smartPulse enhances energy efficiency through new generation digital solutions

IoT is the power train that makes it possible for smartPulse to offer end-to-end management software for all electricity trade purposes of the energy industry. Software is in high demand by power plants and high-volume trade companies. On the consumption side, solutions are available for businesses in need of a real-time view of energy they produce and consume. smartPulse software allows real-time monitoring of power plants via its dedicated R&D team of IoT devices.

Obliged by regulations to report on the energy produced and its final destination, power plants use smartPulse to submit their 24-hour production plans to Energy Exchange Istanbul (EPİAŞ) and TEIAŞ, the Turkish market and system operators, respectively. Power plants are expected to meet any shortfalls or surplus in their production that might occur due to system glitches or other reasons, and compensate for the difference through trades in the intraday market. Considering the complexity of this challenging business process, smartPulse has designed and now operates a bot mechanism that enables any such trades to be automatically undertaken via the software. The system facilitated more than 1 million commercial transactions over the past two years, 70 percent of which went entirely through the smartPulse bot with no human intervention. This gives energy companies the autonomy to manage imbalances by using the software algorithm and make up for any imbalances in a financially favorable way. The system processes more than 200 GB of data on a daily basis and minimizes any problems that might arise due to imbalances.

smartPulse software can be used for all source types, including wind, hydroelectric, and natural gas. In cooperation with third parties for long-term planning needs of industry forecasting, smartPulse carries out partnerships as necessary to allow real-time and continuous data flow.

Full support for production and commercial planning

As electricity storage requires extremely complicated and expensive systems that are yet to be available and widespread, it is imperative for all national markets that production plans are monitored effectively and supported by compatible commercial planning. To that end, the company’s contribution is particularly within the renewable energy industry where forecasting software—working in a fashion similar to weather forecasts—makes it possible to meet centrally planned production demand. This is a requirement for the industry, considering the financial penalties imposed across the globe from Türkiye to Japan on substandard operations that are not at par with planned production.

Power plant outputs vary depending on the make and model of their systems as well the type of electricity produced. smartPulse acts as a base to receive data from all forecast points and then to feed it back to the power plant itself or the forecasting party. Data calibration relies on receipt of real-time data and fine-tuning through various computations to ensure accuracy. smartPulse lies at the heart of this whole process thanks to its IoT technology and software services.

Since there is no international standard that provides a data formatting framework, forecasting companies can operate in their own unique data formats. This means that the resulting forecast performance can vary from one company to the other. In this respect, smartPulse fulfills a vital function: it not only ensures cost efficiency in the area of integration, but also manages end to end interaction among the other areas in need of integration.

The role of Azure in operations

Azure is a well-known name at smartPulse, a member of the Microsoft Partner Network. As the company began its startup journey in the promising energy industry, it saw an opportunity for high-speed growth in terms of data and scale. Keen to scale up operations with optimal investment, smartPulse immediately began planning. The Azure platform offered many privileges—from database to support—and obvious sizing advantages over other platforms in terms of cost efficiency and ease of use.

Fully taking advantage of Azure DevOps and Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), smartPulse opted to transfer its entire DevOps architecture, development tools, and environment to Azure to benefit from its integrated base. The integrated nature of Microsoft Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code on the Azure platform made the Microsoft ecosystem more favorable.

According to Serkan Yazıcıoğlu, Software Team Leader at smartPulse, the integration of Azure DevOps–Kubernetes operations yields cost efficiency, in addition to automation of transactions on deployment.

“Developing from scratch a platform like Azure DevOps can be quite lengthy, with the need to add on many tools whereas it is all readily available on Azure,” explains Yazicioglu. “We also came to enjoy using Kubernetes thanks to the Azure platform.” Employing solutions like Container Registry and Application Insights, smartPulse makes use of Microsoft`s integrated network for all its code.

On the other hand, the IoT team is dedicated to using Azure IoT Hub, and takes advantage of streams for data storage and processing. Planning is soon to commence using machine learning–based solutions on Azure. 

Recognizing the significance of renewables in defining the industry`s future, and the complications posed by momentary fluctuations, smartPulse designs systems that trigger alerts in a timely manner, feed information to fault systems without interrupting trade, and enable other real-time management efficiencies like instant sale of surplus energy to avoid possible penalties. At the back end, Azure-based bot systems detect any changes and enact algorithms created by the customer to take appropriate action.

For many countries, renewable energy is a novel area, where know-how is as marketable as systems. Recently onboarding a customer from Spain, smartPulse is currently in talks with further potential customers from Bulgaria, Japan, and Germany to expand its portfolio.

A 360-degree view through IoT

Thanks to its ability to provide real-time production data, report on utilization levels, and forecast maintenance needs of equipment in use, IoT technology is a lifeline for power plants, which can be stricken with faults.

Preparing to expand its offerings with Azure Stack Edge in the next couple months, smartPulse will continue to improve its infrastructure by enhancing its AI capabilities and compliance to the regulatory framework of a wider list of countries.