Mentions of digitalisation within the filings of companies in the power industry rose 71% between the first and second quarters of 2021.

In total, the frequency of sentences related to digitalization between July 2020 and June 2021 was 329% higher than in 2016 when GlobalData, from whom our data for this article is taken, first began to track the key issues referred to in company filings.

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When companies in the power industry publish annual and quarterly reports, ESG reports and other filings, GlobalData analyses the text and identifies individual sentences that relate to disruptive forces facing companies in the coming years. Digitalization is one of these topics - companies that excel and invest in these areas are thought to be better prepared for the future business landscape and better equipped to survive unforeseen challenges.

To assess whether digitalisation is featuring more in the summaries and strategies of companies in the power industry, two measures were calculated. Firstly, we looked at the percentage of companies which have mentioned digitalisation at least once in filings during the past twelve months - this was 80% compared to 36% in 2016. Secondly, we calculated the percentage of total analysed sentences that referred to digitalisation.

Of the 50 biggest employers in the power industry, Tokyo Gas Co Ltd was the company which referred to digitalisation the most between July 2020 and June 2021. GlobalData identified 27 digitalisation-related sentences in the Japan-based company's filings - 2.7% of all sentences. Enel SpA mentioned digitalization the second most - the issue was referred to in 2.5% of sentences in the company's filings. Other top employers with high digitalisation mentions included Siemens AG, Worley Ltd and E.ON SE.

Across all companies in the power industry the filing published in the second quarter of 2021 which exhibited the greatest focus on digitalisation came from Enel SpA. Of the document's 4,533 sentences, 150 (3.3%) referred to digitalisation.

This analysis provides an approximate indication of which companies are focusing on digitalisation and how important the issue is considered within the power industry, but it also has limitations and should be interpreted carefully. For example, a company mentioning digitalisation more regularly is not necessarily proof that they are utilising new techniques or prioritising the issue, nor does it indicate whether the company's ventures into digitalisation have been successes or failures.

In the last quarter, companies in the power industry based in Western Europe were most likely to mention digitalisation with 0.53% of sentences in company filings referring to the issue. In contrast, companies with their headquarters in the United States mentioned digitalisation in just 0.06% of sentences.