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Yahoo
24-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Meet the companies using AI to reinvent the energy business
The rise of artificial intelligence has created an energy paradox. While tech leaders behind AI tools like ChatGPT say large language models can solve some of the world's biggest problems, the infrastructure powering the technology may be creating another problem as a result of the environmental impact. AI data centers can consume 20 to 30 times as much energy as their CPU-based predecessors, according to Mark Chung, CEO of energy efficiency monitoring company Verdigris. Some experts predict AI will account for more than 10% of U.S. electricity consumption within five years, fueling fears that unchecked AI compute demand could exponentially accelerate climate damage. But the convergence of AI and energy is also forcing a rethink of the industry's traditional practices, creating opportunities to mitigate the environmental impact by making the grid, and the data centers it feeds, operate more cleanly and more efficiently than was possible before. 'One of the biggest challenges with providing energy to a data center is optimizing the flow of that energy, and that is a problem that AI can be extremely helpful in solving,' says Katie Durham, a partner at Climate Capital. One of the largest players using AI to tackle this efficiency problem is Kraken Technologies. Its AI-powered operating system serves over 70 million customer accounts across 40 utilities worldwide. It connects more than 500,000 consumer devices—from EV chargers to home batteries—and controls over five gigawatts of flexible energy supply, offsetting 14 million tons of CO₂ in 2024 alone, according to figures shared with Fortune. Devrim Celal, Kraken's chief marketing and flexibility officer, said the company's success hinges on finding efficiencies in renewable energy demand. 'When you transition to renewable energy, you get a completely new set of problems,' he says, explaining the company's role in analyzing the demand for renewables to create a system that stores or deploys energy based on user-specific consumption patterns. He also notes that the company uses machine learning to cluster consumers based on their energy consumption patterns and efficiently distribute renewable power with 90% accuracy. This means that if a customer typically charges their electric vehicle to 100% from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. every day, the energy will be deployed at this time and reserved when the vehicle is away from home. 'That's incredibly powerful when balancing the grid,' he says. Miami-based Exowatt is building solar energy systems designed to power AI data centers around the clock. By providing a means to store and dispatch solar power at any time of day, the company helps utilities deal with the inherent intermittency of solar without resorting to carbon-emitting energy sources, says Exowatt CEO and cofounder Hannan Happi. 'We're really in a mad rush to bring the product to market and scale it as fast as possible,' he notes. 'Because if we don't, the only energy and power solution data center customers have available to them is just putting diesel and natural gas on the grid, which is really, really affecting the communities around where these data centers are being built.' Exowatt is also leaning heavily on AI internally. It uses LLMs to power a 'digital twin' system that simulates performance in real time and enables proactive maintenance. The company is replacing traditional SaaS tools with custom-built AI software, tailored to its supply-chain and manufacturing needs. Halcyon, a startup with $10.8 million in seed funding, is using AI to help energy professionals in a different way. The firm has created large language models that ingest regulatory filings from agencies like the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy and makes them searchable and structured—saving energy developers time and expanding access to up-to-date data on battery incentives, grid constraints, and transmission plans. 'We're using LLMs primarily to read,' says Sam Steyer, head of data science at Halcyon. 'We think of the regulatory analyst at an energy company who, in the past, would have to search for the right 1,000 page PDF and then use Control F and maybe spend a day finding the right piece of data … We're trying to make that process as efficient and fast as possible and empower that person to do the same work at a much bigger scale.' A part of Halcyon's mission is to ensure that AI's expanding appetite for electricity also accelerates the clean energy transition. The company is building trackers for special data center electricity rates and tools that help renewable developers site projects faster. 'AI and energy are really symbiotic,' says Steyer. 'AI is driving growth in electricity demand in a big way … It's going to be completely essential to scaling the electricity system.' This story was originally featured on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Irish Times
17-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
AIB's slimmed-down UK unit to report to retail chief Geraldine Casey
AIB has decided that its UK unit will report in future to the group's retail banking managing director, Geraldine Casey, in Dublin, underscoring how the business has shrunk significantly in recent times. This will see move from four core operating divisions to three – retail banking, capital markets and climate capital. The development came as AIB also announced the promotion of its chief technology officer, Graham Fagan, to an expanded role of chief operating officer, as current COO Andrew McFarlane is leaving the group after three years. This will see the number of staff reporting to Mr Fagan effectively double to 2,300. AIB, which has more than 10,000 staff in total, also said that its general council Miriam Nagle, appointed in January, will join the group's executive team. READ MORE 'Today's updates to our management structure means AIB will focus on Retail Banking, Capital Markets and Climate Capital,' said chief executive Colin Hunt, adding that the simplification of management structure will help with operational efficiency and resilience. AIB UK, a stand-alone UK licensed bank led by managing director Hilary Gormley, has seen its gross loans shrink by almost 50 per cent to £5 billion (€5.78 billion) in the past decade, accelerated by review of its operations there in the wake of Brexit that saw it exit from the SME lending market in Britain and close a number of retail branches in Northern Ireland in 2021. [ Sharp increase in reports of phone call and text message fraud this year, AIB says Opens in new window ] While it continues to offer full retail banking services in the North, it has narrowed its lending focus in Britain to niche corporate areas such as renewable energy, manufacturing and warehousing. Some of the larger ticket UK lending deals are handled by AIB's capital markets and climate capital divisions. The shake-up increases the responsibilities of Ms Casey, who was already in charge of AIB largest division, by far. Rival Bank of Ireland's UK loan book has contract by 25 per cent over the past 10 years to £14.1 billion as it narrowed its focus amid heightened competition in that market. David McWilliams on how 'big incentives' to build could save Dublin city Listen | 36:51 This has been driven in recent years as the bank: reversed out of the mass mortgage market for higher-value bespoke home lending; stopped providing mortgages and personal loans through the UK post office; sold its British personal loans; and putting its corporate and commercial portfolio into winddown. Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe sold the State's remaining 2 per cent stake in AIB for €305.3 million, bringing the total recovered to date from the bank to €19.8 billion. It means that AIB is set to fall about €700 million short of repaying its €20.8 billion taxpayer rescue bill, including the expected €300 million the Government is on track to receive from selling back stock warrants it continues to hold in the bank. The total AIB bailout recovery also includes proceeds other share sales, redemption of bailout bonds, interest, guarantee fees and dividends received from the bank over the years.
