How new skills and ways of working will transform the energy industry

From growing awareness of climate change to cheaper renewables, there’s no doubt that the energy industry is going through a period of rapid change. New skills and innovations will be vital to a successful energy transition. And to work out what those skills might be, says Capgemini’s Florent Andrillon, Energy Transition Global Lead of Capgemini Invent, it’s vital to look at how the energy industry is transforming itself.

Florent will be speaking on this topic at the Business Booster, the annual networking event bringing together more than 800 attendees from over 40 countries – including start-ups, energy industry representatives, financial communities, policy makers and regulators.

From big players to ecosystems

“The main trends are all related to decentralisation and electrification,” he says. “These have a big impact in terms of the way the energy is produced and consumed and how the business model is changing. It’s moving from very central assets and a large investment model to a more portfolio business model.”

These changes are leading to a gradual shift from a few single players in an industry to an energy ecosystem. To manage that ecosystem, new skills will be needed – and new collaborations. “There are now a lot of projects where a utility, a start-up, and a manufacturer are doing research, or trying to set up a new business model, and they are having a discussion about the new skills needed to manage and navigate an ecosystem,” says Andrillon.

“They need people with the ability to manage data, digital networks and understand complex architecture and cyber security issues. If you have a complex ecosystem, it must allow you to have the capability to work with and manage different partners.”

Start-up strategies

There’s also a revolution going on around the value chain, he points out. “Once upon a time you could only be in this industry if you were from the upstream part of the value chain, going down to the retail part. Now that’s not true anymore. We are seeing a lot of new start-ups innovating with very interesting new solutions to produce or manage energy. But it’s not so much a disruption – energy still has to be produced. It’s more about how an industry can transform and reinvent itself.”

Many of the vital skills which the traditional players need for the energy transition will come from these start-ups, both through acquisitions and partnerships. That’s because start-ups tend to be the ones with the new solutions that established players need.

“If you look at the large utility players, they have all made a lot of acquisitions in the solar and wind industry and also in the digital world,” says Andrillon. “The start-ups are the ones who are innovating, and then the large groups are turning to these external players to expedite their own development of new solutions. They are spending a lot of time and money and investment into finding the right start-up, to help them and partner up with them. Plus, if you want to recruit a new skillset, buying a start-up with that skillset is the way to do it.”

Skills such as creativity and problem-solving will also be key to managing this transition, he says, and there’s a real hunger for new solutions. “We have spent a lot of years delivering projects to optimise energy production and to improve the profitability of power. Now the big questions are: how do we innovate and how do we find new solutions?”

New opportunities

There are new opportunities for other industries, too, in the energy transition ecosystem. “For instance, we have worked with car manufacturers. They are producing a lot of batteries due to electrification, so they are wondering if they too could enter the energy value chain,” says Andrillon. “We are also seeing retailers who have a lot of connected objects: could they manage and aggregate them to provide flexibility of the grid?”

But, he points out, the move to sustainable energy is no longer just about big companies in any sector: that’s where the idea of humanising the energy industry comes into play, and will become more important than ever over the next few years. “We are seeing consumers becoming actors in their energy consumption. They are becoming not only producers but also prosumers. And they are also asking for clean energy, and thinking about the human aspect of that. It is no longer about simply switching on the light and not thinking about where your energy comes from. It is about switching on the light but making sure my carbon footprint is reduced – and how can you, as an energy company, help me with that?”

Florent will be speaking on this topic at the Business Booster, if you’re attending come hear him speak Parallel session: Skills gap or skills crisis? taking place in breakout room 3 from 13:30 – 14:30 on 3 October.