A recent paper initiated by the German Energy Agency (dena) sets the scene for a cross-sectoral economic initiative, ‘Digital World Energy Platform’, and calls on politicians and business leaders to make better use of the energy transition and opportunities for digitalisation in Germany.
The paper states that it is vital that businesses cooperate across sectors, make the customer the main focus and develop suitable business models. From a policy perspective it is crucial to understand the changes in world energy systems and ensure that there is scope for innovation.
The platform comprises more than 25 businesses and associations from various branches of energy and network management, and suppliers specialising in metrology, buildings, mobility and IT.
“The future of the world’s energy is digital, and it involves the most diverse sectors. As in other industries, digitalisation of the world’s energy will be accompanied by disruptive developments that will have the potential to change today’s energy transition picture completely. Anyone wanting to shape this process will have to join forces and operate within unfamiliar networks,” said Andreas Kuhlmann, dena’s Chief Executive.
Germany has one of the most multifaceted energy supply systems in the world. Digitalisation and rapidly increasing decentralisation provide the breeding ground for a multitude of new companies and innovative business models. From this, entirely new prospects for a successful energy transition could develop, the potential of which we can hardly begin to estimate today. If businesses, with the aid of digitalisation, renew their focus on the needs of the customer, they will be able to make good use of the process of change.
At all levels — business, regulatory, and political — new approaches will be required, and as the current phase of energy transition gives way to digitalisation innovation and disruptive thinking will be crucial.
Germany provides excellent conditions for this: engineering know-how, a highly developed industrial landscape, an already existing digitalised infrastructure, and a clear political commitment to the great social project that is energy transition. The Digital World Energy Platform brings all of the major players together.
Photo credit: “www.colourbox.com”. Material used in the preparation of this article has been drawn from DENA.
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