Case Western Reserve University computer scientists and energy technology experts are teaming up to leverage the diagnostic power of artificial intelligence (AI) to make solar-power plants more efficient. The work, funded by a three-year, $750,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is part of a broad $130 million solar-technologies initiative announced by the DOE in 2020—including $7.3 million specifically for machine-learning solutions and other AI for solar applications.
“Solar is now the cheapest form of electricity in the world, but the efficiency of the actual power plants is being analyzed one at a time, and that’s just not tractable, especially for a fast-growing industry,” said Roger French, director of the Solar Durability and Lifetime Extension Research Center and Kyocera Professor of Ceramics, Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Case School of Engineering. “This project will help us learn where we can make improvements to make solar power even more efficient.”