Apr 21, 2025
Power plants of all types require tremendous amounts of maintenance to keep them running.
Our current power generation solutions include fossil fuels, nuclear, and renewables. Despite vast differences in the three options, they all have one thing in common: the need for maintenance. Power plants of all types require tremendous amounts of maintenance to keep them running. Does artificial intelligence (AI) have a role to play here?
Not only is there a role for AI in power plant maintenance, protection, and controls, that role is already being realized. Multiple utilities have started to deploy AI models designed around the idea of predicting future maintenance needs so that problems can be avoided before they come to fruition.
Potentially Saving Millions
Even in the early stages, AI-powered predictive maintenance is potentially saving utilities millions of dollars. One example cited in a recent Power Mag post involves a major utility operating in the southern U.S. To date, the utility has deployed some 400 AI models to:
- Increase heat rate efficiency.
- Reduce forced outages.
- Reduce carbon emissions.
The utility's projects have apparently resulted in significant financial savings and production increases. Heat rate efficiency has been boosted by as much as 3% while forced outages have been reduced across sixty-seven different units. Overall, the company estimates it has saved some $60 million and reduced carbon emissions by 1.6 million tons.
AI-powered maintenance is applicable to all sorts of energy production. It is as valuable to nuclear power as it is to renewable energy. However, there is one big question: how well do the benefits stack up against the costs?
What AI Actually Does
What AI does for the energy industry is similar to what it does for most others. It gathers and analyzes unimaginable amounts of data before reaching conclusions. In terms of power plant maintenance, protection, and controls, AI tools can detect equipment failures at the earliest possible stage. More importantly, they can predict potential failures down the road.
AI-powered maintenance is applicable to all sorts of energy production. It is as valuable to nuclear power as it is to renewable energy. However, there is one big question: how well do the benefits stack up against the costs?
AI Is Power Hungry Itself
The lure of turning to AI models to improve maintenance and keep power plants online is very real. But those pushing for more AI in power generation must understand that the technology itself is extremely power hungry. AI models consume a tremendous amount of energy to do what they do. And to run hundreds of models at one time, you need a fairly robust data center – a data center that consumes even more power.
Has anyone studied the amount of power consumed by hundreds of AI models and compared its costs to the benefits of using such models? We are not sure. And in these early stages, it probably doesn't matter. Developing new technologies always comes with heavy costs. The payoff comes later on.
In the long run, it is important that we figure out an effective cost-to-benefit measurement. AI could be the greatest thing to happen to traditional and renewable energy. But it could also turn out to be a cost-heavy technology that doesn't offer enough benefits for widespread implementation.
For Now, We Study and Learn
For the time being, the energy industry must do what every other industry is doing with AI: study and learn. Learning more about AI's capabilities opens the door to deploying it in bigger and better ways. Along the way, we will learn about its true cost and its benefits.
It would appear as though AI has a promising future in traditional and renewable energy. Hopefully, AI-powered predictive maintenance will make our power plants more efficient, reliable, and productive. Doing so could ultimately mean generating more power with no need for additional plants. Wouldn't that be something at a time when the demand for power seems insatiable?
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