Norwegian power and utilities leading smart energy solutions
Countries around the world are working toward more sustainability, security and reliability when it comes to their networked energy systems. In response to the European Union’s (EU) 2009 Renewables Directive, Norway has taken a strategic approach to its power system plans; the country set an aggressive goal for renewable energy to be 67.5 percent of gross final consumption of energy supplied by renewable sources by the year 2020. With nearly 100 percent of the electric power generation in Norway already coming from renewables like hydropower, the country is well on its way toward reaching its objectives.
As part of the EU’s recommendations for 2020, at least 80 percent of old electricity meters must be replaced with smart meters wherever it is cost effective to do so, resulting in reduced emissions and drops in annual household energy consumption. Norway, once again, stepped up to the challenge and set a tighter deadline for itself of January 2019 for having all of its utilities develop and deploy smart meter grids across the country. This is no easy task, as every utility company must now heavily invest time, budget and resources to roll out a new digital infrastructure without preexisting industry or business best practices and unknown cost savings or benefits as a result of the required changes.
New regulations drive new market opportunities
The good news is that this dynamic situation is creating unique partnerships between independent software vendors (ISVs) and Norway’s utilities to explore and create new energy-saving solutions. From communication infrastructure within the grid to individual home automation, rapid innovation is happening throughout Norway’s power and utility sector including a number of applications built on Microsoft Azure.
One example of an organization putting new grid optimization to work is Ringeriks Kraft. The Norwegian energy company implemented a solution from eSmart Systems to run algorithms in Azure that helped identify opportunities to reorganize its existing substations instead of having to build new ones and saved the company millions.
Lyse is another Norwegian business operating within the energy industry. By strategically increasing its investments in telecom and smart home technology, the company is now making houses safer and eco-friendlier for consumers. As a result of identifying these new market opportunities, over 50 percent of Lyse’s revenue now comes from having creating a more digitally-focused infrastructure and services.
ISVs maximize resources and deliver solutions
Companies like CGI, Enfo, Enoro, eSmart Systems, Teleplan, and Powel are all examples of ISVs with proven strengths in maximizing the capabilities of the Azure platform within the energy and utilities sector. These development partners bring tremendous value to their customers by creating straightforward solutions that decrease integration costs by anticipating the agility needed to address upcoming regulatory and market changes.
Tremendous momentum continues to develop between customers and ISVs throughout the region with regard to smart energy solutions. The Hafslund Group is Norway’s largest power-grid operator and distributor and is a major producer of renewable energy. Hafslund is using Microsoft Azure to improve efficiency and support its social mission to provide improved availability and high security of supply to the communities they serve. Teleplan Globe is a Norway-based ISV and its new CARMEN system, running on Microsoft Azure, has brought huge value to its customers. Nearly 80 percent of the country’s smart grid rollout is using this technology and due to good radio planning, it is significantly reducing the cost of smart meter rollout. Enoro powers the validation, estimation and editing process of metering values in Microsoft Azure. These values will be uploaded daily to the national Elhub, the central datahub for metered data and market processes in the Norwegian electricity market, once it comes online in 2017. And Powel’s new Big Data Solution for Condition Monitoring is built on the basis of digitalization, driven by Industrie 4.0, where IoT and sensors are considered the default. Condition Monitoring, based on Microsoft Azure Analytics Platform System, finds the knowledge in Big Data and applies it to real–time operations and maintenance, dramatically improving service quality and helping energy companies avoid costly outages.
Enabling the Smart City
Utilities and partners are also key to enabling Smart City scenarios, especially among the Nordic countries given relatively economic stability, strong public sector and engagement in green technologies and smart city solutions.
Our Microsoft CityNext is a partner-led initiative that empowers cities to be more sustainable, prosperous, and economically competitive—with a simplified approach. It helps cities unlock their potential by delivering innovative digital services that can help citizens lead safer, healthier, and more educated lives. Cities can tap into the solution portfolios of Microsoft and our partners and innovate at their own pace, deploying real-time solutions that can interoperate with and improve upon existing IT investments. These solutions transform their operations and infrastructures, engage citizens and businesses and accelerate their economic development and environmental sustainability.
To help advance the Smart City conversation, this year, Microsoft Europe is joining forces with companies like Lyse to support the Smart City conference Nordic Edge Expo, which will take place on the 6th and 7th of October 2016 in Stavanger Forum. We plan to bring more than 25 partners to our CityNext exhibition where we will share learnings and best practices with leaders engaged in new technological solutions that make cities, businesses, organizations and homes smarter. These solutions are an important part of the answer to challenges facing the world, especially when it comes to the environment and increasing urbanization.
As 2019 approaches, Norwegian power and utilities companies continue to work hard to meet the government’s goals related to energy systems and smart meter integration. Creating the new digital infrastructure that is necessary is no easy task, but advances are being made with the help of seasoned ISV’s leveraging software solutions built on the Microsoft Azure platform. As a result of the required industry changes, many power and utility businesses are not only bringing more efficient, cost-effective and safer solutions to their customers, but are also identifying new opportunities and benefits for their organizations as well.
