AI experts seek to revolutionise planning and maintenance of solar farms
Experts at the University are working with industry on revolutionising the future of solar farms using AI to optimise their planning and maintenance.
Professor of Artificial Intelligence Mauro Vallati is collaborating with Schlumberger Cambridge Research on the cutting-edge research.
They have also received funding from Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) in the form of an iCASE award, enabling a four-year PhD scholarship to be created.
Project lead Professor Vallati and PhD student Mohsen Mahmoudi are working closely with scientists Co-Supervisor Dr Peter Gregory and Research Program Manager Dr Michael Williams at Schlumberger, the leading supplier of technology and services to the energy industry.
The project aims to shape the future of sustainable energy systems by focusing on revolutionising the planning and maintenance of solar farms – expansive installations that convert sunlight into electricity using photovoltaic cells.
The team, led by Professor Vallati, a world-leading researcher in the field of artificial intelligence planning, will use AI planning and scheduling approaches, harnessing the power of advanced algorithms to optimise the deployment and maintenance of solar farms.
World-leading researcher in AI, the University of Huddersfield’s Professor Mauro Vallati (right) with Dr Michael Williams, Research Program Manager at Schlumberger Cambridge Research
The research will aim to maximise performance and longevity while minimising disruptions, revolutionising the way solar farms are managed and maintained.
Professor Vallati said: “When you are making an installation of a new solar farm, you have a number of issues that need to be considered, such as how do you optimise the building of the panels, the actual instalment of the mirrors in the field? How do you move things between them? How do you organise people that are working there?
“In order to solve this, you can see them as a separate problem - so the problem of building the right sequence of panels, the problem of installing them, the problem of making a schedule for the people which are working well. But of course, they are all related because the solution of one is affecting the others. We are looking into that and finding out if we can find solutions that work well for all the problems.”
He added that they are also looking at maintenance schedules – as debris on the panels needs regularly cleaning off in order to optimise their performance.
Find out more about studying Artificial Intelligence at Huddersfield
At the end, the team aim to provide a tool that can optimise the planning, design and installation of solar farms, as well as the maintenance, creating the schedule and optimisation that needs to be put in place so the farm is up and running as soon as possible.
The collaboration and PhD scholarship will run for four years.
Professor Mauro Vallati
AI professor in the Department of Computer Science
Professor Vallati is research group leader for the Centre for Autonomous and Intelligent Systems. He is also a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow and is a world-leading researcher in the field of artificial intelligence planning.