This study's overarching goal is to create a step change in our understanding of how digitalisation will impact on the pathway to decarbonise the energy sector. The potential of the Internet of Things promoting the integration of Smart appliances, Storage, Smart Contracts or Electrical Vehicles will underpin volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) scenarios that need to be addressed with architectural solutions, new value streams, and necessary frameworks for effective implementations.

Within this scoping study we will evaluate five emergent fields (domains) in terms of their innovative directions, potential impact and pace of change in order to prioritize achievable research themes and develop a research framework for future study of their synergies. This process will create a proof of concept systems model for use in analysis of the energy transition, thereby embedding novel analytical approaches based on technologies that we expect to find in operational energy systems in the future.

This proof of concept for energy transition will underpin a major collaborative proposal on energy system transition in VUCA scenarios demonstrating how cyber, physical and social systems are seamlessly interwoven.

We consider this scoping study is an essential precursor for successful transition to digital data-driven energy futures enhancing people's lives and interactions with their energy environment. The ambition includes identifying opportunities to capture real-world data, such as that from social media, smart meters, which suggest changing and novel patterns of energy supply and demand, and to use this to derive improved transition pathways.

Potential Impact:
Energy policy and regulation

Need for integrated telecommunications and energy policies in an energy digitised world. London Business School through the Energy Markets Group will support a policy workshop for BEIS, OFGEM and senior planners to interpret consequences of low-carbon digital futures at the end of the project. IBM, one of our industrial partner will organise a Technical workshop to engage with a stakeholders group of the energy industry supply chain to explain Blockchain technology as key enabler for Energy Systems.

Energy strategy

Contribute to Energy Market Reform, Flexibility and Smart Energy National Importance targets through identifying new types of stakeholder, technology and processes in the energy system.
Improve Energy Efficiency Strategy by including ways in which cyber-physical assets (such as smart meters, or distributed energy storage) can support decision making toward reduced consumption, energy conservation including renewable energy storage, achieving enhanced energy security and a more robust and resilient whole energy system.
Improve grid and energy markets balancing through machine learning and distributed ledger technologies, speeding up and creating transparency in transacting systems.

Digital platforms for business/trade

Identify tools to aid maximum utilisation of alternative technologies across energy systems that will reduce entry barriers to the energy system and allow public and private, industrial and SME systems to have a role. It will provide new business opportunities in the market place and will prompt the emergence of new business models, likely to be services enabled by digital platforms and not product focused.

Academic impact

The excellence of the research will be determined by the quality of journal article developed as part of the proposal and its contribution to the landscape of energy transition through leadership. This high impact journal publication will trigger discussions and challenge current paradigms. Training a junior faculty member as the named researcher will be provided, given the editorial experience of project members. Academics in relevant fields from across the UK will attend the three structured workshops, and prominent academics from overseas will be invited to join and present at the workshops.