For me, the front end of the Energy Transition is vital. What I mean by the front end is that link where innovation, ingenuity and creativity get created. Today, this must be done through more outstanding collaborations, especially recognizing the value and benefits of ecosystem thinking and design.

Innovating4Energy.com advocates for a systematic, innovative, and flexible approach to transforming the energy system. The keys are the mix of building the pillars of innovation and ingenuity, the research and deployment approach, and the reforming and disruption strategies, which are all essential components of this Energy Transforming approach, delivered over clear impact steps.

To achieve a sustainable energy transition, sound consistency in advocating and applying a systematic, innovative, and flexible approach to transforming the energy ecosystem does need a central emphasis on placing importance on learning from experimentation, seeking advanced solutions, and sharing knowledge.

Placing a greater emphasis and set of resources on Innovation will help make rapid progress towards a more sustainable and efficient energy future in highly collaborative and open ways.

Much of this is how you set about the Front End of Energy transition and change and the consideration towards embracing Ecosystem design and thinking has enormous value in this assessment.

Integrating the front end of energy change with a focus on innovation, ingenuity, and creativity is a powerful approach. So, what are the essential elements within the context of Business Ecosystem thinking and design:

1. Innovation as the Catalyst for Energy Transformation:
   • Position innovation as the driving force behind the energy transformation, emphasizing that technological breakthroughs, business models, and process collaborations are pivotal for achieving sustainable energy goals. Advancements in renewable energy technologies to novel energy storage and distribution approaches increasingly require cooperation and collaborations across industry and government collaborations..
2. Energy Ecosystems set up as Innovation Hubs:
   • The role of business ecosystems as natural incubators for innovation is recognized as important places for sharing, exchanging and building new concepts and extending research into commercialisation. Ecosystem Hubs bring together diverse talents, expertise, and resources, fostering an environment where creative ideas can flourish and be translated into practical solutions for the energy industry. Siemens Energy has opened Innovation Centers in Berlin, Orlando, Shenzhen, and Abu Dhabi to Connet, Ignite, Co-Create, Explore, Pilot and Showcase.
3. Creativity in Problem-Solving:
   • The ability to collaboratively and creatively solve problems in overcoming the complex challenges of the energy transition requires this ecosystem approach. Encourage thinking beyond traditional boundaries and embracing unconventional ideas to address issues such as intermittency in renewable sources or optimizing energy storage systems or collaborating around renewing national grids.
4. Cross-Industry Collaboration:
   • Energy is such a broad area, and there is a strong argument that cross-industry collaboration within the energy ecosystem should be made much more common. This often needs a catalyst, and this is where Governments can play a leading role in building the forum for this to happen- The need to encourage partnerships with technology companies, startups, and organizations from other sectors to bring fresh perspectives and diverse skill sets to the table, sparking innovative approaches to energy challenges is a growing imperative..
5. Ingenuity in Sustainable Business Models:
   • There needs to be a greater ability to Showcase innovative and sustainable business models emerging within the energy industry. This could include examples of successful collaborations, new financing models for renewable projects, or creative approaches to energy efficiency that go beyond conventional practices. Showing leading practices and examples of how challenges were overcome in imaginative and constructive ways is a great way to accelerate adoption and increase investment confidence.
6. Ecosystems as Catalysts for Creativity:
   • Structuring business energy ecosystems to provide the fertile ground for creativity to thrive encourages a growing group of adopters. By breaking down silos, showing how, where and why by encouraging open collaboration, ecosystems create a dynamic environment where ideas can be shared, refined, and implemented at a pace not achievable in isolated settings.
7. Agile and Adaptive Ecosystems:
   • Energy changes face significant obstacles in terms of time, risk, and the level of change that needs to occur. There is a vitally important place to stress the importance of agility and adaptability within business energy ecosystems. The energy landscape is evolving rapidly, and ecosystems that can embrace change and quickly pivot in response to new challenges will be better positioned to drive innovation and stay ahead of the curve. Energy investments are often long-term commitments, and the ability to exchange, investigate and explore all options throughout the development stages is vital to minimise expensive errors or wrong investments.
8. Empowering the Next Generation of Innovators:
   • Highlight initiatives that nurture and empower the next generation of innovators within the energy sector. The Energy Industry is facing an extensive shortage of manpower and experience. The industry is facing significant loss due to retirement or positions more attractive than ones often today involves facing harsh conditions, stressful events and often inadequate solutions and funding. How to recruit and train the next generation needs some radical rethinks to attract the right skills. This needs to go way beyond the usual educational programs, partnerships with research institutions, and mentorship opportunities to ensure a continuous influx of fresh ideas and perspectives; it needs highly imaginative approaches, indeed becoming more reliant on AI Generation solutions.

By recognizing the Front End of the Energy System, we need to be more aware of, recognize, and apply innovation, ingenuity, and creativity in the context of Business Energy Ecosystem thinking and design.

I have written about what to consider in the design of Energy Ecosystems, as it is a shared challenge for all of us. Within the tabs on this site, you see outlines of how to look at innovation pillars, research and deploy, reform and disrupt, and impact steps.

We need to emphasize the importance of these aspects discussed above and position them as essential drivers of positive change within the energy industry.

This thinking about what makes up the front end of Energy needs to capture the spirit of transformation and inspire stakeholders to engage actively in the co-creation of a sustainable energy future, the Energy Ecosystem in design and thinking.

The post The Importance of Innovation at the Front End of the Energy Transition. first appeared on Innovating the Energy Transition.

I have to admit that I am sceptical of individual energy organizations’ pledges to move toward a carbon-neutral future. They argue that there is a limited amount of time to make this transition, yet it is broadly recognized that individual organizations cannot achieve this alone. Are energy organizations open enough to alternative suggestions for overcoming the resource and knowledge constraints working alone can bring? Are they exploring alternative thinking enough, such as organised collective challenges? We need to bridge the gap through collaborations at multiple firm levels.

I believe there is a weakness in the energy ecosystem that deprives it of more significant collective action and innovation to achieve a more accelerated pathway to the energy transition. My argument is that while many energy companies are working on solutions within the energy transition, they often work in isolation and struggle to get out of their “self-made” islands of knowledge.

