A few years ago, Prof. Dr. Ir. Rinie van Est received a donation from a generous and anonymous donor. It was meant to start research on the governance of artificial intelligence in the energy transition. As Rinie explains: “The basic idea is that global warming is forcing us to switch from fossil to renewable energy sources. In the Netherlands, for instance, we want 70% of our electricity to come from renewables by 2030.”
In 2021, the donor sadly passed away and the University Fund made sure the financing of this project would continue.
Under Rinie’s mentorship, PHD-candidate Irene Niet has taken on the task of researching ways in which AI and other forms of digitalization can play a key role in the energy transition. The central research question of her thesis is: How can public governance guide the integration of AI in the Dutch electricity sector in the energy transition from a public value perspective?
From one-way street to two-way highways
Nowadays, every household and company can use solar panels to generate their own electricity and offload the surplus to the grid. Due to electrification, electricity demand has risen to a level where companies cannot expand or build new facilities and new housing is delayed, because the high-voltage grid has reached its maximum capacity. . Local storage in the form of batteries is expected to rise, while wind- and solar parks will bring in massive amounts of electricity. These new influxes require changes in electricity system infrastructure and the way in which the electricity system is coordinated: we have to move from a one-way street to a network of two-way highways.
Irene: “Our electricity grid is changing dramatically: from large, central power plants, we go to hundreds of thousands of solar panels, wind turbines and batteries. Balancing such a system is difficult without the support of digital technologies that collect and analyze data, allowing humans, or even other digital technologies, to make data-driven decisions. These digital technologies are crucial for our future electricity system.”
Coordinator
Making the electricity system future proof is difficult, expensive, and potentially very disruptive to society. In Rinie’s and Irene’s vision, AI can become a ‘coordinator’ to help maximize performance of the existing grids. But: maximizing performance to what end?
Irene: “As a society, we find many different norms and rights important to uphold. We can refer to these as our public values. Between some of these, there is tension. The convergence of the digital technologies and energy systems urges us to (re)assess and (re)prioritize our public values. In light of this, the development and integration of AI should be critically analyzed, too: more is not always better."
Therefore, Irene’s research evolves around two questions:
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What public values are central to the integration of AI in the Dutch electricity sector in the energy transition?
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How are key public values currently addressed in the public governance of the integration of AI in the Dutch electricity sector in the energy transition?
A public-values framework
To address the first question, she developed a public values framework and analyzed the societal impact of the emergence of energy platforms in the electricity sector and the role of AI in organizing the electricity market. She has also explored the significance of the relationship between AI and sustainability and the impact digitalization of the electricity sector can have on justice.
AI and the Law
For the second question, Irene looked at the extent to which public values play a role in Dutch discourse and European legislation on digitization and the energy transition. She also examined the extent to which (proposed) AI and energy legislations are aligned. And finally, she looked at the extent to which European AI law deals with the public issues and ethical questions arising from the integration of AI in the Dutch electricity sector.
Publications and an upcoming PhD
Irene is now in the final year of her research on the governance of AI in the electricity sector and is likely to receive her PhD by the end of this year. In the past few years, she has built up an impressive number of publications on these subjects. You can find out about her and her work on her TU/e Research Profile.