Energy discovery, consumption and implementation is one of the most talked subjects today across global. The importance of renewable and reusable energy is very high for both individual and business level. Today the use of energy is massive. Every process today is somehow powered and backed by the energy sector.
Every entity needs more energy than ever before, and they want it at affordable prices. It was a tough task to ask in the past, but the innovation of Big Data and Analytics made it a real possibility. Big Data allows businesses to collect, store and analyse huge (terabytes and petabytes) amount of information. The power and energy industry has worked with big data for years and regularly process significant amount of information. Either companies choose to set the infrastructure on site and use Big Data with internal consultants or, they choose to use Big Data in the cloud and have the cloud provider take care of the entire infrastructure. Whichever way companies choose to go, the value Big Data brings is evident.
There are many ways in which big data is adding a bigger advantage in the energy sector. Here are few;
Analysing Future Risks and Opportunities
Big data is being used to resolve complex business problems to take strategic investment decisions. Energy companies use advanced analytics to filter their data collected from thousands of sensors, and use it to make informed investment decisions. These data helps to evaluate market demand and provides all the necessary insights.
Power generation companies use advanced analytics and modelling to predict future prices and accordingly change their operational model to face the challenges. Big Data in cloud platform allows data backup and prevent business data from any future data loss. Big data gives an opportunity to energy manufacturers to understand the risk profiles of their portfolios and possible opportunities, resulting in more strategic decisions.
Energy Preservation
Energy is an asset which is not going to last forever. Many advancements in technology have given ways to additional, renewable and reusable energy resources, but still there is a big need to preserve the limited energy we have. Big Data can be utilized to better preserve the energy resources that are vital. This is a global issue, that few countries are not self-sufficient in producing energy. So analytics is been applied by various international governments to find different effective ways to preserve energy as well as invent new ways to produce.
Data Collaboration
Before we thought on how to implement analytics, we need to understand the problem first. In energy sector there are many problems like predicting production demand, enhancing efficiency and optimizing operation process to preserve. Many large corporates like BP and Halliburton have adopted data analytics, while there is a high scope for small companies with lesser data to achieve new heights.
In power and energy, you have a wide range of data to work with and it takes a lot of time to bring this all together. Big Data Analytics tools are being used to collaborate all those data and build a data centric business. These analytic requires tools like Hadoop, R and Python. Tibco and Tableau are useful visualization tools to present the data.
Supply Chain Visibility
Others sectors are using big data very effectively to manage their inventory and forecast demand to improve supply chain management. Let’s take the example of a retail giant, Walmart. Walmart is among the top companies to implement data analytics. Walmart’s data warehouse relies on 2.5 petabytes (i.e., 2.5 quadrillion bytes) of data to optimize inventory levels and minimize shortages in real time.
The power sector is also the same with utilities. They are using data to drive dispatch decisions and strategies to balance demand and supply. Smart meters, smart grids, syncrophasors and real time weather information systems with big data integration, facilitate dispatch decisions, increase efficiency, organize inventory and enhance reliability.
Customer Experience & More Engagement
An information driven and customer centric business is no longer an option for energy companies, it is a business imperative. Rapid technology shifts, government policy changes, and empowered customers are primary drivers for the new approach to Customer Engagement. With the use of analytics, energy companies can make the shift to engage with customers in highly personalized environments which can increase customer satisfaction, promote new products and lower the service cost.
Amazon introduced the personalized customer service first. Then it was quickly followed by Google, Yahoo, Netflex and many other companies. Since years, in energy and power sector customers has been limited to papers. Big data can transform this into a more customized through social media platforms. Analytics can leverage that information to improve customer interface. Opower, C3 are among those top energy companies who are taking their customer experience with the implementation of big data.
Improves Monitoring & Efficiency
Energy producers can predict the market using key indicators in real-time and respond quickly. Logical algorithms can incorporate and evaluate large volume of information for the power companies. This allows them to prepare more effective business strategies. Big data improves equipment monitoring and maintenance, to minimize production hours. Energy companies are investing more on data to monitor their entire operation because don’t want any future disaster or system failure which may cost them a lot.
Data also improves machine efficiency. Sensors are being installed in equipment to monitor its performance. All the collected data then analysed and used for a collaborative business purpose. Better monitoring and oversight through data can enable energy and power producers to be more proactive.
Also Read: “Big Data Analytics: The Undiscovered Mystery for Many Industries”
Key Notes
- For energy and power companies analytical advantage can be best achieved by using a foundation of common capabilities that can be applied to various utility domains and systems to integrate them.
- Analytics can enable utilities not only to improve current business operations, but also to transform them for optimum productivity.
- Because of data analytics, energy companies are becoming more competitive. Better business engagement model, prolific amount of data and new delivery models are helping them to drive business value and more customer satisfaction.
- Collecting data and utilizing it properly are very different things. After collecting useful data, it is important to make sure it reaches the right department.
- Not all the data can be useful for the business. So it is important to know the significance of the data and techniques to understand how to store and share it.
Conclusion
The energy industry holds a crucial position of providing a product as well as service which is essential to the world economy and consumers. Irrespective of the changes in the industry, energy companies can continue to meet the core expectations to deliver safe, reliable, affordable and sustainable energy resources.
Big Data Analytics can be proved as a core catalyst in achieving optimum business performance in the energy and power sector. At Apogaeis, we drive the analytics journey to ROI in every industry. Apogaeis is a well-recognized data analytics solution provider to many industries. We follow a strategic approach, integrate our experience and strong portfolio to build analytical solutions which transform businesses. Begin your journey into analytics and lead from the front now. For more details Connect Here