I suggest that applying ecosystem thinking and platform solutions could bring together many organizations to work in broader, more ambitious innovation ecosystems of collaborations or even work through grand challenge-designed approaches.

When you consider that is a lot of cross-over, duplication of efforts on how the companies design, develop, and deliver new concepts as they stay within their own walls and R&D expertise,

Why can’t they throw open common challenges in finding solutions through contests, research investigations, accelerator programs, and open innovation platforms, looking for commonality and synergies?

Often the reluctance, besides the risk of giving something up, opening up to less internal work you need to explore the mechanisms for collaboration, we begin to think of ecosystem collaborations. The use of a common platform could provide helpful, knowledgeable, and higher levels of neutrality and overcome often needless arguments about who takes the lead and is the orchestrator. In Energy, the solution resolution to reduce current challenges in costs, fuel alternatives, and reducing the carbon footprint all need urgent addressing.

Besides finding the appropriate platform, however, I equally acknowledge that there are natural boundaries that any collaboration must overcome, such as competing priorities, intellectual property rights, organizational structures and cultures, regulatory and legal barriers, communication and coordination issues, and funding and resources. I wrote a series around cross-collaboration recently, here is the link to the first post.

All obstacles can be overcome and are “doable”. If you believe in the “need” to succeed at the energy transition as quickly as we can, then you have to be willing to open up your thinking to far greater collaborations. Complexities and challenges need collectively breaking down to find new solutions.

I also suggest that the opportunities lie in a number of “higher level” needs of common understanding and focus that are essential to transformation. These include Smart Grid development, Energy Storage, Grid Modernization and automation, and Electricity of transport. Cybersecurity and Data collaborations

Good cross- collaborations examples are where competition is transcended by energy solution needs that have common standards, potential and urgent need to scale, and can be offered in other geographical areas that need creative and modern solutions.

Also, we need to learn to be more effective in our collaborative approaches with multiple stakeholders, and policy regulators that having this level of greater collaboration would command serious attention and respect and lead, in many cases to industry solutions in more economical ways that over time speed up the Energy Transition.

The post How can we encourage more Collaborative Solutions in the Energy Transition? first appeared on Innovating the Energy Transition.

One of the largest News Agencies recently asked me about the Energy Transition. These were some really tough open-ended questions: “What are the industry challenges and solutions,” “the key trends and developments“, What are the Challenges I face,” then “What critical solutions are there to the challenges” and finally “What value and guidance would you offer.”

The energy transition is a vast, complex area to view. I took a deep breath and thought about how I would break this down over a discussion of only 45 minutes. I decided to break it down into bite-size chunks such as Key Challenges, Worries, Big Ticket issues, My working issues, and finally, How the energy industry needs to get organized.

On reflection, I realized how many more points I could have raised or explained. Still, the structure of my breaking this down allows for some further thinking and additions that help me build this out, as many struggles with absorbing this energy transition, and I can build on my initial reactions here. Well, that is in my plans going forward.

Key Challenges

I put these into different bullet points.

+We get far too much-mixed advice (it often freezes us)

+Energy is a very closed-up industry- it does not open up its thinking to others for easier transformation

+The need to evolve (global) standards as quickly as possible (for faster adoption)

+Absorption of knowledge and its pace often is overwhelming

+The clarity of different assessments (vested interests, independent views)

+The struggle of individual needs and solutions fitting “standard” offerings

+There is a heavy reliance on peering through the engineer’s lense or mindset, often shutting out broader thinking, especially the customer side on their needs.

+Lack of insight sharing on what works, what is happening, and what is progressing (no great “go too” resource) for broader knowledge understanding.

+Government or Regional Authority issues, different understanding or awareness and the roadblocks of the “lead/ lag” on. this

Worries

• The pace of change
• Level of technology pace, understanding, roadblocks, coming down the pipeline
• Global / EU/ US / Asia, Regional and Local political and economic conflicts
• Regulations are constantly catching up, causing uncertainties
• The Bureaucracy of all the different engaged agents and bodies
• Engagement and involvement of the ultimate consumer

Big Ticket Items

+The swirling, whirling Climate Issues- opinions, facts, fiction and growing realities

+The Green Deal views and Fossil to Green Renewables- the managing of this carefully

+Resilience is the need to achieve in any forward-thinking

+The issue of circular transformation to recycle, repurpose etc.

+The growing worries over Grids, their design, their ability to transmit and distribute for different energy sources and managing central and decentral demand of peaks, storage and troughs.

+The breaking down of the Global supply village and the old value chain dependencies

+Critical rare components, minerals and metals- location, quantity, environment impact and price volatility

+The Electricity needs, scope and coping in this lengthy transition (what is chasing and reconfiguring to what)

+Building constantly for sustainable energy, at what cost to the immediate and the in-between

+Accelerating the digitalization for Energy and building Data reliance

+Demand, Growth and Prosperity are optimistic in change but realistic in reality.

+Securing the Energy Transition- the rhetoric, hype and realities, individual or national- who chooses

My issues

• Energy is a “laggard” in innovation creation, transfer and adoption- it needs a structured process.
• Risks and the barriers of a) Regulatory, b) Financing, c) Enabling infrastructure, d) Social, and e) Cultural constantly do not get evaluated as robustly as they should
• The New Technology Understanding is often piecemeal and driven by the strongest internal voice.
• The ability to listen broadly, the time to read and learn, the time to discuss specifics (outside events)
• Knowing the capabilities, competencies and capabilities in resource, knowledge, and capital internally is often lacking in clarifying context or scoping (and more on briefing external advisors)
• I don’t have time; I need resources and a better platform for helping, advising etc.

The need to get the Energy Industry organized

+The fantastic work of many from IEA, IRENA, UN etc., down through all the think tanks, market intelligence and analytics offered is utterly overwhelming to absorb and translate- global source Energy Wikipedia?

+Central sourcing of Independent funding, criteria, broader acceptance of returns of value

+Instruments, Institutions and the variability of (success) measurement stops promising concepts.

