“With the world of electricity changing at a rapid pace, SA Power Networks is committed to connecting South Australians to a better energy future, today. This means we need to change the way that we’re delivering energy, working with our customers as active participants as we create our renewable energy future together.

Digital transformation and the power of partnership are key to our ability to make this future possible, ensuring we’re set for success and ready to address the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead of us.�

Dr Eva Balan-Vnuk, Chief Digital Officer, SA Power Networks

In a world where change is the only constant, SA Power Networks is lighting the way to a sustainable energy future, powered by its decade-long partnership with ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½. Together, both organisations are co-creating the digital and cultural foundations necessary to continue to drive the change needed to make a renewable future a reality.

Staying ahead in a fast-changing world through the power of reimagination

South Australia stands out for its bold commitment to renewable energy and a decarbonised economy. At the forefront of this change is SA Power Networks, the state’s sole electricity distributor, responsible for supplying power to 1.7 million people across 178,000 square kilometres.

With no coal-fired generation in its mix, and an aspiration to achieve 100% net renewable electricity by 2027, SA Power Networks has been on a decades-long journey to reimagine and redefine the role of a modern utility, transitioning from a traditional one-way electricity provider to a digital utility that enables a decentralised, flexible and resilient grid.

Recognised nationally as the most efficient electricity distribution business in Australia, SA Power Networks is also an established industry and technology leader on the global stage.

Creating a new playbook for a sustainable, customer-centred future

The energy sector is undergoing a dramatic shift from a one-way, centralised system to a decentralised, dynamic and deeply interconnected landscape. Rooftop solar panels, home batteries, electric vehicles and real-time data are transforming consumers into active participants in the grid.

This new environment demands not just the flow of energy but its exchange – creating an even greater need for connection, collaboration, data-led insight and the ability to adapt to rapid change and increasing complexity.

Chief Digital Officer Dr Eva Balan-Vnuk explains:

“We are transforming how we operate our business and serve our customers, because we know that our customers want choice, flexibility and visibility in how they’re receiving power – now and into the future.�

A partnership to empower change

SA Power Networks’ transformation to a next-generation digital utility is underpinned by its long-term partnership with ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½, with both organisations working together since 2015 to deliver SA Power Networks’ ambitious digital transformation strategy.

Together, SA Power Networks and ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ have established a true values-based partnership, characterised by collaboration, trust, shared purpose and accountability. The strength of this foundation allows SA Power Networks to continually evolve in step with, and ahead of, constant change.

Jason Anthony, SA Power Networks’ Head of Enterprise Applications, says:

“SA Power Networks strives to be a leader within our industry and to bring innovation, efficiencies and cost savings to our customers – but we can’t do this in isolation. We rely on key partnerships, like our partnership with ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½, to achieve these outcomes.

Both organisations truly operate as one team, and we’re united by a shared purpose – delivering outcomes that add real value for our customers.�

Empowered by technology

By retiring legacy systems and adopting SAP’s modern, flexible, cloud-based architecture, SA Power Networks is now supported by integrated digital platforms across its entire technology landscape, enabling ongoing innovation, operational and cost efficiencies, greater customer connection – and future-readiness.

The future: accelerating progress through AI-powered innovation

As SA Power Networks continues its transformation journey with ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ and SAP, it is now actively exploring the potential of Generative AI (Gen AI) and agentic platforms to deliver scalable, industry-leading innovations. Leveraging SAP’s AI copilot, Joule, SA Power Networks is at the forefront of integrating leading-edge technologies to enhance operational efficiency, drive innovation and support the organisation’s renewable energy vision.

Conclusion

Powered by partnership and a future-ready digital platform, SA Power Networks is well-positioned to continue to play a leading role in the energy sector’s evolution, providing an exemplar for how modern digital utilities, customers, communities and technology can work together to create a sustainable future for South Australia – and the world.

Key technology milestones include:

• Billing and CRM program:
  Decommissioning metering, billing and market transaction systems and replacing these with a modern SAP ISU platform.
• Implementation of SAP S/4HANA and SAP BTP:
  Integrating core functions like finance, procurement, maintenance, and warehouse management, streamlining processes, and improving data visibility.
• Application Management Services, providing support across SA Power Networks’ entire SAP landscape.

Key outcomes and achievements:

• Industry leadership:
  Including acceleration of initiatives supporting renewables, such as the Flexible Exports program, a global first that allows customers to dynamically increase solar exports based on network conditions.
• Regulatory excellence:
  SA Power Networks’ reset submission for the 2025 to 2030 period was recognised by the regulator as one of the best submissions from a distribution company in Australia.
• Award-winning delivery:
  SA Power Networks’ $80 million billing and CRM program received multiple Australian Institute of Project Management awards, including Project of the Year.
• Enhanced customer engagement and insight:
  New digital channels allow customers to manage services online with improved transparency and responsiveness.

