Effect of Digital Technologies on the Energy Sector. International Experience. Russian Opportunity

The existing technological structure of the electric power industry has reached the limit of its efficiency and in the future will lose its high competitiveness compared to the digital energy solutions. One of the key global trends in the development of the fuel and energy complex in current-day realities is the modification of digital and intelligent process solutions in the management of production capacities of the energy industry. Energy digitalization in the domestic market as a process has been launched relatively recently, but already now this phenomenon is a positive impact to the development of the fuel and energy complex of our country. Active implementation of digital technologies in the internal and external business processes of enterprises results in innovative business models that ensure the future competitiveness of the industry. The current-day realities impose their strict requirements for the domestic energy market, and to take the leading positions, the fuel and energy complex of Russia has to create a fundamentally new and powerful platform, which will be based on a set of measures in key trends mentioned in the Ministry of Energy project “Digital Energy". This study asses the current stage of “digital” energy development in the Russian market. The specifics of “digital” technologies related to the energy industry are evaluated. The main point and features of the implementation of “digital” technologies in the industry of the fuel and energy complex are realized. The business processes of the industrial enterprise EDF are analyzed using the digital technologies. The main trends for development of “digital” energy in the Russian Federation are identified. The digital technologies propose creation and implementation of new methods for communication with consumers. The digital technologies affect all critical elements of the organization as such the possibility of integrated survey concerning the readiness for these transformations. For effective development in conditions of digital transformation in the energy sector, the enterprises need to have a suitable management strategy and a number of competencies. There is active work going on implementation of innovative solutions relating to production at enterprises, creation of new specific, unique oversight functions at the state level, transformation of professional education to train future specialists in the field of digital energy. The key results of implementation of these measures shall be upgrading the efficiency of enterprises activity in the fuel and energy sector of the Russian economy, optimization of the business processes of “smart” gas distribution networks and electric “smart” networks, enhancement of the level of technical condition of production assets of the electric power industry and reliability growth of power supply to consumers. Keywords—digitalization, energy, industrial economics, digital economics, distribution networks, “smart” technologies.