+The need for better roadmaps for key industry transitions, constantly updated, not once a year if you are lucky, and it is of interest to more than a few

+The opening up of public procurements, differences, complexities, resolutions

+Early stage accreditation, experimenting and prototyping methodologies and universal guidelines

+Super transparency of Research and Development, not one-liners placed in an annual report

+The pursuit of standards at national, regional and global levels needs resourcing and directing as it is constantly developing at periodic steps (CoP work, perhaps)

+The CoP meetings need to be SPLIT- experts in one, influencers in another, then finding the assessed middle ground where local politics or lobbyists join the fray ( hope is certainly a fine thing here!)

Summary

If you notice, I avoided or did not even want to get into debates about fuels, generation options, storage, utilization, consumption or the mind-draining points covering distributed, dispatched and variables etc., in a fairer, equitable world, all needing energy.

A lot of knowing where to start is to partly do with anyone’s embarking points and their energy journey, as I have outlined; that is why I invest so much of my time in research and translating this Energy Transforming narrative into a real understanding of its multiple parts.

So how many of these was I able to get across- don’t ask! Hence why I’ve written this post. Therapeutic, perhaps or just simply how hugely challenging and complex the Energy Transition is to grasp and translate as my posting site states; “Innovating the Energy Transition, a transition in all of our lives in knowledge, application and discovery.“

The post Thinking about the Energy Transition first appeared on Innovating the Energy Transition.

I have been asking myself how a combined effect of innovation and ecosystem design thinking will support the energy transition we are undertaking to give it additional traction and generation.

In a recent report released by IEA in the last week or so, “Tracking clean energy innovation in the business sector: an overview.” they emphasised the point that “Acceleration of clean energy innovation, supported by effective innovation policies, is critical for achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, and the technology development in the business sector will be to success“.

I draw from this report this initial perspective: “The major drawbacks are we are simply NOT recognizing the need to have a clear and consistent way of approaching and capturing innovation at the front end of discovery or exploration. The inconsistency of not having clarity of how innovation is undertaken and then reported uniformly is continuing to hold up upfront investment, institutional capacity building and consistent classification of technologies”.

The IEA estimates that companies active in energy technologies spent almost USD 120 billion on energy R&D in 2021, three times more than governments. They remark, “Beyond these headline estimates, however, information on the energy innovation activities of firms – whether freely or commercially available; at technology level or highly aggregated – is frustratingly scarce.”

We need to recognize the importance of innovation, not just on what it can bring in through future solutions but on its need to have a recognized, established process to capture, evaluate and openly report on any innovation project’s progress.

The vital “infusion” of innovation in thinking, approaching and building this into the front end of any energy transition provides a more significant discovery structure and process that can significantly facilitate the changes with more informed knowledge, insights and validation of a path to travel.

We need to build an energy innovation ecosystem that shares, collaborates and openly exchanges the discovery to validate what a specific innovation solution provides so that others can gain insights and knowledge.

We must accelerate knowledge by sharing and openly exchanging. That requires at least one or a series of technology platforms that allows for the coalescing and collaborating around “future” energy innovation.

Without established methodologies consistently applied to energy, there are opportunities to do so; we require a recognized standard innovation process across the energy sector. One that supports collaboration, networks and knowledge sharing. If “we” are not informed or can judge “success” how can we scale out, form broader policy or build a funding mechanism that accelerates the energy transition?

Today we lack promising answers and key uncertainties facing investors and policymakers in areas including hydrogen, smart grids, energy efficiency, electrification and many more, as concepts developed are not seen, judged or evaluated in a defined, established way. Can we afford not to get organized?

We do need to recognize the front end of energy from an innovation perspective a lot more.

Finding fresh ideas and momentum

The energy transition needs a broad array of thinking; specialists, generalists, enthusiasts and passionate people that can move beyond their own view offering a “non-ideological confrontation” where solutions are both sustainable and accelerate a path to decarbonization and net zero without any legacy or vested interest effect.

This innovator capacity needs to be ‘enforced’ and requires more significant insights and understanding of the alternatives, options, issues, and challenges.

There is a substantial role for me to play, I feel, in advising on innovation for decades.

This is why my multiplier approach offers one framework to help work this complexity through the energy transition in a supportive, systematic way; the combination gives momentum, traction and fresh energy.

For me, applying the “multiplier effect” to any discovery and validation accelerates the understanding of where the potential growth and impact points of a new business opportunity can occur.

My positioning is at the front end of the Energy Transition, building insights through the “eyes” of the strategic innovator.

I see the front end of energy as the critical feeding-in point for the energy transition. So what does this mean exactly?

• I provide evaluations and assessments of the front end of a transformation in discovery and validation that build understanding and fresh thinking.
• I bring “order” to the innovation process and seek to share and enhance a broader understanding of what is being achieved for others to gain equally.
• The combination of innovation within ecosystem thinking and the design approach supports the acceleration of the energy transition.
• Known “outputs” and “outcomes” of innovation can and will bring faster adoption and the spread of new or improved technologies in specific fields that can contribute to the acceleration of the energy transition.
• The combination capitalizes on the value points of data assets combined with knowledge insights and business-building experience. It can offer a different multiplier effect to idea generation and momentum building.

While few established innovation methodologies have been consistently applied to energy, there are opportunities to do so. Existing methods can potentially be adapted to track the specificities of clean energy technology innovation by the business sector in ways that answer key uncertainties facing policymakers in areas including hydrogen, smart grids, energy efficiency, electrification and many more.

Offering a given value in the proposition

I want to advance further what organizations or individuals responsible for leading the energy transition require to support and develop a more significant innovation and transformation understanding of energy transition options. To support them and build new competencies, clients achieve positive and sustaining results from these activities around the energy transition they intend to undertake.

The insights delivered aim to offer a unique view leading to a more balanced perspective, fresh inspiration and real alternatives to investigate and explore energy transitions and then to share what they have gained in insights, knowledge and value.

Explore Innovating the Energy Transition that begins to bring innovation to the fore in its need to be seen as distinctive as a structural approach to manage the energy transition in the future in a highly collaborative, networked way.

