Energy

Energy, no matter what form it is derived from, has powered our modern civilization to reach new heights in innovation and capability. With a global population that is growing exponentially, pressing environmental issues and rising costs, the demand for efficient energy production and reliable supply has never been more in the spotlight. The trend for consumer goods and consumption within homes, commercial and industrial facilities is becoming more energy efficient, albeit slow, but the infrastructure used to product, transport and supply energy is ageing, and typically involves complex and interdependent systems that present challenges in monitoring and management. The Internet of Things (IoT) has brought about new ways of overcoming these challenges by levering smart sensors, meters, digital controls and analytics, providing real-time monitoring of energy flow for optimized grid performance, high asset uptime through predictive maintenance to reduce outages and costs, and more effective management of energy usage.

Energy Metering

Ageing infrastructure and the rise of on-site renewable energy is responsible for large variances in energy consumption in different regional areas. With the use of smart meters in energy grids, homes, commercial and industrial facilities, energy companies can use dashboards to actively monitor energy consumption in real-time for different grid zones, optimizing energy supply to areas where consumption is high.

Energy companies could also use smart meters to compare variance in grid consumption and supply to determine where ageing infrastructure requires immediate attention. The same real-time insight can be used to promote energy saving incentives for areas that have high consumption during peak hour periods.

Energy Grid Elements

The infrastructure behind energy production, transformation and supply is aging with little changes to enhance resiliency. They often involve complex, interdependent systems with components that are prone to fail. When there is a power outage, it generally occurs unexpectedly. To address the problem, maintenance is scheduled regularly and diagnosis and repairs are reactive measures, both of which are expensive and time consuming.

With IoT energy companies can can decouple complex, interdependent systems into separately monitored components that are prone to fail. Smart sensors continually monitor the physical parameters of the components in real-time, and a ‘digital twin’ is modelled in software. Predictive analytics determine when the component is expected to fail, and the outcome is to facilitate preventative maintenance, providing high uptime on energy supply.

Energy Billing & Advice

The use of smart metering enables energy providers to develop new business models that are beneficial to its customers, strengthening its image and service quality. By installing several smart meters in a home, commercial or industrial facility, energy suppliers can help customers track their energy consumption during particular periods of the day and create profiles of where energy is being specifically drawn from. The network of smart meters used for each customer is connected to the cloud, where dashboards for made available for both the energy company and the customer to analyse energy consumption.