Novo Nordisk Fonden invests DKK 100m in AI project that could cut electricity prices by 10%

Novo Nordisk Fonden will spend up to DKK 100 million on a Nordic research project that uses artificial intelligence to get more out of the electricity cables already in the ground. The aim is to optimise the operation of a strained power grid, with fewer outages, better capacity and noticeably lower prices for both society and business.

The headline claim is that the approach could shave around 10 percent off the electricity price. The project is described as a Nordic collaboration, and Energinet, the Danish grid operator, is named among the companies connected to the story.

Lene Oddershede, research director at Novo Nordisk Fonden, frames the effort as a stopgap. "We have to find some way of getting by until we get new cables and a new grid that is well thought through," she says. In other words, the AI work is meant to bridge the period before new physical infrastructure is built, rather than replace it.

The material available gives only the broad outline: the size of the investment, the goal of squeezing more capacity from existing cables, and the 10 percent price figure. It does not set out how the AI will work, who the research partners are, how long the project will run or on what basis the price reduction is estimated.

It matters because grid capacity is a bottleneck for electricity costs and reliability, and the foundation is betting that software can ease the pressure while the grid is being expanded.