Digitalization: The Third D of the Energy Future




“Artificial intelligence is the new electricity”

–Andrew Ng

Digitalization is a topic very intimately linked to energy, but it is necessary to differentiate the exogenous and endogenous effects of this relationship. The exogenous effects of digitalization have more to do with the process of transformation of goods, products or processes. We have already addressed this: how currencies, records and books become chains of digital data that ultimately require electric energy. For example, we no longer use the Guía Roji to locate ourselves but Google Maps, and today’s students no longer need to have an illustrated encyclopedia but only access to Wikipedia.

To the above is added the digitalization of classic household appliances and other electronics that are not only automated, but also interconnected to internet networks, giving rise to the so-called internet of things. Beyond devices to which we have already become accustomed — computers, video game consoles and televisions —, this is also a trend in washing machines, refrigerators, air conditioners and even lighting in general; everything can be controlled through networks with a cellphone or another device connected to the same network of our house or even remotely through the internet.

But, on the other hand, there are endogenous effects of digitalization in the electric sector. Digitalization in turn implies a process of adaptation and rapid response to a changing environment such as greater integration of renewable energies and storage. Power plants and large consumption centers are interconnected through remote communication means, whether through conventional internet or satellite communications, in such a way that they can process information in real time and integrate it into a more robust network with intelligent dispatch.

Operators and intelligent networks connected in real time, together with generators and representatives of consumers and other marketers, would have the possibility of sending more precise data on generation and consumption, which would avoid the programming of excess generation and would reduce technical losses. Likewise, it could help a better integration of renewable energies in real time and also make precise information available to citizens instantly.

Accompanying this interconnectivity goes hand in hand artificial intelligence and data science for the development of algorithms and self-learning machines that allow integrating a large amount of data in real time, such as weather, prices, operations, demand and storage, which would grant greater reliability in the operation of the electric system.

Additionally, consumption centers integrate smart meters and distributed generation and storage systems that can interact continuously with the network and enable the sale of solar or stored energy; controllable demand and other products for the benefit of the network. In case of non-payment, it also allows remote disconnection and connection without crews of technical bodies or long waiting times.

A smart home could decide whether at a given moment of the day it uses energy from the grid to store it or to charge an electric car; or else sell energy from a distributed generation system or share it with its neighbors or, why not, donate its surplus to a nursing home, church or school.

Digitalization and interconnectivity are, undoubtedly, two of the topics that reflect the bright future of the electric sector, decentralized and decarbonized, and this enables something else: democratized. We will talk about that next week.

This article was originally published by Business Insider México.
Date: July 29, 2020
Original Link: https://businessinsider.mx/digitalizacion-futuro-energetico-energias-renovables-opinion-paul-alejandro-sanchez-energia-circular/ [offline]
Archived Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20201026073748/https://businessinsider.mx/digitalizacion-futuro-energetico-energias-renovables-opinion-paul-alejandro-sanchez-energia-circular/ [Archived]

Decentralization: The Second D of the Energy Future








I buy everything from ACME, they are the company I trust the most.

– Wile E. Coyote

A fundamental aspect of the centralization that characterizes the electric sector lies in the maxim that says: “the bigger, the better.” For example, the bigger a generation plant is, the cheaper the energy is and therefore investment is made to take it from the distant production centers to the consumption centers. Right?

According to the logic of electric centralization, few large companies are required to make all the investments in generation and also in transmission and distribution lines to take energy to consumption centers. In such a way that production is centralized in vertically or horizontally integrated companies.

To illustrate the above, do you remember the Coyote from the “Looney Tunes” animated series? Created in 1949 with his co-star the Road Runner, in more than 70 years of life he has dedicated himself to the fruitless task of hunting the fast bird. For this he has used products from the ACME company, on which I will stop a little.

The ACME company is an acronym that means, translated into Spanish, “A Company that Makes Everything” and was the clear reflection of the companies of the 1950s. General Electric, for example, made the same irons, stoves, toasters, televisions, refrigerators; garbage burners, coal stoves, jet turbines and, in a futuristic vision, electric cars and their home chargers, to which we will dedicate an article later.

ACME, like GE, like the electric companies of old — known as utilities —, are part of that type of organization. However, since the 1970s this model entered into crisis and was replaced by smaller and more dynamic companies, reducing competitiveness to the large ACMEs. Eventually companies such as GE or the electric utilities began divesting assets and less competitive business branches.

