Powering The Future - Four Ways Energy Companies Can Stay Ahead in a Digitally Driven World
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As the world becomes more technologically driven, the need for power is increasing. In the developing world, electrification is leading to higher living standards, while the need for sustainable transportation is speeding up a global shift towards electric vehicles (EVs). By 2050, global power consumption is expected to triple.
Yet energy remains a dynamic market, made more complex by the growing need for sustainability. Governments and private sector organizations alike are setting net-zero pledges and investing in decarbonization. Energy companies must keep up despite aging hardware and a growing skills gap.
Thankfully, modern control systems and automation tools can help energy companies transform their operations to maximize efficiency and productivity—while adhering to new regulations. By making smart, measured investments in asset modernization, energy intelligence, cybersecurity and sustainability, organizations can navigate the shifting energy industry to stay ahead in a complex market.
In this blog, we’ll explore how energy companies can prepare for the future by making the right decisions today.
Modernize power generating assets to enhance plant visibility and optimize operations
Visibility is crucial to enabling efficient operations and downtime, yet most energy producers don’t have a cross-plant view of their assets. Older facilities—like coal, natural gas, and hydroelectric plants—lack the connectivity to establish a comprehensive, data-driven view of operations, but even newer facilities come with visibility challenges.
Large-scale wind farms are often located in remote, geographically challenging areas, making them hard to monitor and manage. Wind and solar are also highly variable energy sources, requiring organizations to supplement real-time energy production with battery storage. Without a clear view across operations and demand, operators don’t know when to produce new energy or turn to their batteries.
A modern control system gives energy companies the cross-plant visibility needed to support efficient, productive operations and get more from their existing equipment. With rich data flowing across the plant and improved, easy-to-read dashboards, operators can access contextualized information that helps them operate more efficiently and respond faster to changing demand.
Apply energy intelligence to unlock actionable insights and new revenue streams
While visibility is an imperative for efficient operations, the real benefit of an intelligent control system comes from the establishment of a unified data platform. Data has always been critical for energy companies—aligning energy production to demand requires careful analysis of constantly changing conditions. In the past, this required large teams of researchers to compile, contextualize, and organize their findings, which were often outdated by the time they were presented.
Today, unified control systems, automation tools and intelligent devices empower energy companies to constantly generate, consolidate, and analyze data—unlocking actionable insights that help energy producers anticipate fluctuating demand. For instance, companies can predict capacity needs or stability issues and make fast, safe operational alterations to prevent disruptions before they occur.
Organizations can even use real-time insights to identify at-risk assets and proactively schedule maintenance—preventing unplanned downtime and helping maximize efficiency. And as the world continues to become more data driven, innovative organizations can identify new ways to monetize their data and unlock new revenue streams.
Keep systems secure to protect you operations and your employees
As energy companies invest in new digital technologies, they must be careful to ensure the benefits outweigh potential risks. Cybersecurity attacks are incredibly costly for organizations—in 2023, the average cost of a data breach was $4.45 million, and those numbers are only going up. Worse, as cyberattacks become more complex, they threaten more than just profits—Gartner predicts that by 2025, cyber attackers will weaponize operational technology to harm people.
This is especially concerning for energy companies that operate high-risk, mission-critical infrastructure—especially as the industry becomes less centralized. Microgrids made up of rooftop solar panels and small wind turbines are reshaping the traditional utility-consumer relationship, providing communities with a resilient backup should the Utility grid fail. Yet the decentralized nature of these microgrids further increases the attack vector faced by energy producers.
Energy companies recognize the dangers of decentralization—75% of executives say supply chain complexity increases risk. Working with a trusted industry partner enables you to consolidate your investments and reduce your threat vector. The right partner can help you establish a reliable, resilient network, making it easier to prevent, detect, respond to, and recover from cyberattacks.
Future-proof the organization by prioritizing sustainable operations
As the industry shifts towards renewable energy, energy producers must maximize efficiency and minimize waste. Evolving government regulations are putting stricter limits on generation plants, while private sector investments are further driving the need for sustainability.
While clean energy sources like solar and wind are gaining popularity (alongside emerging technologies like tidal and geothermal), coal and natural gas fueled assets are still critical to the industry. For older plants in particular, it is now a regulated imperative to minimize waste and control pollution without impacting production or profitability.
Modern Plant Control Systems and smart devices can help companies run efficiently and sustainably. By tracking equipment health and performance through real-time insights, organizations can ensure maximize productivity without producing excess waste. Organizations can also use these insights to track and monitor emissions. When combined with automated reporting tools, operators can quickly catch issues before they occur and ensure emissions remain within regulatory limits.
Stay ahead in a rapidly evolving industry
The power industry is as dynamic as ever, and demand is only going up. The right partner can help you make the right investments today to weather current volatility while preparing for the innovations of tomorrow.
SMC is delivering end-to-end solutions to keep our customers competitive in an everchanging industry. We are partnered with top industry providers and manufacturers such as Rockwell Automation to provide the best outcomes possible looking into the future.
SMC is helping other drive their safety, sustainability, and savings by providing the solutions needed to keep moving froward. To learn more, contact us below!
Article Source: Rockwell Automation