Friday, May 19, 2023

How will Artificial Intelligence (AI) affect the future of work?

Scary. If you are watching too much Science Fiction movies. Artificial intelligence portrayal in the media has created fear and warning for the workforce. (Stahl, 2021)  

I am more optimistic with the development of Artificial intelligence in the field of power generation.

A conventional power plant controls the electricity grid that supplies household and industrial plant by simply adjusting the power supply as per consumers’ demand. The Grid frequency is easily controlled by this adjustment. But with the growth of renewable energy like solar panels, wind turbine and energy storage system, the frequency control has become more complex and dynamic. For example, a sunny and windy day can generate power to supply the electricity grid, but a cloudy and gloomy day can very much affect power generation to the grid which in turn can put a dangerous situation to the grid as a sudden loss of power to the grid will bring imbalance to the grid frequency and can contribute to total power loss.

A power plant controller can only do so much efficiently as per the control logic of a certain conventional power generator; the conventional power plant can only respond to power demand imbalance as per its design criteria.

With renewable energy availability, particularly energy storage system (ESS), the imbalance in power demand can be controlled by the ESS by simply supplying or removing power to the grid and controlling stability of the grid frequency as the ESS is connected to the grid through a bidirectional Transformers (charging and supplying). (Sarita, K., Kumar, S, Vardhan, A.S.S, et al, 2020)

Artificial Intelligence comes in handy in terms of controlling the grid frequency in this situation as certain algorithms will be put in place to predict and adjust and control the power demand of the grid automatically thus providing a steady supply of electricity to the consumers, improved quality of power, voltage, and frequency. (Sarita, K., Kumar, S, Vardhan, A.S.S, et al, 2020)

The Artificial intelligence design and logic will automatically adjust the power demand and control the grid frequency through the Energy storage system, giving the power plant controller a much-needed sigh of relief in the control of the electricity grid. The design of the artificial intelligence algorithm will still be controlled by us, humans. In summary, AI will help power plant professionals in the control combination of a conventional power plant and renewable energy.

Reference

Stahl, A. (2021, March 10). How AI Will Impact The Future Of Work And Life. Retrieved from Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashleystahl/2021/03/10/how-ai-will-impact-the-future-of-work-and-life/?sh=5da8056179a3

Sarita, K., Kumar, S., Singh, A., Elavarasan, R., Saket, R., Shafiullah, G., Hossain, E., Power Enhancement with Grid Stabilization of Renewable Energy-Based Generation System Using UPQC-FLC-EVA Technique, 2020, p. 207445, Power enhancement with grid stabilization of renewable energy-based generation system using UPQC-FLC-EVA technique - Murdoch University

Sarita, K., Kumar, S., Singh, A., Elavarasan, R., Saket, R., Shafiullah, G., Hossain, E., Power Enhancement with Grid Stabilization of Renewable Energy-Based Generation System Using UPQC-FLC-EVA Technique, 2020, p. 207447, Power enhancement with grid stabilization of renewable energy-based generation system using UPQC-FLC-EVA technique - Murdoch University

 

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A Son Never Forgets

Before moving to Australia in 2014, I spent a decade working in the Middle East, from 2004 to 2014. I held the position of Lead Power Contro...