IESE Insight
Priorities and challenges of the Spanish energy sector
More than half of companies prioritize decarbonization while maintaining competitiveness, and 1 in 4 use AI to forecast demand and optimize efficiency.
What challenges are facing the energy sector? A survey answered by 121 professionals in Spain attending the 22nd edition of the Energy Sector Meeting, organized by IESE Industry Meetings with Juan Luis Lopez Cardenete, puts figures on them. Decarbonization is the main objective and the great challenge is to achieve it without compromising competitiveness.
Striking this balance was the primary concern of most respondents (58%), followed by managing increasing regulatory and fiscal pressure (18%). There was less emphasis on adapting to global tensions (9%), digitization to improve process management (8%) and needing to define a clear strategy (7%). Lopez Cardenete stresses that “to advance in this colossal and necessary transformation and decarbonize on a global scale we need to match words with actions.”
The same survey also shows that AI has been adopted unequally thus far. While 27% of respondents mainly use it for data analysis to forecast energy demand and improve operational efficiency, 24% are using it for automating processes to optimize energy generation and distribution. Elsewhere, 16% mainly use AI to strengthen the role of operators with advanced management tools, and a mere 14% use it to promote the transition to sustainable sources by striking a balance between generation and consumption. Significantly, 19% stated that they didn’t use AI at all in their operations.
“We may be at a crossroads of digitization and decarbonization and, therefore, increased productivity,” sums up Lopez Cardenete.
