Features of Fuel and Energy Complex Management under Digitalization and Implementation of Industry 4.0 Principles

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to evaluate the current status of fuel and energy complex development in the Russian Federation under digitalization and implementation of Industry 4.0 principles, to outline the main provisions of the state policy in this field and to identify obstacles to transition towards becoming an advanced branch of the Russian economy. The subject of research is a scientific justification of the directions for implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies and an assessment of their potential impact on the development of the companies in the fuel and energy complex. A special place in the study is given to the compliance with the provisions of energy security and the balance of interests of energy companies, consumers of energy resources and services, and authority bodies responsible for the development of fuel and energy complex. In the course of the study, a predominantly phenomenological philosophy was used. So, the results were obtained on the basis of opinions of Russian and foreign experts in the field of fuel and energy complex development and implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies. The study reveals that the implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies at the companies in the fuel and energy complex in relation to the organization of combined production of heat and electric energy, automation of energy generation and transmission facilities, and the involvement of secondary resources in the production turnover allows to increase the economic, social and environmental components of efficiency of Russian fuel and energy complex. The authors elaborate the comprehensive approach to the development of managerial decision-making process on the implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies at energy companies, which involves the analyses of the readiness of these companies for digitalization, evaluation of their resource constrains and assessment of potential effects.