The new challenges in the Energy sector and the role of AI in balancing power grids

In the dynamic context of today's energy industry, national players in the Energy sector face a series of crucial challenges:

• Decarbonization and integration of renewable energy: With a growing shift towards renewable energy sources such as solar and wind, it is necessary to balance the integration of these intermittent sources into the existing power grid and manage the inherent uncertainty in the production of this type of energy.
• Electrification of transport and infrastructure: The increase in the electrification of transport and infrastructure leads to higher electricity demand, requiring more efficient and flexible grid management.
• Digitalization and automation for grid resilience and security: To optimize operations and improve service reliability, the digital transformation of the sector is crucial to manage the energy grid’s security and supply capacity in predictive and prescriptive terms, within a context of increasing extreme weather events and infrastructure security threats.

AI integrates traditional Situational Awareness functionalities (monitoring, anomaly detection, and failure prediction of distributed resources) with new intelligent features designed to better meet emerging needs, such as:

• Resource optimization to prevent infrastructure unavailability without reducing capacity, and extending asset lifespan through precise algorithmic approaches to manage and simulate variable dynamics like climate change and extraordinary events.
• Crisis and emergency management for timely mitigation and resolution of critical issues arising from system security threats (natural disasters, human errors, etc.), ensuring service continuity and accelerating the recovery to full operational status.