Building a better discovery and validation portfolio

To build this better discovery and validation, you need to think differently than we do today.

We need to think about ecosystems in design and thinking ways.

We must build technology platforms to communicate, exchange and share in collaborative energy ventures to manage this energy transition on a global basis.

Extracting knowledge and applying application and practice gives clients the beginning of the “discovery and validation phase”, accelerating the client’s growth options in more structured ways, what is evolving and what impact and growth opportunities are on a business by taking the innovator’s perspective into assessing the need for a client’s energy transition.

By drawing on the external perspective, there is a significant saving in the amount of time in early resource investment. These insights and recommendations provide the triggering points for seeing fresh growth opportunities.

Does that make sense? It does to me, but maybe I am a little biased here! Let me know your thoughts, please.

The post Building momentum, gaining idea generation into energy insights first appeared on Innovating the Energy Transition.

Image sourced: IEA report The Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitions

An energy system powered by clean energy technologies differs profoundly from one fuelled by traditional hydrocarbon resources.

One real challenge is the impact on this energy transition that critical minerals will bring. These are new, different, perhaps more complex challenges to energy security. The shift to clean energy systems will bring potential new vulnerabilities.

The minerals needed for clean energy have huge questions over the availability and reliability of supply. There are a high concentration of production, long project development lead times, the worry over declining resource quality and growing scrutiny over environmental, social performance and climate risks.

These issues throw an increasing spotlight on supply sources and how critical mineral security can have far-reaching consequences throughout the energy system as we pivot towards a clean energy transition.

A significant report provided by the IEA in May 2021, “The role of critical minerals in clean energy transitions“, offers an extensive review of this topic.

Summarizing many aspects from this IEA report

I want to summarize several points from the report here as critical mineral supply does really have an important part to play if we are going to achieve net-zero globally by 2050.

To achieve the Paris Agreement to stabilize the climate well below 2 C global temperature rise would mean a quadrupling of mineral requirements for clean energies by 2040. An even faster transition to hit net-zero globally by 2050 would require six times more mineral inputs in 2040 than today.

To quote from the IEA report :

“Which sectors do these increases come from? In climate-driven scenarios, mineral demand for EVs and battery storage use is a major force, growing at least thirty times to 2040. Lithium sees the fastest growth, with demand growing by over 40 times in the SDS by 2040, followed by graphite, cobalt and nickel (around 20-25 times).

The expansion of electricity networks means that copper demand for
power lines more than double over the same period.

The rise of low carbon power generation to meet climate goals also means a tripling of mineral demand from this sector by 2040. Wind takes the lead, bolstered by material-intensive offshore wind. Solar PV follows closely due to the sheer volume of capacity that is added.

Hydropower, biomass and nuclear make only minor contributions given their comparatively low mineral requirements. In other sectors, the rapid growth of hydrogen as an energy carrier underpins major growth in demand for nickel and zirconium for electrolysers (green hydrogen production) and platinum-group metals for fuel cells.”

As the IEA points out, demand trajectories are subject to large technology and policy uncertainties, but they analysed 11 alternative cases to understand the impacts.

Another significant point to consider here is the IEA’s report stated, “Today revenue from coal production is ten times larger than those from energy transition minerals. However, there is a rapid reversal of fortunes in a climate-driven scenario, as the combined revenues from energy transition minerals overtake those from coal well before 2040.”

So what are these critical minerals used by the different technologies we are deploying today or in the near future?

This report assesses the mineral requirements for a range of clean
energy technologies, including renewable power (solar photovoltaic
[PV], onshore and offshore wind, concentrating solar power, hydro,
geothermal and biomass), nuclear power, electricity networks
(transmission and distribution), electric vehicles, battery storage and
hydrogen (electrolysers and fuel cells).

The types of mineral resources used vary by technology. Lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese and graphite are crucial to battery performance, longevity and energy density. Rare earth elements are essential for permanent magnets that are vital for wind turbines and EV motors. Electricity networks need a huge amount of copper and aluminium, with copper being a cornerstone for all electricity-related technologies.

The demand for critical minerals will rise rapidly.

According to the IEA in a scenario that meets the Paris Agreement goals, clean energy technologies’ share of total demand rises significantly over the next two decades to over 40% for copper and rare earth elements, 60- 70% for nickel and cobalt, and almost 90% for lithium. EVs and battery storage have already displaced consumer electronics to become the largest consumer of lithium and are set to take over from stainless steel as the largest end-user of nickel by 2040.

So the energy sector will emerge as a or will be a major force in mineral markets in the next decades.

The final cost structure of the finished product can be at risk

Raw materials are naturally a significant element in the cost structure of many of the clean energy technologies we plan to use

In Lithium-ion batteries, prices have significantly fallen in the last decade, but raw materials now account for 50-70% of total battery costs.

For example, in a possible scenario, what if both lithium and nickel prices doubled around the same time? Then this double “whammy”  would offset the anticipated cost reductions of doubling battery production capacity gained from technology learning and anticipated economies of scale. That would have major implications on prices for EV’s.

An interesting fact is a typical electric car requires six times the mineral inputs of a conventional car. Equally, an onshore wind plant requires nine times more mineral resources than a gas-fired power plant raising potential vulnerability if the material supply has any pricing volatility and security of supplies.

Will the supplies be resilient and secure?

The reality is today that many of the energy transition minerals are more concentrated on a few countries than oil or natural gas supplies—that indicated real risks.

For lithium, cobalt, and rare earth elements, the worlds top three producing nations control well over three-quarters of global output. In some cases, this is one single country. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the People’s Republic of China (China) are responsible for 70% and 60% of global production of cobalt and rare earth elements, respectively, in 2019.

China has a very high concentration for processing operations and has global refining shares of 35% for nickel, 50-70% for lithium and cobalt, and nearly 90% for rare earth elements.

The Chinese companies have been making substantial investments in overseas assets in Australia, Chile, the DRC and Indonesia to make for even more critical mineral control.

The decline in resource quality is becoming a growing concern as well.

One example mentioned in the IEA report was Chile, where the average copper ore grade has declined by 30% over the past 15 years. This extracting the metal content of lower-grade ores requires more energy, exerting upward pressure on production costs, greenhouse gas emissions and waste volumes.

