The Importance of Technology in the Energy Transition
During July 2022, the World Energy Council’s August World Energy Pulse polled 600 individuals from both public and private sector power and utility organisations across 90 countries. Amongst a great deal of valuable findings, the results detailed attitudes to technology in the energy transition and opportunity areas for innovation.
It was found that 48% of global respondents consider supply-side technologies including electricity storage, low-carbon hydrogen, smart grids, and carbon capture and storage, as the greatest untapped potential for innovation to accelerate energy transitions in all regions.
Electricity Storage
One of the biggest drawbacks of renewable energy, in the form of solar or wind, is that it’s available when daylight or wind is present, so energy storage is crucial in this sector to allow the electricity generated to be released on demand.
To further cement the importance of technology in the energy transition, the National Grid ESO cites the building of additional storage for excess electricity as part of its most ambitious pathway option for reaching Net Zero in Britain before 2050.
As more renewables come online, the demand for storage increases so the testing of new technologies and improvement of existing solutions to expand capacity and lower costs is imperative.
Carbon Capture and Storage
Suggested as being central to tackling global warming, the ability to capture and store carbon dioxide also reduces dependency on carbon emitting fuels such as oil or gas.
Zero-emission power is key to our future, but as it’s likely that traditional energy will be the dominate source for some time yet, carbon capture and storage could be the necessary solution, so it’s not surprising to see it specified in the Energy Pulse results as a mechanism to accelerate the energy transition.
Smart Grids
With their capability of shifting demand and balancing the system, it’s no shock that smart grids are within the group of technologies regarded in the survey as untapped potential for the energy transition.
Monitoring and controlling generation and demand in nearly real time will mean an efficient, timely transition to low carbon economies, whilst maintaining a more reliable, secure and cost effective supply as the complexity of our energy sources and requirements increases.
People Solutions
Visuna are committed to the energy transition, which means we are a leading choice for supporting organisations pushing forward into renewable sectors. Contact us today to see how our workforce solutions can help your business power forward.
