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Higher plant efficiency through real-time data collection & visualisation
The show must go on: avoiding unplanned downtime in the energy industry with Factry Historian
Frederik Van Leeckwyck on , updated
For energy producers, just a single hour of downtime can have dramatic financial consequences. Here’s how Factry Historian plays a crucial role in helping energy producers eliminate costly downtime, and maximise profit margins.
Ever wondered how much one hour of downtime costs your facility?
Research from Deloitte highlights that downtime, planned or unplanned, costs manufacturers approximately 45 billion euros each year. On average, manufacturers can expect around 800 hours of downtime annually, which has a tremendous impact on overall efficiency, productivity, and profitability.
For energy producers, the stakes are even higher. Unplanned downtime in large-scale energy production facilities can even lead to losses exceeding 4.5 million euros per hour.
Unplanned downtime: the arch enemy of energy suppliers
For most plant managers in the energy industry, the idea of 800 hours of downtime per year is enough to cause a heart attack. For them, maintaining uninterrupted operations is non-negotiable.
Their production facilities typically operate 24/7, with only one or two days of planned downtime each year. During these critical maintenance windows, the focus is on completing all necessary tasks as quickly and efficiently as possible, only to avoid even a minor extension of downtime, due to its impressive impact on the plant’s financial performance.
However, unplanned downtime doesn’t just hit the bottom line.
For energy producers, it can also bring safety concerns, lead to regulatory issues, and even damage the company’s reputation. Plus, it can disrupt energy supply, which can result in penalties and losing the trust of customers.
The role of Factry Historian in the quest for continuity
With high-capital investments, unplanned downtime is a major concern for any energy producer. It’s pretty simple: getting the most out of capital-intensive equipment means you have to maximise uptime.
How exactly your energy production company gets the most value out of Factry Historian, depends on your business and the nature of your processes.
Biomass plants, for instance, rely on a steady, controllable fuel source, while wind farms must adapt to variable wind conditions. Each of these processes requires specific strategies to ensure they operate continuously and efficiently.
Real-time monitoring with Factry Historian tracks critical KPIs such as fuel feed rates, combustion temperatures, and output levels. This enables operators to maintain a stable combustion process, reducing the likelihood of disruptions and ensuring consistent energy output. By optimising fuel usage and combustion efficiency, the risk of downtime is minimised, and efficiency is maximised.
But some energy companies have totally different processes.
Take wind farms, for example. Their challenge is to maximise energy capture during favourable wind conditions. Real-time data on wind conditions and turbine performance allows operators to adjust turbine settings dynamically and optimise energy output. This flexibility ensures that wind farms can maintain continuous operations, even in the face of variable wind conditions.
In this case, Factry Historian adds just as much value to the bottom line of the business, by enabling these manufacturers to monitor their assets remotely and precisely, tackle small issues before they become big problems, and schedule preventive maintenance.
And by offering detailed insights into how wind turbines perform under varying conditions, Factry Historian supports operators in making data-driven decisions that enhance energy output, without risking equipment failures.
Use cases: maximising uptime in green energy production
A&S Energie: boosting plant efficiency with real-time data
A&S Energie, a Belgian provider of sustainable energy, encountered significant challenges due to the lack of integrated production data across its biomass plants. This made their reporting process both labour-intensive and prone to errors.
By adopting Factry Historian, A&S Energie successfully migrated their historical data and centralised the data collection process.
This transformation facilitated real-time data visualisation, leading to a reduction in downtime and a 10% decrease in reporting time.
VLEEMO: data-driven optimisation of wind turbine operations
VLEEMO, operating 34 wind turbines in the Port of Antwerp, struggled with unplanned downtime due to the absence of centralised data management.
The implementation of Factry Historian allowed VLEEMO to integrate real-time data from its turbines, providing comprehensive monitoring and ensuring compliance with environmental regulations.
This has led to a significant increase in operational efficiency, and a 3% decrease in lost revenue from unplanned downtimes.
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Factry Historian: A perfect fit for energy production
Factry Historian is the future-proof data platform for energy producers seeking to avoid unplanned downtime and maintain continuous operations.
By providing real-time monitoring, data analysis, and optimisation tools tailored to the unique needs of different energy production facilities, Factry Historian helps energy producers to improve efficiency, eradicate downtime, and maximise profitability.
Key features
Whether you’re running a biomass plant, wind farm, or hydroelectric facility, Factry Historian has you covered. Explore the key features of Factry Historian for the energy and utilities industry:
Real-time data collection and analysis
Factry Historian continuously gathers high-resolution data from all critical points within the production process, offering real-time insights that allow for immediate corrective actions. This is particularly vital in energy production, where even brief interruptions can lead to substantial losses.
Centralised data management
With Factry Historian, all operational data is centralised in a single platform. This makes it easier for operators to access, analyse, and act upon the information through the user-friendly visualisation tool Grafana.
Centralised data management is crucial for synchronising operations and establishing a unified namespace across multiple plant locations. It guarantees that everyone works with the most up-to-date, well-structured data, enhancing decision-making and operational efficiency.
Additionally, this approach supports consistent data governance and integration across systems, making it easier to maintain high standards of data quality.
Instant alerts and notifications
Our platform can be configured to send real-time alerts and notifications when key metrics deviate from set parameters. This proactive approach helps in preventing potential issues from escalating into major problems, allowing operators to address them promptly.
Integration with any system or application
Whether with ERP, SCADA, legacy systems or brand new AI-applications: you name it, Factry Historian connects. These frictionless integration possibilities ensure a smooth flow of information across systems, now and in the future, eliminating data silos and ensuring comprehensive operational oversight.
Scalable architecture
Designed to grow with your operations, Factry Historian’s open and scalable architecture allows it to handle increasing volumes of data without compromising performance. This scalability is particularly important for energy producers looking to expand their operations or incorporate new technologies.
Compliance and reporting
The platform supports regulatory compliance by offering detailed automated reporting capabilities. Whether it’s temperature data, energy or utilities usage, or waste, Factry Historian measures accurately and ensures that all data is readily available for any other application, such as energy management tools.
Remote asset management
Factry Historian enables you to manage and monitor assets more effectively, reducing the risk of unplanned downtime. By providing real-time data on equipment performance, operational metrics, and environmental conditions, Factry Historian allows engineers to plan preventive maintenance, and operators to make data-driven decisions§ that keep production running.
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