Companies in the energy and utilities industry are under immense pressure to maintain a consistent energy supply to the country at a competitive price, despite significant barriers including ongoing supply issues, geopolitical crises, and regulatory upheaval. As domestic and commercial energy prices soar, you may be looking for ways to bolster your efforts to construct renewable energy infrastructure.
In June of this year, to help organisations manage external factors, The Offshore Energy Data Strategy Task Force brought together stakeholders across the sector to propose strategies that will help unify companies and accelerate the development and adoption of a coordinated digital and data strategy. Their Offshore Energy Data Strategy (OEDS) Taskforce Report made three essential recommendations moving forward if we are to meet or exceed the government’s ambitious target of net-zero emissions by 2050.
The recommendations
- Unify data principles.
- Deliver a common data toolkit.
- Drive cross-sector digitalisation.
The first recommendation is the unifying of data principles. This calls for the offshore energy sector to ‘establish a Digital Strategy Group and drive the adoption of a data management framework across the offshore energy sector.’
This framework will be the fundamental basis of a data-sharing platform, allowing organisations and individuals to collate, share, and monitor data, advancing knowledge with the aim of achieving targets quicker.
Next, the taskforce urges companies to prioritise the delivery of a common data toolkit. This toolkit would facilitate controlled and automated data sharing across the sector, providing substantive data which will open the path to shared insights across the sector and better decision-making.
The third recommendation is for companies to focus on driving cross-sector digitalisation. According to the report, the coordinated digitalisation efforts will ‘enable efficient investment and capture cross-sector requirements.’
Collecting data, sharing it, and applying efficient digitalisation strategies will facilitate industry wide collaboration, increase operational efficiency, and improve resilience.
The importance of digital strategies for effective energy modernisation
Integral to the OEDS taskforce’s report is the critical importance of creating a more open data ecosystem. At NTT DATA UK&I, we have centred our energy and utility solutions around helping our clients develop an innovative digital ecosystem. Most importantly, we match the layout and needs of a business to deploy solutions quickly: capturing savings, not recouping losses.
Both offshore and onshore wind energy are areas that have high maturity, significant growth potential, and rising demand. With a new type of sustainably conscious and technologically savvy energy customer emerging, organisations must adapt and provide digital-first, personalised products backed by a sustainable infrastructure.
So many crucial factors are pointing towards the potential profitability of sustainability. It’s time for the sector to come together, act, and invest for the mutual benefit of us all.
Creating your own digital strategy
However, you can’t build an effective system in isolation. We’ve heard this from partners when working with them on solutions that help them achieve their sustainability goals, such as intelligently automating their operations with IoT and AI.
By outpacing regulatory demands with an agile, data-driven operation and more intelligent infrastructures, you can lower costs and capture new customer demographics as market trends rebalance. Collaboration is the way that we make this a reality.
The energy sector’s role in a greener planet for all
The OEDS taskforce states that it is imperative to reduce carbon emissions and gas demand by at least 40 per cent by 2030. Meeting this goal may strain your company’s short-term goals, but the long-term benefits will pay out the difference.
The staggering cut to emissions that we need can only be reached through the concerted effort of energy companies to adhere to the type of framework listed in the report, sharing data and solutions along the way.
Building the foundations of a green economy
By implementing an effective data management system, you can increase efficiency, reduce excess waste, and cut unnecessary emissions – while staying well ahead of regulation. As a result, the wider energy sector can continue to create jobs, relieve pressure on strained supply chains, and stabilise prices for struggling families.
We can tailor individual solutions to help energy companies meet the recommendations of the OEDS report, allowing them to build the foundation of the UK and Ireland’s new, sustainable economy.
To find out more, get in touch today.