www.renewableenergyworld.comDOE announces AI initiatives enabling cleaner power grid
Paul Gerke, John Engel9-11 minutes
An artistic representation of a good renewable energy idea (courtesy: UnSplash)
AI will be a critical piece of the clean energy economy, according to a new report by the Department of Energy and its six national laboratories. Last year, President Joe Biden issued an executive order calling for the agency to produce a public report “describing the potential for AI to improve planning, permitting, investment, and operations for electric grid infrastructure and to enable the provision of clean, affordable, reliable, resilient, and secure electric power to all Americans.”
Researchers identified four priority use cases to organize their findings: grid planning, permitting and siting, operations and reliability, and resilience. They identified three specific challenge areas where AI/ML can surpass the performance of human teams: (1) streamlining the licensing and regulatory process; (2) accelerating deployment; and (3) facilitating unattended operation.
“Artificial intelligence can help crack the code on our toughest challenges from combating the climate crisis to uncovering cures for cancer,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “DOE, under President Biden’s leadership, is accelerating its AI work on multiple fronts to not only keep the U.S. globally competitive, but also to manage AI’s increasing energy demand so we can maintain our goal of a reliable, affordable, and clean energy future.”
