AI to play a critical role in energy transition: IEA

This is currently being used to discover new energy technologies.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to become an important part of the energy sector’s transformation, with its potential to fuel innovation, improve efficiency and security, and speed up transition.

International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol said this as he also urged policy makers and industry to collaborate to also meet the demand of AI.

AI is already being used to discover new energy materials and technologies, and it can be utilised to improve how energy is produced, consumed and distributed. At the same time, expanding AI and the digital economy requires huge data centres, which can each consume as much electricity as 100,000 households, IEA said.

Whilst data centers consume a small portion of global electricity, they pose significant challenges in specific regions. For instance in Ireland, data centres currently account for 20% of electricity demand, whilst in the US state of Virginia, the share is over 25%.

“There is no AI without energy – specifically electricity. Given the pace of AI adoption, now is the time for policy makers and industry to collaborate on a vision for meeting this fast-growing source of electricity demand in a secure and sustainable manner,” Birol said.