Utilties

  • Changing Product Mix Demand

    Energy Storage

    Overview

    Alternative energy sources (Shale gas, CBM, Solar, Wind etc. ) have achieved cost parity and even better at many places. Call for environmental action is forcing Refiners to move away from fuels and change product mix to Petrochemicals & Lubes. There is an extent to which product mix can be altered. Return on investment of such assets will be challenged in near future. Greenfield project also face similar dilemma.

  • Intermodal Complex Logistics

    Renewables

    Overview

    Outbound logistics in Oil, Gas and Chemicals can be complex. Unlike other industry verticals open truck operations are not possible. Often logistics is inter modal (Rail, Road, cross country pipeline, Ship vessels) in Primary network. Last mile delivery by Tanker Trucks has other challenges of Routing, Inventory Distribution, Stock outs, Cost, Empty Mile Travels, Idling etc.

  • Hedging & Forecasting Challenge

    Going Off-Grid

    Overview

    Margin erosion due price fluctuation in commodity at scale can impact financials significantly. Hedging against fluctuations has its cost. Being able to predict prices for your market can safeguard against the risk. Prediction of price is a complex process in this industry given Geo-politics, government interventions, alternate energy sources, shipping/logistics cost etc.

  • SCADA->BOARDROOM

    Situation Awareness

    Overview

    Some industries have complexity in its work processes in Production or Logistics or compliance Management. Oil, Gas and Chemical industry is complex in all work processes. Process recipe, routing, quality paradigm has countless option. Equipment reliability in this continuous process industry is paramount. Inbound and outbound logistics has all the flavors of bulk cargo, container (solid products), pipeline batches, shared infrastructure, commodity swaps etc.

    Data management is crucial for safety, quality, energy intensity, demand fulfillment, cost and productivity management.

    INDUSTRY CHALLENGES & SOLUTIONS

    Accurate Reliable Predictions

    Challenges of Prediction

    Forecast accuracy at operational level is important for grid stability (or gas pipeline pressure management) and customer service. Not getting this right would mean waste of resources and cost incurred.

    Several factors influence demand, price and cost competitiveness. Being able to predict the pattern well in time is valuable. Data required for this come from different source, some are unstructured data, some available with field agents requiring collaboration. Putting different pieces in right context could give a complete picture.

    Input fuel cost is big part of utility company cost. Hedging against fluctuations also has its own cost. Being able to predict prices for your market can safeguard against the risk. Prediction of price is a complex process.

    Equipment OEM Maintenance Schedule could be off significantly on either side, each raising question of Cost, Production losses or Risk. Operating Conditions can truly determine the right time frame of Preventive Maintenance of critical Equipments.

    Most real life phenomenons are affected by multiple variables. e.g. machine failures, commodity price, employee attrition, Corrosion and structural defects. Factor analysis can help understanding the variables that influence an outcome.

    Knowledge of water consumption pattern in any geography is key to its conservation.

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    PREDICTIONS

    Forecasting, Risk Assessment, Pattern Study, Segmentation, Factor Analysis, Price Elasticity, Predictive Maintenance.

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    Optimal decisions

    Challenges of Decision Making

    Grid operates in a narrow safe frequency. Right anticipated demand and synchronized operation can greatly improve the efficiency and cost of Generation companies.

    Changes in operation triggered by Demand, supply or maintenance are not linear or proportional in nature. Power Plant units dont scale up and down linearly and there are optimal ranges of load factor in which it is most efficient.

    Lot of moving parts between, Processes, People, Systems etc. Right Planning, Orchestration, Resource Deployment, Monitoring required to achieve the desired results. Productivity achieved in one process in isolation may be nullified by its impact elsewhere.

    Energy Storage (battery, pumped storage hydel, distributed storage etc.) will bring new dynamics in power costing. Giving energy back to grid at peak hours from and drawing at off-peak cheap hours by automated systems will be a game changer.

    Not meeting supply agreement conditions or having adhoc shutdown/maintenance can attract penalties under power (or similar utilities) purchase agreement.

    Every cold or warm start of plant has overheads associated with it. Right operations can reduce these overheads.

    Expansion plans and Greenfield projects have lot of moving parts which together need to meet the criteria operational feasibility and right investment sense (threshold utilization to guarantee ROI). Multi-criteria optimization model and evaluate all options and come with the best case scenario for investment.

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    Decision Support System

    Supply Chain Planning, Scheduling, Simulation, Line Balancing, Inventory Optimization, What-if Scenario Study, Revenue Optimization- Dynamic Pricing.

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    Efficient Execution

    Challenges of Execution

    Sampling based quality management, SOP’s not followed, Shift Operator availability & skill issues affects Quality management. It could be a case of coal blend, transformer oil etc.  Compliment your quality assurance process with computer vision, sensor based data gathering and machine learning/AI model based assistance.

    Currently without power storage, real time feedback and instant action is required. Automation with high precision execution is desirable. And now it is possible with complex identification, segregation or multi-step workflow tasks with help of sensor (IoT field devices) and ML/AI models.

    Risk perception by humans have limitation of information that they can work with. There is a lot of unstructured data, news feed, chats, emails, consumer complaint blogs that cannot be consumed by humans. But ML algorithms can assess risk and change in preferences accurately.

    Perimiter and visitor are expensive affairs and often difficult to cover 24×7 and full alert service. Computer vision and image detection can alert intrusion or other risks.

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    Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence

    Defect Identification, Comprehensive Quality Testing, Automation of Tasks, Sentiment Analysis (Consumer), Early Indicators and Risk Assessment.

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    WHAT'S NEW?

    Need Help?

    Utility sector is very demanding in terms of uptime and reliability.
    Energy Storage, Renewables, Distributed and off Grid solutions, Trans-Oceanic power distribution are just few changes happening around us.

    Renewables Cost Parity

    Renewables in many parts of the world are achieving cost parity and even beating the conventional sources of energy. Call for action on environment protection is making governments subsidize and companies even investing and using such alternatives at premium.

    Energy Storage

    Pumped Storage hydel Power are already in place, Grid scale battery are being experimented with, Power Walls at Home, Generating Hydrogen Fuel from excess Solar, wind in day time are likely breakthrough with the year (2022). Drawing or giving back to grid at peak and off peak hours will change the dynamics drastically. Going off-grid is a likely scenario wherever quality and reliability of power is a problem.

    Moving away from Coal

    Countries around the globe are ignoring Coal power plants. New project proposals are being scrapped or slow to take off.

    The Nuclear Option

    Nuclear Power plants are not finding favors economically and safety wise. Promising Thorium based nuclear power plants are still not there, but many countries are betting bug on fusion reactor based power generation.

    Sustainable Development

    Solar islands, offshore wind or tidal energy harvesting, sustainable building architecture, city planning are embedding best practices with respect to utility production and consumption.

    Transport Electrification Demand

    Transportation sector will move from being gasoline, diesel to Electric powered with mass adoption starting 2025 or sooner. The demand of electricity will go up significantly (upwards of 20%). Most of it would come in off peak hours, but there still is a question of capacity management.

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