This impact from poorer quality will add growing scrutiny on environmental and social performance. Consumers and investors are continuing to source the minerals in sustainable and responsible produced ways. Will they?

Increased mining in already highly stressed parts of the world of climate issues will add to higher water stress levels. Some areas or regions in Australia, China and Africa have extreme heat, and flooding gives greater challenges in ensuring reliable and sustainable supplies.

Reliability, affordability and sustainability for minerals become important to manage.

The IEA regards the risks to the reliability, affordability and sustainability of mineral supplies are manageable, but this will require greater focusing on these critical minerals, collaborations and policy co-ordinations.

The suggestion of recognizing mineral security in similar ways to how the world monitors and manages oil security as this critical mineral threat can have far-reaching consequences throughout the energy system if not globally managed.

The big difference will not be seen as “spikes in pump prices” but in how minerals as essential components for infrastructure and our energy transition will make it more expensive and delay the pathway to net-zero even more than we see today.

Four critical aspects that need  greater research and development innovation and investment in the future:

1) The searches to diversify sources of critical mineral supply need speeding up. The US has identified current supply dependences, especially on China, as a national security risk. In Europe, this equally applies.

2) Technology innovation on production needs to focus on more efficient extraction of materials, managing mining in different ways and to make sure the application of mining techniques is up to date and effective.

3) Technology for clean energy solutions needs to search for material substitution and alternatives. Ones that can be perhaps more environmentally developed or take a more holistic approach to entire energy systems to minimise energy loss, using digital technologies to manage finite resources and reduce processing across the entire energy chain.

4) An absolute need to ramp up recycling. Waste management needs to become a higher focus as volumes increase, incentivizing consumers and producers to look at recycling products that have reached the end of their operating lives, reduce the effect of throw-away societies, building more efficient collection and sorting activities and invest in an R&D emphasis on new recycling technologies that move way-beyond the cottage industry approach  or simply dumping and ignoring material recycling so often found today

In conclusion- great work, IEA, with this report.

The report by the IEA in May 2021, “The role of critical minerals in clean energy transitions“, offers an extensive review of this topic and anyone interested, concerned or wish to understand issues that are critical to a successful energy transition should find time to read this report.

Mineral security will become a new variable in the energy transition, that is for sure.

*This summary has drawn from the report from the IEA as per the links shown. All rights reserved by IEA. The report reflects the views of the IEA Secretariat. The IEA makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, in respect of the publication’s contents

The post Will Critical Mineral Supplies Stop the Energy Transition? first appeared on Innovating the Energy Transition.

Everywhere you turn, you stumble across reports on one aspect or another of the energy transformation we are undertaking.

I am looking at this energy transition through the eyes of the innovator, as it offers so much in new solutions and designs that any innovator would love to be part of.

My big move this week was to determine my Energy Transition journey

I added my dedicated website on innovating4energy.website. It stays a W-I-P but its role is to keep the offer separated but also be highly support in this posting site as the more dynamic place for breaking news, discoveries and progress and combined they underscore the value position offering.

I am taking on the front end of the energy transition as my advising positioning.

More on that in future posts.

Why make energy my increasing focus?

Energy is tackling one of the world’s toughest tasks, turning our existing energy system, reliant on fossil fuels into one based on renewables, is an enormously complex set of challenges in its goal of decarbonizing it.

There is such an innovation landscape of solutions that are contributing to the world achieving a more renewable-powered future. Technology innovation, suggested new business models, outline proposals for changing policies, processes, and market design all are being “sketched out.”

It is overwhelming, but innovative solutions need to be continuously refreshed to reflect this consistent inflow of understanding, relating to the energy transition that is being undertaken. It is evident innovation must be way broader than just technological RD&D.

During this past week, I have been working through specific aspects of the energy transition model.

Firstly, just take the Grid Edge. The Grid Edge includes the innovative solutions of hardware, software, and business innovation that are enabling smart infrastructure to be installed at or near the “edge” of the electric power grid. So things that you can touch or see, such as solar panels, metering infrastructure, local energy storage systems, smart thermostats, appliances, and building controls, are in Grid Edge Hardware solutions. The software is automating this, more demand-responsive, real-time data, data analytics, and planning systems to extract the value out of the data. Business innovation is turning that knowledge (data) into value for aggregation, trading, and supporting whole communities with managing their energy needs, for example. The Grid Edge solutions are on the rise and that comes from innovation.

My main area of focus was to re-orientate back to innovation and its importance to transforming the energy system.

I spent some time checking back on the tracking of clean energy progress by technology in the different energy sectors or subsectors. These progress report cards come out regularly, but the one I wanted to work through was ones that cdame out some months back, from the OECD, IRENA and IEA.

IEA track in their clean energy report 26 technology classified areas of energy, covering energy supply, energy demand, and energy integration. The approach makes sense as it is the ability to deliver the WHOLE energy system will give us the climate, renewable, and energy transition benefits.

So in tracking the essential technologies within the energy transition, you get a clear sense of our progress or lack of it on a global scale. This 30,000-foot perspective is sometimes sobering to all the activity that seems to be occurring at energy events or within the companies dealing in solutions. Yet the gaps, in reality, need addressing and fast and that is where innovation comes in

There are so many promising technologies lagging the commitments dues to lower funding, more significant technical difficulties, or not being able to be exploited due to political, regulatory, or business constraints. Innovation solutions can only advance so much, but without the political or business will, resources or capital can only progress far slower.

It does seem we do not have the momentum we need to undertake the transformation of our energy systems yet and the value of giving a real intense focus on making the innovation process more robust and dynamic seems to make sense, well for me.

Drawing some interim conclusions

Why innovate energy?

To achieve better, faster and more valuable future solutions with a focus on sustainability, to anticipate constant change and build different more exciting and valuable business models for lasting impact.

I will increasingly focus and operate at the front end of the Energy System.

There is a growing urgency in the innovation scope, pace and direction of changes needed. Our position and value are to underpin and accelerate that journey you are on.

