Artificial Intelligence (AI) acts as an invisible conductor who quietly transforms the way cities generate, store and distribute energy, adjusting cleaner, smarter, and more resilient cities.
By integrating renewable energy from solar panels and wind turbines to geothermal grids, hydrogen plants, electric vehicles and batteries, AI can enable cities to manage a variety of energy sources as a single intelligent system.
One impressive example is the OYA hybrid power plant in South Africa. Here, the AI-driven system seamlessly controls coordinate solar, wind and battery storage to provide reliable power for up to 320,000 households. Using AI not only makes this kind of integration possible, but it is also dramatically efficient.
Recent research shows that AI can optimize how batteries, solar and grids interact in buildings. A 2023 survey found that deep learning and real-time data helped boarding schools in Turin increase low-cost energy purchases and cut electricity bills by more than half.
More cleaner, smarter energy grid
AI models will allow you to predict the weather more accurately. These forecasts allow electric grid operators to plan hours ahead, store excess energy in batteries, and adjust supply to meet demand before storms or heat waves occur.
Using AI to respond strategically to the weather is a game changer. In Cambridge, England, a system called Aardvark uses satellite and sensor data to generate quick and accurate predictions of solar and wind patterns.
Unlike traditional supercomputer-driven weather models, Aardvark's AI can provide accurate local predictions in minutes on a regular computer. This makes advanced weather forecasting more accessible and affordable for cities, utilities, and even small organizations.
AI for smarter district heating and cooling
In Munich, Germany, AI is improving heating in geothermal districts by using underground sensors to monitor ground temperature and moisture levels.
The collected data is fed into digital simulation models that help optimize network operations. In a more advanced version, during the cold winter snaps, such systems suggest that they lower the flow to shortage spaces like half-empty offices in high demand, like busy apartments.
This intelligent, self-optimized approach increases the lifespan of the equipment and provides more warmth at the same energy input.
This is a breakthrough with great potential for cold climate cities with established geothermal networks, such as Winnipeg, Canada and Reykjavik, Iceland.
These cities still don't employ AI-driven surveillance systems, but they can benefit from real-time improvements in AI efficiency, comfort and energy savings during the harsh winters.
Smart Building
Inside the home, AI-managed smart climate systems can take into account how many people are using each room, who are using appliances, how much natural sunlight each space receives, and the amount of electricity or heating that the solar panels in the home produce throughout the day.
Based on this, AI can determine how to efficiently heat or cool a room, allowing energy to be transferred from one space to another, balancing comfort with minimal energy use.
Coastal cities and windy regions use AI in other creative ways. In Orkney, Scotland, excess wind and tide energy is converted into green hydrogen. Instead of wasting that excess power, an AI system called Hyai controls the timing of hydrogen production based on wind predictions, electricity prices, and whatever hydrogen storage tank is in.
If the wind is strong at night and electricity is low, AI can use the excess force to generate hydrogen and store it for later use. On mild days, stored hydrogen can power fuel cells and buses.
Energy Storage
AI is transforming energy storage into a smart, profitable power. In Finland, a startup called Capalo AI has developed the Zeus VPP. This is a virtual power plant equipped with AI that consolidates batteries distributed from homes, businesses and other sites.
Zeus VPP uses advanced predictions and AI algorithms to determine when a battery will charge or discharge, factorize energy prices, local consumption, and weather forecasts. This allows battery owners to make money by participating in the electricity market, support grid stability and make better use of renewable energy.
Utility companies also use AI to monitor everything from high-voltage transmission lines to nearby transformers, dramatically increasing reliability.
AI-equipped dynamic line ratings adjust the amount of electricity the line can carry in real time, increasing capacity by 15-30% if conditions are permitted. This helps the utility maximize the use of your existing infrastructure instead of relying on expensive upgrades.
At the local level, AI analyzes smart meter data to predict which transformers are overheating due to the use of EVs and heat pumps.
By predicting these stress points, the utility can aggressively upgrade equipment before a failure occurs. The transition from reactive to predictive maintenance will make the grid stronger and cities more resilient.
AI-powered public transport and mobility
Transportation innovation is becoming part of the energy solutions at the heart of this transformation, where AI is. In New York City, Energy Company Con Edison installed a major battery storage system to manage peak power demand and help reduce reliance on contaminated peaker plants, which only supply energy during high demand periods.
More widely, Con Edison deploys advanced AI-powered AnyaNaytics software across the entire electric grid. It enables voltage optimization, increased reliability and predictive maintenance possibilities. Together, these efforts combine energy storage with AI-driven analytics to show how even the busiest cities in the world can become resilient and efficient.
AI is also stepping up California's “vehicle-to-grid” innovation. The AI-driven platform manages electric school buses that can return stored energy to the grid during periods of high demand.
By carefully managing the bus when it is charged and discharged from hospital, these systems will help keep the grid reliable and ensure that the vehicle is able to accommodate daily routes. As this technology expands, parked electric vehicles can serve as valuable backup resources for your power system.
Clean Energy Initiative AI
AI is rapidly transforming cities by revolutionizing the way energy is used and managed. For example, Google has reduced data center cooling energy by up to 40% using AI that tunes fans, pumps and windows more efficiently than any human operator.
In collaboration with Nvidia, Microsoft and others, organizations such as the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) have launched the Open Power AI Consortium, which creates open source AI tools for utilities around the world.
These tools allow even the most resource-constrained cities to deploy advanced AI capabilities, level the playing field and accelerate the global energy transition, without starting from scratch.
As a result, there is a path to a more resilient home, not only for clean air and lower energy bills, but also for less power outages.
This article was written by Mohamadamin Ahmadofard, a postdoctoral researcher in mechanical and industrial engineering at Toronto Metropolitan University, and is republished from Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Please read the original article.
