By Satish Saini, HEXstream utilities industry specialist 

Earlier this month, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and few other senators participated in an artificial intelligence (AI) collaboration session involving Department of Energy (DOE) scientists and other professionals from AI technology field. They discussed the plans for the next four years to create America’s “New Golden Age,” win the AI race, and make US energy dominant again, noting that energy is essential to the nation’s security, the well-being of our citizens, and lives of people around the world.

In October 2024 last year, the DOE published “Artificial Intelligence and Transforming the Energy Landscape in US,” which detailed plans for applying AI to address key challenges across the energy sector through following key initiatives:

• Modernizing the aging and complex electricity grid using AI-powered tools for enhancing grid resiliency, optimizing operations, efficient integration of renewable energy to the grid and improving load-forecasting and other operational data insights.
• Accelerating energy innovation through the development of new energy technologies in power generation and storage to meet energy goals, while using AI to automate processes and improving assets' lifecycle performance.
• Improving energy efficiency through AI-driven design, solutions and control systems for buildings, transportation, industrial processes and equipment through optimizing energy consumption.

Our modern, complex energy and power system is triggering the need for automated tools and technologies with the rising electricity demand. It requires more penetration of distributed, renewable energy sources across various segments of the transmission and distribution grid, in reaction to the rising number of grid-connected devices stemming from the adoption of smart-grid technologies and behind-the-meter (BTM) systems like solar energy, storage and EV charging systems.

Further, climate changes and adverse-weather events are severely impacting the power-grid infrastructure, triggering the need for a more reliable and resilient grid. Operating this complex, vast and widely scattered grid with millions of devices and assets pose a big challenge for the utilities. You already know this; think planning activities for the complex grid, forecasting for load, predictive analysis and insights for assets performance and maintenance needs for these innovative tools and technologies. Also consider how regulatory compliance, safety standards, utility-business operations and sustainability requirements need efficient data-exchange and decision-making tools through the integration of various silos and platforms within the utility.

Supporting all this in the energy and power system, AI and its applications are rapidly increasing in quick, accurate and automated data analysis and reporting. This is a good thing. AI algorithms and machine learning (ML) models are increasingly customized and advanced for power-system-specific applications and uses. These are becoming more effective and widely used in current utility transformation and grid-modernization efforts by utilities.

In short...they have to be.

A massive amount of data is generated with the rising deployment of Distributed Energy Sources (DERs), Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), Advanced Distribution Management System (ADMS), Smart Grid, Asset Performance Management (APM) and other technology platforms within T&D grids. This huge data from multiple platforms needs to be quickly and effectively integrated, processed and analyzed to help utilities in efficient decision making in operation and maintenance activities. 

Managing this much volume and integration cannot be done through manual processes. The use of AI and ML is providing a huge amount of support to utilities through advanced algorithms and machine-learning models.

A report by International Energy Agency (IEA), in reference to an analysis from Indigo Advisory Group, suggests that AI is already serving more than 50 different uses in the energy system, from grid operation, assets management, load forecasting and others. The report further mentions that the market for AI in the energy sector could be worth up to USD $13 billion in the coming period. 

Incentives like that spur transformation and modernization efforts. 

Contact us for further details as to how artificial intelligence can help your utility to effectively manage your critical assets and enhance your customers' experiences.

Up next: Specific use cases for T&D utilities in relation to asset-performance insights, load and demand planning/forecasting, grid modernization and utility transformation. Stay tuned!