More digital, more green: introducing the energy of the present

The Commercial and Industrial sector is currently being guided by the dichotomy between managing post-pandemic recovery and investing to reduce its carbon footprint. The need to carefully manage economic resources has caused, in some cases, a slowdown on the path toward sustainability goals. Not all companies have completed the shift from formal participation in measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to the adoption of concrete solutions. However, a new ally has made its way into the fight against climate change and the efforts of the Paris Agreement: digitalization. 

Recent analysis from The Business Research Company estimated that the Net-Zero Digital & Advisory market should reach a value of 48 billion dollars by 2025. Specifically, the market for tools for digital reporting of Scopes 1, 2 and 3 alone – with an estimated CAGR of 6.2% by 2025– will have a value of roughly 12.2 billion dollars.

Growing digitalization in the energy sector is guided by efforts to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, as well as by increasingly available and accessible technologies. A frontier for constant exploration, where the use of Artificial Intelligence and machine learning, for example, play a key role in the pursuit of decarbonization goals.

Companies installing energy storage systems – enhanced with AI and machine learning – can identify the best time to charge a battery in real-time, use stored energy at peak times and optimize costs on their energy bill. This added value is also an incentive for businesses that are taking the first steps on the path to decarbonizing their operations. 

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New energy, new needs

Companies can take advantage of energy’s digital transformation to obtain a real competitive advantage in the market. To thrive in this new paradigm, energy solution providers must reconsider their strategies, embracing the characteristics of the new user and offering products to meet emerging needs, such as:

- Reducing costs: optimizing the use of energy, obtaining the best price and lowest demand charges, and supporting consumption from self-production with distributed generation solutions

- Increasing revenue: monetizing the flexibility of existing assets by participating in electricity markets

- Improving sustainability: reducing greenhouse gas emissions and waste, by using renewable energy

- Improving resiliency: protecting users from interruptions or imbalances in the grid that can affect operational processes, and from power quality problems 

- Managing risk: addressing compliance issues, managing market exposure and budget certainty

Enel X, pioneering digitalization

At Enel X, we’ve tried to grasp the energy evolution since the very start. Our objective was to reach customers with ready-to-market solutions that responded to their new needs. Our response is Customer Insights: a digital platform accompanied by personalized consulting services for all companies.

Through the integrated platform Enel X Connect, we offer four different digital applications with a single access point, helping companies report and reduce direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions (Scopes 1, 2 and 3), purchase renewable energy safely and affordably, and manage energy consumption in real-time. 

Using the data collected by Enel X Connect, our consultants assist companies in the development and implementation of a decarbonization roadmap, with smart solutions for distributed energy and energy storage, Demand Response programs, and services to support the electrification of company vehicle fleets.

There’s no time to lose

Digitalization in managing energy consumption, hand in hand with the fundamental digitalization of electrical grids (where the Enel Group is a pioneer and world leader), is essential and inevitable to foster the integration of renewables into our system – and to accelerate the energy transition toward a cleaner and more efficient energy future for all of society.