If technological advance has taught us anything, it is the importance of miniaturization, individualization and personalization of products and services. Where before there was a landline telephone, now there is a smartphone for each member of the family. Why should it be different in the electric sector?

Smaller and more flexible plants are cheaper and easier to operate, they can be located near large consumption centers and, therefore, be more competitive than the large plants of old, and among these are solar plants. The development of small solar plants between 0.5 MW and up to 10 MW has grown everywhere in the world under that logic and has lowered the costs of electric energy in the most sophisticated markets.

But it does not end there. What is closer to the consumer than generating on their own roofs? The growth of solar panels on the roofs of residential, commercial, industrial users and even government offices has grown in those markets where regulation is more favorable, for example, California.

The energy future outlines a true trend of decentralization, users who take control of their consumption and require, increasingly less, energy from large production centers, cooperatives that create microgrids for self-consumption or entrepreneurs who use their land to sell energy near the cities.

And this is only the beginning, when electricity storage is economically viable, an important part of consumers will use increasingly less energy coming from large power plants.

Electric decentralization is synonymous with freedom and energy independence of consumers and goes hand in hand with the decarbonization of the sector. Undoubtedly, it will be a reality sooner rather than later.

This article was originally published by Business Insider México.
Date: July 22, 2020
Original Link: https://businessinsider.mx/descentralizacion-sector-electrico-energia-circular-paul-sanchez-opinion/ [offline]
Archived Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20210303081030/https://businessinsider.mx/descentralizacion-sector-electrico-energia-circular-paul-sanchez-opinion/ [Archived]

Decarbonization: The First D of the Energy Future






“This century can credibly be called the century of decarbonization”

-Angela Merkel

This week we begin with the first installment of a four-part series called “the Ds of the energy future,” namely: decarbonization, digitalization, decentralization and democratization. To begin, we touch on the topic of decarbonization, which is one of the social demands that has gained the most strength in recent years.

Decarbonization refers to the process of eliminating the sources of greenhouse gas emissions in economies which, for simplification, is measured in equivalent carbon dioxide. In such a way that the words coal or carbon, in this sense, are used as a reference to this.

The task is not simple, since it is necessary to advance in means of transport that use renewable sources of energy, where the main challenge is found in aircraft and large vessels; as well as in energy efficiency in buildings, electronic devices and industrial processes; and, of course, in the generation of electric energy.

Said in another way, decarbonization would be the most important result of a deep energy transition where the use of fossil sources of energy is eliminated, or at least reduced to the strictly necessary minimum. The challenge is enormous, however, it is already part of the international agenda contained in the Paris Agreement.

In matters of electric energy generation, renewable technologies, particularly solar and wind, have reduced their costs rapidly in the last 10 years. With low technological costs, the proliferation of renewable projects has accelerated throughout the world. Large-scale projects, whether wind, onshore and offshore, as well as large solar farms, have appeared on all continents.

But it has not stopped there. On a small scale, in those places where projects have found fertile ground, roofs have been covered with photovoltaic panels for distributed energy generation, which allows users of more basic markets to save on their energy bills and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while in more advanced markets, they can charge their electric cars, store energy and sell energy to the grid or to their neighbors.

Nevertheless, to continue advancing in the correct direction of decarbonization, it is necessary to advance in the technological development of new-generation batteries that can store the energy generated by renewable sources and permanently exorcise the ghost of intermittency.

Medium- and long-term decarbonization policies include, in addition to incentives to use renewable sources and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in production, the penalization for emissions in energy consumption. In some countries, advanced carbon bond markets have already been developed where one must pay or compensate for the emissions directly related to their energy consumption; whether in fuels such as coal, gasoline and natural gas; or in electricity, depending on the energy mix that was used for its generation.

Finally, decarbonization in the global energy future will be complemented by other elements such as digitalization, decentralization and democratization, which together generate positive feedback among each of them for the benefit of all the citizens of the world. We will talk about these in the following columns. Until then.

This article was originally published by Business Insider México.
Date: July 15, 2020
Original Link: https://businessinsider.mx/descarbonizacion-futuro-energetico-energia-circular-paul-alejandro-sanchez-opinion/ [offline]
Archived Link: No server is available to handle this request. [Archived]