AI and the energy transition: the vision of Technip Energies
Naïla Giovanni, Chief Digital and Information Officer, Technip Energies, shares her vision of artificial intelligence as a key factor in the company’s digital acceleration strategy.
- What is your vision for the future of AI and emerging technologies in your industry?
At Technip Energies, we see Artificial Intelligence and other emerging technologies not just as buzzwords, but as fundamental catalysts for accelerating the energy transition and reshaping our entire industry landscape.
AI is a game changer. It will revolutionise the way we design and build our projects. I see three major impacts.
First, it will increase efficiency and competitiveness, which will reduce the total cost of ownership allowing us to win the affordability battle. Second, it will reduce the risks involved in executing projects. Third, it will support the optimisation of energy facility performance, which will in turn enhance sustainability and safety efforts. If AI is used appropriately, the industry can move towards more standardisation and more productisation.
To achieve these three major impacts, we need to empower our people at every level. Upskilling our workforce to confidently and effectively utilise AI tools in their daily workflows is paramount.
- How do you balance experimentation with emerging technologies and scaling up initiatives that deliver tangible commercial value?
We take a disciplined two-fold approach. There is time for innovation and time for execution.
When it comes to innovation, we take the time to foster ideation, explore out-of-the box solutions, and then score and rank proof of concepts to pass the first gate towards portfolio prioritisation.
When it comes to execution, we have a rigorous portfolio management process, which ensures the initiatives we choose to scale can deliver measurable business value.
- How does Technip Energies integrate artificial intelligence into its global digital strategy?
At Technip Energies, AI is deeply embedded in our overall digital strategy and how we execute projects.
Internally, we have moved towards a more structured and expertise centred approach to AI. This enables us to have a strong delivery capacity for execution.
In 2024, we launched an ambitious four-year Digital Acceleration Plan that aims to deliver value across the company through more than 80+ digital and AI initiatives.
It has two key pillars: Reinforce efficiency and certainty in our operations and anticipate new client needs. To date we’ve launched ~30 initiatives, 60% of which are enablers for AI/GenAI or embed AI/GenAI.
- Can you share some concrete use cases of how Technip Energies is using AI to deliver energy infrastructure projects?
When it comes to reinforcing efficiency and certainty in our execution, I’ll share three examples where the company is developing AI and digital solutions to leverage its proprietary datasets:
- Project cost optimisation: We use AI to generate quantities of materials for an energy plant at the tender stage based on all the data we’ve collected from previously built plants. This drives the optimisation of project costs.
- Workload prediction: We generate machine learning-based estimates of workload predictions utilising our cost benchmark datasets. This drives certainty in schedule execution.
- AI-assisted security: We use AI-backed CCTV and geolocalisation for remote safety based on our previous incident datasets. This enhances the deployment of safety resources and anticipates safety needs.
When it comes to anticipating client needs, I can share two examples of solutions we offer that leverage artificial intelligence:
The first is SPYRO, our process simulation tool for ethylene plants designed for asset management. This leverages AI to enable our clients to maximise the performance of their plants, leading to cost optimisation and reduced energy consumption. The second is the Odyssey solution, which uses an AI-based algorithm to optimise the sizing of energy system components and the system’s energy management strategy. The algorithm can explore and evaluate billions of energy system configurations in a reasonable amount of time.
- How is your organisation adapting its strategy to attract, retain and develop people with the skills needed to thrive in an AI-driven environment?
At Technip Energies, we are attracting talent thanks to our purpose, our commitment to the energy transition and the career path opportunities we offer.
We retain and develop our employees thanks to a strong corporate culture forged over 60 years, which we continue to strengthen under a CEO-led vision to adopt a ‘People with AI’ posture.
Recognising the importance of a proactive approach to skills development, Technip Energies has adopted a ‘Future Ready’ learning strategy.
A key component of this strategy is our 2025 sustainability target for employees to dedicate an average 30 hours to learning. To provide a foundation for our employees to explore AI, we will launch an "AI for All" engagement campaign in the latter half of 2025, specifically aimed at upskilling all employees on the effective and responsible use of GenAI.
