The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has launched a new review which seeks to assess the role of AI in electricity networks.
With the right focus, DESNZ says AI could play a pivotal role in delivering each of the government’s five Missions, including that to ‘Make Britain a clean energy superpower’.
The review will be led by the government appointed AI Champion for Clean Energy, Lucy Yu. It will provide an expert assessment of the opportunities, risks, and enablers for AI technologies in grid planning and management, helping government, regulators, and industry align efforts to accelerate innovation safely and effectively. This will be through the lens of technology development, real world use cases, system safety and the classification of risk.
The primary objectives of the review are to:
- Map current and emerging AI technology applications across electricity infrastructure, grid planning, operations, and management. This will focus on those with the highest potential impact for the UK’s energy system, future R&D requirements and consider the development of exportable technologies.
- Identify barriers and enablers to AI deployment, including technical, legal, regulatory, and data-related challenges including what data is required and where access to data is an issue.
- Assess the potential system benefits of AI including for affordability, energy security, flexibility, and decarbonisation, and the potential risks and challenges that could undermine delivery of these benefits.
- Provide recommendations to government, regulators, and industry on rapid, safe and effective deployment pathways of AI technologies across the grid, including future advanced AI technologies.
It forms part of wider government work on AI and decarbonisation, including delivery of the Clean Power 2030 and Clean Energy Superpower Missions, and supports the ambitions set out in the AI Opportunities Action Plan.
The outcome of the review will be report by Summer 2026 with clear, actionable recommendations. The government will respond to the recommendations in the review within three months of the review concluding.
