Enel’s 2025 AI Strategy: How Grid Modernization Creates a Competitive Moat

Enel’s AI Projects in 2025: From Pilots to Commercial Scale Grid Solutions

Enel has transitioned its artificial intelligence strategy from targeted operational pilots to comprehensive, commercial-scale platforms that are central to its business model.

• Between 2021 and 2024, Enel focused on validating AI’s potential through specific applications, such as using machine learning to achieve a 300% improvement in recovering energy from theft in Spain and partnering with Perceptual Robotics in December 2021 to automate wind turbine inspections with drones. These initiatives proved the technology’s value in discrete operational areas and laid the groundwork for broader implementation.
• Starting in 2025, the strategy shifted to enterprise-level deployment, underscored by the announcement of its grid Digital Twin in September 2025. This platform now manages grid operations across nine countries and has automated 80% of customer quotes, demonstrating AI’s integration into core business processes at a massive scale.
• This evolution from isolated projects to a unified platform shows that AI is no longer a tool for incremental efficiency but a foundational enabler for new revenue streams. The December 2025 partnership with Leap to accelerate Virtual Power Plant (VPP) growth in the U.S. commercializes Enel‘s AI capabilities by creating new grid-balancing services.

Enel’s AI Investment Analysis: Billions Poured into Grid Digitalization

Enel‘s investment strategy is dominated by massive capital allocations toward grid digitalization, creating the intelligent infrastructure necessary for its AI-driven objectives. The company has committed tens of billions to modernize its networks, which serves as the foundational layer for deploying advanced analytics, predictive maintenance, and new energy services. This financial commitment shows that Enel views its grid not just as a network for electrons, but as a data-generating platform to be monetized through AI.

Table: Enel’s Strategic Investments in AI and Digitalization (2023-2025)

Enel’s Strategic AI Partnerships: Building a Tech Ecosystem in 2025

Enel actively cultivates a network of technology partners to accelerate innovation and acquire specialized AI capabilities. These collaborations span grid management, financial trading, cybersecurity, and customer engagement, allowing Enel to integrate best-in-class solutions across its value chain. This ecosystem approach reduces in-house development risk and ensures the company remains at the forefront of technological adoption.

Table: Enel’s Key AI-Related Partnerships (2021-2025)

Enel’s Global AI Grid Strategy: A Focus on Italy, Spain, and the US

Enel‘s AI grid modernization strategy is anchored in its core European markets, particularly Italy and Spain, while simultaneously targeting the United States for high-growth commercial opportunities.

• From 2021 to 2024, Enel‘s activities centered on proving AI’s value within its established European footprint. This included deploying machine learning models that dramatically improved fraud detection in Spain and Italy and establishing an innovation lab in Tel Aviv to import new technologies for its core operations.
• In 2025, this geographic focus was codified in the €26 billion grid investment plan, which allocates 62% of funds to Italy, 16% to Spain, and 22% to Latin America. This demonstrates a deep commitment to digitalizing its primary service areas as the foundation of its AI strategy.
• Concurrently, Enel is using its AI expertise to expand commercially in the United States. The December 2025 partnership with Leap is exclusively focused on growing the U.S. VPP market, while the acquisition of 285 MW of U.S. renewable capacity in May 2025 expands the asset base that its AI platforms will manage in this key growth region.

Enel’s AI Technology: From Predictive Maintenance Pilots to Commercial-Scale Digital Twins

Enel has matured its AI applications from pilot-stage predictive analytics to fully commercialized, large-scale platforms that manage network-wide operations.

• The 2021–2024 period was characterized by technology validation for specific use cases. Partnerships with iMerit in March 2023 to analyze sensor data and with Perceptual Robotics in 2021 for automated drone inspections were instrumental in proving the business case for AI in asset management.
• By 2025, the technology reached a new level of maturity and scale with the rollout of the grid Digital Twin. This platform represents a fundamental shift from analyzing individual assets to managing the entire grid as a unified, intelligent system, enabling advanced simulations and automating complex processes across nine countries.
• This technological progression is further evident in the deployment of customer-facing AI like the Elena chatbot and the use of AI to enable new business models, such as aggregating distributed energy resources for VPPs. This demonstrates that AI has moved from an internal optimization tool to a core component of Enel‘s product and service offerings.

Enel’s AI Grid Modernization SWOT Analysis: A 2025 Perspective

Table: SWOT Analysis of Enel’s AI Strategy for Grid Modernization

Future Outlook: How Enel Will Monetize its AI-Powered Grid

Enel‘s critical next action is to translate its massive capital investment in an AI-ready grid into accelerated earnings by capturing the energy demand from the data center boom and scaling new digital energy services.

• The upcoming 2026-28 Strategic Plan will be the key document to watch, as it must demonstrate a clear path for the €26 billion grid investment to deliver substantial returns through new efficiencies and revenue streams.
• Enel‘s announcement in November 2025 of its intent to develop data centers is a pivotal strategic move. The market will be watching for firm contracts with technology companies, which would directly monetize the power-intensive growth of the AI industry.
• The partnership with Leap in the U.S. serves as a blueprint for expanding Enel‘s VPP business globally. Its success will be measured by the rate of new distributed energy resource enrollment and the revenue generated from providing flexibility services to the grid.
• With the Agentic AI in Energy market projected to grow at a CAGR of 37.49%, Enel is well-positioned to commercialize its AI platforms. Future announcements from its subsidiary Gridspertise regarding new contracts with other utilities will signal its ability to lead and shape this emerging market.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the core of Enel’s AI strategy in 2025?
In 2025, Enel’s strategy has shifted from isolated AI pilots to deploying comprehensive, commercial-scale platforms. The centerpiece is its grid Digital Twin, a system that manages operations across nine countries. The strategy is built on a massive €26 billion investment in grid digitalization, which serves as the foundation for creating new AI-driven revenue streams like Virtual Power Plants (VPPs).

What is the ‘Digital Twin’ and why is it significant for Enel?
The Digital Twin is a large-scale platform rolled out in September 2025 that creates a virtual replica of Enel’s grid network. It is significant because it marks the transition from analyzing individual assets to managing the entire grid as a unified, intelligent system. It has already demonstrated its value by automating 80% of customer quotes and enables advanced simulations and automation across nine countries.

How is Enel planning to monetize its investment in AI and grid modernization?
Enel plans to monetize its AI-powered grid in several ways. Key strategies include capturing the high energy demand from the growing AI and data center industry, scaling new digital energy services like Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) through partnerships like the one with Leap, and commercializing its AI platforms by selling technology to other utilities through its subsidiary, Gridspertise.

Which geographic regions are the focus of Enel’s AI grid strategy?
Enel’s strategy has a dual geographic focus. The foundational investment in grid modernization is concentrated in its core European markets, with the 2025-2027 plan allocating 62% of funds to Italy and 16% to Spain. Concurrently, Enel is targeting the United States as a key commercial growth market, using its AI expertise to expand its VPP business and manage a growing portfolio of renewable assets.

What are the main risks associated with Enel’s ambitious AI strategy?
According to the SWOT analysis, the primary weaknesses and risks include the immense capital expenditure (€26 billion) required for grid upgrades, which puts pressure on the company to deliver financial returns quickly. Additionally, the increased digitalization of the grid elevates its exposure to cybersecurity risks, a threat Enel is addressing through partnerships with specialists like Nozomi Networks.