Utility plant floor operations
Automated solutions turn data into profits for leading utilities
The global demand for energy and water resources continues to grow each year as businesses, industries, and consumers increase their consumption. At the same time, utilities face the rising costs of fuel, labor, and critical infrastructure components. Squeezed to maximize efficiency in an effort to hold down costs, utilities are increasingly turning to automated plant floor solutions to optimize their operations.
"The fundamental issue for utilities is delivering value," notes Jon Arnold, worldwide utilities industry manager for Microsoft. "If you're trying to increase your customer service quality, to increase your reliability, and to improve your shareholder value, how are you going to do that? The innovative use of information technology is key."
Utilities that are top performers today are using information technology tools to:
| • | Streamline workflows |
| • | Automate process controls |
| • | Optimize fleet operations |
| • | Add predictability to equipment lifecycle maintenance processes |
With the right technology solutions, utilities can increase revenues, improve asset performance, and reduce operating costs through better workforce performance.
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Real-time data for real-time decisions
Customer demands on utilities can fluctuate by the hour. A utility company's capability to respond to customer demands in the most efficient way possible is the foundation for its operational and financial success—and, ultimately, makes the difference between satisfied customers and catastrophic outages.
To anticipate and respond to market conditions, balance loads, optimize the generation fleet, and maintain each critical system component, utility managers and operators are turning to Microsoft and its solution partners for state-of-the-art, real-time information systems. Industry leaders such as Invensys, OSIsoft, Spescom Software, SmartSignal, SAT Corp., and VisionMonitor Software are building solutions on industry-standard Microsoft technologies to enable utilities to:
| • | Optimize the generation fleet. With solutions built on Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server, utilities can monitor and measure the performance of the power generation system in its entirety. Real-time data, delivered in a format for better decision making, results in more efficient operations and significant cost reductions. |
| • | Reduce the risk of outages. Taking equipment out of service for unplanned repairs is the most expensive and disruptive approach to maintenance. Worst of all, equipment failure can cause service outages, resulting in losses of revenue and customer confidence. The industry-standard Microsoft .NET platform, with best of breed products such as Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Office Live Communications Server, helps utilities manage their equipment in real time. Partner solutions built on the Microsoft platform enable users to identify problems before they occur and prevent failures rather than react to them. |
| • | Make better lifecycle decisions. By capturing and analyzing lifecycle costs of the utility plant, utilities can make better investment and replacement decisions, improving service and saving money. Solutions taking advantage of the advanced capabilities of Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Office programs enable utilities to consolidate data across the enterprise and use it in complex, analytical decision making. |
Achieving peak performance with Microsoft technologies
Solutions built on secure, reliable Microsoft technologies such as Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services offer utilities real-time decision making and complete lifecycle management of their enterprise information. The advantages of building on a Microsoft platform include:
| • | Data integration and system interoperability. Storing data in disconnected systems can pose one of the greatest hindrances to efficiency in all enterprise efforts, including plant management. The extensive use of Web services and XML schemas in the Microsoft platform empowers utilities organizations to deploy new technologies that integrate with their existing systems and leave them well prepared for next generation innovation. |
| • | Scalability. Microsoft .NET is founded on XML, an emerging standard that is pervasive across all Microsoft product categories. This helps to ensure industry executives that the Microsoft-based solutions they adopt today can grow and expand to meet tomorrow’s most demanding global information needs. |
| • | Ease of use. Microsoft solutions for utilities are based on the common look and feel of familiar Microsoft products such as the Microsoft Windows operating system, Microsoft Office Word, Microsoft Office Excel spreadsheet software, and other industry-standard desktop productivity tools. With 40 percent of the utilities workforce eligible for retirement in the next 10 years, software that supports fast, cost-effective ramp-up of new workers is critical. Nobody does this better than Microsoft. |
| • | Lower total cost of ownership. Microsoft technologies provide utilities with the highest functionality at the lowest cost. As Microsoft group vice president Jeff Raikes observes, other companies require extensive software integration and support from expensive consultants: "We build the professional services into the software so people don't have to pay for it separately." |
Microsoft utilities partners
To learn more about Microsoft partner solutions that can help you utility plant floor operations, please visit a Microsoft partner Web site:
Marty Chakoian is an analyst with Semeron Corporation where he provides assistance in business and technology practices to utilities, government, and private sector organizations. Chakoian is a former chief technology officer for the City of Seattle and director of information technology for Seattle Public Utilities. |
