UK Opens Call for Views on AI in Energy, Strategy Due Next Year
The United Kingdom has launched an "AI for clean energy vision" and is asking industry how artificial intelligence could transform the energy system, UK DESNZ said.
Martin McCluskey, Minister for Local Energy and Jobs, set out the vision in a speech on 8 September 2026, delivered at the Google for Startups Accelerator: Europe event in London.
What comes back from the call for views will underpin an "AI in Energy Strategy" the government has said it will publish next year.
An independent review of how AI is being deployed across UK electricity networks is being published at the same time. Lucy Yu, the government's AI Energy Champion, led that review, and McCluskey credited her work on it in the speech.
McCluskey used installed capacity figures to describe the system AI would be applied to. Solar installations across the UK passed the 2 million mark in March 2026, a first, according to the speech.
Offshore wind accounts for the bulk of grid-connected renewable capacity cited. The UK had nearly 3,000 fully commissioned offshore wind turbines spread across 46 wind farms in 2025, delivering up to 16.5 GW connected to the grid, McCluskey said.
The consultation invites views on how AI could change the running of that fleet, which spans millions of small solar installations and dozens of offshore sites.
Source: gov.uk (opens in a new tab)1 sourcePermalink