The power industry continues to be a hotbed of patent innovation. Activity is driven by rising energy demand, renewable integration, and the need for grid stability and resilience, and growing importance of technologies such as price elasticity, weather and demand response/load analysis, and renewable generation predictive modeling. In the last three years alone, there have been over 695,000 patents filed and granted in the power industry, according to GlobalData’s report on Artificial intelligence in power: power generation forecastingBuy the report here.

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According to GlobalData’s Technology Foresights, which uses over 83,000 patents to analyze innovation intensity for the power industry, there are 45+ innovation areas that will shape the future of the industry.

Power generation forecasting is a key innovation area in artificial intelligence

To reduce the uncertainty inherent in demand and power supply, power system operators rely on power generation forecasting for balancing the demand and supply of electricity. Power generation forecasting is a crucial and cost-effective tool that predicts the amount of electricity to be generated by power generation resources such as wind or solar. Power generation forecasting utilizes a combination of weather forecasts and satellite data, to generate accurate predictions of power generation in the near future.

GlobalData’s analysis also uncovers the companies at the forefront of each innovation area and assesses the potential reach and impact of their patenting activity across different applications and geographies. According to GlobalData, there are 515+ companies, spanning technology vendors, established power companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of power generation forecasting.

Key players in power generation forecasting – a disruptive innovation in the power industry

‘Application diversity’ measures the number of applications identified for each patent. It broadly splits companies into either ‘niche’ or ‘diversified’ innovators.   

‘Geographic reach’ refers to the number of countries each patent is registered in. It reflects the breadth of geographic application intended, ranging from ‘global’ to ‘local’.  

Patent volumes related to power generation forecasting

Company Total patents (2021 - 2023) Premium intelligence on the world's largest companies
State Grid Corporation of China 75 Unlock Company Profile
Siemens AG 32 Unlock Company Profile
China Southern Power Grid Co Ltd 21 Unlock Company Profile
Dominion Energy Inc 14 Unlock Company Profile
Sun Electric Pte Ltd 11 Unlock Company Profile
NEC Corp 10 Unlock Company Profile
Clean Power Research LLC 10 Unlock Company Profile
International Business Machines Corp 8 Unlock Company Profile
State Grid Hebei Electric Power Supply Co Ltd 8 Unlock Company Profile
Oracle Corp 8 Unlock Company Profile
IHI Corp 7 Unlock Company Profile
Samsara Inc. 6 Unlock Company Profile
Furukawa Co Ltd 5 Unlock Company Profile
Sony Group Corp 5 Unlock Company Profile
ABB Ltd 5 Unlock Company Profile
Caterpillar Inc 5 Unlock Company Profile
General Electric Co 4 Unlock Company Profile
Vestas Wind Systems AS 4 Unlock Company Profile
AMETEK Inc 4 Unlock Company Profile
Arizona Board of Regents 4 Unlock Company Profile
Green Power Labs Inc 3 Unlock Company Profile
Taiwan Power Co Ltd 3 Unlock Company Profile
Enel SpA 3 Unlock Company Profile
State Grid Shanghai Municipal Electric Power Company 3 Unlock Company Profile
Schneider Electric SE 3 Unlock Company Profile
Eaton Corporation Plc 2 Unlock Company Profile
LG Corp 2 Unlock Company Profile
State Grid Energy Saving Service Ltd 2 Unlock Company Profile
Microsoft Corp 2 Unlock Company Profile
Applied Underwriters Inc 2 Unlock Company Profile
Ming Yang Smart Energy Group Ltd 1 Unlock Company Profile
Qingdao Topscomm Communication, Inc. 1 Unlock Company Profile
Hangzhou Power Supply Company State Grid Zhejiang Electric Power Co Ltd 1 Unlock Company Profile
State Grid NARI Nanjing Control System Co Ltd 1 Unlock Company Profile
Qingdao Power Supply Company Of State Grid Shandong Electric Power Company 1 Unlock Company Profile
Huaneng Group Technology Innovation Center Co Ltd 1 Unlock Company Profile
Xiamen Epgis Information Technology Co Ltd 1 Unlock Company Profile
Kingsoft Corporation Ltd 1 Unlock Company Profile
North China Branch of State Grid Corporation of China 1 Unlock Company Profile
Intel Corp 1 Unlock Company Profile
Huawei Technologies Co Ltd 1 Unlock Company Profile
Shijiazhuang Changshan Textile Co Ltd 1 Unlock Company Profile
Huaneng Power International Inc 1 Unlock Company Profile
China Three Gorges Corp 1 Unlock Company Profile
Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology 1 Unlock Company Profile
China Huaneng Group Co Ltd 1 Unlock Company Profile
Dongfeng Motor Corp 1 Unlock Company Profile
Hwasung Co., Ltd 1 Unlock Company Profile
Uni-President China Holdings Ltd 1 Unlock Company Profile

Source: GlobalData Patent Analytics

State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) is one of the leading patent filers in power generation forecasting. The company’s core business includes the construction and operation of power grids. It focuses on research and development of ultra-high voltage (UHV) transmission and smart grid technologies. SGCC owns proprietary intellectual property rights and promotes the export of technology and related equipment. It also operates large-scale commercial UHV projects. SGCC supplies power to municipalities, provinces, and autonomous regions, servicing most of the territory in China. Some other key patent filers in the automotive industry include Wobben Properties, Hitachi, and Toshiba.

In terms of application diversity, Herrmann Ultraschalltechnik leads the pack, while Clean Power Research and Panasonic stood in the second and third positions, respectively. By means of geographic reach, Acciona held the top position, followed by Dominion Energy and Nichicon.

To further understand the key themes and technologies disrupting the power industry, access GlobalData’s latest thematic research report on Artificial intelligence (AI) in Power.

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GlobalData, the leading provider of industry intelligence, provided the underlying data, research, and analysis used to produce this article.

GlobalData’s Patent Analytics tracks patent filings and grants from official offices around the world. Textual analysis and official patent classifications are used to group patents into key thematic areas and link them to specific companies across the world’s largest industries.