Investment Attractiveness Evaluation of Digitalisation Projects in the Energy Sector

Digitalization is becoming a key area of business development in the modern world. This phenomenon covers almost all spheres of activity: retail, real sector, tourism, entertainment and more. The rise in the relevance of digital projects is growing due to the development of the Internet, which has contributed to the change in most business models. Now, the largest companies are embedding digital projects in their long-term strategies to automate and optimize most business processes, including companies in the energy sector. In this regard, the question arises of creating universal instruments for the investment attractiveness evaluation of such projects. Therefore, this work aims to develop a universal financial instrument for evaluating digital projects in the energy sector. The product of this design work is a universal financial model for investment assessment of digitalization projects in the energy sector. A universal financial model means a set of programmed sheets (in MS. Excel), by filling in some of which the user will be able to get a qualitative and quantitative assessment of the financial results of a particular project. Versatility means adaptability and ease of use and refinement for any type of digital project from the electric power industry. In the theoretical chapters of this work, relevant sources are analyzed that are devoted to the study of the main aspects of digital transformation in the world and in the energy complex. We also carried out a detailed analysis of existing typical digital projects, the most common types of digital technologies, as well as their economic effects on the financial performance of companies. A qualitative and quantitative analysis of real examples of digital projects in the energy industry was carried out to determine the most popular ones and obtain generalized results. The potential economic effects of these projects on the financial performance of companies are also described to create a pivot table and its further use when building the prerequisites for a financial model. Moreover, scenarios and methodology for conducting these studies are presented in case there is a need to update the data in the future. Based on the prerequisites, a financial model was built with the possibility of changing scenarios to assess all potential outcomes. The structure of the financial model of its blocks and the principles of interaction of parts with each other are described. Possible methods for finalizing the model are described, as well as all the necessary steps to create a similar model for adjacent segments of the energy sector. Key words: investment assessment, digitalization, energy sector, energy, digitalization projects, digital transformation, financial modeling.