TOKYO, Japan – An official of the Department of Energy (DOE) said a Japanese company is offering its services for the wider use of artificial intelligence to improve the reliability of the Philippine energy sector.
Patrick Aquino, DOE director of the Energy Utilization Management Bureau, told reporters in a briefing here that the Japanese offer helps predict future power plant issues, avert unscheduled shutdowns as well as traced the root cause of power disruptions.
According to Aquino, the Japanese firm has at least 21 patents. Its proprietary service can process data whether its on outages or making sure the transmission size is correct, or even energy storage. The system also requires historical data, has to run at least two weeks for accuracy and can also flag violations, Aquino said.
Aquino said the Japanese company is called Sustech and claims 92 to 94 percent accuracy in its projections.
He also said he will relay the information to both Energy Secretary Raphael Flotilla and to Energy Regulatory Commission chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta to help address problems hounding the local energy sector.
Aquino said employing such a service entails costs and for this reason the DOE will not force power generation companies to subscribe to the program.
Also, DOE undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella at the same venue said the agency will evaluate the impact of such a service on power bills.
With the use of such a system, identifying the cause of power interruptions as has happened earlier this month in Panay Island will prove a lot easier, allowing the power sector to prevent surprise outages.
