Tech Giants and Utilities Launch Open Power AI Consortium to Tackle Electrical Grid Challenges

Nvidia thinks AI can solve electrical grid problems caused by AI | TechCrunch

Nvidia announced Thursday it's partnering with EPRI, a power industry R&D organization, to use AI to solve problems facing the the electrical grid. Perhaps ironically, the issues are largely caused by rising power demand from AI itself. The Open Power AI Consortium, which includes a number of electrical utilities and tech companies, says it will use what are known as domain-specific AI models to devise new ways to tackle problems that the power industry is predicted to face in the coming years. The models will be open sourced and available to researchers across academia and industry. The power industry is facing surging demand from data centers in the United States and elsewhere as AI ramps up the need for computing power. Electricity demand is expected to grow by 4% annually in the coming years, according to the International Energy Agency, nearly double over 2023 figures. In addition to Nvidia and EPRI, the consortium includes PG&E, Con Edison, Constellation Energy, Duke Energy, the Tennessee Valley Authority and ENOWA, NEOM's energy and water company. On the tech side, Microsoft and Oracle are both members. In an attempt to stay ahead of the trend, tech companies have been racing to secure generating capacity as power has transformed from a simple line item to a competitive advantage. Over the last year or so, tech companies have been consistently inking new contracts. They've largely been spread across renewable energy projects, spurred mostly by solar's low cost, modularity, and the speed at which it can be deployed. Microsoft, for example, recently added 475 megawatts of solar power to its sizable renewable portfolio. Last year, it became an anchor investor in a $9 billion renewable development project run by Acadia, and earlier in the year it said it was working with Brookfield asset management to deploy 10.5 gigawatts of renewable power in the U.S. and Europe, all of which is expected to come online by 2030. But even though new power sources may be the most obvious answer to losing power shortages, they aren't the only one. One recent study found that by curtailing use when demand on the grid peaks, including shifting tasks that aren't time sensitive to periods when demand is low, an additional 76 GB of capacity could be unlocked in the U.S. It's a not insignificant amount, making up approximately 10% of peak demand in the U.S. It's likely those are the sorts of solutions, among others, that this new consortium will be exploring.

EPRI, NVIDIA and Collaborators Launch Open Power AI Consortium to Transform the Future of Energy

Global consortium brings together utilities, technology companies, academia and more to build open AI models to transform the way we make, move and use electricity. The power and utilities sector keeps the lights on for the world's populations and industries. As the global energy landscape evolves, so must the tools it relies on. To advance the next generation of electricity generation and distribution, many of the industry's members are joining forces through the creation of the Open Power AI Consortium. The consortium includes energy companies, technology companies and researchers developing AI applications to tackle domain-specific challenges, such as adapting to an increased deployment of distributed energy resources and significant load growth on electric grids. Led by independent, nonprofit energy R&D organization EPRI, the consortium aims to spur AI adoption in the power sector through a collaborative effort to build open models using curated, industry-specific data. The initiative was launched today at NVIDIA GTC, a global AI conference taking place through Friday, March 21, in San Jose, California. "Over the next decade, AI has the great potential to revolutionize the power sector by delivering the capability to enhance grid reliability, optimize asset performance, and enable more efficient energy management," said Arshad Mansoor, EPRI's president and CEO. "With the Open Power AI Consortium, EPRI and its collaborators will lead this transformation, driving innovation toward a more resilient and affordable energy future." As part of the consortium, EPRI, NVIDIA and Articul8, a member of the NVIDIA Inception program for cutting-edge startups, are developing a set of domain-specific, multimodal large language models trained on massive libraries of proprietary energy and electrical engineering data from EPRI that can help utilities streamline operations, boost energy efficiency and improve grid resiliency. The first version of an industry-first open AI model for electric and power systems was developed using hundreds of NVIDIA H100 GPUs and is expected to soon be available in early access as an NVIDIA NIM microservice. "Working with EPRI, we aim to leverage advanced AI tools to address today's unique industry challenges, positioning us at the forefront of innovation and operational excellence," said Vincent Sorgi, CEO of PPL Corporation and EPRI board chair. PPL is a leading U.S. energy company that provides electricity and natural gas to more than 3.6 million customers in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Rhode Island and Virginia. The Open AI Consortium's Executive Advisory Committee includes executives from over 20 energy companies such as Duke Energy, Pacific Gas & Electric Company and Portland General Electric, as well as leading tech companies such as AWS, Oracle and Microsoft. The consortium plans to further expand its global member base. Powering Up AI to Energize Operations, Drive Innovation Global energy consumption is projected to grow by nearly 4% annually through 2027, according to the International Energy Agency. To support this surge in demand, electricity providers are looking to enhance the resiliency of power infrastructure, balance diverse energy sources and expand the grid's capacity. AI agents trained on thousands of documents specific to this sector -- including academic research, industry regulations and standards, and technical documents -- can enable utility and energy companies to more quickly assess energy needs and prepare the studies and permits required to improve infrastructure. "We can bring AI to the global power sector in a much more accelerated way by working together to develop foundation models for the industry, and collaborating with the power sector to y apply solutions tailored to its unique needs," Mansoor said. Utilities could tap the consortium's model to help accelerate interconnection studies, which analyze the feasibility and potential impact of connecting new generators to the existing electric grid. The process varies by region but can take up to four years to complete. By introducing AI agents that can support the analysis, the consortium aims to cut this timeline down by at least 5x. The AI model could also be used to support the preparation of licenses, permits, environmental studies and utility rate cases, where energy companies seek regulatory approval and public comment on proposed changes to electricity rates. Beyond releasing datasets and models, the consortium also aims to develop a standardized framework of benchmarks to help utilities, researchers and other energy sector stakeholders evaluate the performance and reliability of AI technologies. Learn more about the Open Power AI Consortium online and in EPRI's sessions at GTC: To learn more about advancements in AI across industries, watch the GTC keynote by NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang:

