AI could revolutionize a strained energy grid: Utilidata CEO
America's energy grid is under pressure and adding renewable energy sources makes the system more complex. Nvidia-backed Utilidata seeks to make the energy grid more reliable with its AI platform. Utilidata CEO Josh Brumberger joins Yahoo Finance to discuss how AI can make an intervention in the energy system.
Brumberger elaborates on the three "megatrends" straining the grid: "The first [challenge] is the amount of customer assets that are now being deployed onto the distribution grid. So EVs and solar and induction cooktop stoves and heat pumps –– lots and lots of new energy devices coming online. Second is we are about to see a huge uptick in the need for power and more manufacturing coming online. And then the third is the weather. we're starting to see these 500-year storms fairly regularly."
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Editor's note: This article was written by Nicholas Jacobino
Video Transcript
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JOSH LIPTON: America's electric grid is under pressure. Plug-in tech like EVs require more energy. And adding renewable energy sources makes the system more complex. It's a lot to navigate.
But AI can help. Nvidia-backed Utilidata is looking to make the grid more reliable and resilient with its distributed AI platform. And joining us now is Utilidata CEO, Josh Brumberger.
Josh, it is good to see you. Maybe to start, Josh, just for viewers who are not as familiar with your company. Maybe just explain what you all do. What's the problem you're solving for?
JOSH BRUMBERGER: Yeah, sure. So the problem we're solving for, if you take a step back and think about what utilities are up against today, I think there are three major issues that are megatrends that are all happening at once. The first is the amount of customer assets that are now being deployed onto the distribution grid.
So EVs, and solar, and induction cooktop stoves, and heat pumps. So lots and lots of new energy devices that are coming online.
The second piece is we're about to see a huge uptick in the need for more power. So you're seeing AI factories, and data centers, and more manufacturing coming online.
And then the third is the weather. We're starting to see these 500 year storms fairly regularly. So all these three megatrends are making it really difficult for the utility to operate in a much more complex environment today.
And that's where the power of AI comes in. AI is wonderful. And accelerated computing is wonderful at taking a lot of data and really complex problems and driving you towards better outcomes. So that's what we're doing at Utilidata. We've partnered with NVIDIA to build a custom module that makes it incredibly easy for any utility or hardware company to start to deploy AI on the distribution grid.