UK Government backs AI projects to speed up net-zero innovation

The GB government is backing eight projects with £1.7 million (US$2.1 million) to innovate AI towards the country’s clean energy transition.

The eight projects, funded as part of the £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, cover a range of initiatives to decarbonise the energy system and transportation and to accelerate the deployment of renewables.

As such they highlight the potential of AI to impact multiple current and future energy sector use cases.

These are as follows.

University of Nottingham – to improve the accuracy of weather forecasting for solar energy and help manage renewables for the electricity grid through use of a combination of ground-based and satellite imagery to analyse cloud cover and movement.

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Clio Ventures – to help financial institutions identify and validate key projects eligible for green finance funding.

Carbon Laces Solutions Ltd – to develop a smart technology that ‘learns’ and adjusts how electricity is used at homes, to improve grid efficiency and help users reduce their energy costs.

Optimise-AI – to help businesses and industry use AI to optimise energy efficiency in their buildings through the development of a system that optimises energy usage by calibrating it with Internet of Things sensor readings.

Flexible Power Systems Ltd – to optimise electric fleet operations and charging schedules, based on analysing traffic and the locations of chargers, and thereby help minimise costs and cut transport emissions.

EDF Energy R&D UK Centre Ltd – to determine how to position wind turbines to reduce the space needed for an offshore windfarm without reducing its energy output based on wind flow interactions between the turbines.

OnGen Ltd – to build AI software to recommend what low carbon technologies could be used for buildings, to help consumers improve their energy efficiency and reduce bills.

Open Power – to develop a system to streamline selling electricity back to the grid, improving the efficiency of the process and enabling a faster rate of return.

“AI is the defining technology of our generation and the UK is harnessing its enormous potential to improve public services, ramp up productivity and tackle shared global challenges, particularly climate change,” commented Minister for AI, Viscount Camrose.

“This funding backs brilliant British innovation to drive forward new AI solutions which will help us reach our net zero ambitions.”

This funding follows previous awards, including £500,000 last year to an Artificial Intelligence for Decarbonisation’s Virtual Centre for Excellence (ADViCE) aimed to bring together developers, investors, local government and academics to understand and address barriers to the use of AI for decarbonisation in companies.