There is consensus that the only way to improve this energy trilemma is based on increasing efficiency in the correct management of data through digitalization and its application in the management of information in real time, improving processes in the strategic areas of planning and investment, operation and maintenance, and in the new life of assets. The commitment to energy transition and the circular economy, i.e., to the environment, and safety are cross-cutting areas to all of the above, and of mandatory compliance.
New approach to the energy trilemma
Through a technological paradigm shift and continuous innovation in the methodologies for analyzing the huge amount of data generated in each corporation, optimizing and ensuring the quality of existing data, and with a re-engineering of some business processes, progress in solving part of the energy trilemma would be feasible. Solutions based on AI and quantum technology will generate significant cost savings and energy efficiency in processes. And these optimizations are no longer speculative, but real and measurable. As the International Energy Agency proclaims, one euro invested in making energy management more efficient avoids more than two euros of investment in electricity or gas supply. Ferran Adrià, in the Sapiens project of his Bullipedia, the creative model on which he based himself to generate continuous innovation in the famous restaurant El Bulli, states that “To create is not to copy”. And for this he used a simple flow chart, based on the analysis of the product, the tools, the technique and the result. This methodology can solve problems and add value. The products are infrastructures, customers and users, workers, processes, consumption and corporations. The tools are the acquired knowledge and experience, developed platforms, customization of solutions and, in short, talent. The technique to be used will depend on the needs, and most of the time the use of multi-techniques will be required. And the results are the ones that must endorse the work, measuring optimization and efficiency, from before to after, and comparing with the previously agreed KPIs. All this, applied to the issue of the energy trilemma, leads us to the digital trisolution concept of Oesía Group: customizing solutions for demand prediction and user-consumer intelligence (mainly using AI models), using products-solutions for business knowledge management (Oesía Knowledge Management, OKM), and optimized solutions for environmental transformation and energy efficiency, according to the sustainability compliance of each company. These three ways must be under the umbrella of advanced transversal and vertical cybersecurity of all products, tools and techniques to be used.
Artificial Intelligence and usage prediction
AI models, key to improving the stability and resilience of energy infrastructure, predictive maintenance and management of critical systems, are also key to having end-user intelligence, managing energy demand and consumption habits, generating customized offers for each customer, and optimizing in real time the amount of energy to be delivered to the market by distributors, which will facilitate a more advantageous position when it comes to assessing investments in infrastructure. In recent years, the digital transformation of the sector has been increasingly focused on the consumer. Digitalization, with the fundamental role of liberalization, has allowed the energy consumer to evolve into a “customer-supplier” who, in addition to consuming products and services from energy companies, provides data, and has more and more “power” in everything related to energy supply, and, therefore, in its internal management. Thanks to data and the digital tools that analyze it, such as the customized product we have at Grupo Oesia, energy companies can better understand what they demand and better meet their needs. In this way, a new two-way relationship is generated in which company and consumer become energy partners and fellow travelers in the solution of the energy Trilemma. It would optimize the generation, distribution and transportation of energy, enable accurate evaluation of nearby storage models, and facilitate compliance with security of supply. Oesia Group attaches great importance to this digitalization with a focus on the end user (multi-energy digital offer, sustainable mobility, etc.). And it considers that it must be deployed with the specific needs of each customer.
Business knowledge
A second way of improvement is the massive but selective use of knowledge management in companies: assessing data quality, structuring corporate information, and facilitating the daily management of each of the internal processes, unifying criteria and validating the final decisions of each of the workers. And all in real time. All of the above facilitates measurable cost savings and, therefore, improves economic viability in the energy trilemma. Implemented as products in our factory and different departments of the company, we have achieved savings of up to 30% in the management of information, increasing the efficiency in the day to day. OKM works with a multitude of data sources, allows to relate heterogeneous information and establishes connections with a multitude of data sources. Again, these are Oesia solutions based on AI, and especially on generative AI.
Compliance and sustainability
The third way of improvement in which Grupo Oesía works is in the consultancy and digitalization of the compliance of the corporate sustainability, mainly in the energy efficiency, for the correct evaluation of the reduction of the carbon footprint. This point is one of the examples of multi-collaboration and use of multi-techniques, to help to evaluate, transform, reduce, inform and predict the environmental quality of energy companies. Collaborating with reputable consulting firms, who develop the necessary compliance and transformation guidelines, and facilitate the essential milestones to be measured within each of the companies, allows building and adapting the technical needs of these guidelines through advanced energy efficiency analysis platforms that are available in the market. All this requires a methodology, knowledge and integration with a final solution that facilitates future monitoring. And then it provides the information conveniently built and prepared, for real-time prediction of actions, and for the action and decision of the targeted users. With this solution-service, each energy company can evaluate environmental quality and how energy trilemma decisions affect compliance.
The energy trilemma and cybersecurity
And in the search for a solution to the energy trilemma, it is essential to consider Cybersecurity in each of the solutions, services and processes to be transformed. As it is essential and transversal, in addition to being an obligatory necessity in the advanced digital transformation of energy companies, it is not something specific to the trisolution that we saw previously: It is intrinsic and mandatory, and it does not stop evolving and growing, because it is a continuous challenge in every innovation. As the adoption of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum, accelerates, the cyber threat grows and diversifies, seeking new avenues of entry. It is strategic for any company, and even more so for those that include critical infrastructures such as those in the energy sector. Grupo Oesia, with its services and solutions in Cybersecurity, brings peace of mind to energy companies, continuously assessing that the path is correct and safe, complying with all the directives of the NIS2, which aims to improve cybersecurity and protect critical infrastructures throughout the European Union. We work on the security of data origin, predictive models, development algorithms and applications, AI, and we help to introduce them and the faithful compliance in each of the processes. And always ensuring compliance with ethical and regulatory aspects.
Oesia Group and its solutions for the energy trilemma
To make progress in overcoming the challenges of digitization in order to achieve the break-even point of the Energy TrilemmaThe Oesía Group, as a leading company in the technological sector, must help our clients in the energy sector to overcome the barriers that exist for its implementation: to provide the necessary skills with the right professionals, to give a consultant vision in the evolution and strategic definition of each of the techniques to be applied, to avoid knowledge silos and to collaborate, to use massively the advanced data management, and to calculate efficiently the return and added value of the investments in this digitalization. Going back to the origin, the Energy Trilemma is a challenge because each of its objectives conflicts with each other, and, apparently, it is not possible to find a perfect balance between the three edges: security, accessibility and sustainability. With all this, in Grupo Oesía we want to contribute our grain of sand in the search for the best consensus of intrinsic solutions to each of the edges, focusing on sustainability to improve the efficiency in the energy performance, being an enabler in the organizations, in the innovation, in technology and in ethics, security and data management, through a cyber-securitized digital trisolution based on user intelligence (demand), on information management (OKM) and on compliance and improvement of energy efficiency (ESG), and always under the umbrella of the NIS2.
Alberto López Chamorro, Energy and Utilities Manager