France has made commitments towards better addressing the challenges of climate change, both at European level, through « Fit for 55 », and at national level, with National Low-Carbon Strategy (SNBC). This approach aims to initiate a major energy transition with the objective of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. Among the central measures of this transition are:
- A 100% carbon-free energy mix : this implies the gradual abandonment of fossil fuels, in favor of increased use of sustainable renewable energies, such as solar, wind, hydraulic, nuclear and thermal sources. decarbonized.
- Electrifying energy uses : according to RTE’s different 2050 scenarios, electricity will play a leading role, going from covering 25% of final needs today to more than 55% in 2050.
- Accelerating the deployment of renewable energy : renewable energy production capacities will have to be considerably increased in order to meet the increase in demand due to the electrification of uses.
Electricity grid operators, players at the heart of the energy system, are faced with a set of major challenges:
- Increase in electricity needs requiring larger networks: depending on the scenarios, from +17% to +58% by 2050.
- Intermittency of renewable energies requiring high agility of the sector’s professions.
- An increase in congestion on distribution network lines causing a backflow of power flows towards electricity transmission networks.
These challenges thus generate operational complexity making the management and maintenance of networks more complex, requiring advanced skills and tools.
The challenge faced through this issue
Faced with the changes brought about by the energy transition, how can we maintain the quality of electricity supply and service? And, by extension, how can we secure access to sustainable energy?
What Yélé Consulting believes in
We, at Yélé Consulting, are convinced that securing access to energy requires the following levers:
- Fine planning of networks in the medium and long term, thanks to AI technologies which will make it possible both to identify the weaknesses of energy networks several years in advance and to plan investments as well as work to be carried out. carried out to overcome this. AI will thus promote the integration of renewable energies while guaranteeing the safety of the network.
- Making network operation more reliable and maintaining the supply-demand balance with optimized computing cores thanks to the recovery of detailed data on the state of the network in real time using sensors and IoT technologies, and digitalization command controls as well as the modernization of telecom infrastructures.
- The development and use of flexibilities, in particular to minimize the risks of overloading or underutilization of the network and smooth out fluctuations in production by using intelligent storage means, demand or production management
- The use of predictive maintenance of networks based on the supervision of the state of health of equipment whose data is reported and analyzed with IoT technologies. By combining this data with the history of incidents and anomalies experienced and using statistical learning techniques such as machine learning, it becomes possible to spot the warning signs of potential failures. These methods are applied by electricity network managers by exploiting the quality of supply data reported by smart meters, to anticipate outages and failures in the quality of supply. Maintenance thus makes it possible to optimize network investments and extend the lifespan of equipment.
- Active demand management facilitated by the deployment of smart meters (Linky, Gazpar) which provide real-time consumption data to consumers, and thus promote energy sobriety by encouraging more conscious and economical use of energy and enable also for suppliers to offer incentive programs during peaks in demand.
- Close collaboration between a variety of actors within the energy sector, in particular, strong cooperation between distribution and transmission network operators, is essential for the smooth integration of renewable energies (RE) and to effectively manage the flexibilities at the interface of the two. In addition, close collaboration between energy producers and network managers promotes the synchronization of operations and the optimization of production. Energy suppliers and consumers are also linked by green technologies, which offer the possibility of monitoring and adjusting consumption in real time. To further enrich this collaborative network, opening up to start-ups, SMEs and universities is essential. This alliance with innovative players promotes innovation, research and development, which leads to the emergence of innovative solutions to meet current energy challenges. In short, this dynamic and interconnected collaboration constitutes the fundamental pillar of the transition towards cleaner and sustainable energy.
- Anticipation and mitigation of cyber risks, generated by the increased use of digital technologies for energy management, with a proactive approach that integrates constant monitoring of equipment, implementation of robust security protocols, awareness and training of stakeholders, as well as well-established contingency plans to deal with possible incidents.
What Yélé Consulting offers its clients
Yélé Consulting works with energy actors on their transformations, in particular electricity and gas network managers, our historic clients. Our multi-fluid skills and our mission references across all network grid operations allow us to provide a 360° vision of the changes underway and how to transform challenges into opportunities.