26 Nov 2020 | 16:47 UTC — London

AI can improve renewable energy integration: Eurelectric

Highlights

AI can help integrate variable energy sources

81% of energy companies seen using AI by 2025

Wealth of smart meter data needs advanced analysis

London — Artificial Intelligence can help drive the energy transition by enabling renewable energy to be deployed and managed in a more efficient way, European power industry association Eurelectric said Nov. 26.

AI can play a dual role in helping accelerate decarbonization of the power sector by integrating variable sources of energy generation as well as supporting grid stability, it said.

"By 2025, 81% of the energy companies will have adopted artificial intelligence, reaping the numerous benefits of accelerated developments in this field and fast tracking the clean energy transition," Eurelectric said in the report, 'AI insights: the power sector in a post-digital age.'

Renewables are expected to cover over 80% of the electricity mix by 2050, and coupling their deployment with AI applications, such as predictive algorithms, can lead to an efficient integration of variable sources of energy, providing a viable solution for reliability and intermittency concerns, the group said.

AI applications can also support grid stability through accurate baseload management features and predictive maintenance, while the effective monitoring of customer use would improve forecasting and lead to an optimal match between supply and demand, it said.

"The access to high-quality data is the lifeblood of AI, and an enabler of power sector transformations," Eurelectric said.

"The deployment of smart meters and advanced sensor technology would provide this much needed real-time data, thus allowing for AI-enabled demand-response and flexibility services to facilitate a better matching of customer usage and renewable output," it said.

With a sampling rate of four times per hour, a million smart meters installed in the grid would result in more than 35 billion records per year, according to the study.

"But this abundance of data calls for sophisticated storage and analysis tools, as well as policies that balance the need for data sharing with the protection of consumer privacy," Eurelectric said.