Human and artificial: two intelligences working together in control rooms

This is science, not science fiction. Although in futuristic disaster movies artificial intelligence (AI) is shown replacing humanity, in the real world, it can be of great help to us. AI is the most advanced frontier of digitalization, which is one of the cornerstones of our Group's strategy; that’s why, at Enel Green Power, we focus on continuous innovation in this field as well. One of the most recent cases is our Artificial Intelligence in Control Room project: a kind of virtual assistant that supports our people at work in the control rooms of our wind power plants. The intelligence of continuous learning In our wind farms, every single wind turbine is monitored continuously to ensure maximum safety, but also to optimize production. The first step in digitalizing control operations was the implementation of control rooms that monitor and manage plants remotely. Now, thanks to artificial intelligence, we’ve taken the next step. The digital assistant not only makes its evaluations on the basis of enormous computing power and in-depth knowledge of the plant’s machinery and all the processes managed by the control room, but more importantly, it’s able to learn continuously thanks to machine learning: this is where the big difference with traditional algorithms lies, and this is why we can speak of true "artificial intelligence". The virtual assistant can effectively support the management of routine operations based on the alerts that come to it automatically from the system. Artificial intelligence is a particularly valuable support when faced with complex situations. This is the case, for example, with downtime, i.e., production interruptions due to failures, malfunctions, interventions aimed at preventing risky operational situations or for maintenance, upgrading or replacement of equipment. As the specialists who developed this system at EGP explain, an operator has to manage downtime, which may also be simultaneous on several machines at once, requiring the simultaneous analysis of each machine's parameters. The key intervention is a remote restart, and to do this, a number of indicators must be checked. It starts with alarm codes, which trigger the analysis of numerous variables; with artificial intelligence, the algorithms take care of the analysis and then notify the operator that the machine is back in full working order and can be restarted. The centrality of people Of course, the last word always rests with the operator in the control room: the virtual assistant is there to facilitate and simplify human work, not to replace it. So in this sense, our Artificial Intelligence in Control Room project reaffirms the importance we place on the centrality of people. After all, it was precisely our people who developed and made the project a reality: it’s the result of the work of an international and multidisciplinary team composed of colleagues from Spain, Italy and the United States who are specialized in different areas: data scientists, business experts, human behavior experts. Of course, the participation of the control room operators was indispensable in defining the purpose and developing useful solutions for those who know and experience the daily reality of the control room. Their input was also crucial in guiding the development of and refining the user experience, which, in this case, translates into the interactions between artificial and human intelligence. In line with Enel Green Power's mission, Enabling Progress With Sustainable Energy, this project improves the well-being and quality of life of our colleagues, which we consider essential. At the same time, it allows us to achieve important operational goals, improving the effectiveness and efficiency of asset management and taking a significant step forward in sustainability: for our colleagues in the control room and for the best use of renewable power systems. Future developments The project is currently active on wind farms, but there are plans to extend it to photovoltaic parks, the other major fast-growing renewables industry; the two sectors are structurally and architecturally different, but the same concepts can be applied there. We’re also considering a further extension to other technologies as well: automating repetitive, low value-added operations reduces stress (making control room work more sustainable) and reduces the consequent possibility of making mistakes (thus optimizing plant operation). This opens up new and ever more efficient technological horizons. Artificial intelligence is one of the key components of what is already being called the "fourth industrial revolution": the first two, between the late eighteenth and early twentieth centuries, concerned the mechanical and electrical worlds respectively, and the third involved the digital world – in the fourth, the two spheres are finally being combined. It's not science fiction: it’s science, it’s technology, it’s innovation in the service of sustainability. And in this revolution, we at EGP want to be on the front lines.

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Human and artificial: two intelligences working together in control rooms

Human and artificial: two intelligences working together in control rooms