Energy: AI to facilitate consumers and providers

Using artificial intelligence (AI) as a facilitator of interactions between customers and energy providers by accelerating digital innovation and promoting digital services is the objective of the European project EU DREAM ^[1], 

which brings together companies and research organizations from nine EU countries including ENEA. Through the creation of an AI-based virtual ‘assistant’ and a natural ‘intermediary’ simplifying the technical language of energy.

 “The AI-driven assistant will act as an energy advisor for users, optimizing energy settings based on individual preferences, while the intermediary will use natural language processing (NLP) techniques to translate the technical terms into a simpler, more immediate language and make communication more fluid and understandable,” explained Amedeo Buonanno, researcher at the ENEA Smart grid and Energy Networks Laboratory in the Energy Technologies and Innovative Sources Department.

The proposed solutions will be validated and demonstrated in six living labs to be implemented in as many European countries (Portugal, Belgium, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Denmark), each focused on a different aspect of energy innovation.

“To strenghten customer bonds ENEA will develop use cases for the living labs, taking into account characteristics, specificities, guidelines, technical requirements, and the needs and key factors necessary for their implementation,” Buonanno said.

The Italian living lab will be set up in the urban area of Turin by IREN spa and IREN Mercato spa in collaboration with ENEA, the National Interuniversity Consortium for Energy and Electric Systems (Turin Polytechnic, University of Naples “Federico II,” University of Salerno) and Links Foundation - Leading Innovation & Knowledge for Society.