With over 35 years of pioneering experience in sustainable solar manufacturing, the customer’s legacy is one of environmental responsibility and forward-thinking innovation. This rich history has earned the company multiple prestigious awards, cementing its position as a leader in cutting-edge solar technology.

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Data analytics plays a crucial role in the energy & utilities sector, revolutionizing the way utilities operate, manage resources, and serve their customers. Companies in the sector are no longer only providers of energy, but also receivers and processors of energy and consumption data. Energy data analytics leverages big data, statistical software and machine learning (ML) techniques to analyse energy production and consumption. By harnessing the power of data, energy & utility companies can gain valuable insights, optimize their operations, and make informed decisions that lead to higher efficiency, reliability, and customer satisfaction while reducing wasteful production and costs. Future market behaviour and customer consumption patterns become easier to understand and predict too.

The growing demand for data analytics in the energy sector is largely a result of the role big data analytics plays in improving energy efficiency and reducing energy consumption. In fact, a market intelligence and advisory report states that the big data analytics market in the energy sector is expected to grow significantly — at a CAGR of 11.28 percent — from USD 8.37 billion in 2023 to USD 14.28 billion in 2028. While the largest market is the North American market, the fastest growing market is in the Asia Pacific region.

8 Business use cases: Data analytics in the energy & utilities sector

• 1. Grid optimization

Data analytics enables utilities to analyse vast amounts of data from numerous sources, such as smart metres, sensors, and SCADA systems, and optimize the performance of the power grid. By collecting and analysing data, utilities can identify patterns, detect anomalies, and predict potential failures. This information helps them proactively address grid issues, minimize downtime, and enhance grid stability and reliability.

• 2. Demand response and load management

Customer energy consumption patterns and opportunities for demand response and load management programmes can be better identified. Historical data and real-time information can help identify peak demand periods and effectively manage the load on the grid. Strain on the grid during peak periods is reduced, power generation and distribution is optimized and lower operational costs are lowered.

• 3. Asset management

Data analytics plays a vital role in optimizing asset management for utilities. By collecting and analyzing data from equipment sensors, utilities can monitor the health and performance of their assets in real-time.

• 4. Proactive maintenance

Predictive analytics can help identify maintenance needs and potential equipment failures before they occur, enabling utilities to schedule proactive maintenance and minimize costly downtime.

• 5. Energy theft detection

Employ advanced analytics to detect unusual consumption patterns that may indicate energy theft or meter tampering. This helps utilities identify and address these issues promptly, preserving revenue and ensuring fair billing.

• 6. Renewable energy integration

Data analytics is instrumental in facilitating the integration of renewable energy sources into the grid. By analysing weather patterns, historical data, and real-time information from renewable energy generators, utilities can optimize the integration and management of these intermittent energy sources.

Analytics can assist in forecasting renewable energy generation, optimizing power dispatch, and managing the grid’s stability and reliability while maximizing the utilization of renewable resources.

• 7. Carbon footprint reduction

Use data analytics to monitor and analyze energy consumption patterns, identify areas for improvement, and implement strategies to reduce carbon emissions. This supports the transition to more sustainable and environmentally friendly practices.

• 8. Regulatory compliance and risk management

By analyzing data related to compliance regulations, utilities can ensure they meet reporting obligations, monitor emissions, and adhere to environmental standards. Furthermore, analytics can identify potential risks and vulnerabilities in the grid, enabling utilities to implement proactive measures to mitigate those risks and ensure system reliability and security.

Data analytics is certainly transforming the energy & utilities sector. By adopting data analytics, energy & utility companies are better equipped to meet the evolving demands of the modern energy landscape and deliver efficient, reliable, and sustainable energy services to their customers.

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The utility company supplies electricity to over 5 million customers and they include domestic, commercial and industrial users so the impact of a power outage is massive. Matters came to a head when the mentioned power outage nearly cost human lives – a suburban hospital was one of the facilities that had to bear the brunt of the sudden downtime.

Challenges: Legacy ICT, siloed data, failure to scale and high storage costs

As the utility company’s business grew over time, so did complications from its legacy infrastructure and communication technology (ICT) and solutions. These included data sitting in silos, incompatible systems and solutions, high cost of storing data on-premise, duplicate and incomplete fields in vital records, and an inability to scale despite allocating higher annual capital expenditure (CAPEX).

“We needed a revolutionary solution, not an evolutionary one,” the CIO said. “Our teams required data to be available anywhere, anytime, on any device, with analytics of what’s not functioning well, where, and what action needs to be taken right away.”

To achieve this, the utility company explored the options available and settled on the Google Cloud Platform (GCP), MySQL database on cloud, Google BigQuery for analytics, and Unified Analytics (UI) dashboards for real-time actionable management. They picked Cloud Kinetics to help them manage the transformation.

“Cloud Kinetics is the top-tier MSP (managed services provider) on GCP and an enterprise integration partner on VMware, NetApp, Dhruva, Cohesity, ServiceNow,” said Ted A, Cloud Kinetics’ Chief Revenue Officer. “Cloud Kinetics has operations in Singapore, Malaysia, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Europe, and the US to help companies migrate to a hybrid cloud.”

Solution: Cloud migration and data modernization for real-time data analytics

The utility company embraced cloud technology and moved its workloads, its extract-transform-load (ETL) functions and data analytics to the cloud. It also changed its CAPEX model to an OPEX or pay-per-use model, streamlined its batch and real-time analytics, automated its data delivery and boosted cybersecurity.

“The transformation was almost magical,” the CIO noted. “Our teams can now get power outage incidents on their phones and laptops as and when outages happen, with exact coordinates of where the outage occurred, how many users it impacts, and which team is the closest to rush to the site. We’re now able to schedule maintenance periods in advance and let our users know about it. All of this has doubled our return on efficiency (ROE), boosted morale in the company and will reflect on mind and market share.”

Outcomes: Immediate notifications about any power outage including location coordinates and consumers impacted

The steps undertaken had a ripple effect on all its customers. A surgeon at the affected hospital said, “We were lucky on that crucial day a year ago; the heart patient survived. While we can push our luck with surgical procedures, we don’t want luck to play any part in power supply outages.”

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