NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang Envisions AI-Powered Future for Electric Grids

The
electric
grid
and
the
utilities
managing
it
could
play
a
pivotal
role
in
the
forthcoming
industrial
revolution
driven
by
artificial
intelligence
(AI)
and
accelerated
computing,
according
to
Jensen
Huang,
founder
and
CEO
of
NVIDIA.
Speaking
at
the
annual
meeting
of
the
Edison
Electric
Institute
(EEI),
Huang
emphasized
the
transformative
potential
of
AI
for
utilities
and
their
customers.

In
a
fireside
chat
with
Pedro
Pizarro,
chair
of
EEI
and
CEO
of
Edison
International,
Huang
highlighted
how
AI
can
significantly
enhance
the
productivity
of
utility
employees
and
revolutionize
energy
delivery.
He
explained
that
AI-powered
smart
meters
could
enable
customers
to
sell
excess
electricity
to
their
neighbors,
effectively
creating
a
smart
network
similar
to
an
app
store
for
energy.

“The
future
of
digital
intelligence
is
quite
bright,
and
so
the
future
of
the
energy
sector
is
bright,
too,”
Huang
remarked
to
an
audience
of
over
a
thousand
utility
and
energy
industry
executives.
He
believes
that
AI,
much
like
previous
industrial
revolutions,
will
drive
productivity
to
unprecedented
levels.

AI
Lights
Up
Electric
Grids

Currently,
electric
grids
operate
primarily
as
one-way
systems
that
connect
large
power
plants
to
numerous
users.
However,
Huang
envisions
a
future
where
grids
become
two-way,
flexible,
and
distributed
networks.
This
new
model
will
integrate
solar
and
wind
farms,
homes
with
solar
panels,
batteries,
and
electric
vehicle
chargers,
all
managed
by
autonomous
control
systems
capable
of
real-time
data
processing
and
analysis—tasks
ideally
suited
for
AI
and
accelerated
computing.

Various
companies
are
already
leveraging
NVIDIA’s
technologies
to
implement
AI
across
electric
grids.
For
instance,
utility
vendor
Hubbell
and
startup
Utilidata,
part
of
the
NVIDIA
Inception
program,
have
developed
a
new
generation
of
smart
meters
using
the
NVIDIA
Jetson
platform.
These
meters
can
process
and
analyze
real-time
grid
data
using
AI
models
at
the
edge.
Deloitte
has
also
announced
its
support
for
this
initiative.

Siemens
Energy
is
working
with
AI
and
NVIDIA
Omniverse
to
create
digital
twins
of
transformers
in
substations,
enhancing
predictive
maintenance
and
boosting
grid
resilience.
Additionally,
Siemens
Gamesa
has
utilized
Omniverse
and
accelerated
computing
to
optimize
turbine
placements
for
wind
farms,
as
reported
in
a
video
on
the
subject.

“Deploying
AI
and
advanced
computing
technologies
developed
by
NVIDIA
enables
faster
and
better
grid
modernization,
and
we,
in
turn,
can
deliver
for
our
customers,”
said
Maria
Pope,
CEO
of
Portland
General
Electric
in
Oregon.

NVIDIA
Delivers
45,000x
Gain
in
Energy
Efficiency

Huang
also
noted
that
NVIDIA
has
significantly
reduced
the
costs
and
energy
required
to
deploy
AI.
Over
the
past
eight
years,
the
company
has
increased
the
energy
efficiency
of
running
AI
inference
on
state-of-the-art
large
language
models
by
an
impressive
45,000
times.
NVIDIA’s
Blackwell
architecture
GPUs
are
expected
to
provide
20
times
greater
energy
efficiency
than
CPUs
for
AI
and
high-performance
computing.
If
all
CPU
servers
for
these
tasks
transitioned
to
GPUs,
users
could
save
37
terawatt-hours
annually,
equivalent
to
the
electricity
use
of
five
million
homes.

As
a
result,
NVIDIA-powered
systems
have
dominated
the
latest
Green500
ranking
of
the
world’s
most
energy-efficient
supercomputers,
capturing
the
top
six
spots
and
seven
of
the
top
ten.

A
recent
report
also
calls
for
governments
to
accelerate
the
adoption
of
AI
to
drive
energy
efficiency
across
various
industries.
The
report
cites
examples
of
utilities
using
AI
to
enhance
the
efficiency
of
the
electric
grid.

For
more
information,
visit
the

NVIDIA
Blog.

Image
source:
Shutterstock