Barriers to adopting “vital” digitalisation measures in the transmission and distribution (T&D) industry could hold back the success of the global clean energy transition, a new study from DNV GL has found.
The new report, titled ‘Digitalisation and the Future of Power Grids’, found just over half (52%) of distribution network operators (DNOs) have digitalisation as a core part of their publicly stated strategy, falling to 39% for transmission system operators (TSOs).
The study findings are based on a survey of nearly 2000 engineers and senior executives from start-ups to large corporations in the energy sector.
In addition, a third of the T&D industry considers itself “less advanced” than the wider energy industry in its current application of digitalisation.
According to DNV GL, “Nonetheless, stakeholders in the T&D industry are fully aware of the perceived benefits of digitalisation with TSOs and DNOs listing the following top three digital technologies as making an impact on their industry: Cyber security (76% TSOs versus 67% DNOs), data visualisation (67% TSOs versus 71% DNOs and automation and digital workflow (73% TSOs versus 68% DNOs).
Despite “low levels of strategic focus” on digitalisation in the industry, the survey revealed that that T&D stakeholders are “heavily focussed” on including additional digital skillsets into their workforce.
Around 67% of respondents highlighted a need for employees with combined data and domain expertise, which comes as no surprise in an industry where IT skills have traditionally been separated from electrical power systems expertise.
DNV GL energy technology and innovation vice president Lucy Craig said: “The role that the T&D industry needs to play in making the energy transition a success cannot be overestimated, which is why we call on organisations to invest in digital skills training to equip their employees with the necessary competences to tackle the challenges the T&D industry is facing.”
When questioned about which skills would be most important for the industry, understanding and application of IoT systems (48%), data science (47%) and big data analytics (41%) were cited as the most sought-after competences by the T&D industry.
Craig added: “Our survey also shows that 40% of T&D stakeholders believe that a lack of digital mindset is a barrier within their organisation, which is defined as lack of staff engagement with digitalisation.
“This reveals that although the technology and ambition might be there, unless organisations can concentrate the efforts of their entire workforce towards the adoption of new technologies and harvesting the opportunities provided by big data and enhanced connectivity, the impact of digitalisation will be limited.”