Use Cases of Artificial Intelligence in Utility Services Industry
The utility sector refers to a category of companies that provide basic amenities, such as water, sewage services, electricity, dams, and natural gas. It is a large sector and an important part of the economy. The utility Service industry aims to reduce its redundancies and combine itself with advanced technology to increase efficiency. They are now evaluating and testing AI to help transform their operations, customer relationships and business models.
Some of the use cases of AI in utility services are given below:
- Optimizing Energy Production — Short-term forecasts are critical for utilities. AI & ML can be used to predict supply in real-time and optimize distribution. Renewable sources of energy use AI models to stabilize highly fluctuating production. AI performs tasks such as controlling the combustion process by learning to constantly adjust fuel valves based on both internal and external variables.
- Asset Tracking and Maintenance/ Digital Twins — Digital Twins can be understood as virtual models of a product or service, facilitating the convergence of the physical and digital worlds. Digital Twins enable Energy & utility companies to address challenges such as production imbalances, rapid changes in global economic conditions like the COVID-19 pandemic, and equipment reliability issues.
- Detect Defects — AI can help in doing a quality check and provide deep insights into defects. In case of pre-empting turbine blades, generators, and gearbox failures, AI algorithms can analyse data for anomalies and signal trouble ahead in the monitored equipment.
- AI-led Cybersecurity — To prevent cyber-attacks a lot of information collection and monitoring is required. This means that the security teams need to identify any potential attackers and see how they may attack and what their motivations are. Only then can an effective response take place if an attack does occur. Video cameras as sensors can help in monitoring the security threats in the utilities and when it is combined with software, the utilities get secured to every endpoint.
- Workplace Safety — The utility sector involves working in various hazardous places such as sewage, power plant etc, this may pose risk for the people involved. Some systems based on deep learning help the safety officers spot safety protocol breaches.
- Emission Tracking — Energy & Utility producers are implementing AI software to keep track of the emission of greenhouse gases that escape from pipelines and energy equipment to control them.
- Logistics Network Optimizations — Transportation from warehouses to retailers can be complex, especially when dealing with the oil and gas industry. AI helps with proper planning, scheduling, creating a smart warehouse, handling shipping operations for replacing assets, risk hedging, and improved delivery times & reduction in overall costs.
- Inventory Management — A company can suffer a loss due to both understocking and overstocking; AI can help ramp up efficiencies in network planning and predictive demand, allowing sellers to become more proactive.
- Reducing Equipment Downtime — Many shutdowns happen due to improper maintenance of machineries that costs a lot, AI systems can help in maintenance processes by replacing time-intensive and risky manual inspections with drones and robotics technology.
- Demand Management — Demand Management is important to reduce energy consumption. AI tools can be used to combine energy flow control systems with large industrial equipment, such as air conditioning units and furnaces, to automatically shut them down when power is low. This can improve energy management systems and overall energy efficiency
- Transforming the Customer Experience — AI is transforming the customer experience by providing quick services such as chatbots to resolve the customer’s queries quickly and provide immediate assistance.
- Computer vision enabled drones help in accessing hard to reach areas like in narrow pipes, tunnels and high rises to check for any potential leakages/ damages due to prolonged wear and tear.
Contact us if you would like to explore solving any of your utility industry related issues with Artificial Intelligence.
