Benefits of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Energy Sector

Since time immemorial people have relied on some form or the other type of energy to run their appliances whether home, transportation, factories, etc. Energy finds its application everywhere starting from the food we are eating, the food we are digesting, the car we are driving, the machines we are running, and many more. We categorize these energies into two based on the place we are deriving this energy from and the life cycle for the particular item that is providing energy.

These two categories are Renewable Energy and Non-Renewable Energy. Renewable Energy is that type of energy that can never go out of stock i.e. the sources have the power of replenishing themselves with time like Solar Energy, Wind Energy, Hydro Energy, etc. Non-Renewable Energy, on the other hand, can’t renew themselves with time like Thermal Energy, Energy from fossil fuels, etc.

Many countries over a long time have relied upon these Non-Renewable Energy sources because the amount of energy generation is high and also the rate of installation of power plants comparatively low. But, due to over-exploitation of these sources, a point has come when these sources are on the verge of extinction. This has led man to shift its practices that are shifting from Non-Renewable to Renewable. Companies are investing a huge amount in the installation of Solar, Hydro, Wind based power plants and are gaining huge competitive advantage and recognition all over the world.

The trend of using Thermal plants in India cannot be stopped but is getting minimized due to the installation of solar plants. At present India has established 42 solar parks with a cumulative energy capacity of 3462 MW. It is a great achievement for India. Not only this country but countries all over the world are shifting their trend to Solar and another kind of Non-Renewable energy sources.

Now, to run these plants and generate energy a lot of manpower, predictions, and monitoring is required which to date is carried out by humans only. This requires a lot of dedication and continuous efforts to make things approachable to the public with the least danger. Man indeed has the capability of handling the hardest circumstances with ease but when it comes to efficiency comparison between man and machine then machine dominates the chart because of the emotionless feature it contains and the robust mechanism present in it.

So, one such technology that has made much more efficient and thinks like humans is Artificial Intelligence. The idea behind the same is very simple i.e. think like a human and act like a machine. So, we can call this an amalgamation of man and machine. If this technology gets incorporated in the energy sector then it can create wonders in this field.

 

Positive impacts of AI in Energy Sector that it can bring are given below:

• AI can help humans to forecast energy requirements: Yes, it is possible with this amazing technology. With the help of many subfields in the field of AI like Machine learning and Deep learning, it is now possible to predict the future based on the past data fed to the algorithms and then evaluating this model for future predictions. The idea behind this is to replicate the working mechanism of the brain and thus giving the machine to think like humans and giving results like a superhuman. Companies that are using this technology to forecast things are Nnergix, Xcel, etc.
• Machine installations costs can be reduced with AI: With the help of Artificial Intelligence we can cut down our costs that would have incurred while purchasing specialized forecasting/predicting machines. We can operate all the predictive analysis operations by using our computer for carrying out AI-related work and also there is much software that runs on the principle of AI in the computer which integrates well with our present machines and gives accurate results.
• AI can help in increasing efficiency: With the help of AI and related software, we can increase our efficiency of energy production by keeping an eye on the amount of energy produced and when to stop and start the machines. We can also automate the working of the machines which will lead to smart operating systems and hence enabling machines to automatically shut down their operations as and when needed. Google Deep Mind is one such company that is working on this principle.
• Automating the home-related activities: With the help of this technology, we can help in building smart homes. The concept is to digitize everything and help home appliances to do their work on their own. A very similar concept is used by Alexa and Amazon Echo which together helps in converting our home appliances into automated machines. This is a very cool feature that we can use to help in cutting down the costs of our electricity bills. This in turn will also lead to energy savings and thus preserving the energy for future use. Also, various bots can be created and installed in power plants which will help in doing human tasks and thus helping humans to achieve greater accuracy. Moreover, energy accessibility will increase with the incorporation of AI.

Conclusion

From the above-mentioned things we can conclude that AI if enabled fully in the energy sector can create a benchmark and help in saving costs as well as the energy that can be used by future generations. So we should start using this technology and avail of its benefits to the fullest.