Hi guys! Marina Ventura here… your adventurer into the wonders of the world! I’m on a mission to explore one of the biggest adventures of the 21st century… the world of Artificial Intelligence and how it can benefit our future energy. Wanna come too? Excellent!

Today, we’re exploring the grid of the future and how we need to enhance electricity storage so that all our great renewable energy doesn’t go to waste before it’s needed – after all, we can’t control the sun or wind… yet!

While a Smart Grid is great at helping move electricity around efficiently, renewable energy sources like wind and solar are, well, weather dependent. We need energy storage to store excess energy generated when conditions are good and release it when these sources are not producing electricity. This will help make renewables more reliable and less dependent on weather conditions.

Having a constant supply of energy is also crucial for places like hospitals, data centres and the emergency services. Now batteries are great at helping power our devices like phones and torches, but one big problem is making them big enough to store huge amounts of electricity to run cars and trains, but also light enough to make them efficient. They also don’t necessarily store power for that long. Being able to store electricity in smarter batteries means will help us have cleaner cars, greener homes and a supply of emergency power.

And that’s were AI can help… hunting through millions of chemical combinations and helping scientists test thousands of combinations to invent new battery recipes! Safer, faster-charging, longer-lasting batteries that can store green energy for when we need it most.

But designing them is tricky! Scientific testing used to take YEARS. But with AI, they can do it in weeks, if not days! And it’s not as simple as choosing the most efficient materials and chemicals to create a better battery. The elements used in batteries can be scarce or mining them can be harmful to the environment and so there’s a multitude of factors to balance out so that the new technology is sustainable as well as super good at its job.

Future batteries will use new materials, depending upon their use. For batteries storing energy for long periods, materials like iron-air and sodium-ion will be used, whilst solid-state and lithium-sulphur batteries work better where you need high energy densities, such as long-haul electric trucks or short-haul aviation.

And the great thing is that AI is already helping advance battery innovations – from materials discovery to production and battery operation optimisation, as well as end-of-life management.

As we can see, AI is really super-important key – from helping manage the flow of electricity second-by-second, to predicting when and where it’s needed.

And not forgetting about balancing power coming in from wind and solar sun, and deciding the best moment to store and release it.

But all this tech doesn’t work by itself. That’s where YOU come in. The smart grid needs future experts – and if you’re growing up with AI, code and smart devices, you’re already ahead of the curve.

As well as people who love science, tech and puzzles, we’ll also need those who think creatively to design systems that are fair and secure and help everyone use energy wisely.

Whilst it might feel a bit like robots are taking over, don’t worry – humans are vital to make sure AI is used ethically – and set rules for the programming.

MARINA MISSION!

So now over to you! I want you to have a think about what AI-powered battery gadget, YOU would invent. Perhaps a super battery powered thermos flask that learns when your lunchtime is and heats up your soup just in time. Or maybe a smart cable-free game controller that adapts to your movements…

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