Unlocking Digital Growth Across the Energy Ecosystem

I’ve frequently spoken about the power of digital. In all my years working in the energy industry there hasn’t been anything this exciting and potentially game changing. I believe the digital transformation of electricity is the single biggest opportunity we have to make power more accessible to the over billion people who don’t have it; more reliable for the over two billion who don’t have enough of it; and more sustainable for the people who have it. But it’s going to require putting aside our fears about digital and combining forces within the energy ecosystem to embrace this opportunity.

Today, the energy ecosystem is an interconnected matrix of hardware and software technologies, from distribution to consumption, as well as production. Technology advancements, environmental concerns, changing consumer behavior, regulatory and policy changes, unprecedented fuel availability, and resource constraints are driving transformations in the energy ecosystem globally, and the digital transformation of electricity is the most significant.

This was confirmed by a recent survey GE Power completed of C-Suite executives who represent some of the largest power generators throughout North America and key leaders in the energy industry. We asked them to identify the top industry disruptors over the next five years. We got some telling answers beyond digital: growth in renewables, decarbonization, and the dominance of natural gas. Other strategic issues they’re watching include market and regulatory uncertainty, discovering new growth opportunities, and increasing operating efficiency while reducing costs.

What was the common theme throughout the survey? Digital. The study showed that technology innovation and digital advancements can be important parts of the solution to help reduce operational costs, increase efficiency, and capture new growth opportunities. Our industry is one of the least digitally mature; 80% of executives in the industry expect little to change in the next five years, but they know change is coming. 

Change will come from unlocking growth within data, and we need to embrace this reality. Our industry produces more data than any other, yet only an estimated 2-3% of this data is being analyzed today. I was encouraged by the results of our study to see that 50% of our customers consider themselves early adopters or innovators of new technologies and that 70% expect to be at these levels in the future.

At GE, one of our top priorities is helping our customers with their digital transformation across the energy ecosystem, and we know that only together can we unlock the benefits of data. As if one needed more convincing, a customer said it best: “people who understand digital don’t understand the business, and those who understand the business don’t get digital...the big opportunity is to pull this together…that brings huge value.”

Our customers’ feedback reinforced my belief that now more than ever the energy industry needs to look holistically at the entire energy ecosystem because it’s the key to supporting the digital transformation of electricity. I know GE has the necessary expertise and capability across the energy ecosystem, but I encourage and challenge the rest of the industry to join us.

Over the last 18 months, GE created its own digital business focused on power and launched GE Digital, our software platform Predix, and one of our central applications called Asset Performance Management. Regardless of the progress we’ve made, we’re still on our journey as a digital industrial. This won’t be easy, but we all need to see the opportunity ahead, embrace it, and remind ourselves that the digital transformation of electricity is happening now and we can’t ignore it. We can’t forget that more than a billion people today are without power and need it, and digital has the potential to help transform these their lives. Instead of being fearful of disruption, let’s seize the massive opportunity ahead and make it happen.

Written by:
Steve Bolze
President & CEO at GE Power