If you think Houston is the Energy Capital of the World, you may have heard of an energy industry get-together called CERAWeek, hosted by S&P Global. Two weeks ago, ~10,000 people convened in Houston to discuss almost every aspect of the global energy business. This year, I returned not as a conference host, as in previous years, but as a startup executive. 

CERAWeek is an energy conference, but much of its value derives from how it addresses and incorporates the energy sector’s essential adjacencies: geopolitics, technology, and this year in particular, artificial intelligence. 

In fact, CERAWeek’s Innovation Agora felt more to me like an AI conference with an energy track, than an energy conference with an AI interest bolt-on. The usual suspects from the big tech and technology consulting companies attended in force, proudly showing their wares. Most of the messaging and demos were designed to convey future potential just as much as current capability. AI was even showing signs of human frailty, as one AI chatbot with a human face couldn’t seem to hear me over the din of the crowd. 

Once you tune out the hard-of-hearing chatbots, many panels and pod sessions are more process-oriented, such as how artificial intelligence automates industrial processes — or in Halcyon’s case, accelerates and automates professional services. I sat on a panel with Schneider Electric and ABB, two giants in the energy and industry world, who discussed the former; I discussed the latter.  

I know that “automates professional services” sounds great from a main stage, but here on screen, it is a fairly low-resolution statement. So, let me explain what Halcyon means when it says “automating professional services” with artificial intelligence. 

During one of my many hallway conversations with industry friends, I heard that capital costs for gas power generation turbines — and their associated plants and equipment — have increased precipitously recently. This is nothing I didn’t know anecdotally; in fact, I think that the entire industry knows this anecdotally, and executives said as much onstage there in Houston. 

But I am not interested in anecdotes; I am interested in information. So, I asked my friend to explain further what they had heard exactly regarding gas turbines. What they were hearing: costs have tripled since 2017, and as a result, not only are new plants obviously more expensive, but older operational plants have much more favorable economics, given that they are fully amortized and already in place. New plants are scarce and expensive, and old plants are available and cheap, even when factoring for fuel costs and emissions compliance costs. 

Halcyon makes verification easy. Here are the sources for Legend Power & FPL Dania Beach

Understandable, and also understood. And this is where Halcyon’s automation comes in: using technology to derive the actual pricing information, not anecdotes, from public filings. Halcyon is able to search across dockets covering 70% of US electricity demand today, and find cost figures, timelines, and qualitative information on plant construction within this constantly refreshing information pool. 

In addition, Halcyon can track technology developments as well, such as what new gas plants are being planned with hydrogen co-firing capabilities, or which are compatible with future carbon capture and storage. And, Halcyon can interrogate proceedings for other relevant information as well, such as turbine manufacturer market share and delivery lead times. 

We make this information available today through direct customer engagements via Halcyon Helpdesk, our service that helps energy professionals jumpstart complex research projects. But we know, too, that people want this information already-built and regularly updated (as in, more than once a year).

So, we are developing data products like capital cost indexes that put this information at your fingertips. These products will capture all of the information above, and do so dynamically. We know the value of quarterly data sets, yet we also expect more value from data products that draw directly from information flow in real time. And finally, we know the value of rigorous data sourcing and documentation. Institutional information consumers need to know not just what they are getting from information providers, but also how that information is sourced, processed, and distributed.  

In other words, when that executive up on stage in Houston says that capital costs have tripled, our job as energy professionals is to trust-but-verify that the data bears out reality. At Halcyon, our job is to help those energy professionals verify that data as quickly and painlessly as possible; in a world where recency and authoritativeness are table stakes, you are free to focus your time on higher-value strategic tasks like figuring out what to do with the data (or fine-tuning your chatbot’s audio settings).

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