Digitalisation

Countries and regions making notable progress in developing digitalisation include: 

• The European Union launched an action plan for Digitalising the energy system in 2022 to promote connectivity and interoperability, foster co-ordinated investments in smart grid technologies, empower customers, enhance cyber security, promote greater efficiency, and design effective governance through joint planning. 
• The United Kingdom launched a ‘digital spine’ feasibility study in October 2022, as a follow-up to the Energy Digitalisation Taskforce report initiated by the energy regulator (Ofgem), Innovate UK and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. 
  

Digitalisation – the application of digital technologies – could have a major effect on emissions as an enabler in accelerating clean energy transitions. Across the energy sector, digitalisation can help cut costs, improve efficiency and resilience, and reduce emissions. 

In electricity systems, for example, machine learning, smart meters and other digital technologies can help integrate higher shares of variable renewables and better match supply and demand from increasingly heterogeneous decentralised sources such as electric vehicles (EVs) and connected appliances. In end-use sectors, digital technologies can improve efficiency in buildings and transport while also enabling a shift to low-carbon options. 

In addition to indirect effects on emissions in other sectors, digital technologies also have direct effects on energy use and emissions. The data centres, data transmission networks and connected devices that underpin digitalisation accounted for around 330 Mt CO2 equivalent in 2020 (including embodied emissions), equivalent to 0.9% of energy-related GHG emissions. Since 2010, emissions have grown modestly despite rapidly growing demand for digital services, thanks to energy efficiency improvements, renewable energy purchases by information and communications technology (ICT) companies and broader decarbonisation of electricity grids in many regions. However, to get on track with the Net Zero Emissions by 2050 (NZE) Scenario, emissions must halve by 2030. 

The number of smart power meters worldwide exceeded 1 billion in 2022, a tenfold increase since 2010. Meanwhile, connected devices with automated controls and sensors are expected to reach 13 billion in 2023, up from fewer than 1 billion a decade ago. This number could reach more than 25 billion in 2030. Similar trends are being seen in power grids, with around 320 million distribution sensors deployed globally.  

Further progress on smart EV charging is also needed to tap into the major flexibility potential of the growing EV fleet. At the end of 2022, there were 2.7 million public charging points world wide, more than 900 000 of which were installed in 2022, an increase of about 55% on 2021 stock. However, only a fraction of these have smart charging capabilities. If made grid-interactive, other technologies such as heat pumps and air conditioners could also provide flexibility.  

To get in step with the NZE Scenario, the global inventory of flexible assets needs to increase tenfold by 2030, which means that all sources of flexibility – including batteries and demand response supported by smarter and more digitalised electricity networks – need to be leveraged. Enabling digital technologies such as smart meters and distributed monitoring and control devices is essential to fully exploit the flexibility potential of the growing number of connected devices. 

In addition to ramping up deployment of key digital technologies, existing data and digital assets need to be better utilised to provide benefits for consumers and the energy system; in 2019 it was estimated that utilities were leveraging only around 2-4% of data collected. 

Investment in digital-related grid efficiency continued to grow to a new high of USD 63 billion in 2022. Expanded EV charging infrastructure was the main source of growth, with global investment in public EV charging reaching USD 16.8 billion in 2022, a more than tenfold increase from USD 1.5 billion in 2018, reflecting the rapidly increasing number of EVs.  

For the first time in a decade, total investment in smart meters slightly decreased in 2022. This reflects a plateauing deployment rate, as many countries have already achieved full or close to full roll-out.  

Investment by distribution system operators and transmission system operators in analytics for grid operations, asset performance management and power quality has more than doubled since 2016, from USD 0.68 billion to USD 1.48 billion in 2022. 

Digitalisation has become increasingly prominent within clean energy start-ups as more entrepreneurs seek to market new ideas based on digital tools and processes. For example, digitalisation enables new business models, such as energy as a service (EaaS) financial schemes and virtual power plant services for distributed energy resources. These business models provide new opportunities and revenue streams for companies while enhancing system-wide efficiency and demand-side flexibility. Moreover, big tech companies have become top investors in clean energy start-ups. 

Several countries and regions have recently put forward strategies and action plans to facilitate the digital transformation of their energy systems, while others are beginning to mandate the use of digital technologies to support clean energy transitions.  

• In Australia, Project EDGE (Energy Demand and Data Exchange) was initiated by the Australian Energy Market Operator to demonstrate the potential for aggregations of consumer-owned distributed energy resources to deliver energy services to the wholesale power system and at the local network level. In May 2023, a new toolkit was released to facilitate the secure and efficient integration of distributed energy resources into local and regional electricity markets. 
• In the European Union, one of the key actions presented in the European Commission’s Recommendation for Energy System Integration is to deploy a streamlined Digitalisation of Energy Action Plan to accelerate the implementation of digital solutions. These should help better integrate the energy system by making use of seamless and interoperable data-driven interaction between stakeholders. Following the recommendation, in November 2022 the Enershare project received EUR 8 million to develop the first Common European Energy Data Space.  
• In January 2023, the Federal Cabinet of Germany adopted a bill to relaunch the digitalisation of the energy transition, setting out a roadmap for the deployment of smart meters and expanding the scope of dynamic tariffs.  
• The United Kingdom is developing a suite of regulations and requirements for smart charging. To combat peaks in electricity demand, all new chargers sold from 30 June 2022 onwards must be set by default to avoid charging during peak hours.  
• Regulatory sandboxes are being implemented in a number of countries around the world, including Australia, Brazil and Spain.  
  

International initiatives aiming to tackle challenges and accelerate the deployment of digitalisation in the energy sector include the following:  

• The IEA Digital Demand Driven Electricity Networks (3DEN) initiative is developing analysis and policy guidance for emerging economies on digitalisation for power system decarbonisation and resilience, with a smart grid pilot programme administrated by UNEP and funded by the Italian Government. Unlocking Smart Grid Opportunities in Emerging Markets and Developing Economies, a major report by the IEA 3DEN initiative, was launched at a special event during the 8th Annual Global Conference on Energy Efficiency, in June 2023.  
• IEA Technology Collaboration Programmes (TCPs) are informing policy-making related to digitalisation to accelerate clean, efficient and secure energy transitions, including on smart grids, user-centred energy systems, electronic devices and networks, industry and buildings.  
• The Mission Innovation (MI) Green Powered Future Mission aims to demonstrate that by 2030 power systems can effectively integrate up to 100% variable renewables, with digitalisation playing an enabling role.  
• The Energy Efficiency Hub’s Digitalisation Working Group is collating best practices on policies and measures.  
  

Steven Beletich, IEA 4E TCP, Electronic Devices and Networks Annex (EDNA), Contributor and Reviewer