From Vision to Reality: How Is AI Reshaping the Energy Sector in Practice?
The Digital Energy program of the French Development Agency (AFD), in partnership with Onepoint, organized the AI x Energy event on July 8 at Onepoint’s offices in Paris to explore how artificial intelligence can and will transform the energy sector.
Designed with a strong focus on practical applications, the event combined forward-looking perspectives with concrete feedback from the field: what is already changing, what challenges still remain, and what conditions are needed to move from pilot projects to solutions deployed at scale. The objective was to provide participants with actionable insights and real-world use cases to help them embrace AI today.
Programme highlights included:
- Welcome session
- Opening remarks by Emmanuel Baudran, Deputy Executive Director for Sustainable Development Solutions at AFD.
- Forward-looking keynote: “The Future of AI: What Transformations Should We Really Expect?” by Gontran Peubez, Partner Executive VP Data & AI at Onepoint.
Conference: “AI for Energy: From Promises to Concrete Uses Already Transforming Energy Systems” by François Krempp (Energy Expert, Onepoint).
This session moved beyond the paradox of energy-hungry AI and explored practical examples where AI is already helping to improve energy production, stabilize networks, reduce consumption, and optimize energy purchasing in both Europe and Africa. The presentation covered the four key segments of the energy value chain through operational use cases already in deployment.
Panel discussion: “From Europe to Africa: what new energy models in the age of AI?”
This discussion addressed AI in the energy sector without filters: which use cases are truly delivering value, where data acts as an accelerator or bottleneck, how AI is already transforming production, buildings, and power grids, how approaches can be adapted to the realities of African energy systems, and what emerging challenges are arising around energy costs and digital sovereignty. The panel featured cross-sector perspectives, including Bruno Fiastre from Deepki (Sales Director), Antoine Djigbenou from Eranove (Executive Digital Transformation), and AWS.
Startup demonstrations of four AI use cases
Presentation of proofs of concept in generative and agentic AI, led by four startups supported by AFD’s Digital Energy program, showcasing highly operational use cases: automated quality control of metering data (Fuel Switch), monitoring and maintenance of mini-grids (My Joule Box), customer support for distributed solar services (ICE Solar), natural-language exploration of power grid evolution scenarios (Roseau Technologies)
🚀 Relive 48 hours of innovation with the Digital Energy AI Hackathon and AI x Energy. Check out the aftermovie! 🎬
