How Digital Tools Can Support the Renewable Energy Transition
AVEVA is a Business Reporter client.
As renewable energy is being adopted at an accelerated rate, the industry faces numerous challenges. Industrial software solutions can help overcome these obstacles.
The global appetite for renewable energy is on the rise as pressure from consumers and regulators increases and more companies pursue net-zero targets.
However, delivering on the ambitious goal of keeping the average global temperature increase to under 1.5°C by 2100 requires embracing every available method. Industrial software solutions can help deliver the goods.
Renewable energy producers face several major challenges as they scale up to deliver the capacity required to effect widescale change. Renewable sources such as wind and solar are intermittent and unpredictable compared to fossil fuels, requiring advanced capabilities to manage supply and demand. These sources are widely dispersed across broad geographical areas, often in remote locations.
Energy producers also face a data challenge, with the need to collate data from many new sources—often hundreds or thousands of solar panel systems and wind farms. Finally, producers face the problem of cost: Although the price of renewables has gone down, building new facilities or retrofitting existing units requires significant investment, both to build the units and to connect the digital solutions to manage the data in real time, and visualize and contextualize it for effective action.
The transition to low-carbon energy not only requires the use of new technologies, but also means that energy firms must operate in an entirely new way to deliver energy to their customers. AVEVA has a proven track record of creating and delivering bespoke digital tools that enable energy organizations to address key sustainability challenges while improving value chain efficiencies.
AVEVA’s suite of industrial solutions offers a way to measure and monitor carbon emission metrics across assets and operations and collate this information into one convenient, single-window view for secure and comprehensive real-time visibility.
Layering this integrated data with artificial intelligence-infused analytics can help predict asset performance over time. The software helps strengthen grid reliability by preventing blackouts while offering ongoing insight into consumption patterns, empowering stakeholders to make better decisions, optimize the value chain and thrive.
The renewable energy sector has adopted digital technologies at an accelerated pace since the coronavirus outbreak. According to the International Energy Agency, renewables are forecast to account for almost 95% of the increase in global power capacity from 2020 through 2026, with solar photovoltaics providing more than half of new capacity.
Businesses are realizing that profitability and responsible business go hand in hand. When industrial businesses cut waste from their systems and improve operational efficiency, they reduce their costs and cut carbon emissions, helping to limit global warming. The tools to support this transition are available today.
For more information, please visit aveva.com/en/about/sustainability.
Image: iStock id1278741300
