ENTERPRISE IOT: Smart Grid SCADA ENERGY USE CASE

Abstract:

Integrating smart energy solutions with conventional grids is crucial for sustainable energy. Effective control during maintenance and faults remains challenging, especially with rising cybersecurity threats. This article presents a practical use case and roadmap for a groundbreaking IoT-enabled system revolutionizing smart energy generation and net metering. It enables utility control during maintenance, allows owner tracking of net metering, and provides a global monitoring Android app. Using advanced IoT devices for real-time data, the system improves efficiency and reliability. Scalable and cost-effective, it enhances smart energy integration. A phased roadmap focuses on practical deployment, addressing cybersecurity vulnerabilities for secure operation.

The Enterprise IoT Platform supports a diverse set of applications, encompassing two main categories.

Category-1 Industrial: Use cases directly related to industrial “Things” and are relevant to assets and their operators

Example Use Cases:

1. Edge computing enables control of battery storage for solar panels and facilitates basic home automation, such as optimizing energy efficiency and adjusting the ambiance when the unit is unoccupied.
2. Safety anomaly detection employs pre-trained AI/ML models to identify unusual events, such as excessive heat or theft.
3. Equipment Predictive Maintenance (PdM) is a proactive maintenance strategy that uses data and analytics to predict when equipment is likely to fail. Instead of performing maintenance on a fixed schedule (preventive maintenance) or waiting for a breakdown to occur (reactive maintenance), PdM aims to perform maintenance only when it's actually needed.
4. Operational Baselines:

• Anomaly Detection: Deviations from the baseline indicate potential problems, faults, or inefficiencies.
• Performance Monitoring: Baselines allow you to track performance over time and identify trends that might require attention.
• Predictive Maintenance: Changes in baseline behavior can be used to predict when maintenance will be needed.
• Optimization: Understanding the baseline helps identify areas where performance can be improved.
• Fault Diagnosis: When a problem occurs, the baseline provides a reference point for diagnosing the cause.
• Energy Efficiency: In energy management, baselines help track energy consumption and identify opportunities for savings.

Category-2 Consumer: Use cases specifically designed for end users, including consumers, site engineers, asset owners, business owners, and quality managers.

Example Use Cases:

1. Business KPI: owners benefit from customized reports and KPIs, delivered through tailored widgets.
2. Ecoverse App Enablement integrates data and insights on energy consumption, device usage, and DER generation & storage into the Ecoverse platform. Furthermore, it enables automation recommendations and smart device control.
3. Regulatory compliance: Highlight any non-complaint sustainability readings immediately and generate compliance reports for selected environmental parameters

IOT PLATFORM KEY FUNCTIONAL CAPABILITIES

IOT USE CASES – POWER GENERATION

PV & BESS Edge Computing:

• PV & BESS Edge Computing refers to the deployment of edge computing technologies in photovoltaic (PV) and Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS). Let's break that down:

• PV (Photovoltaic): Solar panel systems that convert sunlight directly into electricity.
• BESS (Battery Energy Storage System): Systems that store electrical energy in batteries for later use. These are often paired with PV systems to provide power when the sun isn't shining.
• Edge Computing: Instead of sending all data generated by devices (like PV inverters, battery management systems, sensors) to a centralized cloud server for processing, edge computing brings the computation and data storage closer to the source of the data – "at the edge" of the network.

RFID/NFC/BLE tracking of assets

• RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification), NFC (Near-Field Communication), and BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) are all wireless technologies used for tracking assets, but they differ in range, power consumption, cost, and application.

A Virtual Power Plant (VPP)

• A cloud-based system that aggregates and manages diverse, distributed energy resources (DERs) like solar panels, batteries, and controllable loads as if they were a single power plant. This allows for optimized power generation, trading, and grid stabilization. VPPs collect data, forecast demand, and control DERs to improve efficiency, reliability, and flexibility while integrating renewable energy. Challenges include complexity, communication needs, cybersecurity, and evolving regulations. They're used for grid services, demand response, microgrid management, and energy trading, contributing to a more sustainable and resilient energy grid.

Real-time capacity utilization:

• Is the up-to-the-minute measurement of how effectively resources (equipment, computing, human, energy, transportation) are being used, calculated as (Actual Output / Maximum Possible Output) * 100%. It uses real-time data, dynamic metrics, and visualizations to identify bottlenecks, optimize resource allocation, improve efficiency, reduce costs, and enable proactive problem-solving. Tools include sensors, IoT devices, SCADA systems, cloud platforms, and BI tools.

IOT USE CASES – Transmission & Distribution

Smart grid security and theft detection:

Critical aspects of ensuring the reliable, efficient, and secure operation of modern power grids. The smart grid's increased reliance on digital communication and control technologies introduces new vulnerabilities that must be addressed to protect against cyberattacks and energy theft.

Integrating renewable energy sources (RES):

like solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal is crucial for a sustainable energy future. Key challenges include intermittency, grid stability, transmission limitations, and the need for energy storage. Solutions involve energy storage technologies (batteries, pumped hydro), smart grids, grid expansion, improved forecasting, supportive policies, virtual power plants, sector coupling (electrification), and AI/ML for optimization.

Energy OS integration:

An Energy OS is a software platform that provides a centralized interface for managing and optimizing energy resources, grid operations, and customer engagement. It acts as the "brain" of a modern energy system.

Flexible load calculation:

refers to the ability to dynamically adjust and manage electricity demand based on various factors, such as grid conditions, energy prices, renewable energy availability, and user preferences. This approach aims to optimize energy consumption, improve grid stability, and reduce costs.

IOT USE CASES – Consumption

Real-time consumption:

Monitoring, alerts, and reporting are crucial components of modern energy management systems, smart grids, and building automation. They provide immediate insights into energy usage patterns, enabling timely responses to anomalies, inefficiencies, or critical events.

Home Energy Management (HEM):

a system designed to monitor, control, and optimize energy consumption within a household. It integrates various components like Distributed Energy Resources (DER), appliances, lighting, and sensors to improve energy efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance comfort.

Optimized Resource Usage:

An optimized resource usage plan is a strategic approach to maximizing the efficiency and effectiveness of available resources (e.g., energy, water, materials, personnel, equipment) to achieve specific goals while minimizing waste, costs, and environmental impact.

ENTERPRISE IOT ECOVERSE – ILLUSTRATIVE

IoT security Reference Architecture

Solution structure

These devices connect through IoT gateways that support a wide range of communication protocols, including MQTT, CoAP, HTTP, and LwM2M, ensuring secure and seamless data transmission to the cloud.

ThingsBoard core handles device and user management, real-time data processing via a powerful rule engine. The collected data is visualized through intuitive dashboards and mobile applications, giving users clear insights into energy usage, system alarms, and performance metrics — all in real time, from a single interface.

Next Article: Mapping the IoT Security Compliance