EA Technology helps drive towards intelligent smart charging
Posted by: electime 14th December 2020
Working with Energy Systems Catapult, EA Technology is collaborating with the prestigious new Turing Artificial Intelligence Acceleration Fellowship at the University of Southampton, with the aim of generating incentive-aware smart charging mechanisms for transport electrification.
Smart charging is the matching of electric vehicle charging cycles to both the needs of vehicle users and the conditions of the power system. This enables many more vehicles to benefit from lower cost, greener electricity, while still meeting mobility needs. Taking this one step further, the research being carried out by the Fellowship is looking at the generation of incentive-aware smart charging mechanisms, that use artificial intelligence to not only understand this, but will also identify the most advantageous time to charge.
With new, electrified forms of transport becoming increasingly compelling, and the number of electric vehicles set to grow rapidly, the development of incentive-aware charging arrangements is imperative to make best use of the electricity grid. This will not only help keep costs low for network operators, but also ensure energy consumers are appropriately rewarded for engaging in behaviour that helps the grid.
The research into incentive-aware smart charging forms just one part of a five-year, £1.4 m programme, led by Electronics and Computer Science’s Dr Sebastian Stein, which will create AI systems that are aware of citizens’ preferences and act to maximise the benefit to society. Importantly, rather than share this data with a centralised system, the AI agents keep it safe on private smart devices and only use it in their owners’ interests.
Dr Stein, of the Agents, Interaction and Complexity (AIC) research group, says: “AI systems are increasingly used to support and often automate decision-making on an unprecedented scale. Such AI systems can draw on a vast range of data sources to make fast, efficient, data-driven decisions to address important societal challenges and potentially benefit millions of people.”
The new vision for AI systems will be achieved by developing techniques that learn the preferences, needs and constraints of individuals to provide personalised services, incentivise socially-beneficial behaviour changes, make choices that are fair, inclusive and equitable, and provide explanations for these decisions. The Southampton team will draw upon a unique combination of research in multi-agent systems, mechanism design, human-agent interaction and responsible AI.
Dr Stein will work with a range of high-profile stakeholders over the duration of the fellowship. This will include citizen end-users, to ensure the research aligns with their needs and values, as well as industrial partners, to put the research into practice.
Dave Roberts, Technical Director at EA Technology, one of the stakeholders involved in the project, commented: “It is important for EA Technology to be involved in prestigious research projects like this. By understanding the benefits that AI can bring to the integration of electrified transport will be an important step towards wider public acceptance.”
EA Technology helps its clients understand this constantly evolving energy landscape by defining business strategy and establishing the benefits of adopting novel approaches. It shapes trials and pilot projects on the distribution network, and takes outcomes from innovative projects, to develop business-as-usual practices for instant adoption in the everyday world.
For more information on EA Technology, contact Helen Hanratty, Head of Marketing, on helen.hanratty@eatechnology.com
