Artificial intelligence in electric power systems: a survey of the Japanese industry

The author studied the Japanese involvement in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) and visited eight Japanese R&D laboratories, where he discussed the AI and expert system related activities in the power industry. A comprehensive look at the combined Japanese effort is provided. The current topics of interest are: AI and its application in power engineering; problems in AI applications development and their solutions; practical system examples; and AI applications to power systems of the future. Out of the 97 papers cited, ten were produced by electric utilities, ten by manufacturers, 17 by universities, and 60 were joint efforts. This shows the level and importance of joint collaborative research among the Japanese researchers. Even though they are working on many theoretical aspects of the AI technology, including automated knowledge acquisition and verification, they still use a significant amount of theoretical work done in the US for successful prototyping of AI based tools. The use of AI tools in the Japanese electric power industry is far more widespread than what is seen in the US or in Europe.>