Energy and utilities (E&U) organisations face a trilemma of energy market challenges in terms of affordability, sustainability and supply. These pressures are accelerating the need to transition to renewable resources. To transform successfully, organisations must properly utilise the matrix of data running through their business and build open ecosystems for industry-wide collaboration.

Making the energy transition work for energy providers and consumers relies on harnessing the power of data to enable smarter management of assets, operations and services.

Next-generation connectivity solutions like 5G, edge computing, Internet of Things (IoT) devices and artificial intelligence (AI) can turn regular organisations into ‘intelligent’ organisations, which can process data in real-time with the right scale, velocity and security. IoT combined with AI technologies can capture data across multiple touch points, converting data into insights, predictions and recommendations. Indeed, as utilities embrace energy usage load disaggregation, their energy advice will become proactive, highly relevant and actionable – creating a truly frictionless experience.

Digitalisation is also the key to decarbonisation and will empower organisations to deliver more ‘connected experiences’ for the modern consumer. What’s more, every business is now a data business. Because it is only by driving forward data-led insights and technology, that E&U organisations will be able to reinvent themselves for a brave new future.

The new connected experience  
Home devices like smart meters have kicked off a utility data revolution and are changing the relationship utility providers have with customers in terms of unique customer experiences (CX). There is a shift towards a utility control model that is more customer-centric and also appeals to the ethical consumer.

Although data is the powerhouse behind superior CX, use of data from intelligent devices, like smart meters, remains a novelty for organisations sitting on mountains of it. There are relatively few examples of companies really maximising data to deliver superior CX, highly tuned operations and smart, self-optimising products and services. However, organisations cannot afford to sit idle. Today’s consumers are happy to change to providers that are more likely to meet their financial, sustainability and digital CX expectations.

One immediate way for providers to improve service is by leveraging real-time energy use data from meters, with digital applications that mirror the new business dynamics.

New apps can deepen a customer’s understanding of their carbon footprint and help choose services that will save costs. In much the same way that banks and mobile phone companies use data to enhance a customer’s experience through mobile apps, E&U companies can use data to empower customers with personalised experiences aligned with their energy data profile.

Chatbots and virtual humans in combination with AI can answer customer questions faster, while meeting customer expectations and enhancing the user experience. These are evolving from a simplified text-only service to now incorporate voice and soon even cultural meaning and intent.

At the same time, organisations should be using data to inform sales services and other operations.

Building ‘intelligent’ assets  
Building intelligent data ecosystems will enable energy and utility companies to bring a more proactive approach to potential service interruptions.

Similarly, water suppliers have traditionally relied on customers to tell them when there is a problem. Due to a lack of real-time insight, utilities act some time after the incident has happened, leaving customers and the environment vulnerable until a resolution is found. Soon there will be no excuses for this problem. By investing in digital ‘intelligent assets’, utility providers will be able to monitor sewage pipes in near real-time, using data-driven insight.

By unlocking new and existing operational data from across infrastructure and connecting it via IoT sensors, it is possible to predict and prevent wastewater issues before they happen. This will have the added impact of reducing energy consumption, avoiding compliance risks and delivering cost savings.  

Capgemini has been working with Scottish Water on digital transformation to cut inspection time to connect customers to the water network from five days to four hours, so developers no longer face time-consuming delays for on-site inspections to provide connections for new customers.

These are just a couple of examples. Energy and water systems are incredibly complex and mature systems. Part of their transformation will involve connecting ageing assets to realise their full value. From optimising reservoir or grid management to detecting burst pipes or damaged powerlines and responding to adverse weather conditions. For both types of utilities, AI-driven assets, fed by data, are truly gamechangers.

Digital records  
Ensuring data is of the highest quality is key to establishing an effective ecosystem. Although most of the paper records once kept by E&U providers are now digitised, there are far too many discrepancies for it to be reliable for use.

High quality geographic information system (GIS) data is crucial to supporting network investments, as part of the energy transition. At present, representations involve large volumes of data which are often derived from paper records, so errors are widespread and become costly and time-consuming if not addressed.

Deep learning technology will play an important role in ironing out this issue. Capgemini has been working with Western Power Distribution (WPD) to build a model, using graph neural networks (GNNs) capable of identifying errors and proposing corrections using GIS data alone. Using machine learning (ML) to carry out data cleansing and data gap closure, reliance on network connectivity information has been reduced, errors are identified autonomously and corrections proposed.

As bigger and richer datasets become available, AI-driven techniques have huge potential to improve performance and optimise sustainability targets. 

Digital twins  
As virtual representations of physical grid assets, digital twins can be employed to simulate scenarios that determine the health of assets and identify preventative actions in real-time.

Controlled virtually from a remote operations centre – although digital twins will likely run autonomously in the future – an important benefit is their ability to run safe testing in hyper-realistic environments, so teams are more prepared for any potential emergency incident.

More broadly, digital twins represent a convergence of the digital and physical realms, where the underlying technology of mixed-reality and spatial computing enable organisations to inject continuous process innovation into operations.

Rise of a token economy  
Another knock-on effect of the convergence of real and digital assets is the movement towards a ‘token economy’. Driven by the adoption of blockchain technology, which by design embeds trust, transparency and verifiability within a decentralised data ecosystem, a token-based economy can drive consumers and providers to more sustainable practices.

For instance, in Australia, about one in four homes have solar panels on their roofs. Despite strong levels of microgeneration, electricity is often sold directly to the grid for nominal prices or is wasted. Instead, a token-based economy offers the potential to democratise the energy procurement process. Ethereum-based solutions create a peer-to-peer market where consumers can sell and buy energy with low-cost authentication, validation and settled data privacy. A token economy hands consumers an active role in how they acquire and trade the renewable energy they generate.

Peer-to-peer energy trading with the RENeW Nexus project uses a blockchain and token approach to enable large volumes of transactions between prosumers and consumers with low-cost authentication, validation and settlement while ensuring data privacy; allowing prosumers with rooftop solar PV (photovoltaic systems) to sell excess electricity.

The fourth industrial revolution, what we call Intelligent Industry, is sweeping E&U operations. As energy networks become more decentralised, with the increased dependence on renewable sources, and infrastructure digitises, our reliance on data will inevitably increase. To face the environmental and societal challenges in the years ahead, E&U companies must evaluate, share and leverage data to adapt effectively.

This article is based on Capgemini’s Technovision 2022 report on Energy & Utilities: Being like water.