Cloud for Remote Monitoring and Management Solutions
Vaclav Sedlacek, Head of Cloud and Software Development, ComAp
Vaclav Sedlacek, Head of Cloud and Software Development, ComAp
Cloud technology has been a game changer in the energy industry. The energy business entails frequent control and maintenance of infrastructure and assets, the need to monitor potential issues and faults, as well as assessment of the energy consumption demand. The cloud has simplified those tasks by enabling remote management and control of critical energy assets.
One of the key benefits of the cloud is its flexibility and scalability, meaning it is easy to adjust the infrastructure as the needs change and grow. Additionally, businesses have greater agility and global reach. These were key elements for us when thinking about developing our remote management and monitoring tool, WebSupervisor.
As a company, we were one of the pioneers in the smart control industry to offer remote monitoring and management services to our customers. Our company is focused on smart energy control and management, working with customers across the world who manage not only traditional grid infrastructure but also hybrid microgrids in remote areas. Being able to have access to their assets, control and follow the work of their assets from anywhere in the world has been a game changer for them.
WebSupervisor is our cutting-edge cloud-based tool that enables users to remotely monitor, control and manage their energy assets from anywhere with an internet connection. The application gives our customers an overview of all their devices and their location, it also comes with sophisticated reporting and analysis tools, trends and heat maps that provide additional value to our customers and help them optimise the work of their power generation fleet, increase the uptime of their assets and reduce maintenance costs.
With the cloud we were able to develop and easily deploy this digital service, which would have taken a very long time if we were using our own server farm. With the increasing complexity of IT environments, it's important to have tools that make deployment as easy as possible. Cloud technology provides several tools and services that can help businesses automate and streamline their deployment processes, such as containerization, orchestration, and continuous integration/continuous deployment pipelines. By using these tools, we ensured that the WebSupervisor service and its updates are deployed quickly, reliably, and consistently.
Instant Data Collection – A Key to Detect Problems Ahead of Time
One very important aspect of the cloud that is also crucial to our customers is the gathering of data to optimise operations and improve decision making. WebSupervisor comes with powerful reporting and analysis tools. One of them is the Alarm Analyser, a feature which analyses the alarms and notifications of potential issues and failures, the type of alarm, frequency and duration. This data enables our customers to catch potential problems ahead of time just by monitoring the operations of their power generation fleet from their mobile device, and with that increase the uptime of their assets and reduce maintenance costs.
Another way in which the data collection feature is beneficial when it comes to remote monitoring in the energy sector is to simplify the monthly fuel/energy consumption calculation. The WebSupervisor dashboard shows data for each individual device or a group of devices with all the important values. In that way, the grid manager can easily invoice the customers according to the consumed fuel or running hours, or simply get an automated and comprehensive overview of used fuel and produced energy.
Gathering data from energy management systems can show consumption trends and with that, help forecast increases/decreases in energy demand and customer consumption in different periods. It can also provide guidance on how to manage the energy sources, or in case of multiple sources such as in a microgrid, which energy source to use at which time.
Taking cloud-based remote monitoring services to the next level
As we can see, the cloud is offering numerous benefits for the development of remote monitoring and control services for the energy industry. Our company has already implemented many of the benefits and will continue to do so with the further advancements of the WebSupervisor remote monitoring tool.
With the increasing complexity of IT environments, it's important to have tools that make deployment as easy as possible.
Microservices is one area that we want to dig deeper in to improve WebSupervisor further. As a software development technique, microservices offer even better scalability, flexibility and maintainability of cloud applications. This is especially important for our case, as it will ensure that we provide even better features and that every new update can be rolled out extremely fast, without any impact on the users.
And then there is artificial intelligence. With the hype around AI, we can only expect that everyone will be finding ways to adopt it. Thinking about how AI can be used for our cloud-based remote monitoring, there are several ways in which it can be implemented to support customers with different requests. Using the data from the energy management systems, AI can help provide advice on how and when to use different energy sources, i.e., when to rely on solar panels, when to switch to the stored energy in the battery energy system and shift the consumption load from the main grid. This would help with the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, decreasing fuel costs and greenhouse emissions.
By harnessing the cloud's capabilities, we have developed a robust and efficient remote management and control solution that empowers customers in the energy sector to optimize their operations, make informed decisions, and drive sustainable and cost-effective outcomes. And as cloud technology continues to develop, we see plenty of room to grow and move forward to ensure energy customers can monitor and manage their operations effectively and securely from their mobile devices.
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