ScottishPower using AI to get engineers in place before winter power cuts happen

dailyrecord.co.uk:

ScottishPower is trialling “revolutionary” AI technology to predict winter power cuts and get engineers in place BEFORE they happen.The Scots energy giant said the £5million scheme is aimed at making its electricity networks more resilient to climate change.The Predict4Resilience project will use artificial intelligence to predict where faults could happen on the network up to seven days in advance.Experts working on the technology said it could mean engineers and equipment are sent out to tackle problems before they even occur.ScottishPower Energy Networks said the scheme is a UK-first and will enable them to better pinpoint faults caused by events like storms and extreme weather.Last month, deadly Storm Babet saw more than 30,000 Scots homes left without power as extreme rains battered swathes of the north east.Chief operating officer Guy Jefferson said: “Ahead of a severe weather event we mobilise hundreds of engineers, vehicles, and generators alongside thousands of pieces of other materials so we are ready to restore power as quickly and as safely as possible.“We know the disruption severe weather can bring to our customers and we are constantly investing in our network and investigating new technologies that could be used to keep this disruption to a minimum.“Projects like Predict4Resilience offer us another tool to help inform our decision making during a storm and help to reduce the time it takes us to restore power.”By using AI, historic weather and fault data along with network and landscape information are used to develop machine learning models.Combined with real-time weather forecasting, Predict4Resilience will inform SP Energy Networks’ control room about where the weather will hit and what damage it’s