“While today’s grid primarily moves electricity in one direction from large, centralized power plants to electricity customers with relatively little information exchange, the grid of the future will manage multi-directional flows of energy and information across a diverse set of grid-connected resources,” the DoE researchers wrote.
Sensors galore will need to be installed across the network to feed reams of data into the models. SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) systems comprising a range of electrical components will need to be inserted across grid assets. Smart meters will need to become ubiquitous in homes and businesses. Essentially, the grid must evolve into one giant computer. Completing this unprecedented transformation will cost hundreds of billions of dollars.
Worth the Cost
Yet it will likely be worth it in the long run. The global cost of climate climate change, encompassing damages to infrastructure, property, agriculture, and human health, is projected to tally between $1.7 trillion and $3.1 trillion per year by 2050. A colossal buildout of renewable energy is needed to avert those costs, and if AI ultimately makes this carbon-free grid cheaper and more efficient, so much the better for people and for the planet.