I offer greater knowledge, perspective and activism for delivering innovation having this as my specialised area of consulting, mentoring and coaching for over twenty years..

Partnering in your energy journey: We believe we can offer fresh knowledge, momentum and understanding on what is occurring and needed in the new innovation and technology identification.

Much of my past two years has been intensive on the Energy Transition. Based on research and know-how I believe there is real value to be a partner in building out the future validation of new technology, leading to sustainable change and new growth opportunities through accelerating the innovation focus.

I offer innovating expertise, well positioned at the Front End of the Energy Transition to accelerate your thinking and support the shaping of future opportunities that give growth and impact potential

Time to accelerate my and your energy transition journey I believe.

The post Continuing my Energy Transition Journey first appeared on Innovating the Energy Transition.

I think it is worth referencing here how the IEA breaks down to track clean energy progress, it is a pathway that needs innovation to be central.

The thinking within post has been inspired by the IEA report  Tracking clean energies IEA report, published last year and has significantly crystallized my own views or thinking on the need to accelerate innovation as central to the Energy Transition.

The IEA track the following aspects of the energy system; power, fuel, industry, transport, buildings, and energy integration. That gives innovation focus a sound way to break down the complexity within the transformation underway.

Just reflect how difficult this energy transition actually is.

The difficulties in energy transition are immense. Not only in a wholesale, radical change to our energy fuel, generation, transmission, utilization, and consumption but in the levels of existing investment that need changing, writing off as potentially stranded assets (coal generation), or being replaced by new technologies based on renewables.

A conflicting world full of complexity and tough challenges

We are faced with so many conflicting forces, the lobbyists arguing for an extension to coal, oil, and gas in subsidies or protection for energy security reasons. All Governments have to make tough choices, political ones where one party has strong community support. It backs coal or oil to know new technologies and renewables are driving prices down below their present energy sources.

Each of our economies has become “highly” dependent on existing fuel sources, and the energy security issues are beginning to dominate discussions. There is intense Lobbying to keep investments and make them more efficient is on one side. On the other hand, backed by Scientists, Environmental fractions, and a growing public feeling are that we are feeling the effects of global warming and we need a radical overhaul of our energy systems.

Putting a clear form of context by breaking this down using the IEA method of tracking clean energies helps break the issues down to a more manageable level

Tracking Power

• The IEA is tracking power across the global; in the activities, investments, and positions of Renewable power, Solar PV Onshore wind, Offshore wind Hydropower, Bioenergy power generation Concentrating solar power (CSP) Geothermal Ocean power Nuclear power Natural gas-fired power Coal-fired power and CCUS in power (Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage)

The “sum” of where we are today requires that power sector emissions fall an average of 4% per year to 2030, and electricity emissions intensity drops 5.6% annually.

Tracking Fuel Supply

• Emissions from oil and gas extraction, processing, and transport rose marginally in 2018 to around 5.4 GtCO2-eq – approximately 15% of the global energy sector GHG emissions. Over half of these emissions (2.7 GtCO2-eq) came from flaring and methane released during oil and gas operations. The IEA tracks specifically Methane emissions from oil and gas and Flaring emissions.

The available data suggests a significant variation between the best and the worst-performing companies on these issues, so a vital task is to ensure that best practices and operational excellence on these emissions become standard across the industry as a whole. Considerably enhanced policy ambitions and regulatory efforts, better measurement and reporting, strong industry efforts along with technological progress to improve the effectiveness of leak detection, measurement, and abatement are needed.

Tracking Industry

• The principal industries, regarded as the “prime” polluters or emitters of high levels of Co2 and other greenhouse gases, are specifically monitored. These are Chemicals Iron and steel Cement Pulp and paper Aluminium and how CCUS in industry and transformation performs.

Direct industrial CO2 emissions, including process emissions, declined 0.6% to 8.5 GtCO2 in 2018 (24% of global emissions), which is good news, but industry emissions must fall by 1.2% annually to 7.4 GtCO2 by 2030 – despite expected industrial production growth.

Greater energy efficiency, the uptake of renewable fuels, and research and deployment of low-carbon process routes, including CCS, are critical. We need to rapidly accelerate progress by providing innovation funding and adopting robust innovation practices.

Tracking Transport

• Transport covers all our sectors. Electric vehicles Rail Fuel consumption of cars and vans Trucks and buses the sue of Transport biofuels to significantly switch fuels in the Aviation & International shipping sectors.

Transportation is responsible for 24% of direct CO2 emissions from fuel combustion. Road vehicles – cars, trucks, buses, and two- and three-wheelers – account for nearly three-quarters of transport CO2 emissions, and emissions from aviation and shipping continue to rise, highlighting the need for a greater international policy focus on these hard-to-abate subsectors. This area needs the acceleration of solutions we have available in fuel alternatives across all mobility sectors.

Tracking Buildings

• It always staggers me how much off the Co2 comes from our buildings. The IEA monitor Building envelopes Heating Heat pumps Cooling Lighting Appliances and equipment and Data centres and data transmission networks.

Energy-related CO2 emissions from buildings have risen in recent years after flattening between 2013 and 2016. Direct and indirect emissions from electricity and commercial heat used in buildings rose to 10 GtCO2 in 2019, the highest level ever recorded.

Growing energy demand for heating and cooling with rising air-conditioner ownership and extreme weather events and insufficient investment in sustainable buildings. This needs a transformation in design and thinking through extensive peer pressure, as we can determine the changes we need in where we individually live and work, for example.

Tracking Energy Integration

• The ability to integrate our energy systems to combine fossil fuel and renewables has to accelerate. The whole issue of sector coupling, storage, and transmission is locked into this energy transition debate. Innovative solutions need to enable this energy integration and then transition into just renewables over the next thirty years.
• This is a really fascinating area to watch of leveraging Energy storage Hydrogen Smart grids Demand response and Direct air capture. These areas need deeper innovation funding and co-ordination from policy support to fund experimentation, piloting, and extensive scaling out, all on demanding time scales.

Keeping track of the changes needed

IEA identified 46 critical energy technologies or sectors on what we see today. Nearly all we are not on track, we have been arguably blown off track by the pandemic and the required economic stimulus required to “kick start” our economies back into “normal” life.

