The McKinsey consulting company has identified the main areas in which modern technology is bringing benefits to the energy sector. The basis for the list is a discussion paper entitled Artificial intelligence: The next digital frontier?
- AI can make the smart grid smarter and reduce the need for utilities to add power plants
- Quick adjustment to current conditions (e.g. change in wind conditions) will be enabled thanks to sensors and machine learning. Generation efficiency will thus be maximised.
- Peaks in both supply and demand will be better forecast with the use of machine learning.
- Smart wires and machine learning will help us better to manage the power grid and optimise current load.
- Small robots and drones will be deployed to search for defects and predict failures of wires. That way, it will be possible to check assets without the need for interruption of production.
- Those few technicians who will be still around will spend their time more on solving problems than inspecting assets.
- A field workforce will take advantage of real-time updates. Their response to problems will be reduced. Outages will be solved more quickly and be shorter.
- Call centres will be automated with the help of virtual agents. Furthermore, calling consumers will be automatically segmented according to their service history.
- Services will be offered on the basis of a good knowledge of usage, weather and other relevant factors.
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