Electrification, the road to sustainability

What is electrification?

Today “electrification” is understood as the progressive use of electricity from renewable sources in services and activities – like mobility, heating and industrial production – which until now have been mainly powered by fossil fuels, thereby making energy consumption more efficient, widespread and sustainable. Electricity, as a form of energy that can be generated from green or zero-emissions sources, is the most efficient energy solution: it is clean, cost-effective and has high performance levels.

New electrification

Since Enel was founded in 1962, we have made a decisive contribution to bringing electricity to the whole of Italy: an endeavor that has changed our country in profound and defining ways, driving it into the modern age. Today it is electrification’s turn: there is a growing spread of electric power in areas such as transport, household consumption and industry.

In these three major sectors, it is estimated that the overall share of energy consumption provided by electricity could rise from 17% in 2015 to 46% by 2050. These forecasts were outlined in the Electrify Italy report, published in 2020 by the Enel Foundation in collaboration with the Energy Center at the Politecnico di Torino and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

For us, electrification is a crucial tool for decarbonization: in the three key sectors mentioned above, thanks to electrification, emissions of greenhouse gases will be reduced by 68% by 2050 compared with 2015 levels. This fits in perfectly with our industrial plan; electricity, above all when generated from renewable sources, is the most sustainable energy vector, in line with our strategy.

The shift towards electrification is a global trend as part of the energy transition and is supported by various stakeholders from industry, trade associations and institutions involved in protecting the climate. This has given rise to the Electrification Alliance, an international network that Enel belongs to through Eurelectric, the European organization of electricity companies, that has launched the campaign #ElectrifyNow. Its goal is to raise awareness about electrification and promote its application in the most diverse sectors.

Transport, the heart of the sustainable city

Hear the words ‘sustainable mobility’ and you think of electric cars. Electric cars are three to five times more efficient than their combustion engine powered counterparts. In Italy, the fleet of electric vehicles is growing constantly and is predicted to reach 83% of the total by 2050. This is partly because technology is gradually overcoming every obstacle standing in the way of greater sales: the cost of electric vehicles is competitive with those powered by combustion engines, the range provided by the batteries is increasing each year, while charging times are getting faster and faster. Finally, the network of charging infrastructure, even on roads outside the city, is now so extensive as to ensure drivers the peace of mind that they will not be left high and dry. This is a fundamental aspect and for this reason Enel has already installed 13,000 charging stations for public use in Italy and aims to have installed 21,000 by 2023. These are in addition to the private charging stations located in people’s own garages or those of company car fleets. Beyond these statistics, innovation is progressing further and faster: futuristic concepts, such as the V2G (Vehicle-to-Grid) technology developed by Enel, allow cars to feed surplus stored energy back into the grid, basically becoming batteries on wheels.

Alongside four-wheeled transportation, two-wheeled vehicles are also forging ahead on the road to electrification. E-bikes in particular are driving the sector but electric motorcycles have also carved out a space, thanks to the prestigious showcase of the MotoE Championship (FIM Enel MotoE World Cup) .

An important breakthrough is also taking place in public transport. Around the world, the number of local administrations that are choosing to switch to electric bus fleets is rising, ensuring a substantial cut in greenhouse gas emissions and opening up a range of possibilities: the end goal is a sustainable and integrated public transport system, monitored in real time and managed in a smart and flexible way, that will be the structural framework for the smart cities of the future.

Finally, the maritime sector, which is responsible for 11% of transport emissions, has also embarked on a journey towards sustainability. In Italy, the first port electrification initiatives have been launched, beginning with the docks and including fleets of hybrid or electric boats for port activities, shuttle services and tourism.

In the kitchen, induction stoves have numerous benefits compared to gas stoves: they are twice as efficient (92% compared with 40-45%), they are better for cooking because of the complete contact of the base surface of the pan with the stove, there is no dispersion of heat from flames and temperatures can be regulated more precisely.

Taking this progress to the next level, many new buildings are being designed to be “fully electric”, using electricity is their only energy source. In addition to improving safety for people and buildings, this also generates a substantial financial savings.

The other major direction envisaged by electrification is home automation – the application of new digital technologies for the management of the home, which then becomes “smart”. In a smart home, an integrated system manages energy consumption in a centralized way, including the infrastructure for charging your electric car in the garage. The possibilities are virtually limitless and range from remote controlled security systems, electrical appliances and thermostats, to the possibility of setting a maximum capacity for individual devices so as not to interfere with others – or, thinking even further ahead, washing machines that automatically start when the cost of electricity is lower or windows and shutters that open and close autonomously based on the internal and external light conditions. And all of this could be powered by an independent photovoltaic system.

When it comes to the energy efficiency of homes, electrification is an important ally. Today, energy renovation projects contribute to reducing consumption and therefore costs, with modifications to avoid heat dispersion.

Naturally, electrification is advancing in step with renewable sources, for example with the installation of photovoltaic panels on the roofs of factories, accompanied in some cases by an energy storage system that can mitigate the intermittence of production reliant on weather conditions.

As with residential buildings, energy efficiency involves the installation of more efficient appliances for a wider variety of uses, from electric ovens in the catering sector to new generation compressors for the steel industry. But it also implies added value services like energy diagnoses, which assess and pinpoint the most appropriate changes to implement. Just like in the case of smart homes, the future is smart industry, in which real-time monitoring allows the informed and efficient management of consumption.

In addition to these services, similar to those in the residential sector, the electrification of the industrial sector offers further possibilities in the field of energy management. In particular, the demand response mechanism allows industrial clients to play a leading role in stabilizing the electricity grid by reducing or postponing their energy consumption at times of peak demand in exchange for economic compensation from their energy supplier on an annual basis (for example, in the form of a discounted rate); this can benefit both the electricity company and the industrial client and, above all, the national electricity grid and everyone who uses it.

As far as agriculture is concerned, the use of electricity accompanied by technological innovation makes various futuristic scenarios possible, like precision agriculture. For example, an integrated electrified system enables the efficient management of water resources and therefore contributes significantly to environmental sustainability. In particular, smart irrigation reduces water waste thanks to data collected in real time and the ability to independently regulate use based on weather forecasts. But reality goes even further: smart agriculture – thanks to the use of GPS sensors, drones and satellites to monitor the land, combined with artificial intelligence – ensures that seeds are sown more efficiently and helps to preserve biodiversity.

The agriculture sector is perfectly suited to advance decarbonization: both through the use of electric agricultural vehicles and with the integration of renewable sources, both important steps towards sustainable agriculture.