Business area digitalisation analysis

Renewable energy solutions: digitalisation opportunities

Connecting asset, operations, field work, customer and compliance data from solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, storage, hydrogen and other renewable energy project development, installation and operation into a single managed digital chain.

Digital maturity

Typical digital maturity

Shows the level of digitalisation companies in this line of business typically operate at.

The assessment considers use of core systems, how far processes are digitalised, integrations, data readiness and advanced use of data.

A 3 means ordinary, middling maturity. A 5 is given only where real-time data, automated decisions and advanced optimisation are already a routine part of core operations.

moderate
Digitalisation potential

Digitalisation potential

Shows the scale of business impact digitalisation could have in this line of business.

It weighs economic leverage, the scope for digital impact, the scale and repetition of processes, value lost today, and the leverage of better data and decisions.

A business area’s score is calculated from five weighted dimensions. A sector’s score is derived from the scores of its business areas.

88/100
Biggest challenge
Project portfolio investment priorities based on incomparable assumptions
Biggest opportunity
Unified project and asset lifecycle

The greatest value is created by the ability to use lifecycle data to inform which project to develop, how to hand it over and where energy and revenue are lost in operations.

Renewable energy solutions operating model

Operations encompass the development, design, financing, construction, grid connection, commissioning and operation of solar, wind, storage, biomass and other projects. Value is driven by the ability to manage project portfolio maturity, technical and regulatory dependencies, and to accurately attribute the causes of production losses after commissioning.

Significant value is created before construction

The quality of site, grid connection, permitting and financial assumptions determines project viability.

Construction data must persist into operations

Actual equipment, tests, defects and warranties must not remain solely in project files.

Production losses must be explained by causes

Weather, grid, equipment and market impacts must be separated so that actions are economically justified.

Market and technology context

EU priorities include faster permitting, grid connections, storage and flexibility. Therefore, digital value is created across the entire lifecycle from site selection to technical and market portfolio optimisation.

  • Limited grid connection capacityProject value is increasingly determined by the actual probability of connection, timeframe and flexibility options.
  • Cost of capital and project selection qualityPortfolio data must help reject weak projects earlier and allocate capital to the most mature.
  • Storage and hybrid portfoliosSingle plant monitoring is being replaced by multi-technology technical and commercial optimisation.

Typical operating process

01

Site and project opportunity assessment

Resources, land, grid capacity, environmental constraints and preliminary economics are analysed.

02

Permits, connection and financial model

Managed critical dependencies, assumptions, documents, deadlines and investment decision.

03

Design and procurement

Technical solutions, equipment suppliers, contract scope and schedule are approved.

04

Construction, testing and commissioning

Actual configuration, work quality, defects, tests and warranties are recorded.

05

Operation and maintenance

Production, equipment condition, works, downtime and causes of losses are monitored.

06

Portfolio and market optimisation

Actual project performance, production forecasts, storage regimes and market revenues are compared.

Digital maturity journey

0

Projects and plants managed in separate files

Development assumptions, permits, contractor documents, construction actuals and operational data are kept in different locations.

1

Digital project and production monitoring

Project schedules and plant production are visible in systems, but portfolio maturity, actual configuration and causes of losses are verified manually.

2

Integrated project development process

Land, permits, connection, financial model, technical solutions and critical path are managed according to unified states.

3

Development, construction and operational data linked across selected portfolios Typical current situation

Land, permits, connection, financial assumption, construction handover and operational data for selected technologies or project groups are managed according to common stages, but coverage is not yet uniform across the entire portfolio.

4

Data-driven portfolio performance Target

Generation, weather conditions, grid constraints, failures, degradation, maintenance and market revenues are analysed in a single portfolio view.

5

Hybrid and optimised energy portfolio

Generation, storage, flexibility and market solutions are optimised according to technical constraints, risk and commercial value.

Key finding

Digitalisation of a renewable energy portfolio must connect project site, permits, grid connection, financial assumptions, construction status and actual plant performance.

The first priority is not a general asset digital twin, but a single comparable project maturity and decision chain or a single unified construction handover process.

Related digitalisation topics

Renewable energy project portfolioDigital construction and asset handoverPower plant performance and generation loss analytics

Connect project development, installation and operations signals, assets and field work across solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, storage, hydrogen and other renewable energy projects

Assess which gap in project development, construction handover or plant performance is currently reducing portfolio value the most.