Discover key trends from ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½â€™s World Energy Markets Outlook (formerly Observatory). Now in its 27th edition, WEMO is packed full of key insights that every energy leader should know.

We cannot have a sustainable energy system without storage, and lots of it. For signatory countries to achieve the commitments set at COP28, for example, global energy storage systems must increase sixfold by 2030.

Batteries are expected to contribute 90% of this capacity. They also help optimize energy pricing, match supply with demand and prevent power outages, among many other critical energy system tasks. Put simply, batteries are the beating heart of the energy transition – so what are the opportunities and challenges of this pivotal market? To find out, the ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Research Institute surveyed 750 senior executives globally, including in the energy and utilities sectors. Its research report, The battery revolution: shaping tomorrow’s mobility and energy, generally reflects what I hear from clients, but I would add a couple of other factors.

As battery prices fall, their prevalence goes up

Let’s start with the good news: the falling price of batteries as production capacity increased over the past decade or so. It will be interesting to see how these ongoing price drops impact two of the challenges highlighted in the report – the extended payback period for investors and the profitability of manufacturers.

Likewise, as batteries become more available and affordable, I believe that every solar photovoltaic site will have some form of battery storage. I also expect that we will see more residential battery use. That could be people buying their own battery energy storage system (BESS) to capture energy from their solar panels and discharge it at peak times. Or it could be EV owners with Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) functionality renting or leasing a battery through the growing trend for Batteries-as-a-Service (BaaS).

Innovation could lead to surplus batteries and energy demand outstripping supply

This rise in availability, and corresponding drop in cost, also has its downsides. First, with so many batteries coming on to the market, how can we track where they are all are, or how well they are cared for during their life cycle? And what happens when an innovation arrives like “Flash Charging�, from the Chinese company BYD, which allows an EV battery to charge in 15 minutes? How do we know that the stock it supersedes will be properly disposed of, not just thrown into landfill?

Second, if increasing numbers of homes have a BESS and an EV charging point, it will create a level of demand that the grid was not designed to meet. For example, it makes sense to charge your EV overnight. But if everyone does the same, it puts a huge stress on the system. This could conceivably lead the Distribution System Operator (DSO) to tell consumers they can’t have an EV charger or a BESS – the political implications of which could be huge.

One final issue I would call out, which is also in the report, is the growing need for sovereignty in battery and energy production. We have all seen the impact on energy prices of being overly reliant on other countries for our supply. But having just one country – China – produce 83% of the world’s batteries, and mine around of one fifth of its lithium, creates similar vulnerabilities. Only time will tell how the trade tariffs the US administration recently imposed on China will affect the price of batteries and their raw materials stateside, for example.

Data and AI will be a big part of any solution

Currently, there is no single, defined solution to the issues I have described. But here are some ideas to consider.

1. In today’s distributed energy system, data and AI are king – so why not use them to help ease the stresses I have described? For example, advanced battery management systems can extend the life of batteries by constantly monitoring and maintaining their health and optimizing the way they charge and discharge. Data and AI can also speed up research and increase visibility of the supply chain.
2. Collaboration between governments and industry could help to overcome the issue of an overstrained power grid. For example, . Having a DSI in place will ultimately make it easier to connect all the battery storage devices on the grid and optimize when and how they are used.
3. Europe and the US have invested heavily in rebalancing the scales for battery production. (Though again, it remains to be seen how the tariffs imposed by the US will affect its own efforts.) Meanwhile, governments that are serious about sovereignty will need to keep incentivizing local production. That’s as well as supporting the research and development of technologies that rely on different components or materials, like solid-state and sodium-ion batteries.
4. As I said before, new innovations risk making old ones redundant. Yet according to our report, just one in three organizations has taken meaningful steps to establish a circular economy. To move the dial, we need more initiatives like the EU Sustainable Batteries Regulation, more research into recycling and repurposing methods and a ‘sustainable-by-design’ approach to battery manufacture.

Batteries are not the only storage

These challenges will not be solved overnight. But meanwhile, other innovations are emerging. For example, the giant solar array at New York City’s John F Kennedy International Airport will also feature 3,84 MW of hydrogen fuel cells. I’m sure London’s Heathrow Airport would have appreciated this capacity when a fire in one of the electrical substations supplying its power forced it to close for over a day in March 2025.

