Shell is embracing technologies to accelerate development of cleaner energy sources
Last week at Microsoft Ignite, we heard from customers around the world who are reimagining how they use technology to transform their businesses. Leading up to the event, I shared several of those stories with you, and I hope you were able to tune in and hear our customers dive into their amazing transformations. If not, you can access the sessions here.
We also announced some news of our own: We are building on our technology collaboration with Shell by embarking on a new strategic alliance to support progress towards a world with net-zero carbon emissions.
Here are some highlights of the expanded alliance
This past January, we set a target to have 100% of the energy we require across our operations, data centers, buildings and campuses delivered by wind, solar, and hydropower sources by 2025. Today, this target is achievable because of our partnership with Shell and the renewable energy Shell will supply to our operations.
On top of that, we will co-innovate on some transformational technologies. Together, we will continue working on AI solutions that are already driving transformation across Shell’s operations through access to real-time data insights. We will also work together on new digital tools Shell can offer to suppliers and customers to support their own carbon reduction goals.
Finally, we will explore working together to advance the use of sustainable aviation fuels.
How AI is helping Shell accomplish its goals
The new agreement is an expansion of a longstanding technology alliance between Shell and Microsoft. Working together, we have achieved important results, and AI is already infused in a variety of ways at Shell, contributing to worker and onsite safety, and delivering efficiencies that have helped reduce Shell’s carbon emissions.
So far this year, 47 AI-powered proprietary applications have been deployed across Shell’s businesses. Since the workload for these programs is handled through Azure, insights generated in one project can be applied across many others.
Shell is ingesting over 10 billion data points each week from its assets and have aggregated well over a trillion rows of data to date. They are working with Microsoft as well as partners such as Kongsberg and C3 to change the way they monitor facilities. Digital twins are used to weave together this sensor data into a digital fabric bringing in a new era of visually interacting with data and models at asset, equipment and component level..
AI running on Azure is used to optimize Shell’s LNG operations and has shown potential to reduce CO2. By applying AI and machine learning to the real-time data in Shell’s LNG operations, the process can be fine-tuned to make the process much more efficient.
Watch the full conversation
At Ignite, I had the chance to talk to Dan Jeavons, Head of Data Science at Shell, about some of these recent achievements and learn more about how Shell is putting technology to work.
He took me inside one of the company’s LNG facilities to show me how they are transforming their assets, and we also talked about how Shell is using drones with machine vision technology running on Azure to help keep their inspectors out of harm's way. Azure cloud combined with data from Shell assets will further strengthen operational safety, by improving risk analysis, prediction and prevention.
What I love most about this initiative with Shell is that the solutions we develop will be offered to Shell’s customers and partners to drive efficiency and reduce carbon across the energy supply chain. The solutions and advances we create with Shell are not only aligned to its business; they also yield outcomes that matter for the planet.
It was incredible to see how Dan and his team have been bringing these innovations to life. It was a pretty fun conversation and one of my personal highlights from this year's all-virtual Ignite.