This needs us to transform the energy systems globally so we can have a chance still to stop this planet from warming even further and giving us improved health, economic and environmental possibilities. The effects of the present Covid-19 surely give us all a wake-up call. It is how global failure has an enormous impact, and the concern is here that we are moving from one crisis into a longer, more dangerous one.

Innovation can change the course of Energy, it needs our dedicated focus.

Unless we change the course of where we seem to be heading, we face rapid global warming that will not protect us. We have no second planet, and it is not just developing a vaccine to make us all feel safe, this is threatening human life as we have known it, pandemics included.

**  the IEA report  Tracking clean energies IEA report, published last year

The post Putting innovation intensity into the Energy transition first appeared on Innovating the Energy Transition.

Why did I choose to give a specific focus on different aspects of innovation within the energy transition? Well, it is simple for me. I have focused on building capabilities, competencies and capacity to innovate for 20 plus years. Innovation has been my core area of focus. Today, I am channelling that specifically towards the building of innovation within our Energy Transition

The real imperative for finding new innovative technology is critical. We have such a real threat of climate change and any pathway to meet the Paris Agreements, where all countries pledged to keep the rise of the global temperature below 2 degrees C by 2050 and ideally try to work towards the position of 1.5-degree C above pre-industrial levels. These target goals mean bringing our temperatures down dramatically.

The critical period for transforming energy is coming in this current decade. We need to speed up that transformation.

We are presently at a very critical decision time; there is the level of investment needed to achieve this. The current estimate to create a safe climate system is a need to invest USD 110 trillion of new investments in the energy sector by 2050. That equates to $3.6 trillion each year for the next thirty years.

The majority of the investments need to be directed away from fossil fuels (the primary carbon emitters) into clean technologies. It is renewables, including most power generation and end-use applications that need to invest mostly through generation sources of wind, solar, hydrogen, and biofuels.

Presently we are not making the essential investments we need to make.

We are far to slow in Government policy in providing incentives and organizing the capital markets to raise, distribute, and commit to necessary investment levels. Our industry investments are constrained and lack the imaginative and bold thinking required to transform transport sectors, aviation, and those hard-to-abate sectors like iron and steel, chemical and petrochemicals and cement. Our buildings need converting away from reliance on heating and cooling by fossil fuels.

The period 2020 to 2030 is absolutely critical for investments not just to be pledged but effectively deployed on the ground in the physical solutions and effective operation needed to make this energy transition required on track to reach the climate goals.

Innovation is absolutely critical in this energy transition.

We need to move from research and development, through engineering validation but into the pilot and scaling actual solutions at speed. We do not have the luxury of evaluating these over standard lifetime returns or observing others over the years, there is the need to raise validation and take higher risks, than in more stable times.

We need to be more pioneering. Without a coordinated effort, the risk is always cautious without some form of guarantee or point of crisis. To date, we have not generated co-ordination in policies, collaborations, and commitments to shared risks. We have yet to fully place in the minds of everyone what the crisis is and where it is heading if we do not respond with a real sense of purpose.

The power of combining and collaborating

We require bold leaders, policymakers, institutions, researchers, engineers and marketers to combine, to recognize and establish the systems and structures to allow innovation to happen. To generate the capacities and competencies for delivering innovation breakthroughs.

Innovation capabilities do not happen overnight, they need investing in, building, learning and discovering how ideas turn to insights and then to commercial possibility. These innovation breakthroughs can take months and sometimes years to materialize to combine, coordinate and commit to making the energy transition happen.

Today applying ecosystem and open collaborative designs we can connect into broader networks and build relationships across diverse expertise, that can come together to ‘make innovation happen’. Setting up a collaborative innovation environment needs equal expertise in understanding its connected parts.

In Summary

So for me,  the energy transition is at the forefront of “cutting edge” innovation to deliver. Innovation requires its own build of structure, process, governance, investment and capability understanding.

This is why I am giving this even more of my increased level of attention in the work that I do, to understand, investigate and support others in their innovation needs on their energy transition journey. 

The post My Job: Sparking Innovation within the Energy Transition first appeared on Innovating the Energy Transition.

I really value these reflective periods. They allow you to simply “recalibrate” so you can at least start the new year off on a more purposeful set of objectives, those strategic stakes in the ground. Of course, you can argue these can simply end up as new year resolutions, often broken in the first few weeks, but hopefully, these objectives stay anchored into the ground as a firm intent, they become the foundation to build out from. Well, that’s my intent.

When I reflect back on the 2020 year, I have recognised the needs to make a significant energy change. As I posted my critical top six energy developments in 2020 in this recent post “Energy Progress- the best of 2020 leads to a great 2021″ it triggered a deeper evaluation to lead out to 2021.

The key to 2021, in my opinion, will be a real breakthrough year of innovation, based on technology invention.

“2020 advanced the commitment to the shift from fossil fuel to renewables that has real momentum in the coming years. 2021 will be the breakthrough year where the energy transition has the unstoppable forces happening.”

We are all wanting to look forward, to a different, a more engaged world in 2021.

Reviewing my recent activities around Energy Transition.

Reflecting back, moving forward. In the past two-plus years, the whole Energy Transition has been my platform to apply my innovation learning and ecosystem thinking. The Energy story has really changed my focus on where I offer support.

Firstly in December 2019, I launched the site www.innovating4energy.com and have posted over 50 articles in this twelve-month period across the whole energy spectrum. This dedicated site enables me to consolidate my thinking previously spread out over different posting sites and gave me the dedicated focus point to build my view of the energy transition, described below.

In this year, 2020, I was singled out to be in the top ten energy transition influencers by Onalytica in their Who’s in IIoT in there recent September report.

In November 2020, I was delighted to be included within the top ten hydrogen influencers that included @mariofornarelli @h2gazette @hydrogenenergy @reuters @climate @hydrogencouncil @h2europe @siemens_energy @ft and finally myself@paul4innovating. That seems great company to me!

