Akhilesh Kumawat, Business & Project Development, Analytics, Amplus Energy

Energy stands on three main verticals: Finance, Technology energy finance and policies have pretty much shaped the industry in last few decades, the industry has not seen any disruption in energy. However, few technologies have brought in changes hither to unseen, thereby, paving a new direction for the sector. Photo voltaics, co-generation systems, concentrated solar thermal  have led the way in recent past. The accelerated adoption of these technologies has begun. The technology, having hit the tipping point on the technology S-curve, is set to disrupt the sector.

"With storage in the market, the world can theoretically do away with the fossils and ensure a liveable planet for generation to come"

One of the most talked about and anticipated technology is the Energy Storage. With innovative technologies like Photo voltaics will come new challenges and opportunities. The experts question the intermittency of the systems and ponder over the camel curve in demand and response. While hydro power does provide a solution as far as the ramp rates goto accommodate the intermittencies, it faces social challenges of migration of people and changing the natural flows of rivers. In rescue comes the energy storage technology. While the market is still contemplating about the economics of storage, mass scale production is indeed cutting down the costs and is set to disrupt the energy market. With storage in the market, the world can theoretically do away with the fossils and ensure a live able planet for generation to come.

Another set of technology that has the potential to disrupt the market is Big Data and Machine Learning. With data generated from IoT  framework at all project sites, better prediction models can be created. These models will reduce down time, help load dispatch centres in planning and  thus,lead to a resilient grid infrastructure by improving demand response systems and optimizing grids.

Blockchain, the distributed ledger technology, has made heads turn in the finance industry. However, Energy is one sector that can potentially be the first one to make wide scale use of the ledger technology. It can allow potentially millions of energy devices (HVAC systems, water heaters, electric vehicles, batteries, solar PV installations, and many more) to transact with each other at the electric power distribution edge.

Though on the transportation side, another technology that is imminent to hit the grid infrastructure is electric  vehicles. Not  only how electric vehicles will draw but also feed power to grid will be a phenomenon that provides great opportunities for the sector to solve the problems of demand response. With India’s electric mobility plans by 2030, this segment will play a critical role in ensuring a resilient grid infrastructure. Thus, the energy sector is set to see a boom of new age technologies that will not improve but transform the way we look at energy.