Energy companies partner with Google Cloud to drive AI-powered energy solutions

The global energy industry faces a complex mix of pressures, including rising demand, aging infrastructure, fluctuating fuel prices, and extreme weather events that are becoming more frequent and severe, straining our power grids. There has never been a more important time for the energy industry to change how it powers our world — and the rise of generative AI (gen AI) and other cloud technologies provides this opportunity.

Today, Google Cloud shared how it's working with energy companies and energy solution providers to address these challenges, providing the AI, analytics, infrastructure, and high-performance computing they need to become smarter and more efficient. And next week, at CERAWeek 2025, you’ll be able to see many of these solutions in action.

Predicting the unpredictable: WeatherNext for businesses

Increasingly frequent and extreme weather events pose monumental challenges to global energy companies. Hurricanes, heat waves, and cold snaps threaten their infrastructure and the communities they serve. In 2024 alone, the United States experienced 27 extreme weather events, with each one causing more than $1 billion in losses.

Imagine having significantly more accurate weather forecasts, extending up to 15 days out, allowing energy companies more advance warning to protect and preserve their assets, and keep the lights on and communities safe. That's the goal of Google DeepMind and Google Research's WeatherNext, now available to Google Cloud enterprise customers. This AI-powered technology provides two models, WeatherNext Graph and WeatherNext Gen, that offer vastly improved predictions for both everyday weather and extreme events. Energy companies, retailers, supply chain businesses, and manufacturers can leverage these insights to proactively prepare for weather disruptions, optimize operations, and build more resilient businesses. Energy companies can now better predict supply; retailers can adjust inventory based on anticipated demand; and manufacturers can optimize production schedules and transportation routes – all thanks to more accurate weather forecasting.

Smarter homes, stronger grids: Carrier

The future of energy is also getting smarter at home. Carrier Global Corporation, a global leader in intelligent climate and energy solutions, is teaming up with Google Cloud to create more intelligent, connected energy solutions. Carrier's battery-enabled technology, delivered through its Home Energy Management System (HEMS) and combined with Google Cloud AI, will allow grid operators to optimize energy consumption, reduce grid strain, and even contribute to a more stable and sustainable grid.

WeatherNext plays a crucial role here too, enabling energy demand prediction which will allow Carrier to orchestrate more intelligent battery charging and discharging management. This collaboration aims to create “virtual power plants” by aggregating home battery capacity, ultimately benefiting both homeowners and the energy grid. For homeowners, this means they can expect to store energy in HVAC batteries and use it during peak demand periods, when electricity costs are typically higher. Google’s AI-powered WeatherNext models further optimize HVAC operation, enabling greater efficiency and potential cost savings. This will help promote greater availability, reliability and affordability for energy users.

Accelerating geothermal energy adoption: SLB and Project Innerspace

Google Cloud also announced it is collaborating with Project Innerspace and SLB to accelerate the adoption of geothermal energy, a key solution to meeting today’s growing energy needs. The emerging U.S. manufacturing renaissance and electrification across industries is driving a new wave of opportunity and a significant uptick in electricity demand. A recent IEA report, produced in partnership with Project Innerspace, indicates that geothermal energy has the potential to meet global electricity demands 140 times over, coming second only to solar photovoltaic among clean energy technologies.

By combining GeoMap, Project Innerspace's innovative geothermal resource evaluation tool that uses Google Earth Engine, with SLB’s GeothermEx leading expertise and Google Cloud infrastructure, BigQuery, and Vertex AI, the collaboration aims to provide companies with the data and insights necessary to identify promising geothermal sites and optimize operations. This collaboration paves the way for widespread geothermal deployment on a global scale and will help meet future energy needs.

To continue the momentum of innovation in this space, we’re also launching our first ever Google for Startups Accelerator: AI for Energy. This equity-free program offers 10 weeks of intensive mentorship and technical project support to startups that are integrating AI into their core energy services or products. Applications are now open for the North America cohort, with more updates coming soon for Europe.

From more accurate weather forecasting, to smarter home energy management, to the exploration of new renewable sources and start-up help, these new advancements in energy, AI, and cloud technologies are paving the way for a more resilient and sustainable future.

WeatherNext is available now to Google Cloud enterprise customers. To request access to the data, visit deepmind.google/technologies/weathernext/. Contact your Google Cloud account representative or contact Google Cloud Consulting to learn more about how Google Cloud can help you build custom solutions.

To learn more, businesses can also register for a Google Cloud visit at CERAWeek, and keep up with the latest news on our newsroom and blog.