Master's thesis: Correcting Electricity and Natural Gas Measurements using AI

Key Skills

Aartificial intelligence, Algorithms, Database, Design, Finance, IT, Machine learning techniques, Management, RNNs, XGBoost

Job Description

Specialists at the metering companies make manual estimations of the energy usage over time, by looking at the energy volume, earlier usage of the client, and other factors. AI algorithm could possibly do the same thing. We want to learn more about Machine Learning algorithms and techniques, which may assist the specialists. We are especially curious about algorithms such as XGBoost and the family of RNNs.

Required interest(s)

• Algorithms
• Artificial Intelligence
• Machine Learning
• XHBoost
• RNN's

What do you get

• A challenging assignment within a practical environment
• € 1000 compensation, € 500 + lease car or € 600 + living space
• Professional guidance
• Courses aimed at your graduation period
• Support from our academic Research center at your disposal
• Two vacation days per month

What you will do

• 65% Research
• 10% Analyze, design, realize
• 25% Documentation

»

Large consumers of the Dutch energy grid, such as industrial clients, don’t get an energy meter from their regional grid operator. Instead, they need to choose a third party — a metering company — to conduct energy consumption measurements. These are used for billing and to give clients insight into their energy usage. For example, by measuring the electricity use every fifteen minutes and providing usage graphs and tables.

The metering devices installed by these companies usually allow the energy usage statistics to be accessed remotely. Most often this can be done without a hitch. However, sometimes the measurements seem to be missing or contain errors.

For billing this does not pose a problem, since a meter reading could still be done physically, to learn the consumed energy volume since the last reading. However, you lose insights in the exact energy usage over time (the 15 minute readings) by doing so. As a result, clients will lose valuable information on their energy consumption.

Currently, specialists at the metering companies make manual estimations of the energy usage over time, by looking at the energy volume, earlier usage of the client, and other factors. However, this requires large amounts of time from the specialists, while an AI algorithm could possibly do the same thing. Maybe even better than a trained engineer.

In this research we want to learn more about Machine Learning algorithms and techniques, which may assist the specialists in estimating the 15 minute readings, given the total energy usage of the time period for which the exact measurements are missing. Data on previous energy usage could be used as a training set to solve this task. We are especially curious about algorithms such as XGBoost and the family of RNNs. In addition, we would like to learn more about the (un)certainty of the recommendations made by the ML model, to give the specialists more clarity on whether a specific recommendation should be followed.

»

About Info Support Research Center

We anticipate on upcoming and future challenges and ensures our engineers develop cutting-edge solutions based on the latest scientific insights. Our research community proactively tackles emerging technologies. We do this in cooperation with renowned scientists, making sure that research teams are positioned and embedded throughout our organisation and our community, so that their insights are directly applied to our business. We truly believe in sharing knowledge, so we want to do this without any restrictions.

Read more about Info Support Research here.

What does Info Support offer you during your graduation period?

Of course, we offer you an excellent package of graduation conditions with various options. These include:

• Laptop, all necessary tools, and development environments to successfully carry out your assignment
• A graduation allowance, where you have the choice of:
• € 1000 gross per month
• € 500 gross per month + lease car with fuel card
• €600 gross per month + accommodation in Veenendaal

During your graduation internship, you will be included in one of our business units and in our Research Center. This will give you a good understanding of the developments within our projects and our research projects.

In addition, Info Support offers you:

• A challenging master’s thesis at a solid, growing, and financially healthy company
• Professional and experienced guidance, hybrid working
• A graduation program with, among other things, training sessions, knowledge evenings, project visits, activities, and team, unit, and company outings
• Experimentation with new products and releases that are in the pre-release phase
• Brainstorming with other graduates and IT colleagues who are collegial and passionate
• Potential for a permanent position in our IT Top Traineeship program!

About Info Support

Info Support specializes in custom software, data/AI solutions, management, and training and is active in the Finance, Industry, Agriculture, Food & Retail, Mobility & Public, and Healthcare sectors. We provide solid and innovative solutions for complex and critical software issues. Our headquarters are located in Veenendaal (NL) and Mechelen (BE). At present, approximately 500 employees are employed by Info Support.