The energy industry is going through an important transformation. Simultaneously with wind, storage, solar, and other technologies, the IoT (Internet of Things) is driving this evolution.
The IoT is changing every part of the energy industry, from production to distribution, and how energy corporations interact within the market and customers.
If you want to learn how the Internet of Things is revolutionizing the industry, keep reading!
Remote Monitoring and Management
Attaching IoT sensors to the production, transmission, and transportation of equipment enables energy companies to monitor all the processes remotely. The first role of IoT sensors is the measurement of different parameters, such as:
- Vibration
- Temperature
- Productivity
- Condition
- Waste
- Efficiency
Once these sensors gather this information, operators can develop a maintenance schedule. The preventative maintenance schedule can improve the security and reliability of the energy companies by keeping their equipment in optimal conditions and implementing the chance to make adjustments and improvements before it starts to fail.
IoT technology attaches to any physical machinery to collect data regarding its performance. Also, promotes a preventative maintenance program, enabling virtual troubleshooting and support from remote locations.
Distributed Grid and energy industry
Since the last recent years, there has been a growth in residential solar and other technologies, as a result, the energy grid has become more distributed. The residential solar capacity is growing fast and, according to Credit Suisse, it is expected to grow even more than three times to 41 gigawatts by 2026.
In this instance, businesses and homeowners can generate their electricity with solar panels on their roofs. Also, it is possible to build a small wind with turbines on their property.
This increasingly and distributed power system is the main change for the energy industry. However, by maintaining some large generators, they must manage a growing number of small generation resources placed across the grid.
This might represent a new challenge for grid operators, but IoT technology is helping to facilitate this disperse and distributed energy transformation.
The most important IoT technology function for the smart grid is to detect changes in electricity supply and demand. Also, it needs to react to these variations automatically and provide energy industry workers with the information they need to monitor and supervise its status.
More Informed Customers
It is not just about gathering information but distribute it. IoT technology assists customers to be more informed about energy intake. Smart meters collect data and send it to both areas: companies and customers remotely. As a result, these internet-connected devices allow customers to be informed about their energy usage.
As an option, customers can install these smart devices in their own homes or commercial market to measure the energy intake in each one. These devices recollect the information and identity the waste, principally power-hungry devices to lower the energy bills.
IoT devices, for example, thermostats, can instantaneously optimize their operations to decrease energy usage.
Domestic clients can get benefit the most from these technologies, like the USA. Nowadays, the private sector represents 37% of energy usage.
The Energy industry, commercial, and other industrial sectors, which use 27% to 35%, could benefit considerably as well.
Improved Grid Management for energy companies
The IoT technology not only facilitates the combination of the distributed devices into the network or grid, but also increases its control as well. By placing sensors in substations it can provide real-time energy consumption data.
This data can be used by the energy industry to make relevant decisions about:
- Voltage control
- Network configuration
- Load switching
- Outages
- Wildfires
Some of these decisions can also be automated, for example, if the sensors located on the grid inform operators of outages, they can allow them to turn off the power to prevent any electrocution or wildfire in the area. Smart switches prevent these problems.
Besides, power usage data helps in managing congestion along the production and distribution lines to ensure all the connected plants are in frequency. This power usage data also helps to decide where is necessary to build a new base and which one needs an upgrade.
That is to say, IoT technology is transforming every sector of the market, including the energy industry. In this way, the energy companies will be smarter, more efficient, distributed, and reliable.
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