AI in Energy Award

Recognising practical applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning that are improving energy and carbon outcomes across energy systems, buildings, industry, transport and supply chains.

The finalists

BiofuelAi

Building an AI Platform to Modernise the Biogas Industry

BiofuelAi Ltd has built a software platform pairing physics-based modelling with machine learning to help biogas and anaerobic digestion operators forecast plant performance. Most UK sites still rely on spreadsheets and operator judgement, so the consequences of daily feedstock decisions are not visible for days. The platform recommends blends that maximise gas yield while keeping digesters stable, and works alongside existing monitoring systems. Across pilots at several commercial UK plants, BiofuelAi reports carbon reductions of up to 28% per site, partly through yield increases of up to 15%, and profit improvements of £300,000 to £500,000. Reaching 360 sites by 2030 is a target.

ClearVue

ClearVue.IRIS

ClearVUE.IRIS is an analytics capability within ClearVUE's energy management platform that examines electricity, gas and water data recorded at one-minute intervals to find avoidable consumption. It looks for out-of-hours demand, high baseload, scheduling drift and unusual load patterns, quantifies each finding in kilowatt-hours, cost and carbon, then converts it into a tracked task with an owner, deadline and verification record. The tool is used across more than 200 portfolios in 15 countries and 21 sectors, with 16.5GWh of avoidable annual consumption identified, worth £3.97m and 4,115 tCO2e, averaging 15.3% per estate.

ENGIE UK

Orus

Orus is an optimisation platform developed in-house by ENGIE UK to trade battery storage automatically across multiple electricity markets. It aggregates asset telemetry and market data, runs continuous optimisation cycles, and bids autonomously into intraday and day-ahead platforms including EPEX, Nord Pool, the GB Balancing Mechanism and ancillary services markets, operating around the clock with anomaly detection and fail-safe controls. ENGIE UK states that better dispatch of storage assets improves system efficiency and supports greater use of intermittent renewable generation, reducing reliance on fossil-fuelled plant.

GridBeyond

FlexPilot

GridBeyond's FlexPilot is an AI platform that helps industrial, commercial and utility-scale energy users optimise how they consume and trade electricity. It combines machine learning, digital twin modelling and automated control, forecasting site demand, market prices and operating constraints up to seven days ahead with what GridBeyond reports as over 90% accuracy. The platform shifts load into cheaper, lower-carbon periods, manages battery charging and discharging, and automates participation in demand-side response, ancillary services and wholesale trading. Deployments have reduced costs and Scope 2 emissions without affecting production. The system operates across both behind-the-meter and grid-connected assets.

Kaluza

Energy Intelligence Platform

Kaluza's Energy Intelligence Platform is a software layer coordinating household energy devices, retail customer accounts and wholesale markets in real time, built to handle volumes of electric vehicles, heat pumps and batteries that older utility systems cannot process. It automates billing and customer service while dispatching flexible load into cleaner, cheaper periods. The platform is live with OVO Energy, ENGIE and AGL, covering more than 26 million contracted meters. Kaluza reports over 200MW of flexible load under management, 180GWh optimised annually and a 27% fall in customer contacts. A vehicle-to-grid programme with OVO Energy and Nissan showed 45% carbon savings against unmanaged charging.

Sirio Multilateral Strategies

AI Triangulation Tool

Sirio Multilateral Strategies Ltd has developed a tool that consolidates an energy network's stakeholder engagement records into one searchable base, then uses AI to cluster feedback by topic and viewpoint. Great Britain's networks must evidence that billions of pounds of investment reflects customer priorities, a process known as triangulation that has traditionally been done manually by external consultants. Every output of the tool cites its source, making conclusions auditable for Ofgem. The tool is in live use with GB electricity and gas networks. One distribution network has saved £120,000 a year in third-party reporting costs, freeing five staff from a day a week each.

Wattstor

Podium Energy Management System

Podium is Wattstor's energy management platform for commercial and industrial sites, a segment the company describes as poorly served because every site has a different demand profile, asset mix and grid constraint. Rather than simply monitoring equipment, Podium uses forecasting and automation to optimise on-site generation, battery storage and electricity purchasing in real time, drawing on site demand, weather forecasts, market prices and asset performance. It also underpins Wattstor's Price Protect tariff, combining management, optimisation, supply and billing in one contract. At Icknield Biogas, coordinating a 1.2MW solar array and 2.4MWh battery, Wattstor reports up to a 70% reduction in reliance on grid electricity.