Keeping the lights on sustainably in today’s modern world requires Real AI. Not only do power producers need to maintain a constant stream of electricity, but they contend with issues that Sir Adam Beck never could have expected more than 100 years ago when he founded what is known today as Ontario Power Generation: customers feeding-back their own electricity from solar panels, and heavy industry charging backup batteries in the wee hours of the morning when power is cheap.

Pender is using artificial intelligence and machine learning to help determine changes in cost of generating electricity, and when it makes sense to sell energy to neighboring provinces like Quebec and Manitoba, and into regions still using coal-fired plants like Michigan. “The degree to which we can trade with our neighbors and do that economically, I think, is beneficial for society,” says Pender, pointing out, “emissions don’t care about borders.”