Austrian AI tool can help prevent blackouts and power grid disruptions

Renewable energy is providing more of our electricity. But green power sources, like wind and sunlight are less predictable, making grids harder to balance. 

Too little wind for turbines, a cloud blocking the sun – every change in the weather affects the amount of electricity flowing through power lines. Now, artificial intelligence is being used to optimize their output.

"In case a blackout might happen, our solution can run 60% longer than let's say normal manual switching," says the founder of the Vienna-based start-up AI Enlite Clemens Wasner. This would give operators enough time to prevent the blackout from actually happening.

Wasner says AI can help prevent power fluctuations from destabilizing entire grids. His start-up uses reinforcement learning to stabilize electricity networks. The system can react faster and evaluate more options than operators switching the grid manually. After predicting overload scenarios, the AI agent suggests the fastest way to restore balance.

Just like roads, power lines form an interconnected network, allowing electricity to be rerouted from overloaded lines to those with spare capacity - either through manual switching or with the help of AI.

Grid switching is now part of everyday operations. Most electricity networks were built decades ago for steady supplies from fossil fuels and nuclear power. Today's mix of wind and solar makes balancing the grid far more challenging.

East of Vienna, for example, there's often so much wind and solar power that not all of it can be used. Some has to be switched off or stored in batteries to keep the grid stable. At the same time, other parts of the country aren't generating enough electricity, creating bottlenecks in the network. 

AI can help solve both problems, predicting supply and demand in real time, directing power where it's needed most, and keeping the grid balanced.

"I spent 10 years in Asia, a long time also in Beijing in China," Wasner tells CGTN. "And I saw how AI is picking up in China. So when I returned to Austria in 2016 the idea was to create a company that is rolling out AI to real-world use cases."

So far, the company has worked with power grid operators in France and the Netherlands. Wasner hopes more countries will embrace his AI solution to strengthen the resilience of their electricity networks.