As we’ve continued working with our valued customers and onboarding new ones, one thing has become increasingly clear: comprehensive datasets accessible through traditional dashboard interfaces and API backends can’t give you all the answers you need.

So we rolled up our sleeves and rolled out Agents.

While the term “agents” might sound intimidating, think of them as a dedicated team of specialists working for you behind the scenes. Agents are here to talk with you through our chat, orchestrate complex tasks, send specific scheduled insights, and alert you when you need to know something important.

Erode agents can do everything from helping you understand how to best use and set up your Erode account for your business, to establishing specific workflows you’d like to repeat consistently.

Test them out in our free trial of the P49 Forecast Club! Let us know your favourite ways to use them to save time or unlock hard to reach insights and give us a shout with things you’d like to see!

With the current heat wave in France, here’s an example!

Mother Nature has been ruthlessly unpredictable in the Prairies this spring. Heading into summer, most of Alberta was looking parched, with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada showing conditions ranging from abnormally dry all the way to severe drought across key farming regions, giving Alberta the dubious crown of the most drought-stricken province in the Prairies.

Then a twist: the rain arrived, but refused to spread out. Many regions in eastern Alberta and western Saskatchewan received up to 300% of the monthly normal in a single late-May day, while others a short drive away got nothing and are still waiting. May also couldn't commit to a temperature, swinging from unseasonably cold to a record-breaking 34–37°C. The swings also brought high winds, dust storms, degraded fields, and blocked culverts.

When the seasonal average says everything's fine but some fields are flooded and others are bone dry, the average stops being useful. 🎲

After ~15 years and roughly $6B, the Champlain Hudson Power Express officially began its New York contract on June 1, capable of pushing 1,250 megawatts of hydropower to the city, enough for about a million homes, and roughly a fifth of NYC's electricity needs. Governor Hochul cut the ribbon on June 16.

The catch? Barely any electrons have actually made the trip yet. Per NYISO data, power flowed for the first two days of June, then trickled to zero between June 4 and 10. The near-term cause is administrative: a NYISO rule requires suppliers to bid a month ahead, so Hydro-Québec (HQ) expects full flows by July. But the more interesting part is what won't change: even at full capacity, the line is built to run when prices are high, firm delivery is concentrated in the summer months, and the amount of water HQ can spare is capped by a multi-year drought and rising demand back home.

"1,250 MW of capacity" is really 1,250 MW filtered through a bidding rule, a price signal, a contract calendar, and a snowpack. Anyone trying to forecast what actually shows up on the wire has four moving layers to model before they even get to the weather. 🧩

In early June, CTO Craig MacRitchie met with partners, colleagues, and new connections at the Global Energy Show Canada in Calgary, Canada.

These days Artificial Intelligence is top of mind for everyone, and it was certainly a theme at this event, with conversations ranging from operations and maintenance to forecasting and optimization. Across the board there's a clear shift from talking about AI to figuring out where it creates measurable value.

As the technology evolves quickly, we’ve seen the emphasis shift from building better models towards getting the right information and context to decision makers when they need it.

We're also fortunate to be part of Amii (Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute)’s Level Up program, a program designed to support rapidly scaling Canadian AI startups! A few months into the program, it's been great getting immersed in the community helping to grow Alberta's AI ecosystem.

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Are you trying to figure out what’s coming your way, or what others around you are doing? Struggling to make sense of massive datasets? Use Erode AI to build and deploy custom AI agents and forecasts, and get insights into water, wind, solar, and many other weather-impacted outcomes!

Want to learn more about how Erode AI can help your team manage uncertainty and improve insights? Get started for free! ⬇️

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