Abstract

The United Nations brought together almost every country in the world to discuss the state of the planet, in early November 2021.

The 26th annual summit of the Conference of the Parties (COP26) hosted tens of thousands of global leaders, government and business representatives, and citizens, who discussed strategies to tackle climate change. The international conference garnered attention and significance because of the urgency of the task at hand: containing global average temperature rise to below 2°C. The run-up to 2030 is crucial in determining where we are in achieving our climate action goals.

Concerted effort towards mass decarbonization and electrification will drive governments and industries to meet net-zero emissions targets. At the center of this transformation is the utilities sector, which plays a pivotal role in clean energy generation and transmission. The industry has been instrumental in the progress we have achieved so far—lowering emissions, reducing the dependence on coal, and transitioning towards renewable energy sources. In this context, agreements made in COP26, and the future climate agenda set in the summit present phenomenal opportunities for the sector. Utilities are at a pivotal juncture embracing new business models and complying with evolving regulations. This paper discusses the impacts of COP26 on utilities and the new opportunities and implications for the industry.  

Key outcomes for Utilities from COP26

The prime intention behind COP26 was to nudge the parties involved to commit to ambitious emissions-reduction targets.

Before the COP26 event, in August 2021, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released the sixth assessment report (AR6) on the current status and impact of climate change. The report highlighted that the climate change status continues to be precarious, with a 50-50 chance of average global temperature increasing by 1.5°C over the next 20 years. This was a focal point of discussion at COP26 and influenced many of the decisions to mitigate climate change. These decisions are likely to impact almost every industry, in particular the utilities sector - a major contributor towards greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Multiple outcomes of COP26 have a direct bearing on the utilities vertical as shown in Figure 1:

• Transitioning to clean energy sources: COP26 signatories have committed to work together to make clean power the most affordable and accessible option globally, by leveraging technologies to move away from coal completely by 2030 for developed economies and by 2040 for other countries. The United Nations partner agency Sustainable Energy for All and the COP26 team has formed the Energy Transition Council to foster effective discussions among countries needing financial, technical and social support in pursuing clean energy sources. The council aims to help in seamless transfer of technology and ideas. 
• Adopting zero-emission vehicles: Working towards the sale of only zero-emission cars and vans in developed countries by 2035 and by 2040 in developing countries is another key outcome of the COP26 summit. As EV adoption increases, it is likely to impact the energy consumption of the average household, providing utilities with opportunities to boost revenue and enable sustainable load growth.
• Trading renewable energy across borders: COP26 also saw the launch of the Green Grids Initiative–One Sun One World One Grid.  The ambitious vision of trading energy from renewable sources across borders requires a global ecosystem of interconnected grids. A few key initiatives include, investing in renewable energy generation and storage infrastructure and building long-distance, cross-border transmission lines to connect generators and demand centers across continents. The initiative also seeks to attract investments in solar mini-grids and off-grid systems.
• Catalyzing clean energy solutions for all: Mission Innovation (MI), launched by the European Commission and 22 countries, and Breakthrough Energy (BE), founded by Bill Gates, have agreed to work together for funding clean energy technologies.  The goal is to stimulate collaboration between public and private sectors by sharing best practice and tracking technology progress. The collaboration will facilitate co-funding opportunities through BE Catalyst with individual MI member governments and help in advancing technology development, demonstration and deployment for commercialization.

Digital investments: Opening up new opportunities for Utilities

The outcomes of COP26 indicate that there will be an exponential growth of emission-reduction technologies and related investments to accelerate the energy transition.

Building the right digital capabilities and the supporting IT infrastructure will help utilities keep pace with changing market dynamics. Some of the digital investment avenues are:

Digitally enabled carbon capture and storage (CCS): This process helps in capturing carbon dioxide and storing it so that the gas is not emitted back into the atmosphere. Geographic information systems (GIS), 3D reservoir modeling, and imaging technologies can assist in appraising storage sites, and enabling automatic data collection, integration and analysis. In addition, businesses can leverage data insights, 4D seismic surveys, remote sensors, and centralized data platforms for real-time performance monitoring, evaluation and risk management. In this context, UK-based oil and gas company Neptune Energy announced in January 2022 that it has developed digital twins of two platforms in the Dutch North Sea to support its carbon capture and storage project.   

Managing the energy system with higher efficiency and lower costs: Smart power management systems can help optimize engine operations of drilling rigs, facilitating peak shaving of drilling loads and ensuring steadiness. Unmanned equipment, such as robot and leak detection sensors, can improve the surveillance frequency and provide predictive maintenance services at lower costs. Energy management systems can improve energy efficiency and help deploy hybrid power systems with distributed energy and storage infrastructure. Asset performance management systems can enable a better understanding of assets and reduce unplanned downtime costs. 

Automating carbon footprint tracking along the value chain: With 5G, remote sensors and drones, operators can monitor carbon emissions along the value chain. Centralized data management, big data, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and cloud computing can help energy firms turn sensing data into contextual insights. This will support businesses in quantifying the climate impact in every step of energy consumption.

Monetizing data in a low-carbon economy: Big-data-empowered modeling capability will allow operators to run scenarios and select the best decarbonizing route while unleashing efficiency gains. In addition, software-as-a-service (SaaS) platforms will help firms streamline the carbon footprint reporting process, simplifying disclosures to investors and regulators.

Decarbonization in power generation: Green power generation will enable other industries to implement low-carbon strategies and help them achieve decarbonization with electrified operations. The following IT opportunities are identified in this regard:

• Improved grid reliability through electric vehicles (EVs): Utility organizations across the globe are investing to create a network of smart chargers (by using software, intelligence and systems) to increase grid resilience. Going a step further with vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology, which allows bidirectional power flow, EVs will act as grid resources rather than loads. For example, the Snohomish County Public Utility District (SnoPUD) installed USA’s first grid-integrated V2G charging stations in February 2021.  The microgrid went live in July 2021.  

• Maintaining system stability: To deal with the asynchronous nature of renewable energy sources, businesses can implement IT interventions including design development and improved AI-based grid inertia predicting tools. A digital twin approach can help in simulation and in predicting weather scenarios to estimate generation volumes.

• Developing whole electricity systems: Many utilities have committed significant investments for whole electricity system innovation, enabling distributed system operation and close collaboration with industry partners. Some examples in the U.K. are Distributed ReStart, Power Potential and the RecorDER project. In some Western European countries, widespread activity across regulators has started to support delivery of whole electricity system outcomes.