risks. The sector can build on its “excellent track record and culture for managing risks”. However, it must adapt existing approaches to risk management to be fit for an energy system with fundamentally different dynamics from the one we have today.
This reflects the Geeks’ call for a clear, modern set of rules, a ‘Highway Code’ for the sector. While challenging, it can be delivered by launching an initial version and refining it over time as real-world experience of system operations improves understanding of risk.
Finally, the Geeks’ principle of ‘Technology as a consequence, not as a driver’ reinforces the importance of the soon-to-be-published digitalisation vision. Clarity on the objectives for digitalisation is about more than delivering a just energy transition; energy costs and system resilience are essential to delivering wider policy and economic imperatives.