Tech and power giants launch AI consortium

Why it matters: AI's energy thirst gets tons of headlines, but AI also has the potential to make grids more efficient, help integrate new tech, and lower costs. The latest: The nonprofit Electric Power Research Institute on Thursday unveiled the Open Power AI Consortium. The big picture: "AI has the great potential to revolutionize the power sector by delivering the capability to enhance grid reliability, optimize asset performance, and enable more efficient energy management," EPRI President and CEO Arshad Mansoor said in a statement. What's next: The plan is to develop an AI model, datasets and more for the industry to use.

Nvidia, Microsoft, and AWS join utilities firms to launch an AI power grid consortium

At NVIDIA's developer conference on Thursday, a large group of energy companies -- along with a few technology companies -- announced plans to collaborate on building AI models and apps aimed at improving the generation and distribution of electric power. The initiative, called the Open Power AI Consortium, is organized by the Palo Alto-based Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). Founding members include Nvidia, Microsoft, AWS, and Oracle. Notably absent from the group are all of the leading developers of frontier AI models such as Anthropic, Google, or OpenAI. "This is about getting the right data, and getting it clean, so that it can be used for AI," Jeremy Renshaw, who leads the consortium at EPRI, tells Fast Company. Renshaw says energy companies have mountains of data, but organizing it in a way that AI models can process is key. But already, over two dozen regional power companies in the U.S. have signed on, including Con Edison, Duke Energy, New York Power Authority, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Southern California Edison, Tennessee Valley Authority, and Westinghouse Electric Company.

