Digitalization of the energy sector: genesis, content, components, evaluation methodology

Abstract

Currently, in the context of the transition to the development of new sources of renewable energy, the issues of digitalization of the energy sector are becoming increasingly relevant. Digitalization captures all areas of activity and involves the integration and transformation of the energy system, which makes it possible to obtain socio-economic effects. Five groups of indicators have been identified (human capital, reliability and quality of power supply, availability of electricity, environmental sustainability, and political and infrastructural readiness of the country for digitalization), which provide an objective assessment of the digitalization indices of the energy sector of a particular country. Approbation of the procedures and the results obtained was carried out by the method of factor analysis using limited and contributing functions. As a result of the assessment, the leading countries were identified in terms of the digitalization of the energy sector, which have an impact on countries with a low level of digitalization and on the development of mechanisms and tools for the digitalization of the sector. As part of this study, the prerequisites and main components of the readiness of countries for the digitalization of the energy sector are highlighted. The applied analytics made it possible to identify potential points of growth in the digitalization of countries with its low level, to develop appropriate measures. Seven stages of the processes of digitalization of the Russian energy sector are identified, indicating the resulting effects and directions for its possible development.