ALERTWest reposted this
Participated in an online panel for a virtual press briefing regarding AI in the Utility space. Organized and facilitated by the United States Energy Association I was surprised by the questions about the concerns, vs questions about the potential. I see so much promise and potential for benefit. My view is shaped by what is already in place. Here are a few examples: 1. 1500 Pacific Gas and Electric Company weather stations that ALREADY have AI capabilities and use the AI models to do a forward prediction of wind speed, wind gusts, temperature, and relative humidity. 2. The Pacific Gas and Electric Company machine learning based Fire Potential Index model that does a 7 day look across a vast service territory. Crunching 1 trillion data points daily for a very granular prediction. 3. The 1200 AI enabled Wildfire Cameras in the ALERTWest and ALERTCalifornia systems providing state of the art wildfire detection capability keeping communities across California safe every day. 4. The 10,000 AI capable Gridware devices that are providing real time monitoring today in locations with some of the highest tree density in the PG&E system. 5. Technosylva advanced simulation capabilities that California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) and all three California IOU’s (Southern California Edison (SCE), San Diego Gas & Electric and Pacific Gas and Electric Company) reply of for fire spread modeling and wildfire risk modeling. 6. Satellite data from Planet that goes into ML models for operational risk models and long term planning risk models. 7. Vegetation Management analytics companies like Overstory that take vast amounts of satellite data and using AI and ML process it into actionable information for utilities. 8. Next generation SmartMeters from companies like Itron, Inc. and Hubbell Power Systems that are taking AI approaches to determine, pinpoint and predict weak spots in the distribution grid for proactive repair.