The global smart energy market will see seven vendors rising up above the rest, to capitalize on the new era of clean energy production with an added layer of digitization as the Industrial Internet of Things. The seven leading vendors were determined by a study done by Technavio, which considered energy companies that provided services in "smart-grid, HEMS, digital oil fields" and leading solar technologies, all in the name of clean and smart energy production. The efficiency of these power companies was also considered. Technavio estimates that these seven vendors will lead the market from 2016 to 2020. Thus, we begin our series titled Global Smart Energy 2016 to 2020 and catch up with these seven energy companies to see the work they are doing in energy sectors and to see what qualifies them as the top vendors for global smart energy.
ABB
The hottest town in Australia is said to be Marble Bar. It is in the Pilbara region in north-western Australia. The town set a record when the temperature reached 100oF and stayed there for 160 consecutive days. So, needless to say, the town get's a lot of sun. It seems to be the perfect spot for solar panels.
ABB supply microgrid solutions - named ABB Microgrid Plus technology- that combine the power of diesel generators and the power of solar panels. It ensures that mining operations and endeavours of the like are mostly powered by renewable energy. The ABB engineers say that the town can now be powered by renewable energy 60% of the time, with their microgrid applications. The solar array supplies 320 kilowatts to the town, whilst the diesel generators supply 320 kilowatts.
"Traditionally, we would have had a diesel power station here, supplying the grid. In a microgrid you've got multiple sources of energy, in this case here, you've got solar power plus the diesel. The goal here is for our microgrid control system to minimize the diesel and maximise the solar," said Heath Lang, a senior engineer from ABB.
ABB say that they have 80 similar installations operating all over the world. In the case of Marble Bar, the town saves 40% of the diesel fuel it would have used (240,000 litres of diesel fuel) if they didn't have the solar panels. This microgrid solution ensures that 1,100 tonnes of greenhouse gases are avoided.
ABB's Microgrid Solutions are bringing clean, renewable power to remote, hard-to-reach places in the world. They estimate there are 1.3 billion people living in remote parts of the world, and those are the ones they want to reach.
"ABB's unique microgrid solutions enable very high levels of wind and solar power penetration in isolated diesel-powered grids. This solution calculates the most economical power configuration, ensuring a proper balance of supply and demand that maximizes renewable energy integration, providing for up to 100% renewable penetration and the highest level of stability and reliability," ABB said in a statement.
Their solution can be used for microgrid communities (much like Marble Bar), integrated solutions for businesses or microgrids for industry applications like mining operations etcetera.
Source: ABB
