National Grid and Keen AI Develop Britain’s First Shared AI System for the Grid

National Grid and Keen AI have secured Alpha-phase funding from the Strategic Innovation Fund, an Ofgem programme managed in partnership with Innovate UK, to develop Foundational Shared Model Operations (FoSMo), Britain’s first collaborative AI system for asset management across the electricity network.

FoSMo is a shared AI model that standardises how electricity network operators collect, analyse and act on visual data from their physical assets. 

The £355,985 Alpha award follows the successful completion of the project's discovery phase, which proved the concept across participating networks. 

The Alpha phase brings together all three of Great Britain's electricity transmission operators - National Grid (lead partner), SP Energy Networks and SSEN Transmission - alongside distribution operators UK Power Networks and Electricity North West. 

Rather than each operator building its own detection tools in isolation, FoSMo allows the pooling of anonymised data from across the industry to create a single, continuously improving foundational model that any participating UK operator can use. 

Opportunity for greater collaboration in an interconnected network 

The UK’s electricity network physically operates as a single interconnected system, yet the AI used to monitor it is being built individually. Operators share many of the same components - pylons, cables, insulators, fittings - which all encounter similar asset health challenges. 

Defects and components are rare, meaning a single operator may not have enough examples to train a robust model. The lack of shared knowledge forces each operator to develop its own detection tool from scratch, duplicating effort and delaying the identification of high-risk assets. 

A shared foundation 

FoSMo addresses this by standardising data collection and analysis across the industry, creating a shared foundation model that any participant can fine-tune for its own network.

The model draws on anonymised datasets contributed by participating operators, made available under a permissive licence at no further cost. Keen AI, having already processed over one billion images for its UK electricity transmission and distribution customers, will serve as the technical steward responsible for developing, maintaining and hosting the models in the UK. 

By pooling data across the industry, FoSMo is projected to produce more accurate models than any single operator could build alone, while removing the cost of duplicating similar work across multiple organisations. 

If adopted across all participating operators, the shared approach is expected to save the industry around £22.6 million over five years from 2027, including avoided spend from operators independently building their own models, and fewer faults from improved condition assessment.

Benefits to consumers

With near 100% reliability, the UK has one of the most reliable and resilient energy networks in the world and network operators continually test and improve their procedures to ensure disruptions are very rare events. 

However, with the electricity network comprising around 500,000 miles of wires and cables, faults can occasionally occur, and improved condition assessment from the FOSMO model would mean fewer and shorter power cuts for consumers. 

By identifying defects on overhead line components before they cause failures, the model is projected to prevent around 85,000 consumer interruptions and 5.2 million minutes of power loss each year once fully adopted. 

The model is also designed to support the rapid expansion of the grid required to meet the UK’s decarbonisation targets. As new overhead lines, substations and connection points are commissioned, FoSMo provides a ready-made AI layer for monitoring those assets from day one.

Building domestic capability for critical infrastructure 

The UK government has designated the electricity network infrastructure a “critical national priority” under its revised National Policy Statement for Energy, with Ofgem describing the current grid investment programme as “a long-term insurance policy against threats to Britain’s energy security.” 

FoSMo ensures this work is done in the UK, by UK operators, with data held domestically. By bringing together all major electricity network operators under a single collaborative framework, it creates an industry-owned alternative to fragmented or overseas solutions, keeping sovereign control of a technology layer that will power Britain's energy infrastructure for decades to come.

The model is underpinned by the highest levels of data protection - where data is required, it is designed to be retained and controlled within each asset operator’s own environment, with a strong focus on minimising the collection and long term storage of data for the security and resilience of the model. 

Matthew Ward, Innovation Engineer, National Grid Electricity Transmission, Lead Partner, said: “We recognise the significant value that AI tools can bring to enhancing operational insight and efficiency, so we’re very pleased to work with Keen AI on this project. 

“By pooling data and expertise, the model has the potential to support our upgrades of the grid while also making considerable cost savings across the industry.”

Amjad Karim, CEO and Founder of Keen AI, said: “The UK is investing tens of billions in its electricity network. We can either build the AI that manages it ourselves or hand that capability to someone else. FoSMo keeps it here with AI developed collaboratively, data owned by the industry, and only getting better as the grid expands. 

"When every major network operator shares what they know about their assets, we end up with something more robust than any of them could build alone. That’s how the UK can future-proof a grid that’s about to double in size.”