Case studies: IoT in the power industry
The Internet of Things (IoT), which refers to the use of connected sensors and actuators to control and monitor the environment, the things that move within it and the people that act within it, will transform the power industry. It will help tackle five key power industry challenges: modernising ageing grids, accelerating the energy transition, improving productivity and efficiency, strengthening energy security and enhancing workforce safety. This article presents selected case studies highlighting the impact of IoT within the power industry.
In November 2024, AWS announced that it had partnered with Siemens Energy to develop a unified industrial internet platform to manage and analyse manufacturing asset data across the original equipment manufacturer's global operations.
Siemens Energy's previous setup was fragmented, with manufacturing asset data siloed across factories running standalone IoT systems, making it difficult to standardise analytics and drive cross-site efficiencies. Integration was also difficult due to a mix of greenfield and brownfield assets running on more than 10 machine data protocols. Legacy equipment also required costly, hard-to-configure hardware to extract useable data.
To overcome these challenges, Siemens Energy collaborated with AWS to build the Connected Factory, a centralised platform powered by AWS IoT SiteWise. The platform standardises manufacturing asset data collection, storage and analysis across all factories. Siemens Energy used AWS IoT SiteWise Edge to connect legacy and modern equipment without needing to install additional hardware, accelerating deployment. Siemens Energy has also integrated AWS partner Domatica's EasyEdge tool with AWS IoT Sitewise to enable data ingestion from more than 10 industrial standards, helping to unify previously incompatible data streams. Collected data is securely stored in AWS's Simple Storage Service (S3). Engineers and factory teams can access real-time operational insights through customised dashboards powered by Amazon Managed Grafana, improving asset monitoring and decision-making.
A centralised AWS account governs the platform's architecture, while local AWS accounts give individual factories operational control. Factory teams can request new equipment connections by submitting support tickets to the central IoT team. Most installation and configuration steps are automated, reducing complexity and supporting efficient scaling.
Connected Factory has already improved speed, cost and reliability across Siemens Energy's operations. There are now 18 live factories, supporting 30 custom use cases in areas such as equipment maintenance, energy management and process transparency. Assets such as large autonomous vehicles, robots and computer numerical control machines are connected. Manual data collection times have fallen 50%, boosting data accuracy and transparency. Maintenance costs are down by 25%, while machine availability is up by 15%. Factory teams now detect and respond to equipment anomalies faster, improving quality and accelerating project timelines. Siemens Energy plans to scale Connected Factory across its 80 factories globally, while also integrating AI into the platform to enhance production efficiency.
Vattenfall is optimising wind turbine design with IoT-based "digital twins" to optimise wind turbine design, operations and maintenance, aiming to maximise return on investment for offshore wind farms. The company's digital twins cover its fleet of more than 1,300 wind turbines, with a capacity of around 6.1GW across five European countries. IoT sensors installed on each turbine collect real-time data on structural behaviour, operational performance (rotor speed, power output and vibration levels) and environmental conditions (wind speed, temperature and humidity). The IoT sensors transmit this data into a centralised digital twin platform, offering a comprehensive overview of the entire fleet and detailed insights into individual turbines.
Vattenfall believes digital twins can optimise turbine designs by addressing discrepancies between design assumptions and real-world performance. Michael Sandholm Jepsen, technical authority support for structure integrity at Vattenfall, notes: 'Digital twins [have] demonstrated that the wear and tear on wind turbines is lower than predicted in the original designs.' Such insights enable efficient turbine designs, reduce costly over-engineering, and optimise maintenance schedules, leading to long-term cost savings. Vattenfall has already used data from digital twins to incorporate 10-year upfront lifetime extensions into original designs for two of its latest wind farm projects.
Vattenfall's digital twins have also identified opportunities to reduce steel use in turbine construction, resulting in significant cost savings. Additionally, digital twins enable fewer physical inspections and support proactive maintenance by pinpointing underperforming turbines, allowing for corrective remedies. Vattenfall plans to participate in a joint industry project to review offshore wind codes and standards, using findings from digital twins to guide future modifications.
In July 2024, Engie Group's EV charging business Engie Vianeo partnered with BICS to upgrade 50,000 EV charging stations across Western Europe with real-time, cellular-based IoT connectivity. Engie Vianeo had previously relied on black-box devices to collect charging station data. These devices had to be physically retrieved to access and process the data, an extremely inefficient process that slowed decision-making.
The company is now transitioning to BICS' SIM for Things IoT connectivity platform, equipping each charging station with a SIM card to enable real-time data transmission, remote monitoring and over-the-air software updates. This will allow staff at Engie Vianeo's European supervisory centre to perform remote maintenance and troubleshooting, while insights enhance analytics on station use. Customers will also benefit from a dedicated mobile app that provides live charger availability and charging status updates, helping them better plan journeys. Engie Vianeo will gain visibility across its connected charging network, supporting faster, smarter and more scaleable operations.
