Hitachi Energy has launched an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered energy forecasting system.

Called Nostradamus AI, it was developed using Hitachi’s energy industry expertise. Nostradamus AI leverages the company’s 30 years of energy market data to provide utilities, power system operators, energy producers and traders with precise forecasts for common energy-specific use cases.

One of the first AI forecasting systems purpose-built for the energy industry, the AI engine can generate forecasts estimated to be over 20 per cent more accurate than some industry targets. It optimises energy investments, trading strategies and revenue opportunities, streamlines operational efficiencies and resource planning, and ensures transparency for regulatory compliance.

“Advanced forecasting is integral to effectively manage a company’s energy portfolio strategy, allowing operators and analysts to make informed decisions across their businesses quickly,” said Massimo Danieli from Hitachi Energy. “We’ve applied our extensive energy domain expertise and data science background to create an AI engine that can significantly accelerate the ability of users to make impactful decisions with their energy data, deliver improved profitability across their businesses, and scale as the grid evolves.”

Nostradamus AI, built specifically for the energy industry using Hitachi’s domain expertise, combines grid-performance data, market forecasts and asset monitoring underpinned by machine learning and other data science best practices.

It is a configurable, predictive analytics tool that puts the power in the hands of investors, operators, developers and traders. Users can plug their owned and third-party data and unique parameters into Nostradamus AI’s pre-tuned, off-the-shelf models to generate accurate, customised energy-specific forecasts – called pipelines – for system load, wind generation, solar generation, market pricing and more. Nostradamus AI creates regression-style forecasts that make it easier for users to interpret and explain their forecasts and make better-informed business decisions.

The cloud-native tool can scale with ease from a single forecast to more than 100,000 forecasts. With users’ future forecasting needs in mind, the AI engine can, for example, generate predictions for the renewable generation of a single wind turbine and solar farm or thousands of different load points.

In addition, it is algorithm-agnostic and supports several of the highest-performing AI models. It is built with a composable architecture, allowing organisations to use their existing API endpoints to speed and scale development, and is easy to automate and integrate with users’ systems.

“Hitachi Energy’s new solution integrates with customer data through its own AI energy product,” said Maryam Akram, research principal at Chartis Research. “Moreover, as well as extensive forecasting tools and application design, which support and guide customers’ use of machine learning models including state-of-the-art techniques, Hitachi Energy transparently manages each stage of the model lifecycle, combining energy domain expertise with an effective machine-learning strategy.”

Nostradamus AI was developed to bridge existing AI and forecasting capabilities while providing a platform for scale and future growth.

“Artificial intelligence and machine learning have changed the world,” said Andy Howell, head of enterprise software at Hitachi Energy. “Embracing AI in the power sector is not just a choice, it is an imperative. That’s why it’s critical that organisations have a dedicated tool designed specifically for analysing the massive amount of data generated across an evolving power grid. Hitachi Energy is leading this effort, relying on our decades of sector and data science experience to architect an energy industry AI that provides a relevant alternative to today’s inadequate forecasting options.”

While Nostradamus AI is available now as a standalone product as part of the company’s Energy Portfolio Management (www.hitachienergy.com/products-and-solutions/energy-portfolio-management), the forecasting engine capabilities also can be integrated into a range of Hitachi Energy’s digital products, including its grid edge offerings (www.hitachienergy.com/products-and-solutions/grid-edge-solutions) and grid and generation management (www.hitachienergy.com/products-and-solutions/grid-and-generation-management-network-manager).