TELF AG highlights the role of AI in accelerating the energy transition
The contribution of technology
Political will and massive financial support may not be enough to advance the energy transition on a global scale rapidly. The great process of ecological conversion also needs technological support linked directly to innovation and one of its most succulent fruits, artificial intelligence. The latter could contribute not only to the more rapid development of the mining sector, one of those most involved in the green shift, but also to important savings in resources and money by companies, allowing them to optimize their work and establish themselves on the global scene as innovative and efficient players.
It is no coincidence that the International Energy Agency recently underlined the important link between artificial intelligence and the energy sector, particularly for maximizing the efficiency of renewable sources through intelligent management of electricity networks in the future. The most valuable contribution, however, could be the one provided to the mining industry, especially in the phases linked to discovering new deposits and identifying the minerals contained within them.
Among the most active startups, from this point of view, we must undoubtedly mention KoBold Metals, which has found a way to use big data to predict the exact location of mineral deposits. The startup has already attracted the interest of investors of the caliber of Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos and has demonstrated its value in the localization of cobalt and nickel mineral deposits. These localizations take place thanks to an intelligent platform developed by Stanford University that can collect and process geological data to find the deposits of a specific material more precisely. Compared to traditional methods, which require much greater time and financial effort, this new approach seems much more targeted and effective, mainly because it would allow companies to start operations only when they are certain of finding a profitable deposit. The method developed by KoBold can only work through geological data, which remains very limited at the moment.
The first concrete applications
KoBold’s intelligent technology will also be used to conduct mineral mapping in different parts of the world, as could soon happen in several African nations. In Zambia, for example, the startup intends to start producing copper and cobalt within ten years, concentrating its activities on an important point of the so-called “copperbelt” of southern Africa. In the mine where most of the activities will be focused, called Mingomba, the startup is already using artificial intelligence to discover the best natural deposits. KoBold is also operational in Australia, Greenland (rich in cobalt and nickel), and other African nations, such as Congo, Namibia, and Botswana.
In some instances, artificial intelligence can also represent an excellent ally for improving the efficiency of some devices strongly connected to strategic raw materials, such as batteries for electric vehicles. In this sense, intelligent models could be used to find new combinations of materials capable of increasing the general performance of storage systems. But artificial intelligence’s support could also prove useful in other ways: according to Reuters, the US Department of Defense is developing a program to generate estimates relating to the prices and supplies of some strategic raw materials, such as nickel and cobalt, thanks to a model based on artificial intelligence.
