Synopsis: Buzz Solutions CTO and COO Vikhyat Chaudhry explains how artificial intelligence (AI) can be applied to make the energy grid more efficient.
AI isn’t just hungry for electricity—it’s learning to manage the grid that feeds it. Chaudhry discusses how computer‑vision models are turning aerial photos and drone video into a real‑time “health report” for power lines, substations and transformers.
Why start with pictures? Utilities are coping with a shrinking workforce and a network that grows more distributed every year as solar arrays, wind farms and EV chargers come online. Manually checking every pole is impossible, so AI filters the footage, flags cracked insulators, overheating equipment and encroaching vegetation, then hands crews an actionable short list .
The visual data does more than spot today’s problems. By pairing historical images with weather, load and sensor data, Buzz is training predictive models that can warn a utility when five transformers in one neighborhood have a 90 percent chance of failing months from now . Those forecasts feed digital‑twin projects so planners can simulate “what‑ifs” like a surge of new EVs or a heatwave before disaster strikes .
Regulators are starting to notice. Chaudhry urges state and federal agencies to endorse drone inspections and AI analytics so utilities feel safe deploying them at scale . The stakes are rising fast: data centers and AI workloads could double electric demand within five years, turning the century‑old grid into a traffic‑jam of electrons unless operators adopt continuous, AI‑assisted monitoring.
Chaudhry’s bottom line is pragmatic. AI won’t replace linemen, but it will decide where they roll their trucks, which assets get replaced first and how to squeeze more capacity out of existing wires. The utilities that succeed won’t be the ones with the most drones—they’ll be the ones that turn fresh data into timely decisions before the lights flicker.
