How is IFS leveraging AI to enhance the efficiency and reliability of energy infrastructure ?
Sophie : I think one of my favourite examples is predictive maintenance . E . ON did a study where they showed predictive maintenance can actually reduce outages in the grid by 30 % compared to conventional approaches .
The majority of maintenance work tends to be one size fits all and is scheduled maintenance that just happens . Predictive maintenance can be much smarter about that and target when and where in particular to extend the asset lifecycle and increase reliability .
If you look at wind turbines for example , 80 % of the lost energy from wind turbines is due to poor maintenance of the blades . It ’ s mind-blowing .
So when you start to then leverage predictive maintenance , you can increase the reliability of the asset and that supply of renewable energy . I think that ’ s critical because the unpredictability of renewable energy like wind and solar is a common pain point .
One of our customers , Torresol Energy in Spain , uses IFS ’ enterprise asset management ( EAM ) solution and we ’ re deploying in tandem with their maintenance partner who uses sensors that are across their assets , totalling 70,000 input points and tags . This gives you , in real-time , data on how the asset is performing , highlighting how and
“ When you start to then leverage predictive maintenance , you can increase the reliability of the asset and that supply of renewable energy ”
SOPHIE GRAHAM , CHIEF SUSTAINABILITY OFFICER , IFS
where maintenance may be needed and allowing maintenance to be much more targeted , therefore increasing the reliability of that renewable energy supply .
Kevin : AI has been unfortunately pitched by our industry as this magic box we can open that solves all problems . But at IFS , we have been focusing our messaging on what we call Industrial AI . This means going back to our customer base to ask for some real-world examples so we can help from a tech perspective in managing assets .
It really comes down to a couple of things in my opinion .
One is asking what that customer wants to achieve in terms of uptime and outcomes for their customers .
58 February 2025