TECH & AI
THE PROMISE OF INTELLIGENT OPERATIONS
The most immediate gains from automation lie in operational efficiency. Across oil refineries, power generation facilities and electricity grids, unplanned downtime is extraordinarily expensive and disruptive.
However, AI-powered predictive maintenance tech is allowing operators to become more proactive and less reactive. Rather than waiting anxiously for equipment to fail, engineers are now able to receive early warnings that allow them to intervene at a time and cost of their choosing.
Maintenance is not the only benefit, though. Automation is also beginning to change how energy is distributed.
Smart grid technologies can balance supply and demand dynamically, integrating the intermittent output of wind and solar farms with the steady baseload of conventional generation. This kind of joined-up thinking is nothing short of essential for the grids of tomorrow, which will run primarily on renewables.
systems that power our lives. The challenges are complex, but the opportunities are extraordinary.
“ Energy technology means leading the convergence of electrification, automation, and digital intelligence.
“ We invent the technology that makes the new energy landscape possible – enabling buildings, data centres, factories, plants, infrastructure and grids to operate as open, software-defined systems.”
Elsewhere, ABB, the Zurich-based industrial technology group, is pursuing a similarly ambitious agenda. Its ABB Ability platform is capable
118 April 2026