Adoption of renewable energy and digitization are some trends impacting the global energy sector. There is limited available information in the public domain regarding how key players are facing these challenges, although some insights can be extracted from their marketing efforts and investor relations. Details about the current state of the global energy industry can be found in the attached slide presentation.
Trends and Challenges
- The global energy industry is moving towards renewable sources of energy, particularly wind and solar. Over 75% of all new investments in new capacity were devoted to renewable energies in 2019, with China and the United States leading the pack.
- Digitization is another trend. Despite being commonplace in other industries, the energy sector tends to be a slower adopter of new technologies. Cloud computing, robotics, IoT, and big data are emerging trends that are likely to change in the next few years.
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- COVID-19 is one of the challenges the industry is currently facing, as it resulted in a significant drop in energy demand worldwide. However, it is also driving the renewable energy trend. Meanwhile, regulatory hurdles impair progress in some countries, such as energy storage, and the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management warns that regulatory barriers and government spending could make the industry lose the opportunity to achieve zero-net emissions.
Key Players
- All selected key players are exponentially increasing their investment in renewable energies, albeit some more than others. AES commissioned the first virtual reservoir in the world, showcasing its investment in energy storage. The company also partnered with Google to accelerate the "future of energy."
- Alliant Energy is adopting smart technologies, particularly consumer-related advances. It also plans to increase investment in battery-storage systems and smart infrastructure. Most of its marketing efforts have an emotional undertone.
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- Endesa recently launched an aggressive marketing campaign to mitigate the decreased energy demand, offering consumers up to two months of free electricity and a one-year Amazon Prime subscription if they signed with the company. It plans to invest EUR 1.1 billion in digitization.
- Edison International is investing in its digital capabilities and smart grid technologies, using big data analytics and machine learning to improve predictive risk capability. Duke Energy seems to be the most affected company by the pandemic; however, retail electric volume declines were still lower than the initial forecast. The company recently launched a new lifting service and is investing in "smart-thinking technology."