Digitalisation: strengthening collaboration towards smart power systems

DATE: Tuesday, 14 November 2022 I TIME: 13:00 – 14:00 Italian Pavilion

The IEA net-zero scenario shows a need to ramp-up investment in grids and grid digitalisation, especially in emerging economies. Annual investment in digitalising electricity network needs to increase eightfold by the late 2020s (compared to 2016-2020) to meet the 1,5° climate target. To meet this challenge, measures must be taken in the regulatory, financing and technology fields and international collaboration can help share learnings and accelerate implementation. A number of initiatives have recently been launched, with mutually reinforcing goals around power systems decarbonisation and the role of digital solutions, including:

The IEA Digital Demand-Driven Electricity Networks Initiative (3DEN) initiative, supported by the Italian Ministry of Ecological Transition is aimed at supporting countries to accelerate progress on power system decarbonisation, digitalisation, and effective utilisation of demand side resources through policy, regulatory, technology and investment guidance. In this perspective, the IEA is developing guidance and analysis to help inform policy making in emerging economies, notably on opportunities to scale up investment in power infrastructure, ensuring the benefits associated with digital investments are widely shared. The 3DEN initiative has a global focus, with initial country priorities being Brazil, Colombia, Morocco, Tunisia, India, Indonesia, South Africa, and the regions of Latin America, Africa and ASEAN.

The Italian Ministry of Ecological Transition and the United Nations Environment Programme recently announced their support for the implementation of pilot projects in Brazil, Colombia, India and Morocco, testing different approaches on how digitalisation can contribute to flexible and resilient energy systems. The selected projects will provide an opportunity to gain on-the-ground insights, test new approaches and disseminate learnings that will feed into the 3DEN Initiative.

The Regulatory Energy Transition Accelerator (RETA) is an initiative created to enhance the capacity of regulators to increase the speed of the clean energy transitions. It works directly with energy regulators in order to facilitate knowledge sharing, peer to peer learning and thought leadership on regulatory issues. The Accelerator was launched at COP26 by Ofgem, IEA, IRENA, RMI and the World Bank along with more than 20 regulators from around the world and keeps growing.

The Green Powered Future Mission (GPFM) is a global public-private partnership, which aims to demonstrate that by 2030 power systems in different geographies and climates, are able to effectively integrate up to 100% variable renewable energies like wind and solar, in their generation mix and maintain a cost efficient, secure and resilient system. In its Joint Roadmap,  the GPFM identified the top-100 innovation priorities that need to be tackled urgently through feasibility studies, pilots and large demonstrators, starting with 5 Demos in Five Continents, between 2022-2024.

The event will bring together key initiatives such as 3DEN, RETA, GPFM, as well as international organisations, leading private sector and emerging economies representatives such as India’s The Energy and Resources Institute, Morocco's Eaux Minerales d’Oulmes and Enel Group, to present ways to leverage digitalisation towards power system decarbonisation and gather their insights on opportunities to further strengthen international collaboration on the topic.