Technological innovation has always led humans to new ways of producing and consuming energy. In pre-modern times, windmills made the processing of grinding grain and pumping water much easier, thereby spurring economic development.

The commercial introduction of electricity transformed human productivity, while the internal combustion engine revolutionised transportation.

Today, new technologies will play a central role as we stand at a crossroads as we address climate change while simultaneously enabling sustainable development around the world. These technologies will again change human economic activity by impacting both sides of the energy generation-consumption equation.

While renewable power, with its increasing efficiency and declining costs, as well as electric vehicle advances, and building design and management are vital developments, topping the list are two technologies that could be the most impactful: digitalisation and energy storage.

Digitising energy

Like electrification, which began more than 150 years ago, digitalisation is liable to touch almost every aspect of our lives—including the energy value chain. On the production side, technologies such as digital twins, Big Data analytics and software, and open, cloud-based internet of things (IoT) operating platforms such as MindSphere allow for more efficient energy generation.

Both conventional and renewable power plants can use digitalisation to optimise performance while lowering costs. Using predictive analytics, operators can anticipate failures and make repairs before anything goes wrong, thereby improving uptime and output.

Along the energy value chain, digitalisation enables the development of smart power grids that give insights that can be translated into system-wide efficiencies and allow operators to move in real time to efficiently balance supply and demand.

This can reduce fuel consumption, allow for improved capital and operational cost management, and lower emissions—all while ensuring availability of power supply. Smart grids can also empower demand reduction, for instance through pricing mechanisms.

For utility customers, digitalisation means smart meters in homes and businesses that give insights into ways to lower consumption. Industrial customers and manufacturers can use digitalisation to improve manufacturing processes, increase output, reduce inputs and costs, and enhance the quality of their goods.

We expect the Middle East to require a total of 483GW of power generation capacity by 2035, an addition of 277GW from 2016. Within this, the share of renewables in the power mix is expected to more than triple from 5.6 per cent (16.7GW) in 2016 to 20.6 per cent (100GW) in 2035. This increase highlights the need for reliable and efficient energy storage solutions, as well as mixed power generation sources to overcome the intermittent nature of renewables and achieve grid stability.

Storage beyond batteries

Energy storage is another key technology transforming the energy value chain. On the generation side, improved energy storage can help grids better manage fluctuating renewable energy supply by allowing wind and solar power to be stored for later use. Today, this electricity must be fed into the grid, whether it is needed or not.

On the demand side, improvements in battery and other storage devices could drastically change transportation, with long-lasting, high-capacity batteries allowing cars and trucks to travel longer distances on a single charge. It also could change the way we use many other powered devices and how individual customers draw electricity from the grid through the use of onsite battery storage.

High-performance lithium-ion batteries offer some of the best options available today, but as with other with traditional storage solutions, including capacitors, molten salt storage and compressed-air storage, they offer storage periods measured in minutes or hours.

Hydrogen storage

Siemens’ researchers are looking at solutions that will convert electricity into forms of energy that lend themselves to long-term storage, such as hydrogen. By converting fluctuating power from renewable sources into hydrogen (or hydrocarbons), surplus energy can be flexibly monetised, stored using existing natural gas infrastructure and re-electrified in gas turbines.

One notable benefit of this is to create a future for gas turbine plants—even in a decarbonised world. Hydrogen can also be used to power transportation ranging from cars to trains.

In a significant move for the region, hydrogen storage is becoming a reality in Dubai. Siemens is working with Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (Dewa) and Dubai Expo 2020 to develop the Middle East and North Africa’s first solar-driven hydrogen electrolysis facility at the Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum Solar Park in Dubai.

The hydrogen electrolysis facility, which broke ground in February 2019, aims to test and showcase an integrated megawatt-scale plant to produce hydrogen using renewable energy from solar photovoltaics located at the park. The pilot project will produce, store and deploy the hydrogen gas. Uses include providing fuel for power generation and transportation, or as an input for industry.

The hydrogen electrolysis plant not only embodies both digitalisation and energy storage, but also represents the distinct transformed energy landscape we are likely to see, all carried forward to powerful new technologies.

It also means we will see more sector coupling – the concept of interconnecting energy-consuming sectors, such as buildings, transport and industry, with the power-producing sector.

Sector coupling allows us to get the most out of excess generation with the help of distributed energy systems. The result will be a future of power generation that helps us address climate change, while also enabling communities around the globe to pursue their sustainable development.

Dietmar Siersdorfer is the CEO of Siemens in the Middle East

This article is extracted from a report produced by MEED and Mashreq titled Middle East Energy in the 21st Century. Click here to download the report

To know more about the MEED Mashreq Partnership, get in touch with us at MEEDMashreqPartnership@meed.com or find more info on www.meedmashreqindustryinsight.com