According to the Deutschen Energie-Agentur (dena)’s analysis , AI can improve energy generation consumption predictions, which thereby improves the stability of an energy system. The technology can also help to optimize energy plant operations. Cyberattacks on critical infrastructure such as power plants and grids can be more readily identified with AI, because it also recognizes striking patterns for high volumes of data. Now is the time to act: The energy industry has to “strategically approach” the topic, says Andreas Kuhlmann from dena. This means collecting know-how and personnel, and developing a sustainable business model.

In the meantime, there are more than enough theoretical foundations for the use of AI in the energy industry. There have been publications on the topic from the Virtual Institute Smart Energy (VISE) and the Institute for Innovation and Technology (iit) , for instance.