Energetica India Magazine May-June 2021

The diversification of energy producing resources means utility operators need to manage a much wider portfolio of as - sets in a smarter, more efficient way. However, this is only achievable through the capture, storage and interpretation of vast amounts of data from physical as - sets. The technology capable of achiev - ing this utopia is the RTU, which is one of the reasons why they are now a critical part of most power generation and distri - bution operations. In simple terms, they convert vast amounts of data into effective manage - ment information, whilst having an ability to act autonomously to keep equipment functioning. This digitization of the energy sector us - ing RTUs is happening at pace. Histori - cally, maintenance engineers didn’t have visibility of asset conditions within the grid — adopting a reactive rather than proactive approach, simply because they didn’t have the technology to inform them of when and which asset required attention. However, deployment of RTU systems is changing this, creating smart grids that help utility firms optimise ser - vice to customers. The scale of the challenge facing the power generation industry is daunting. By 2040, the International Energy Agen - cy is predicting that annual global elec - tricity consumption will be 70 per cent higher than it was in 2015. This huge increase poses some seri - ous questions: how can nearly twice as much electricity be supplied from a more fragmented generation side to a more demanding, urbanised consumer that is away from the physically-remote points of generation. At the same time, penalties for outages are mounting. Recently, Britain’s energy regulator fined three electricity suppliers a total of £10.5 million for a power out - age in August 2019, which affected one million customers and caused transport chaos. Across the world, more demanding consumers, stricter regulation and re - newable forms of energy are growing. According to the IEA, China is the undis - puted growth leader in renewables and will account for over 40 per cent of the total global clean energy mix by 2022. In India, renewable capacity is expected to more than double during the same time. With such a diverse range of assets covering generation, distribution and consumption, technology is the only way of creating a ‘smart grid’. Specifically, RTUs, even though only a small element of this network, are critical because they capture data from a wide range of assets and convert it into effective management information. Diversification of assets A more diverse range of power genera - tion types creates challenges within the grid. Assets such as wind turbines and solar PV are often in remote locations and face harsh environments. Maintain - ing continuity of supply from the point of generation to the consumer becomes harder as a result, requiring the careful and permanent monitoring of equip - ment. An aggravating factor is that these remote locations can be characterised with only satellite or sparse GSM radio signals. Telemetry’s Pivotal Role in Energy Transition GRID Matthew Hawkridge Chief Technology Officer, Ovarro Energy producing resources are becoming more diversified with wind, wave, marine, hydro, biomass and solar all adding to traditional methods. In most developed countries around the world, renewable energy now produces a growing proportion of the total energy output, and above 20 per cent for the first time in the UK. This article explains why the latest remote telemetry unit (RTU) systems take energy companies closer to the utopia of smart grids. 40 energetica INDIA- May-June_2021