The initiative supports Engie Vianeo's goal to scale its EV charging network in line with EU regulations mandating expanded charging infrastructure. Engie Vianeo plans to have 12,000 charge points in France and 3,000 in Belgium by the end of 2025. The company aims to offer a complete range of mobility solutions, from installing charging infrastructure through to power supply, maintenance, and servicing.
Major power companies such as Engie are increasingly integrating EV charging stations into their portfolios and business strategies, driven by growing consumer demand for cleaner transportation, regulatory pressures and an overarching need to modernise grid infrastructure.
"Case studies: IoT in the power industry" was originally created and published by Power Technology, a GlobalData owned brand.
The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.
Se produjo un error al recuperar la información
Inicia sesión para acceder a tu portafolio
Se produjo un error al recuperar la información
Se produjo un error al recuperar la información
Se produjo un error al recuperar la información
Se produjo un error al recuperar la información
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Insider
2 hours ago
- Business Insider
Siemens Energy (SMEGF) Gets a Buy from Kepler Capital
In a report released on June 27, William Mackie from Kepler Capital maintained a Buy rating on Siemens Energy (SMEGF – Research Report), with a price target of €85.00. The company's shares closed last Friday at $112.00. Confident Investing Starts Here: Easily unpack a company's performance with TipRanks' new KPI Data for smart investment decisions Receive undervalued, market resilient stocks right to your inbox with TipRanks' Smart Value Newsletter According to TipRanks, Mackie is a 5-star analyst with an average return of 8.4% and a 60.37% success rate. Mackie covers the Industrials sector, focusing on stocks such as ABB Ltd, FLSmidth & Co. A/S, and Alstom SA. In addition to Kepler Capital , Siemens Energy also received a Buy from Bank of America Securities's Benjamin Heelan in a report issued on June 26. However, on June 27, DZ BANK AG maintained a Sell rating on Siemens Energy (Other OTC: SMEGF). The company has a one-year high of $112.00 and a one-year low of $24.36. Currently, Siemens Energy has an average volume of 10.59K. Based on the recent corporate insider activity of 16 insiders, corporate insider sentiment is negative on the stock. This means that over the past quarter there has been an increase of insiders selling their shares of SMEGF in relation to earlier this year.
Business Insider
9 hours ago
- Business Insider
Bank of America Securities Remains a Buy on Siemens Energy (SMEGF)
Bank of America Securities analyst Benjamin Heelan maintained a Buy rating on Siemens Energy (SMEGF – Research Report) on June 26 and set a price target of €94.00. The company's shares closed yesterday at $112.00. Confident Investing Starts Here: Easily unpack a company's performance with TipRanks' new KPI Data for smart investment decisions Receive undervalued, market resilient stocks right to your inbox with TipRanks' Smart Value Newsletter Heelan covers the Industrials sector, focusing on stocks such as Rheinmetall, Nordex, and Airbus Group SE. According to TipRanks, Heelan has an average return of 9.1% and a 46.77% success rate on recommended stocks. In addition to Bank of America Securities, Siemens Energy also received a Buy from Morgan Stanley's Max Yates in a report issued on June 26. However, yesterday, DZ BANK AG maintained a Sell rating on Siemens Energy (Other OTC: SMEGF). SMEGF market cap is currently $88.43B and has a P/E ratio of 415.58. Based on the recent corporate insider activity of 16 insiders, corporate insider sentiment is negative on the stock. This means that over the past quarter there has been an increase of insiders selling their shares of SMEGF in relation to earlier this year.
