Critical Role of Software Development in The Energy Transition

The global energy transition from fossil fuels to alternative, eco-friendly energy sources is one of the most pressing challenges of our generation. To ramp up the decarbonization of their energy systems, over 70 countries have made ambitious commitments to achieve net-zero emissions by 2030. In the private sector, over 50% of Fortune 500 companies have made similar, net-zero commitments. 

Are these ambitious, lofty and unrealistic? Maybe. But, thankfully both the private and public sectors have a strong ally in this war against climate change: software engineering energy. That is right, efficient software engineering is set to play an all-critical role in the global energy transition. To understand why, you need to understand how most energy grids work. 

How Software Development Can Help in The Energy Transition

The “grid,” i.e., our electricity infrastructure, is probably one of the most complicated pieces of machinery ever created by humans. 

• Historically, electricity would be generated in large coal or gas-fueled power stations. 
• This electricity would then be fed into wires that transfer high-voltage electricity to substations. 
• At the substations, transformers diminish the voltage, and the electricity is carried to distribution substations.
• At the distribution substations, the voltage is diminished again. From there, the electricity is sent along wires to smaller transformers.
• These smaller transformers diminish the voltage again before the electricity is finally transmitted to homes and businesses. 

Almost every modern-day electrical grid in the world has this plethora of intricate, interconnected parts. Sounds super complex, right? Well, the global energy transition is set to make the traditional energy grid system, even more complex. 

Old-school energy grids were based on centralized power plants where fossil fuels were used to generate electricity. In the past 100 years, this system became relatively simple and easy to manage for engineers. 

Now, electrical engineers have to deal with alternative, non-fossil-fuel-based energy sources like solar panels or wind farms, everywhere along the grid. These “intermittent energy sources” only generate energy when the sun is shining or the winds are blowing.

Why is that a bad thing? Well, there is one important characteristic of the traditional energy grid that has remained the same for the past 100 years: Supply Must Meet Demand. Whenever this does not happen, the whole grid fails. 

In the previous paragraph, we referred to renewable energy sources as “intermittent,” because they do not generate electricity all the time. When such energy sources are connected to a traditional grid, balancing demand and supply in real time, becomes challenging.

That is where software engineering can help. software today can tap into publicly-available data and proprietary data from utility companies to create a real-time digital map of a grid system. Such a digital grid map can help identify potential trouble spots in the grid. 

• For example, according to a new study, at least 85% of the global population has been exposed to extreme weather events in recent years.
• Raging fires, powerful winds, and other types of extreme weather events can severely damage an energy grid. Such events can disrupt the flow of electricity to critical infrastructure like hospitals. 
• A smarter, software-powered grid that can predict such dangers in advance can also respond more spontaneously to extreme weather events. 

A well-designed, software-powered grid of the future can help humans avert energy emergencies caused by extreme weather events. There are many such renewable energy software solutions that currently exist but are not implemented at utilities across the US and the globe. If more utility providers adopt such solutions, they will be able to eliminate the risk of grid instability. 

The more reliable and resilient a grid, the less energy it will waste. More importantly, the software can accelerate the transition from traditional, fossil fuel-based energy grids to complex energy grids that feature multiple sustainable energy sources.

How Software is Already Facilitating the Energy Transition

The use of software in the global energy transition is nothing new. In the 21^st century, several different types of software engineering efforts have positively impacted the energy sector. Here are some of the most prominent examples:

Software Innovation	Date of Invention	Impact on the Energy Sector	Real-world Example
Cloud Computing	2006	Made it easier for utility companies to store and process large amounts of data. This has led to more accurate, data-based decision-making, increased energy efficiency, and reduced costs.	Since 2017, Google’s Cloud Platform has helped Italian renewable energy company Enel operates its smart grid in Italy with more energy and cost-efficiency.
Big Data Analytics	2010	Used by utility companies to gain insights into their daily operations, predict demand rates, and optimize asset utilization.	Siemens’ MindSphere, is an Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solution that uses advanced analytics to help utility companies like E.ON optimize their energy assets and reduce the costs of their operations.
Internet of Things (IoT)	1999	Allows energy companies to make the devices on their energy supply systems “smart.”These “smart” devices collect all types of data which can be used to improve energy efficiency, reduce costs, and improve user safety.	Smart meters are used by many utility firms across the world to collect energy usage data. This data is used to reduce energy waste.
Blockchain	2008	Used by utility companies to create transparent and immutable energy transmission records. Blockchain technology is especially helpful in tracking renewable energy credits.	In Australia, tech start-up Power Ledger uses blockchain technology to track renewable energy credits. They are aiming to add transparency and cost-efficiency to the Australian renewable energy market.

These are just a few of the major innovations in software engineering that have positively impacted the energy sector in the past ten years. As these technologies become more and more refined, we can expect to see even more applications in the years to come. There is another sector of software engineering that has the potential to transform the energy sector that we did not mention in this chart: AI. 

Applications of AI for the Global Energy Transition

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a rapidly expanding field that is set to play a huge role in global energy transition efforts. AI’s impact on the energy sector is set to be so big that we had to dedicate a section of this article to AI. Here is a brief list of ways AI can aid in the global energy transition: 

• AI-powered tools can be used in solar and wind farms to identify locations with the most favorable sun/wind resources.
• AI-powered equipment delivery systems and worksite monitoring tools can accelerate the rate at which eco-friendly power plants are constructed.
• AI-powered tools can be used to predict failures and outages at power plants. Similar tools can be used to create maintenance schedules for power plant equipment.
• AI tools can also be used to optimize electricity consumption at the individual user level. For example, AI-powered equipment tracking tools can reduce the amount of power people consume on a day-to-day basis. 
• AI-powered prediction of wind/solar outputs can help engineers better predict future supply problems.

These are just a few ways AI engineering can help the energy sector in the upcoming decade. As the quality of AI-powered tools improves, we can expect to see even cooler applications of AI in the energy sector in the years to come.

Final Take 

Climate change is the most existential risk that our generation currently faces. The need for decarbonization has never been more urgent. More software engineers need to enter the energy sector because as you can see from the examples mentioned above: they have a huge role to play in the battle against climate change.