Far from being the be all and end all, then, batteries are part of a bigger picture of energy storage – one that is constantly evolving. In future, this could mean we have a sustainable energy system that deploys different types of storage to help it manage, monitor and optimize energy use. With AI technologies developing at pace, we have more opportunity than ever to achieve it.

Balancing opportunity, technology, and cost

The race is on to stay ahead of increasing public and commercial demand for low carbon mobility. If the race is between battery powered electric vehicles (EVs) and low carbon hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, there’s little doubt that batteries have taken the lead.

This is mainly because, while electricity is readily available, hydrogen is currently not scalable or easy to source. Right now, budget issues stand in the way of widespread deployment of low carbon hydrogen, and it remains a developing market at the R&D or proof of concept (POC) stage.

It seems that the trajectory towards EV domination is unstoppable, whether in the form of passenger vehicles or mammoth vehicles on mining sites. However, many think batteries may just be an interim solution to the large scale expansion of low carbon hydrogen. Despite the issues hydrogen has with sourcing, scalability, transportation, and cost. In fact, the low carbon hydrogen economy remains buoyant, with demand projected to grow massively to 38 Mt by 2030.

Whatever course the race to accelerate low carbon mobility takes, ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ is playing its part. In this disrupted and dynamic environment, we provide consulting and services to a diverse range of energy providers, from experienced global players to innovative, ingenious start-ups. As a digital expert, we’re experienced in advising data driven businesses. We’re particularly adept at creating digital twins and creating digital representations of infrastructure, including EV charging networks

With almost one in every five cars sold in 2023 fully electric, EVs are no longer a niche market.

The 14 million new electric cars registered represented a 35% uplift from 2022, with analysts predicting that, worldwide, 17 million more new EVs were on the road in 2024

Sales are highly concentrated, with 95% completed in just three markets, China (60%), Europe (25%), and the United States (10%).  The growth in the global EV retail market is impacted by numerous domestic factors too. These include differences in national governments’ laws, regulations and subsidies, local supply chain and charging infrastructure challenges, and varying levels of cultural acceptance. Communication of EV’s overall value proposition, the concept of mobility and total cost of ownership, has been inconsistent.

But the long-term trajectory towards a future in which EVs dominate is unstoppable. It’s an industry bursting with innovation, new business models and an energy that reflects the vital role it plays in slowing down the impacts of climate change. ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ is playing its part in this dynamic sector too, providing consulting and services for a diverse range of stakeholders, from the major global manufacturers to the brightest start-ups.

Helping you optimize opportunities across the CCUS spectrum

For the energy industry, carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) is crucial right now. For energy providers in particular, the ability to efficiently capture carbon without creating still greater emissions is an important part of the emissions reduction jigsaw.

The logic is simple. We’re not making enough progress on reducing the carbon emissions that amplify global warming. Therefore, many players across multiple industries, including energy providers, are focused on capturing the carbon they produce at source. From there, ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ can help identify the right carbon capture plan.

Currently, we’re active across the CCUS spectrum. We’re helping some energy providers develop CCUS activities and others to deploy them. We’re enabling clients to deliver CCUS as a service. And we’re contributing to the development of new CCUS technologies through our engineering and design expertise.

As a digital organization, ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ enables and supports data driven organizations fundamental in developing intelligent industry. ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ understands the challenges and opportunities of CCUS. We’re experienced at creating digital twins to enable you to understand where the risks are. And to identify and optimize opportunities in systems integration, cybersecurity, and AI.

Energy businesses are embracing digital thinking and game changing technologies to ensurev a cleaner, more sustainable and resilient future for our planet.

As well as cutting CO² emissions in generating the energy required by the global economy and society, they’re also reducing the impacts of their own day-to-day business operations.

ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ supports many of these organizations across the energy and utility landscape to develop comprehensive, data-driven strategies and action plans to reduce their carbon footprint and optimize operational efficiency.

Reliable, sustainable and clean – nuclear is back, and it’s more innovative than ever.

Amid global energy uncertainty, accelerating sustainability goals and an unending energy crunch, nuclear is back in a big way. In recent years the industry has become more innovative than ever, and has begun to attract new levels of private investment. The outlook for nuclear is strong. But the road ahead is far from straightforward.

To take full advantage of today’s fertile climate, leaders in the nuclear sector will need to build and operate faster, cheaper, and more innovatively. To attract investors, you’ll need new ways to project revenue decades into the future. You’ll need to manage compliance, create the right partnerships, and continue to build public trust. With a network of over 2,000 nuclear specialists around the world, we’re here to help you every step of the way.