DIGITALEUROPE’s roadmap for Europe’s energy ecosystem digital transformation - The time to transform is now

Introduction

The war in Ukraine is a wake-up call for Europe to achieve independence as well as meet its climate targets. Digitalisation is key to enabling decarbonisation and addressing the existing energy crisis. DIGITALEUROPE calls for ambitious actions, large-scale public and private partnerships, overturning traditional models, and a sense of urgency and innovation.

Phasing out fossil-based energy sources to renewables and distributed assets creates challenges for the existing energy grid, with increased volatility, less predictability and less control of an increasingly complex energy ecosystem. This transformation requires a full value chain approach involving all actors in the ecosystem, where each step of the chain can be enabled by digital technologies.

A transformed energy ecosystem is a necessary step for other industrial sectors to become more resilient and energy-efficient through state-of-the-art technologies and services.

The European Commission’s proposal on the digitalisation of the energy sector (DoEAP) rightly reaffirms the role of digital technologies in creating a climate-neutral and resource-efficient society. Digital technologies and the data insights they provide are helping various sectors, from buildings to transport, to farming and energy to radically improve their material and energy efficiency, cut waste and reduce emissions. By 2030, it is estimated that digital technologies can help resource-intensive industries reduce their global greenhouse gas emissions by 20%, saving ten times more emissions than they produce[1].

This paper consists of two main sections. The first outlines DIGITALEUROPE’s overall position for the digitalisation of the energy ecosystem. The second includes two annexes that highlight challenges, opportunities, recommendations, potential KPIs, and examples of enabling digital solutions contributing to solving current and future energy crises.

References: 

[1] The enablement effect; available at https://www.gsma.com/betterfuture/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/GSMA_Enablement_Effect.pdf