It is clear that wind energy is leading the transition away from fossil fuels and continues to impress with its competitiveness, performance and reliability. Those of us in the wind sector could talk about this all day.

But it is important for us to expand our discussions to the inevitable disruptions in the wider electricity market.

The elements of disruption are clear: renewables such as wind and solar have shown remarkable growth rates, are providing cheaper energy that is quickly built and have very low environmental impact. But, on top of that, we see that battery prices have dropped considerably, and electric vehicles (EVs) are building up for a boom in the coming years — both of which will have a major impact on power demand.

Additionally, the growth of hybrid, distributed and micro-generation will also pose major challenges for conventional transmission and distribution systems.

We must also bear in mind that the world’s economy is moving into what academics are calling the fourth Industrial Revolution. This will bring us the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, big data, blockchain and increasingly fast connections. And all of this — on top of the growing demand for EVs and electric heat and cooling — will require more power.

Electricity will be the backbone of the new future.

In a way, the first wave of disruption has already occurred due to the introduction of distributed wind and PV. This forced the industry, the government and regulators to rethink how to operate the grid which was used to a system based on large hydroelectric and thermoelectric plants.

Now, we face a new and more complex disruptive wave.

In general, companies have been considering this future in their business models and projections, but we believe that it is necessary to talk more about them collectively and, specifically, with government entities, as regulatory changes will be necessary.

Unless we do this, we run the risk of being overrun by the changes and losing the competitive advantage that wind has gained in Brazil in recent years.

For the wind industry, the technology advances in networks and the Internet of Things will change how OEMs produce or even carry out O&M in their turbines, but the wider transformation of the energy sector — including EVs, cheaper batteries and changes to transmission systems — will bring us a shock of new electricity demand. Although this will create new opportunities, it needs to be strategically thought out.

This is why we decided to put together a programme for Brazil Windpower 2018 in order to kick-start discussions that consider this future — in all its aspects.

Our opening panel, for example, will discuss these emerging technologies and what the fourth Industrial Revolution will mean for Brazil.

The challenges that this future brings us are important and we need different points of view and a diversity of knowledge to move forward and make the changes that will put Brazil in a good position to deal with disruptions. That is what we intend to set in motion during the three-day discussions at BWP 2018.

Élbia Silva Gannoum is chief executive of Brazilian wind power association ABBEólica