With the newest breakthroughs artificial intelligence (AI) has offered in the fields of robotics, self-driven cars, finance, and healthcare, energy companies are now exploring the possibilities of incorporating AI to increase the prospects of more efficient consumption of energy. Several artificial intelligence courses are already being developed to facilitate learning in the field of AI. The ability to compress and analyze large sets of data can help brands monitor and interpret the data produced by energy industries to optimize energy consumption.

Energy Storage:

The number was only predicted to double, but grew at a much faster pace than even the most optimistic experts expected. A renewable solution to the energy storage problem was much sought after. With the increase in storage capacity and technological emergence, AI has emerged to boost efficiency and sustainability. P

Accident Management:
Accidents and instrument failures are a common occurrence in the energy industry. Time and again, human errors and failure to thoroughly check equipment for safety and maintenance issues can lead to massive equipment failures and irreversible losses. Artificial intelligence is now being used to detect faults by observing pieces of equipment. Timely detection of these failures can thus not only save money and time, but it can also save lives.

AI solutions for areas in manufacturing, energy, oil and gas, amongst others are use a combination of analytics, sensors, and operational data to forecast any possible failures of critical infrastructure. SparkCognition was also granted an award in December 2017 by the Department of Energy for using artificial intelligence to enhancing coal-fired power plants.

Grid Management:
Modern power grids gather energy from multiple energy sources, including wind, solar, and coal. Operating and managing massive power grids systems has become more complicated. Artificial intelligence increases efficiency and stability to these energy sources through its ability by analzying large datasets in a short frame of time. This has led to the development of smart grids, which are designed to handle multiple energy sources at the same time efficiently.

Energy Consumption:
Excessive energy consumption is a global problem that is being faced by developed and emerging countries alike. To achieve a more sustainable consumption of energy, artificial intelligence is being used to monitor the energy consumption behavior of individuals and businesses. Many AI-based startups are now offering practical solutions to optimize this energy usage.

Energy Forecasting:
Renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power come with a constant challenge of unreliability. Though sustainable, these weather-dependent power sources often fluctuate in their energy, thus proving inefficient to power companies in the long run. Energy provider Xcel is using AI to solve these very challenges. Xcel uses National Center for Atmospheric Research’s new AI-based data mining method to access weather reports with precision and extensive detail. Xcel’s AI systems mine a combination of data from weather stations, local satellite reports, as well as wind farms. The algorithms driving these systems then identify patterns within the collected data sets to make relevant predictions.

The importance of developing and incorporating renewable sources of energy has been repeatedly stressed upon by government and environmentalists alike. Owing to the variable nature of renewable sources, suppliers earlier mostly relied on natural sources of energy. However, with the integration of artificial intelligence in renewable energy sources, an increase in energy efficiency does not seem far off.