A.I. for Clean Energy

The next decade will need to see the fastest economic transformation in history towards an economy run almost entirely on clean electricity. Wind and solar power, combined with a scaled-out transmission system, are expected to form the backbone of the new energy system.

But there is one glaring problem: there is no global pipeline of bankable wind and solar projects that takes us close to stabilising global temperature at a “low- overshoot scenario” of, say, 1.6°C–1.7°C. Yet recent developments in AI create the potential to identify and map, at an individual asset level, the clean energy infrastructure for a low-overshoot scenario.

While some digital tools are already being utilised by energy organisations, we believe new tools, for example generative AI, have a genuinely disruptive potential for streamlining regulatory processes such as permitting and assessments and scenario development.The White Paper proposes how artificial intelligence tools can  support the scale- out of clean energy infrastructure globally. The authors propose the tool could identify $1 trillion of projects within 12 months and $2 trillion within 24 months.