Globally, the energy transition is gaining momentum. In the past two years, there has been huge progress in areas including national energy independence, renewable energy expansion and large-scale energy storage. But as renewable penetration grows, grid resilience becomes critical.
As per Siemens Infrastructure Transition Monitor research, over 70 per cent of energy sector respondents agree that digital technologies, particularly artificial intelligence (AI), grid software and smart meters, are essential for the energy transition.
Survey findings show that resilient energy supply has become the number one policy priority, rising sharply since 2023.
Three-quarters of respondents believe AI is already strengthening infrastructure resilience, and many organisations are investing in data integration and smarter technologies to manage rising grid complexity.
Most survey participants agree that flexibility markets and autonomous grid technologies are vital for scaling up transformation. A clear majority believe the benefits of autonomous systems outweigh the challenges, and over 60 per cent say their regions are ready to adopt them.
Accelerate technological innovations that can strengthen grid resilience. This means developing transmission and distribution systems for greater demand and new energy dynamics, while making generation more flexible to adapt to de mand fluctuations and grid conditions.
Here, India is aligned with organisations globally in viewing AI-based technologies, combined with human expertise, as a transformative force that drives smarter decisions around grid development – almost two thirds (64 per cent) see digitalisation as a critical enabler of the energy transition. Technologies that will be key to this shift include digital twins, IoT-based real-time monitoring and predictive maintenance systems.
Resilience first: Digitalisation for security and stability
Over the past two years, technological advancements, increased manufacturing capacity and declining input costs have made clean energy technologies such as solar and battery storage more affordable, thereby accelerating their deployment. At the same time, the infrastructure transition is also a path towards greater energy independence.
As the share of renewable energy increases, grids need to stay resilient. Once a grid is sufficiently digitalised and integrated, operators can deploy more advanced technologies to improve resilience. Chief among these is AI, which can be used to predict and respond to demand fluctuations, equipment failures and extreme weather events in real time, enabling faster and smarter decisions.
Empowering infrastructure: The key to achieving electrification goals
Electrification is widely seen as the most feasible way to decarbonise energy systems. However, progress will depend on developing transmission and distribution systems that can manage both greater demand and the new dynamics of the energy system.
Investments in power grids are important not only for national energy goals. Survey respondents see this as one of the top three ways to speed up their industry’s transition to clean energy.
Energy system transformation requires an integrated approach. In our survey, most respondents (62 per cent) believe that different parts of the energy system (such as electricity, gas, hydrogen, supporting infrastructure and consumers) should be managed as a single, coordinated whole.
Autonomous grids: How smart grids are getting smarter
There is strong consensus among survey respondents that AI will significantly transform how organisations operate over the next few years, and that it is already helping to make critical infrastructure more resilient. Most also recognise the need for smarter technologies to improve data integration and are planning to increase investments in this area.
From grid imbalances to extreme weather, the number of variables in play is overwhelming. The next frontier for grids is to tackle these issues with more advanced AI-enabled decision support systems and autonomous systems.
Grids are evolving toward autonomous systems to handle the scale and speed of today’s grid dynamics. Energy sector respondents in our survey believe that the most likely outcomes of increased use of autonomous systems in power grids are lower operating costs, increased energy efficiency and greater reliability. Most (63 per cent) also believe the benefits outweigh the costs, and a high proportion (62 per cent) believe their region is ready to implement autonomous systems in power grids.
These are extracts from Siemens the Infrastructure Transition Monitor 2025 report.
The full report is available on: https://www.siemens.com/global/en/company/insights/infrastructure-transition-monitor-2025.html