Why Remote Technology Makes Sense for Power Plants

Remote technology is something that all power plant operators should be looking into at this point, even if there are no plans to ever engage in remote operation.  Significant technological advancements have been made in this arena over the past couple of decades, to the point that many routine O&M tasks can be executed remotely.

While the ability to do this effectively and efficiently requires investments in sensors, diagnostic equipment, network bandwidth and cybersecurity protocols, dealing with these types of headaches in the short-term can pay dividends down the road.

The Case for Deploying Remote Technology for Power Plant Operations

According to this article from PowerMag.com, there are 4 key elements of the remote technology business case.  Here is an abbreviated version:

1. Enhancing early warning efforts: Using advanced analytics executed by off-site teams or experts to process digitized information can improve early-warning diagnostic capabilities and accelerate routine troubleshooting and inspection activities. This encompasses the digitization of information critical to power plant operations, such as manuals, procedures, root cause analysis, maintenance and operational history, the harnessing of which can improve the ability of utilities to nip potential issues in the bud, before they turn into major problems.
2. Accommodating staffing shortages: Remote technology can help solve staffing shortages. As we learned with COVID-19, utility companies might experience a situation that behooves them to minimize the number of on-site employees, including in power plant operations.  The same concept could apply to a massive weather event that prevents employees from reporting to their worksites.  Without a proper remote technology setup, none of this would be possible.
3. Optimizing O&M efficiency: The technology can enable troubleshooting and O&M recommendations by virtually analyzing, diagnosing, and predicting issues. It can also automate monotonous activities so that power plant operators can focus on more critical issues.
4. Moving to condition-based maintenance: Many utilities are moving away from interval-based scheduling to condition-based maintenance by using remote technology to continuously monitor and measure performance. In other words, repairs and maintenance would be driven by need, not time, which should make investments in these activities more efficient.

The bottom line is that remote technology can help improve reliability, resiliency, efficiency and profitability.  The pandemic showed us that remote operations are possible, so now is the perfect time to see if this evolution can be expanded for the greater good.