Utility Week

2. WHAT: ELECTRIC VEHICLES What's the deal: 2011 marked the introduc on of commercially available, refined and reliable electric vehicles (EVs) into the UK from mainstream automo ve manufacturers. Now they're here in earnest. At the last count, there were more than 140,000 plug-in vehicles on UK roads, compared with 3,500 in 2013. With government commi ed to phasing out sales of new petrol and diesel vehicles from 2040, there's now no doubt that the electrifica on of transport is inevitable. Why it ma ers: More EVs mean big challenges for electricity networks and generators to secure sufficient power and deliver it reliably – and without ramping up the sector's emissions. Energy networks are alive to the challenge, and a wide variety of EV innova on projects are under way to gather data on EV user behaviour and understand the effects of fast charging and "clustering" on the grid. w w w . u t i l i t y w e e k l i v e . c o . u k 3. WHAT: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) What's the deal: A er decades in the realms of science fic on, real life applica ons for ar ficial intelligence have sped to market in the past few years. Consumer- focused AI applica ons have manifested in chatbots and voice- controlled smart home assistants like Amazon's Echo (with Alexa) and Google Assistant. But commercial technology providers have also enhanced their enterprise and opera onal solu ons with AI capability. Some network control systems, for instance, now use AI to deliver autonomous network op misa on. Why it ma ers: AI could open up a wealth of opportuni es for u li es to standardise customer service, op mise use of resources and realise opera onal efficiencies. In U lity Week Live's market research, chatbots in par cular appeared to have captured the imagina on of customer-facing u li es, with their poten al to boost customer engagement via a channel that is always on. They deliver standardised messages and create headroom for human customer advisers to deal with more complex and emo ve issues raised by individual consumers. But while chatbots hogged the limelight in survey responses, other u lity applica ons deploying AI are also growing. As assets become more intelligent and connected, the scope to overlay AI-enabled control systems that support machine learning and autonomous network op misa on are increasing. Recently, United U li es revealed it would be employing "so ware robots" using AI to help an cipate disrup ons to supply. And last year Na onal Grid made headlines when it revealed it is working with Google Deepmind, perhaps the most advanced AI to date, to explore how it could manage elements of system balancing in the future. As demand for a more dynamic energy system grows, AI will play a key role in linking prosumers, distributed genera on and na onal energy security interests. P R E S E N T S 12 | 2ND - 8TH MARCH 2018 | UTILITY WEEK P R E S E N T S

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