energy & fuel users’ journal apr. – jun. 2016...

Energy & Fuel Users’ Journal Apr. – Jun. 2016

ENFUSEENFUSEENFUSEENFUSEENFUSEVolume - LXVI Book - 1

April - June 2016

EDITORIAL BOARD

Editor :

Madhavan Nampoothiri

Advisors :

Dr. R. Natarajan

Mr. G. Thangaraj(Past President)

Dr. Sulaiman A. Alyahya

Members Ex-Officio:

Mr. S. Ramalingam, President

Capt. Dinesh .T.S.R, Secretary

Mr. S. