Coronavirus accelerates European utilities' digital drive
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Tuesday
February 07, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 07, 2023
Coronavirus accelerates European utilities' digital drive

Global Economy

Reuters
10 August, 2020, 05:35 pm
Last modified: 10 August, 2020, 05:40 pm

Related News

  • If Turkey blocks Sweden and Finland, will NATO boot Turkey?
  • Europeans dial down the heating, heed calls to save energy
  • EU plans changes to pharmaceuticals law to avoid medicine shortages
  • Davos 2023: EU to counter US climate game changer with own green deal
  • EU should put Twitter under direct supervision after missteps: German official

Coronavirus accelerates European utilities' digital drive

Like companies in other sectors, European utilities are having to speed up the adoption of new technologies as the coronavirus crisis forces them to use software, not people, to steer critical infrastructure including plants and grids

Reuters
10 August, 2020, 05:35 pm
Last modified: 10 August, 2020, 05:40 pm
FILE PHOTO: A logo of Italian multinational energy company Enel is seen at the Milan's headquarter, Italy, February 5, 2020. REUTERS/Flavio Lo Scalzo
FILE PHOTO: A logo of Italian multinational energy company Enel is seen at the Milan's headquarter, Italy, February 5, 2020. REUTERS/Flavio Lo Scalzo

When Covid-19 plunged Italy into lockdown, it was decision time at the Verampio power station. The control room, which runs a fleet of hydroelectric plants across the Piedmont region, hard hit by the pandemic, had to be secured to keep the lights on.

Operator Enel, Europe's largest utility, moved quickly to create a parallel backup control room at a smaller site 30 kms (18.6 miles) away while also plugging some key workers into the plant's data base so they could work from home to help keep control.

"We'd never done this sort of thing over a long period of time but it worked instantly," said Giuseppe Serrecchia, Enel's head of Global Power Generation Digital Hub.

"To properly respond to the challenges of Covid, we've boosted our overall digitalization drive."

Like companies in other sectors, European utilities are having to speed up the adoption of new technologies as the coronavirus crisis forces them to use software, not people, to steer critical infrastructure including plants and grids.

Consultants say the move was overdue.

Spain's Iberdrola, the world's second-largest renewables group by capacity, has set up similar processes to Enel.

The pandemic that brought the global economy to its knees has created advantages for businesses immune to shutdowns and restrictions, allowing staff to work remotely and providing technology to keep service flowing.

"Utilities that started digital programs before the crisis have been more resilient. In the post-Covid 19 world, many will need to reconsider their technology priorities," McKinsey said.

"Using remote supervision could help grid operators minimize the risk for their workforces while simplifying operations," the consultancy said.

RESILIENCE

At Germany's E.ON, Europe's largest operator of energy networks with 1.56 million kms of power and gas grids, that message has also sunk in.

It has freed up a further 500 million euros ($591 million), on top of a total 13 billion euros it plans to invest over the next three years, mostly in upgrading its energy infrastructure.

The company has increased the use of drones by 50% and relies more on automated image recognition software for the inspection of high-voltage power lines as a direct consequence of the pandemic, officials told Reuters.

E.ON, which recently completed the takeover of Innogy's networks and retail activities, is also banking on virtual reality. At subsidiary Bayernwerk, which operates distribution grids in the German state of Bavaria, E.ON has virtually recreated substations to train staff remotely and provide access to partner firms without sending anyone.

"During the corona crisis, our employees and customers have learned to re-appreciate the advantages of digitalisation," E.ON CEO Johannes Teyssen said, adding the group would accelerate digitising its processes.

E.ON is also in the final stages of developing an app similar to Apple's video conferencing service FaceTime that lets technicians help customers fix their smart meters at home, unless the problem is too complex to handle from afar.

The creation and use of new technologies is a step change in running infrastructure and retail businesses more efficiently and could boost valuations, analysts and consultants say.

"It builds more resilience in your business when you can operate from multiple locations," said Steve Jennings, head of Energy & Utilities at PwC. "The crisis will accelerate the digital revolution for utilities."

DIGITAL BILLIONS

Companies are investing billions to get big data infrastructure in place that will allow them not only to manage plants and grids efficiently and fast, but also roll out new services and create new revenue streams.

They could find some help from plans the European Union has put in place to combat the Covid-19 fallout as its 7-year 1-trillion-euro budget proposal and 750 billion euro recovery plan are geared towards green and digital transitions.

Enel, the first global utility to migrate all its data to the cloud last year, has already spent 4.5 billion euros on digitalization in the last three years, and plans to invest a further 2.5 billion euros in 2020-2022.

But such drives don't come without risks as the increased need to work remotely also raises the chance of cyberattacks, Leo Simonovich, Vice President and Global Head Industrial Cyber and Digital Security at Germany's Siemens said.

"Less-reliable internet connections, social engineering attacks against employees and their families, and honest mistakes made in unfamiliar workflows are all new potential risks."

Utilities have little choice, however, but to plough on, concerned that they could be challenged by tech giants such as Alphabet's Google or oil majors including BP, which last week unveiled plans to enter renewables.

"If they don't do it then big data giants like Apple and Google will come in with their apps and redefine the client relationship," said Ingmar Wilhelm, chairman of energy big-data startup Energisme ALNRG.PA.

"And Covid is hammering the message home."

Coronavirus chronicle / World+Biz

Europe

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • A man stands in front of collapsed buildings following an earthquake in Kahramanmaras, Turkey February 6, 2023. Ihlas News Agency (IHA) via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. TURKEY OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN TURKEY.
    Deaths exceed 2,600 as catastrophic quakes ravage Turkey, Syria
  • 30% cos see double-digit growth even in hard times
    30% cos see double-digit growth even in hard times
  • Govt borrowing from commercial banks surges
    Govt borrowing from commercial banks surges

MOST VIEWED

  • People wait their turn to get fuel at a petrol station, in Karachi, Pakistan June 2, 2022. Picture taken June 2, 2022. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro/File Photo
    Pakistan, IMF grapple for consensus to unlock critical funding
  • Indian billionaire Gautam Adani speaks during an inauguration ceremony after the Adani Group completed the purchase of Haifa Port earlier in January 2023, in Haifa port, Israel January 31, 2023. REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo
    Adani sell-off extends; India's opposition lawmakers launch protests
  • People shop for cooking oil made from oil palms at a supermarket in Jakarta, Indonesia, March 27, 2022. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan/Files
    Indonesia to suspend some palm oil export permits - senior official
  • A liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker is tugged towards a thermal power station in Futtsu, east of Tokyo, Japan November 13, 2017. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo
    Asian spot LNG prices decline, but enough to tempt buyers?
  • Photo: Collected
    Indonesia 2022 GDP growth races to 9-year high on strong exports
  • Jerome Powell, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, speaks during a news conference. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg
    When the Fed's suspected of bluffing, it has a problem

Related News

  • If Turkey blocks Sweden and Finland, will NATO boot Turkey?
  • Europeans dial down the heating, heed calls to save energy
  • EU plans changes to pharmaceuticals law to avoid medicine shortages
  • Davos 2023: EU to counter US climate game changer with own green deal
  • EU should put Twitter under direct supervision after missteps: German official

Features

Photo: Collected

Get your partner a lovely present this Valentine's Day

21h | Brands
Pottery Wheel Craft Kit: A creative outlet for little hands

Pottery Wheel Craft Kit: A creative outlet for little hands

20h | Brands
Say it with Colours

Say it with Colours

1d | Mode
Photo: Courtesy

From 'Made in Bangladesh' to 'Designed in Bangladesh'

1d | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Who will survive? Adani or Hindenburg?

Who will survive? Adani or Hindenburg?

11h | TBS Stories
James Gunn’s 8-10-year plan for the DC Universe

James Gunn’s 8-10-year plan for the DC Universe

11h | TBS Entertainment
LC issues lead to severe shortage of surgical equipment

LC issues lead to severe shortage of surgical equipment

14h | TBS Insight
Stage plays are going on in the digital age

Stage plays are going on in the digital age

19h | TBS Stories

Most Read

1
Leepu realised his love for cars from a young age and for the last 40 years, he has transformed, designed and customised hundreds of cars. Photo: Collected
Panorama

'I am not crazy about cars anymore': Nizamuddin Awlia Leepu

2
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, U.S., September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo
Economy

IMF approves $4.7 billion loan for Bangladesh, calls for ambitious reforms

3
Belal Ahmed new acting chairman of SIBL
Banking

Belal Ahmed new acting chairman of SIBL

4
Fund cut as Dhaka's fast-track transit projects on slow spending lane
Infrastructure

Fund cut as Dhaka's fast-track transit projects on slow spending lane

5
Photo: Collected
Startups

ShopUp secures $30m debt financing to boost expansion, supply chain

6
Photo: Courtesy
Panorama

From 'Made in Bangladesh' to 'Designed in Bangladesh'

EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]