Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 18TH - 24TH MAY 2018 | 17 company to contribute spare capacity to the grid. NI Water is Northern Ireland's big- gest user of electricity and Dunore is its third largest site in terms of energy consumption, accounting for 7 per cent of the company's annual usage. If you have an asset or project you would like to see featured in this slot, please send pictures and details of the project to: paulnewton@fav-house.com or call 01342 332085. Pipe up Gianluca Mauro There is a lot of talk about the future of energy. We hear we will soon be living in a paradise where flexible power systems maximise efficiency to provide us all with clean, sustainable energy at a price we can afford. It sounds fantastic, but we might never arrive in that future unless those in senior positions within the indus- try truly understand the complex technologies that come together to form what I like to call the Internet of Energy. What is the internet, at its most basic? It is a network, on which people and machines exchange information. The energy industry is following suit. The aim is to move away from a system in which the big utilities pump power towards a group of passive consumers. Instead, the sector is working to build a network in the true sense, where people produce, consume and exchange energy. This could completely change people's relationships with power – shiing the balance in favour of the con- sumer and a new generation of innovators. And it could boost the economy, paving the way for innovative new businesses to disrupt the established order. Enabling this shi are three key technologies: block- chain, big data and artificial intelligence (AI). And, while we are talking about the energy landscape of tomorrow, these technologies are available today. The only barrier le in the way of that wonderful energy future is that C-suite executives and senior operational people such as senior engineers and business development manag- ers must develop a digital mind- set. At the moment, they know these technologies exist and have tremendous value – but too many do not know how to use them. This is a real problem, because these tech- nologies are so fundamental they necessitate a change in the dynamics of the companies using them. Take AI; it is no good writing an amazing machine learning algorithm or building a state-of-the-art neural network if it is not then applied to solving a business's problems. The solution is education. We need courses to help those in senior positions to understand the dynamics behind these technologies. They do not need to be able to use the tools, but they do need to know what they are used for and how to build a business to support their use. This is the thinking behind a new course on the Internet of Energy, which I have been developing with InnoEnergy. Taking the form of a summer bootcamp, we aim to quickly get energy leaders up to speed so they understand the basic principles underpinning the technologies shaping the future of their sector – and can steer their respective ships in the right direction. Gianluca Mauro, co-founder and CEO, AI Academy "C-suite executives must develop a digital mindset if we are to reach a future Internet of Energy landscape" Operations & Assets "A summer bootcamp aims to quickly get energy leaders up to speed with technologies"

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