Google and the grid tech company CTC Global launched a new AI-driven product designed to squeeze more juice from electricity grids.
The technology uses fiber-optic sensors to capture data about real-time activity and strain on power lines, which it will process using Google software, including Google Earth Engine and the data warehousing service BigQuery, and then feed insights into Tapestry, a grid modeling project by Google parent Alphabet’s moonshot lab X. This will allow utilities to push more power through the lines, up to 120% of their previous capacity, at a lower cost than building new power generation stations, CTC CEO J.D. Sitton told Semafor.
The project is in a pilot stage for now and plans to add more utility users in the year ahead. Efforts like this are becoming more common as a growing number of tech and utility companies realize they won’t be able to build new infrastructure fast enough to keep up with rapidly increasing demand.