Harnessing technology to help solve the energy trilemma
Welcome to bp’s tech blog, where our tech experts will share some of their most significant technical contributions to help solve the energy trilemma!
The fusion of tech and the energy industry is not just a marriage of convenience; it’s a union of necessity.
The energy trilemma is the need for secure, affordable and lower carbon energy. This trilemma is not a simple business problem — it is a challenge the energy industry urgently needs to address for the good of people and the planet. There are still 746 million people who do not have access to electricity, and we need to play our part to get to net zero.
“Necessity is the mother of invention” is a phrase that has always resonated with me. Not since the discovery of electricity has the energy industry faced such a necessity as the energy trilemma — and tech could be the very invention we need to improve how we produce, distribute, and consume energy.
Energy consumption
Let’s talk about some concrete examples, starting with energy consumption.
One area where tech can be leveraged in the energy transition is grid management — the backbone of our energy infrastructure. Smart grids using data-driven algorithms could dynamically balance supply and demand, minimizing wastage and enhancing overall efficiency.
Similarly, data science will be critical in planning how the grid expands to bring on new clean energy and meet the constantly growing demand. This ensures energy security and contributes to a more resilient energy ecosystem.
Optimizing energy consumption with tech is not just hypothetical: consider the collaboration between the United Kingdom’s national grid and AI experts in 2016, which utilized machine learning algorithms to optimize energy consumption in data centres. The result was a remarkable 40% reduction in energy usage for cooling — a testament to the transformative power of tech in optimizing energy usage.
And this is not the only example. A few companies — including bp — are working on optimizing energy consumption, for instance, by looking at ships’ fuel consumption through smarter routing and integrating intelligent routing in car operating systems.
This effort applies to energy consumption from tech itself, too: AI systems’ energy consumption, for example, highlighted by the Allen Institute of AI in 2019, is an issue we all need to tackle soon — as one researcher recently noted, all being equal, ChatGPT is projected to have the same annual energy consumption as the Netherlands, or 0.5% of the world’s energy consumption, by 2027.
Predictive maintenance and emissions measurement
Tech can help us tackle the challenge of predictive maintenance. Predictive maintenance plays a critical role in improving the reliability of energy assets. This means more reliable plants, and plants that trip less often result in less flaring to release pressure buildups — and reduced emissions. A future blog (spoiler!) will describe how bp uses digital twins to analyze machinery signals, predict impending outages, and intervene before disruptions occur.
Data can also significantly impact emissions more broadly: we can only improve what we measure, and never before has the energy industry been able to more accurately measure, model and track emissions and leakages.
Optimizing sites and lower carbon energy
The insights companies have access to can make a difference in helping people and our planet — such as by enabling the energy industry to optimize how it harnesses, stores and transports power from unpredictable resources.
Data-driven insights are already guiding bp to make better choices for locating potential hydrogen and wind farms to improve renewable energy supply. Similarly, data science helps us choose the best sites for EV charging points, making electric vehicles a more viable option for customers.
Tech is also helping the energy industry look for new ways to improve energy storage. For example, algorithms may help optimize battery performance, improve storage capacity and make renewable energy more reliable and accessible.
Further, batteries present a cheaper alternative for providing reliable electricity than building new grid infrastructure and personal solar installations. bp technical experts are currently investigating the possibility of renting solar-charged batteries for low day rates to help more people access electricity cheaply.
Just from these examples, it’s clear that tech has a vital role in helping solve the energy trilemma.
Sharing our tech freely through this blog is, I hope, going to catalyze solutions to some of the world’s toughest problems. I want to bring together technical experts from around the globe to collaborate and help this industry to supply everyone with secure, affordable and lower carbon energy.
Dr Fran Bell
Senior vice president for digital technology, bp
London, November 2023
Dr Franziska Bell is the senior vice president for digital technology at bp, leading software and platform engineering, data & analytics and design & change management for the bp group, and chairing bp’s centre of excellence for accelerating digital technology and cultural transformation. Fran is a recognized digital expert and an award-winning doctor of theoretical chemistry who received her PhD at the University of California, Berkeley, before working as a post-doctoral scholar at the California Institute of Technology. Before joining bp in 2020, Fran’s ability and passion for bridging digital and physical fields saw her lead Uber to transform every employee into a data scientist at the push-of-a-button and deliver innovation and digital products at top speed for low cost, and drive battery and fuel cell materials discovery and artificial intelligence research for Toyota Research Institute.
