E.ON uses artificial intelligence to warn of power failures

Artificial intelligence with machine learning is arguably the most significant of modern analytics techniques being exploited to extract value from the growing mass of modern utility data. A key use case is around asset management and maintenance, which E.ON north German regional grid operator subsidiary Schleswig-Holstein Netz AG has implemented on its medium-voltage grid. After nine months of use, the results, which by extension serve as a power failure warning indicator, have apparently even astonished the company. "The probability that we can predict a defect in the power grid has increased by a factor of two to three," says Thomas König, who is responsible for E.ON's German grid business. "And our customers benefit as well because possible sources of error that we identify in advance reduce the number of faults and make our grid more stable."