HCL Technologies (HCL), a leading global IT services company and Indra, a top technology and consulting company, have partnered to bring an industry Internet of Things (IoT) solution - Active Grid Management (AGM) - in the utilities space.
The AGM solution demonstrates how the convergence of IT and OT driven by IoT solutions bring cost effective data intelligence to secondary substations and other grid assets that have historically not justified these investments. With the increasing penetration of renewables and other distributed energy resources (DER’s), utilities are seeing the value of monitoring grid assets on the low voltage system.
“For making the digital power distribution system a reality, HCL’s IoT WoRKS, in partnership with Indra, is offering an ecosystem solution that modernizes the traditional low voltage grid. With the AGM solution, we aim to aid power distribution companies in reducing energy and economic losses by avoiding energy imbalances, reducing unplanned downtime, and improving the reliability of power quality, and thus helping them achieve real business outcomes. This latest marquee solution for our utilities customers adds to our next-gen IoT solutions portfolio that sets the path for transformation for several organizations across the globe,” said Sukamal Banerjee, Corporate Vice President and Head -IoT WoRKS, HCL Technologies.
The Active Grid Management solution is designed for utilities that are responding to significant and rapid changes in the way electricity is being generated. The AGM solution consists of software and edge device components, built on top of a powerful IoT platform (iSPEED) that supports M2M technology, data filtering, big data management, and power analytics. The modular architecture achieves these key goals: 1) powerful edge computing capabilities, 2) seamless interoperability, 3) grid scalability, and, 4) zero touch deployments. The gateway and installed devices (sensors and analyzers) are part of the Intel ecosystem, assuring security, interoperability and manageability of the deployed components.
“As a global leader in technology services to the Energy & Utilities industry, Indra views the alliance with HCL as an important opportunity to deliver its innovative InGRID Active Grid Management solution to North American utilities. We also view this alliance as a collaboration between two leaders in the ‘Industrial Internet of Things’ market, who share the view that IoT technology will play an increasing role as utilities modernize their grids.”- Luis Abril, Executive Vice President of Energy & Industry, Indra Company.
These tools enable benefits that lower Opex and Capex through improved grid management, maintenance, monitoring, and planning. It also results in better grid observability and situational awareness that translates into faster recovery from outages, more accurate energy and load forecasting, and improved power quality.