According to the World Energy Council, the competing demands in energy today can be best described as a trilemma, encompassing:
- Energy security, which involves meeting current and future energy demands through assured infrastructure reliability and resilience
- Energy equity, which is to ensure universal access to reliable, affordable, and abundant energy for domestic and commercial use, and
- Environmental sustainability, which means transitioning towards less environmentally harmful means of power generation, transmission and distribution with a focus on decarbonizing the energy system and improving air quality.
In response, energy companies must accelerate the transformation of existing and next-generation energy systems to be safer, more efficient and more sustainable.
This would mean different things to different energy companies; some have to improve legacy power generation systems that have to work with current and future grids, whereas others are already beginning the work today to usher in power generation solutions to decarbonize the energy system of the future.
For wind turbine or solar panels manufacturers, that means devising more efficient equipment to deliver low-cost energy. However, wind power requires significant product innovation to become competitive and be able to be deployed in new areas with low wind speeds.
But efficient decarbonization can't happen with wind or sun alone; energy innovators need to address innovation of the entire grid as a part of smarter power system. This involves battery manufacturers who are iterating towards vehicle-to-grid applications, which present a potent and disruptive flexibility solution that demands even more out of battery technology.
Then we have legacy nuclear reactors, whose lifespans can be extended – and, as a result, keep averaged costs competitive – provided they can demonstrate continued safe operation and maintenance. Small modular reactors are another cutting-edge technology about to open another option to deliver emissions-free energy closer to where it’s needed, if companies can satisfy stringent regulatory requirements and go to market quickly, and in sufficient numbers.
As the future of energy innovation is upon the industry, energy companies need to rethink how power generation projects can be successfully completed, delivered and operated and that occurs through the accelerated adoption of more digitalization, collaboration and simulation.