Sector · Energy

AI in energy: fewer grid losses
, more assets online.

Utilities, distributors, and energy operators manage critical assets with operational data that is rarely fully exploited. Forecasting that sharpens dispatch, anomalies detected before failure, non-technical losses located before they escalate — business first, telemetry second.

Serving energy operators and utilities in Spain
The Challenge

The grid data already exists. The intelligence on top of it does not.

The energy sector has spent a decade investing in SCADA, smart meters, asset sensors, and grid management systems. The data is there — the problem is that operation, maintenance, and planning decisions are still made with tools that do not cross those sources or predict what is about to happen.

Low-accuracy demand forecasting

Load predictions based on simple historical data without incorporating temperature, holidays, events, or flexible demand signals. Error paid in capacity reserves or real-time imbalances.

Reactive asset maintenance

Transformers, lines, and substation equipment maintained on schedule or failing before the maintenance cycle arrives. Unplanned downtime cost multiplies the cost of advanced preventive maintenance.

Non-technical losses without root cause

Gap between injected and billed energy living in the "losses" line without diagnosis of cause or zone. Fraud, illegal taps, or metering errors assumed as structural cost.

Grid operation without anticipation

Control room acting on alarms — reactive by design. The ability to anticipate incipient overloads, voltage anomalies, or risk conditions in assets is in the data but not in the systems.

Use Cases

Where AI moves the P&L of a utility

Five cases with demonstrable ROI at 12-18 months for operators with structured operational data. The entry condition is not having everything digitized — it is having some clean data and a critical process to improve.

01

Demand and generation forecasting

Models combining consumption history, temperature, holidays, weather forecast, and flexible demand signals to predict load by zone or node with hourly and daily horizons. Dispatch adjusts reserves and scheduling before the imbalance occurs.

What changes

Forecasting error reduced 20-35%. Capacity reserves optimized. Fewer real-time imbalances to resolve at high marginal cost.

02

Predictive asset maintenance

Models on telemetry data from critical transformers, switches, and lines that estimate failure probability within a time window. Maintenance is scheduled before the asset fails — not after.

What changes

Unplanned downtime on monitored assets reduced 25-40%. Total maintenance cost falls by eliminating emergencies and optimizing the preventive calendar.

03

Non-technical loss detection and location

Continuous analysis of injection-versus-billing differences by zone, correlated with historical consumption patterns, meter behavior, and reading variables. The system flags priority zones and customers for inspection with a risk score.

What changes

Revenue recovery from localized non-technical losses. Targeted inspections with 3-5x higher success rate than random inspection.

04

Real-time grid anomaly detection

Continuous SCADA measurement monitoring to detect out-of-range behavior: incipient overloads, voltage asymmetry, insulation degradation. Prioritized alerts to the control room before they become an alarm or failure.

What changes

Incident response time reduced. Cascade failures avoided by early action. Control room with less alarm noise and more actionable information.

05

Automated customer incident management

An assistant managing customer communications about outages, readings, and billing: reports outage status in real time, opens incidents, requests data, and transfers to a technician when needed. No queues at a saturated call center during mass outages.

What changes

60-70% reduction in repetitive call center calls during incidents. Average complaint handling time drops. Customer NPS during outages improves from proactive information.

Our Approach

On top of your SCADA and operational systems. Without touching the grid.

We work with the sector's operational systems (OSIsoft PI/AVEVA, ABB Ability, Schneider EcoStruxure, SAP IS-U, proprietary systems) in read-only mode — without intervening in grid operation. Models are deployed on operator-controlled infrastructure with architectures respecting OT/IT segregation.

Energy AI Readiness

3-4 weeks

Audit of available data (SCADA, meters, maintenance, billing) and critical processes. We identify the 2-3 cases with the best ROI for your asset type and operating area.

  • Data source inventory and quality assessment
  • OT/IT architecture review and integration possibilities
  • Prioritized use case catalog
  • 18-month ROI estimate

Single-Process Pilot

10-16 weeks

Implementation of forecasting, predictive maintenance, or loss detection on a defined perimeter (geographic zone, asset fleet, or customer type).

  • Data pipeline from SCADA/meters
  • Model trained on proprietary history
  • Operational dashboard for technical team
  • Alert integration with existing workflow
  • 10-week impact measurement

Operational Platform

6-10 months

For utilities wanting an AI layer across all operations: forecasting, maintenance, losses, and customer service on a common architecture.

  • Unified data architecture
  • Multiple coordinated models
  • Control room and CRM integration
  • Assisted regulatory reporting
  • Ongoing support and model retraining
Results

What changes in operations at 12 months

  • Demand forecasting error reduced 20-35% — fewer unnecessary capacity reserves.
  • Unplanned downtime on critical assets reduced 25-40% with predictive maintenance.
  • Non-technical losses located and recovered — inspections with 3-5x higher success rate.
  • Control room with prioritized alerts — less noise, more time for what matters.
  • Call center with 60-70% fewer repetitive calls during outage incidents.
  • Operations and maintenance decisions based on today's data, not last year's history.
FAQ

What operations and asset managers ask

Do you touch the operational grid?
No. We work in read-only mode on data already coming out of the grid (SCADA, meters, maintenance logs). Models generate recommendations — the decision to act on the grid is always made by the human operator. The architecture respects OT/IT segregation by design.
How much historical data do I need?
It depends on the use case. Forecasting with annual seasonality: ideally 2-3 years of clean hourly series. Predictive maintenance: failure history plus telemetry (12-18 months is usually enough to start). Non-technical losses: billing and meter readings from the last 24 months. We specify this in the AI Readiness.
Does it meet regulatory requirements (energy regulator)?
Prediction and analysis models are operational support tools, not regulated control systems. Integration with regulatory reporting systems is part of the scope where applicable — and documented for any regulator audit.
What does it cost to start?
AI Readiness: €8k-€15k. Single-process pilot: €40k-€90k depending on perimeter. Operational multi-case platform: €120k-€250k+ over several months. ROI in avoided maintenance or recovered losses has clear, measurable metrics from the first month post-go-live.
What about industrial cybersecurity?
Treated as a hard constraint. We work with data architectures that do not directly expose OT systems, on-premise deployments when required, and no write channels toward control systems. The client's industrial cybersecurity team participates in design from the diagnosis phase.

Want to see which use cases apply
to your operation?

A 30-minute call about your assets, data systems, and specific operational pain points. We leave with 2-3 candidate cases and an 18-month ROI estimate.