We're on the cusp of a global energy revolution, breakthrough technologies are making clean energy a cost-effective and viable reality. We're already seeing a transition to hybrid grids, powered by sustainable energy sources, that give users greater flexibility and energy independence.
New energy technologies are reducing dependence on fossil fuels and utilizing digitalization to maximize efficiencies. ICL Group is a trailblazing company pioneering digitalization in energy management. Mr. Yossi Ron, ICL Group VP of Energy & Strategic Projects states: “The positive impact of clean energy on the global environment cannot be overstated. Renewable energy solutions have the potential to radically reduce carbon emissions, not just from power stations, but across the entire fossil fuel spectrum.” This article will examine how companies like ICL Group are leading the way in implementing functional microgrids and exploring a hydrogen economy, setting a sustainable example for other companies to follow suit.
Digitalization: Enabling the Energy Revolution
Using green energy (solar, wind, tidal, water, and geothermal) to power industries or to meet our daily domestic needs is not a new or radical idea. Early industrial enterprises were powered by waterwheels and for thousands of years, people have used solar and wind energy in food production and processing. Countries like Iceland have successfully tapped into abundant geothermal resources achieving effective energy independence and sustainability.
While power plants that burn fossil fuels can generate energy on demand, simply by burning more coal or oil, traditionally green energy had the problem of unreliability or only being available intermittently. A bank of solar panels can only generate energy when the sun is shining with similar limitations to tidal and wind energy etc.
What has changed is that the new technologies of AI, IoT (the internet of things), big data and cloud, blockchain technologies, emerging 6G tech – and new high-capacity smart batteries – are transforming the commercial viability for clean energy.
New technologies allow for the safe storage of green energy until needed. Solar energy generated during the heat of the day can be stored in batteries and later released to power a plant's night shift. Alternatively, it can be sold to other users – including a national grid – using blockchain technology. Sophisticated hybrid grids can draw on multiple sources of green energy, anticipating supply and demand by digitally managing generation, storage, and distribution.
Digitalization in energy management can:
- Use of AI to accurately predict future energy demand
- Adapt to unexpected surges in demand through blockchain transfers
- Use smart systems to detect faults and schedule non-disruptive maintenance
These core processes – digitalization and the internet of things – can be adapted for scheduling non-urgent energy use for off-peak hours and optimization of microgrids
so that industrial and domestic energy consumers can choose to manage their own energy consumption.
ICL: Pioneering A Corporate Energy Revolution
ICL Group is a leading global specialty minerals company and one of the largest fertilizer manufacturers in the world. It operates in dozens of locations worldwide and employs over 12,500 people. ICL has a reputation for technological innovation and the rapid integration of Industry 4.0 technologies. The company is currently pioneering the implementation of next-generation digitalization technologies to transform energy management for its high-tech plants in the Negev Desert and other sites across the globe.
One important initiative is ICL's revolutionary Green Sdom project, the project intends to convert ICL Group's massive Sdom industrial complex to run on renewable energy. ICL seeks to implement 100% green energy at the plant and remove 1 million tons of greenhouse gases from the environment every year without halting operations. It has also designed its green energy plan to be economically viable and to provide greater resilience than existing fossil fuel solutions – with digitalization being the key to this extremely ambitious undertaking.
The Green Sdom initiative will combine a working package of solar PV, hydrogen, thermal storage, battery storage, and smart energy systems. At the heart of the smooth and safe running and ongoing optimization – of so many diverse technologies – is a wider process of digitalization. This is delivered partly through ICL's Lighthouse program, while activity data related to the plant is collected and analyzed for regulatory and ESG purposes through digital tools like its next-generation ECO-OS platform.
- Autonomous process control
- System and site inspections via robotics and drones
- Predictive maintenance using smart sensors
- Digital and virtual technologies for remote and mobile workers
The Future of Digitalization in Energy Management
ICL's innovative energy projects provide a superb insight into how industries can simultaneously achieve energy independence and sustainability while remaining cost-effective. The company is creating a working model of digitalization in energy management that other businesses can replicate and adapt to their requirements.
Equally of interest is how the same process can affect domestic consumers on an individual level, something as simple as a rooftop bed of solar panels, connected to a smart LFP battery, could power overnight electric vehicle charging for everyone in the building. What this means for consumers is a secure supply of cheap and clean electricity that doesn't depend on imported fossil fuels and high-polluting obsolete power plants.
Energy is a strategic industry and we depend on an uninterrupted supply of affordable energy to function as a modern society at the most basic level. Digitization allows the decentralization of national grids and potentially gives individual businesses, schools, hospitals, and residential buildings the tools to operate their own microgrids or implement hybrid grids as part of a wider energy economy.
Companies like ICL are leading the way in industry and proving the ground for every business, institution, and residential domicile with access to renewable energy like wind or solar, or a wider hybrid grid. Abundant energy is the great enabler of human progress and quality of life, and the future of energy looks exciting!
