Energy generation, along with other sectors of Russia’s economy, is on the cusp of the era of digital transformation. Modern IT solutions ensure the transition of industrial enterprises from automation and computerization, which used to be the targets of the second half of the last century, to digital enterprise concept 4.0. The international record of technological and structural solutions in digitization may be used in Russia’s energy sector to the full extent. Specifics of implementation of such systems in different countries are only determined by the level of economic development of each particular state and the attitude of public authorities as related to the necessity of creating conditions for implementation of the same. It is shown that a strong legislative framework is created in Russia for transition to the digital economy, with research and applied developments available that are up to the international level. The following digital economy elements may be used today at enterprises for production of electrical and thermal energy: — dealing with large amounts of data (including operations exercised via cloud services and distributed data bases); — development of small scale distributed generation and its dispatching; — implementation of smart elements in both electric power and heat supply networks; — development of production process automation systems, remote monitoring and predictive analytics; 3D-modeling of parts and elements; real time mathematic simulation with feedback in the form of control actions; — creating centres for analytical processing of statistic data and accounting in financial and economic activities with business analytics functions, with expansion of communication networks and computing capacities. Examples are presented for implementation of smart systems in energy production and distribution. It is stated in the paper that state-of art information technologies are currently being implemented in Russia, new unique digital transformation projects are being launched in major energy companies. Yet, what is required is large-scale and thorough digitization and controllable energy production system as a multi-factor business process will provide the optimum combination of efficient economic activities, reliability and safety of power supply.