The link to this hydrogen evaluation is via Node Graph Gallery. It provides a detailed graph representing a network of 4 588 Twitter users whose recent tweets contained “hydrogen energy” or replied to or mentioned in those tweets. It is an interesting visualization to help sort out social media and thought leaders. The evaluation was undertaken in November 2020.

Ecosystems are now becoming essential for managing the Energy Transition. My ecosystem focus is relatively narrow on Industrial IoT & the Energy Transition but it has a significant business impact when applied. I was delighted to be recognized in the Ecosystem top thought leaders on Thinkers 360, a premier thought leader and influencer marketplace for recognition across different social media channels 

Moving forward in 2021

I think the business model will radically change. Ecosystems where collaborations will become increasingly prevalent and platforms where digitalization will advance our awareness, efficiencies and effectiveness will be central to lasting change. Innovation will simply advance due to the exchanges through digital enablement between collaborators and having more diversity of opinion and seeking out that network effect. Innovation in new technology will enable the energy transition even more in the coming years.

The Energy Industry has to “embrace” both the ability to collaborate with each other to search and explore radical, innovative solutions, and that is where Ecosystem design has its real power. Also, by deploying more a platform thinking Energy solution providers and sellers will value data as the increased currency that a more diverse energy system requires to be effective and efficient.

Ecosystems and platforms are becoming vital for the Energy Transition, especially where collaborations and digitalization form an increasing transformation part.

Advancing my degrees  of separation

When you are facing complexity you need to break it down into its component parts to evaluate it, to make greater sense of those parts and attempt to bring it back into a new sense of order.

This site of www.innovating4energy.com was part of that deliberate design as the energy transition has become a central focus of mine. Yet to deliver understanding you have to apply your thinking to the other contributing parts, my degrees of separation.

Ecosystems are the way for business to evolve and have been critical to my decision to, again, separate my thinking, and provide a dedicated posting site ecosystems4innovators.  This allows that separation, identification and focal need and provide a better understanding of the value of ecosystem design.

For the platform understanding, I have again separated my thinking onto another dedicated posting site for building thinking out on a new integrated IIoT innovation engagement platform “Connecting digital, innovation and industrial” providing insights and thinking on platforms as my focal point of offering.

A final step of separation for my increased “energy purpose” has been this increased recognition building the internet of energy to provide a more focused view of digitalization within the energy system.  This will be the real enabler in constructing and layering a new energy infrastructure, where the digital and physical run in parallel, and need a high dependence on each other to design and deliver affordable, sustaining power across the entire energy system.

Innovation is always to the fore.

Lastly, in dedicated focus areas, the Energy Transition acceleration will come from increasing innovation and the constant search for improving technology or discovering breakthroughs. Innovation needs a dedicated investment appreciation.

For me, innovation has been a core area for the past twenty years. Evaluating, stimulating, encouraging, and organizing innovation by building the capacities, capabilities and competencies innovation management requires. Innovation is the catalyst of change within the Energy Transition and my critical value-adding point.

I have been providing insights, advice and concepts for innovation and many of these can be found on my dedicated posting site paul4innovating

Turning all my research towards commercial reality is ready to be applied

The last part of my 2020 year has been the sheer determination to follow up on research within the energy transition.

I have been building an extensive library of topics, articles and reports, hundreds of GIFs, partly built into an extensive Microsoft OneNote energy system and also within an expanding filing system. This work has become a real battle to index and build, but it is getting extensive and highly valuable.

For me, 2021 needs to be realization time.

My current work is working through how and where I can offer a return for my investments and provide clients’ propositions that offer value, impact and knowledge.

In these recent weeks, I am trying to work out the type of Energy Transition Service I can offer, that has a value that provides market-driven insights and can piece together in-depth reports, outlined roadmaps, and understanding of the options that the energy changes are creating for us all to understand.

I finish on my 2020 Energy Progress stating my energy journey, and what it means to me as we enter 2021.

Energy Transition needs to be generated in different ways, my positioning:

• Emphasis the value/impact of innovation within the Energy Transition (as my core). It builds out the potential to change.
• A consistent focus on being seen as a Business Builder and offer perspectives, opinions, and outlooks
• My belief that there are different aspects of activism to bring focus to this transformation and it is engaging across all of these avenues
• The scope, pace, and directions of change need a sense of urgency, and my role is to help accelerate that journey.
• The broader perspective, putting content into context, giving knowledge and insight leads to making more informed decisions, that’s my positioning.
• I see myself as the Outsider looking into the Energy World.

This focus translates into value positioning:

• The (absolute) needs within the Energy Systems require solutions and change does lie in creating impact, understanding and viable alternatives.
• The significant potential for new market design, different business models and system operation solutions offers a real business opportunity.
• The fascination with identifying new enabling technologies and exploring and exploiting these
• The Energy Transition is one of today’s big challenges in energy, climate, and our planet and needs clarity for potential clients on how it can be leveraged.
• There is so much societal need for this energy transition, it needs framing and building differently, so it attracts stakeholders to join in. The value of building that communicating positioning with the additional external perspective strengthens the narrative and broader identification.
• The desire to add more impact, understanding, and awareness to the Energy Transition, to give greater momentum to internal teams provides additional momentum and resolution.

My 2021 purpose is providing different points of insightful and impactful design in Energy transition.

I cover the Energy Transition through innovation, ecosystem and platform thinking by (deliberate) design. Interested to learn more, no time like now.

My best of Energy Wishes to you in 2021. Let’s search for synergies and making connections that are mutual and rewarding.

The post Restating my energy purpose for delivering in 2021 first appeared on Innovating the Energy Transition.

The pressure to stop new Coal investment is building- is that really good?

Threats & Pressures for reducing CO2 emissions

What can’t be ignored in all this action to stop coal, again to quote from the IEA report:

Steelmaking today will “kill” the Energy Transition if we do not find new innovative processes.

As the IEA report states ” New steelmaking processes are critical, but there is no one right answer”

Deep emission reductions are simply not achievable without innovation in technologies for near-zero emissions steelmaking.

Are we stopping innovation if the known Energy Providers continue to withdraw from their coal associations?

Finding a more thoughtful sustainable pathway.

The post Coal, Steelmaking and Asia first appeared on Innovating the Energy Transition.