In the transforming energy business landscape, renewable energy and energy transition have gained widespread attention from energy enthusiasts, while the consistent contributor to the grid, the existing power plant fleet is ignored.
With escalating competition with renewable power generation, the depreciating operating power plant assets are challenged with low profitability and extreme pressure on Operation and Maintenance (O&M) budgets. While natural gas-fired thermal power plants are still reliable sources of stable supply to the grid, stringent emission requirements, and frequent start-ups on rapid load changes due to renewables penetration are challenging.
While these challenges to power plants are growing, the digitalization of existing power plants significantly reduces these concerns, bringing down O&M expenditures, augmenting profitability, facilitating faster and more reliable starts, and enhancing equipment life consumption management.
Leveraging data and expertise
Digital solutions enable actions based on expert knowledge, and AI supports it by using prediction models developed based on industry knowledge from veterans and machine learning. Digital solutions are already in place to determine changes in plant equipment operating parameters, and advanced analytics to monitor data from the plant. These developments are leading power generation into full integration of plant operations with digital technologies, allowing it to leverage data to optimize performance and enable predictive maintenance, stability, and reduced risk.
Upgrade of the existing power plant systems and digitalization is one of the large market segments, though it is not covered in the front pages as renewable energy and energy transition.
