The Covid-19 crisis has largely affected asset revenue in the past few months, shaping the future of renewable asset management. I am sure renewable asset owners and managers are thinking to themselves how can we make up lost revenue following this difficult time. If there is anything good to come out of this crisis, it is the chance to innovate. Crisis gives innovators the opportunity to think more clearly and implement rapid, impactful change. Crisis allows us to gain better perspective over an unavoidable challenge and prompts us to take action. Let us think of this crisis as a chance to improve the way that we currently provide asset management in the renewable sector.
It is my belief that the future of asset management is digitisation and more automation. We also need to start looking more towards reliability centered maintenance rather than the traditional maintenance schedule that manufacturers advise. This will help us increase asset production therefore increasing revenue.
Benefits of digitisation and automation
Let’s look at some of the benefits of digitisation and automation for asset management. The first, and most important, benefit is that it saves time and time is one of the most important commodities that a lot of us wish we had more of. The second benefit is the prevention of errors, again saving both time and money. However, this second benefit is only accurate if the data that you have used is validated. The third benefit is the reduction of cost, ensuring greater profit margins and that your asset is reaching its full potential.
Harnessing digitisation and automation
Although digitisation and automation for asset management are the future, are we currently at a point where we can accurately harness them? My short answer would be not at the moment. we need to get to a point where we are accurately securing asset data, as currently renewable energy farms don’t always consider the important aspect of securing their data. In addition, we need to start validating and optimising our data so that we can provide Artificial Intelligence (AI) with accurate and effective data. This is so that AI can make modelling predictions, based on enriched data, and can then be used to facilitate the automation of certain tasks and provide the benefits discussed above. Reliable asset data should be thought of as revenue, it should be secured and validated accordingly.
How can reliability centred maintenance help?
Reliability centered maintenance (RCM) is quickly growing in popularity, apposed to a manufacturer’s maintenance program. It focuses on utilising the data from an individual asset to better meet the maintenance requirements of that asset. I believe that AI will play a huge role in aiding this in the future. We could accurately analyse the performance of an asset and several other factors such as abnormal temperatures, status logs and asset output.
If we could accurately analyse the data of an asset, we could then successfully implement RCM, leading to decreased asset downtime and a vast increase in revenue. RCM can be used to create a more cost-effective maintenance strategy to address the main causes of equipment failure. It is a more innovative approach to defining a routine maintenance program that would better utilise the scarce economic resources that we have. Correct utilisation of RCM would lead to a decrease in required maintenance and a decrease in asset downtime, therefore increasing the output of an asset and the maintenance costs.
How can Greensolver help?
Greensolver are able to provide RCM services in a number of ways. We have the latest, in-house technology to monitor and analyse asset farm data and report on this to ensure that any potential issues are detected before they become problematic. Our team of engineering experts are also reactive and can regularly visit site to check everything is as it should be, contact us today!
By Jake Mason, Engineering Manager.
