Artificial intelligence: Italgas accelerates operational models and training

The direction is the one traced by Italgas CEO Paolo Gallo who, since his arrival at the helm, has promoted a profound metamorphosis of the group by putting in place a long-term industrial and digital transformation path with the aim of making the gas distribution network safer, more efficient, resilient and sustainable. It is no coincidence, therefore, that starting in 2017, Italgas has set up one of the most advanced gas network digitisation programmes in Europe, revolutionising the management of the infrastructure, now focused on n a continuous and reliable flow of information to support operational and strategic decisions.

Starting from here, therefore, artificial intelligence has been progressively integrated into the company's core processes in order to accompany a whole series of activities, from the continuous monitoring of the network with the timely detection of anomalies to the improvement of safety and the reduction of methane emissions. It is not, therefore, the answer to a technological fad, but the natural evolution of a coherent industrial strategy, as Italgas Reti CEO Pier Lorenzo Dell'Orco explains to Il Sole 24 Ore. "For Italgas, artificial intelligence represents a concrete industrial lever, included in the broader digital transformation path started in 2017. The adoption of AI solutions makes it possible to make infrastructure management more efficient and to further raise the level of security, allowing us to provide the community with an excellent quality service at sustainable costs," clarifies the top manager, who lines up some milestones.

'There are currently around fifty artificial intelligence models in operation, ten of which are based on Generative AI technologies (i.e. artificial intelligence capable of creating new content, ed.) with a data processing capacity of up to 2.5 terabytes per day,' Dell'Orco continues. 'This is a strategic pillar of the industrial plan that translates into a measurable acceleration of efficiency.

In fact, the industrial plan assigns digitalisation and artificial intelligence a central role in the group's growth: in its strategy to 2031, Italgas has thus planned more than EUR 3.1 billion in investments to accelerate the change of pace in this direction, in continuity with the commitment already launched in the previous plan (2024-2030), which set the company's effort for digitalisation at around EUR 2.9 billion.

For Italgas, which is also ready to file an appeal against the awarding to Novareti of the tender for gas distribution in the Trento Atem, AI is no longer just an experiment, therefore. As mentioned, the group has introduced artificial intelligence agents in core areas, for example, in claims management, the IT help desk and operational training: not simple virtual assistants, but entities based on generative AI, designed to integrate into business processes and support people in their daily work.