Miami Herald
15 hours ago
- Miami Herald
Rare event could derail S&P 500 record-setting rally
The stock market has had a record-setting run following President Trump's decision to pause reciprocal tariffs on April 9. The move to de-escalate trade tensions reversed a brutal selloff in the S&P 500 that at its worst had sent the benchmark index tumbling 19%, nearly into bear market drop territory. The market decline was severe enough to trigger oversold readings on most sentiment measures, and many market watchers were savvy enough to recommend buying into the fear. However, far fewer likely expected the rally to persist amid a tidal wave of economic concerns and global uncertainty. Yet, that's precisely what the S&P 500 has done. Rather than backfill gains, it has essentially beelined higher, creating a V-shaped bottom that has surprised many who remain with cash on the sidelines watching, hoping for a chance to buy. The index's advance is remarkable, but stocks don't rise or fall in a straight line, and mounting evidence suggests that the S&P rally could stall soon, especially after one particularly rare signal flashed on Friday. Weiss/Getty Images A raging bull market lifted the S&P 500 by over 20% in back-to-back years in 2023 and 2024, including a robust 24% gain last year. The gains were fueled by optimism that the Federal Reserve would switch to market-friendly interest rate cuts, thanks to falling inflation, and abandon the hawkish monetary policy it adopted in 2022 in its war against inflation. Related: Jim Cramer sends strong message on Nvidia stock at all-time highs A tsunami of artificial intelligence spending also supported gains as companies raced to develop AI chatbots and agentic AI apps. Those bullish arguments looked much flimsier this spring. The Fed cut interest rates in September, November, and December last year; however, it paused additional reductions this year because it feared tariffs would spark price increases. In May, Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index, excluding energy and food because of their volatility, showed inflation was 2.7%, up from 2.6% in April, and over the Fed's 2% inflation target. The Fed's pause removed some excitement that lower rates would spark business investment and lower interest expenses on variable debt-bad news for corporate sales and earnings growth that contributes to higher stock prices. Similarly, earlier this year, fears mounted that major hyperscalers, including Amazon's AWS, Meta Platforms, Google Cloud, and Microsoft's Azure, would pare back AI spending on servers and AI chips after two years of huge spending growth. Those concerns strengthened after the launch of the Chinese-built Deepseek-R1, a rival to OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini, in January. DeepSeek was reportedly built for only $6 million using cheaper, legacy semiconductor chips, rather than Nvidia's latest fastest Blackwell lineup of graphic processing units (GPUs). However, concerns over the Fed and AI spending have decreased since April. Cloud network providers, including hyperscalers, have mostly reinforced their capex plans for this year. Amazon has affirmed a capex run rate of over $100 billion. Meta Platforms increased its planned spend to as much as $72 billion from $65 billion previously. Microsoft confirmed in June that it still plans to spend $80 billion. And Google will likely spend about $75 billion. More Experts Analyst makes bold call on stocks, bonds, and goldTheStreet Stocks & Markets Podcast #8: Common Sense Investing With David MillerVeteran fund manager sends dire message on stocks Meanwhile, while the Fed didn't cut rates again in June, it maintained its closely-watched dot-plot forecast plans to cut rates twice before year-end. Some Fed members have also recently expressed interest in cutting as soon as July, and most believe a Fed cut will likely happen in September, suggesting lower rates are getting closer by the day. With rates potentially heading lower soon and AI spending mostly intact, tariff worries are the last remaining hurdle, and those concerns have also ratcheted back following trade progress with the UK and China. The S&P 500 has clearly climbed the proverbial wall of worry, closing at a new all-time high of 6,173.07 on June 27. The bad news, however, is that the rally has lifted the S&P 500's valuation back toward levels seen when the index made its previous all-time high in February. The S&P 500's forward price to earnings (P/E) ratio is 21.9, up from about 19 in April. In February, it was above 22, according to FactSet. Related: Fannie Mae chief Pulte sends savage one-word message to Fed's Powell The index's average P/E ratio over the past five and ten years is 19.9 and 18.4, respectively. Unfortunately, it's historically harder to come by gains in the year following a P/E ratio above 22 Clearly, the S&P 500 isn't as cheap as it was in April, and that could create a headwind for stocks, particularly given sentiment measures aren't oversold like they were then. CNN's Fear/Greed Index registered "Extreme Fear" in April, but it's at "Greed" now. The American Association of Individual Investors survey saw bearish outlooks for the coming six months surge to 61.9% in April, the third highest on record and the highest reading since the stock market bottomed in March 2009 during the Great Financial Crisis. Now, bearishness is more neutral at 40%. Increasing investor giddiness may make it harder for the S&P 500 to continue rallying, at least in the short term. This is especially true given that another relatively rare signal, a relative strength index (RSI) (14) reading above 70, flashed a warning on Friday. RSI (14) measures price action over the preceding 14 trading periods and can signal when stocks become overbought and oversold. An RSI above 70 on the S&P 500 signals buyer beware, while a reading below 30, like in April when the RSI on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) dropped to about 21, suggests selling is overdone. Currently, the RSI on the S&P 500 is 70.2. For perspective, it last exceeded 70 on December 4, before a 4% retreat through January 10. It reached 69.97 on May 19, before a short-and-fast 2.7% drop. Of course, nothing is guaranteed. Stocks can always fall further than anyone expects and remain overbought for a while. John Maynard Keynes famously wrote, "Markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent." Nevertheless, the high RSI reading may suggest that the S&P 500 rally may stall in the coming weeks. In the intermediate or long term, well, gains or losses will likely depend on whether high tariffs fuel inflation, causing the Fed to stay on the sidelines, and whether business spending forecasts stay strong or weaken. Related: Legendary fund manager issues stock market prediction as S&P 500 tests all-time highs The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