EPRI Launches Consortium to Drive Development of AI Applications in Power Sector

Enter your email to get Benzinga's ultimate morning update: The PreMarket Activity Newsletter SAN JOSE, Calif., March 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- EPRI today launched a new global consortium -- the Open Power AI Consortium -- to drive the development and deployment of an open AI model tailored for the power sector, accelerating AI adoption to reduce operating costs while improving the energy customer experience. The consortium was launched at NVIDIA's GTC event. Guidance will be provided through an Executive Advisory Group as well as the general membership including top executives from the following energy companies: ACWA (NOMAC), Alliant Energy, Ameren, Constellation, Con Edison, CPS Energy, Dairyland Power Cooperative, Duke Energy, ENOWA (NEOM's Energy and Water Company), Exelon, GCC Interconnection Authority, Georgia Transmission Corporation, KEPCO, KHNP, Khalifa University, MISO, North Carolina's Electric Cooperatives, New York Power Authority (NYPA), Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), Portland General Electric, PPL Corporation, RTE, Santee Cooper, Saudi Electricity Company, Southern Company, Southern California Edison, Tennessee Valley Authority, WEC Energy Group, and Westinghouse Electric Company. The energy executives will join key technology companies Articul8, AWS, Linux Foundation Energy, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Oracle, Rolls-Royce SMR Limited, SHI and WWT as members, with future members to be added. The consortium will focus on three primary areas: Develop and maintain open-source AI/Gen AI domain-specific models, datasets, libraries, optimized to address power sector-specific challenges.Create a sandbox environment to develop and validate AI applications (use cases) in collaboration with startups, academia, national labs, utilities, and technology companies.Deploy AI models leveraging global resources and expertise and incorporate lessons learned to accelerate innovation and de-risk deployment. The launch today at NVIDIA's GTC event highlights an important first step in developing domain-specific GenAI models (DSM). EPRI, together with Articul8 and NVIDIA, has developed the first set of industry-first domain-specific GenAI models for electric and power systems aimed at advancing the energy transformation. The DSM will be made available as an NVIDIA NIM microservice for early access. This development sets the foundation for more to come in the following months. "Over the next decade, AI has the great potential to revolutionize the power sector by delivering the capability to enhance grid reliability, optimize asset performance, and enable more efficient energy management," said EPRI President and CEO Arshad Mansoor. "With the Open Power AI Consortium, EPRI and its collaborators will lead this transformation, driving innovation toward a more resilient and affordable energy future." "The power and utility industries are the backbone of modern society, impacting every aspect of our daily lives," said Marc Spieler, senior managing director of energy at NVIDIA. "As the industry faces increasing complexity -- ranging from grid modernization to decarbonization and resilience -- EPRI is bringing leaders together to form open, industry-specific LLMs and AI models that will be essential to accelerating innovation and efficiency." "EPRI is setting the standard for AI-driven solutions that will transform how we generate, store, and distribute power," said Arun Subramaniyan, founder and CEO of Articul8. "Domain-specific GenAI models are essential to tackling the world's most complex challenges, and this collaboration is proof of how AI can move beyond hype to deliver real, measurable impact." "Constellation is applying AI expertise throughout the company to enhance power generation operations, develop new commercial products, and ultimately, to help achieve a clean, reliable energy future for our customers and communities," said Jay Cavalcanto, senior vice president and Chief Information Officer, Constellation. "As part of the Open Power AI Consortium, we will help explore how AI use cases can improve innovation, collaboration and efficiency in the power generation sector, and we're eager to see how this work will facilitate and optimize use of AI across the energy industry." "AI promises to be a key enabler in transforming the global energy landscape, but its true potential lies in real-world applications. Through the Open Power AI Consortium, ENOWA will collaborate with industry pioneers to develop and scale AI-driven use cases that might revolutionize grid efficiencies, optimize energy management, and accelerate the transition to a cleaner, smarter energy future," said Jens Madrian, CEO of ENOWA, NEOM's Energy and Water Company. To learn more or join the consortium, visit https://msites.epri.com/opai or email [email protected]. Samantha Gilman 980-348-8783 [email protected] About EPRI Founded in 1972, EPRI is the world's preeminent independent, non-profit energy research and development organization, with offices around the world. EPRI's trusted experts collaborate with more than 450 companies in 45 countries, driving innovation to ensure the public has clean, safe, reliable, affordable, and equitable access to electricity across the globe. Together...shaping the future of energy. ® View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/epri-launches-consortium-to-drive-development-of-ai-applications-in-power-sector-302406400.html SOURCE EPRI Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

EPRI Collaborates with Microsoft to Transform the Electric Sector and the Future of Energy with AI

DALLAS, March 26, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, EPRI announced a collaboration with Microsoft to develop and deploy leading AI solutions in the energy sector. The announcement was made at DISTRIBUTECH 2025, the largest electricity transmission and distribution event in North America. Under the new agreement, and as a part of the Open Power AI Consortium, EPRI and Microsoft will collaborate with energy companies globally to enable enhanced grid reliability, improved workforce safety, advanced forecasting and planning models, and real-time grid intelligence using AI. EPRI and Microsoft are committed to helping enable the secure, resilient future of the energy industry with AI-powered outcomes and repeatable best practices. Microsoft is a founding member, alongside 30+ energy companies of EPRI's Open Power AI Consortium, a cross-sector global effort to use advanced digital technologies and innovate how electricity is made, moved, and used by customers. Among the consortium's goals is to create a sandbox environment to develop and validate AI applications, collaborating with utilities, startups, academia, national labs, and technology companies. "Over the next decade, AI is expected to revolutionize the power sector by delivering the capability to enhance grid reliability, optimize asset performance, and enable more efficient energy management," said EPRI President and CEO Arshad Mansoor. "Working with Microsoft, EPRI will lead this transformation, driving innovation toward a more resilient and affordable energy future." "Our collaboration with EPRI and the Open Power AI Consortium exemplifies the power of combining technology and industry expertise to deliver significant business outcomes and advance the future of energy," said Darryl Willis, Corporate Vice President, Energy & Resources Industry at Microsoft. "By advancing AI-powered grid intelligence we are paving the way for a more resilient, efficient and sustainable energy system." EPRI will also join Microsoft for the upcoming Global Nonprofit Leaders Summit this week where CEOs will explore pathways to accelerate AI for mission-driven outcomes. To learn more or join the consortium, email [email protected] or visit https://msites.epri.com/opai. Samantha Gilman Communications Manager 980-348-8783 [email protected] About EPRI Founded in 1972, EPRI is the world's preeminent independent, non-profit energy research and development organization, with offices around the world. EPRI's trusted experts collaborate with more than 450 companies in 45 countries, driving innovation to ensure the public has clean, safe, reliable, affordable, and equitable access to electricity across the globe. Together...shaping the future of energy.® View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/epri-collaborates-with-microsoft-to-transform-the-electric-sector-and-the-future-of-energy-with-ai-302411364.html SOURCE EPRI Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs