A Powerful Tool
Jeremy Renshaw is EPRI Senior Technical Executive.
Artificial intelligence (AI) provides a powerful tool for energy companies to deliver an affordable, reliable, clean energy transformation. As today’s AI constantly evolves, so too do challenges and ethical considerations.
For more than a decade, EPRI has been studying AI and its potential impacts on the energy sector, and in the last six years, the Institute has accelerated its activities around AI and data science. To date, EPRI has been involved in more than seventy-five projects related to AI applications in the energy sector.
AI has been successfully applied to and identified for diverse applications within the energy industry. Primary objectives include enhancing safety, reliability, and efficiency while simultaneously reducing labor and costs.
Examples of Power Sector AI Usage
Predictive Maintenance: AI algorithms can analyze extensive amounts of data in real time, potentially detecting early-stage trends that may signal future malfunctions. For example, AI models can notify power plant and grid operators about potential equipment failures so that cost-effective preventive maintenance can be scheduled and prioritized before more extensive and costly repairs are needed. EPRI has successfully applied these principles to wind turbine gearboxes.