Record-setting heat wave is becoming a recurring reality as Europe’s power grids are being pushed to their limits by extreme weather.
As power demand is starting to grow again after two decades of stagnation, such heatwaves could become more challenging to bear in the future.
The European Commission's Strategic Roadmap for Digitalisation and AI in Energy, published earlier this month, couldn't be more timely. Load growth from data centres must be accompanied by the adoption of smart solutions for grid management.
Grid management tools such as flexibility and demand response have languished for years. Now, the Commission has claimed that AI-driven grid planning and operations are astrategic necessityfor Europe's competitiveness, affordability, and energy security.
That's good news. But the debate has already been going on for decades. The question is how to remove obstacles on the path of these solutions to become widely adopted.
The role of AI in energy will be evolutionary, not revolutionary
When people hear "AI-powered grid," many imagine a complete reinvention of how electricity systems operate, but that isn't what this next phase will look like.
Power systems are among the most sophisticated engineering systems ever built. They operate under principles that have evolved over decades and prioritize reliability. New tools will strengthen these principles.
AI will come in the form of hundreds of practical solutions that will improve individual operational decisions, from predicting renewable generation and electricity demand to identifying equipment failures and improving outage restoration. It will include tools that optimize maintenance, forecast transmission capacity, reduce congestion, monitor cybersecurity threats, and more.
With progress underway, Europe is uniquely positioned to lead
Through my direct work with European transmission system operators (TSOs) over the past decade, I have seen early AI experimentation and adoption that’s resulted in significant network optimization.
Some of the strongest examples are already visible in transmission operations. Estonia’s and Finland’s TSOs, Elering and Fingrid, have implemented AI-powered dynamic line ratings across their full networks to improve forecasting, increase transmission capacity, and reduce congestion. This technology can also serve as a tool for proactive outage management, increasing capacity precisely when the grid is under thermal stress, like the heatwave Europe faced last week.
Lessons from those early adopters are spreading across the continent because one of Europe's greatest strengths is cooperation.
Transmission and distribution operators across Europe routinely share knowledge through organizations like ENTSO-E and the DSO Entity. Engineers regularly exchange ideas, operational experience, and best practices across borders.
This culture of collaboration makes Europe particularly well-positioned to scale successful innovations, but balanced regulatory guidance will be important.
The real test: moving quickly enough
Europe's soft power is its openness and rules-based economy. Moving slowly and maintaining a steady direction is Europe’s strength. That same philosophy should guide AI regulation.
Instead of rewarding specific technologies, regulators should define the outcomes society wants and allow companies to compete to achieve them.
Consumers care less abouthowmachine learning is incorporated into a system and more about whether their lights stay on and their bills stay manageable. Policymakers should care about the same outcomes. Desired outcomes do not change as technology changes.
AI grid management solutions should be judged the same way we judge any grid investment, by asking:
- Does it improve reliability and affordability?
- Does it make better use of infrastructure?
- Does it help integrate more clean energy?
- Does it strengthen resilience against extreme weather?
Accelerating adoption will ultimately depend on the engineers and managers who already regularly meet in Brussels. They should freely share among themselves what works and what doesn’t work.
The Commission has given an important signal by placing AI at the center of Europe's energy strategy. The next challenge is ensuring that the solutions are adopted in time to meet the triple pressure from variable generation, extreme weather and load growth. Success will depend on the cooperation among grid operators and the rapid spread and adoption of solutions that work.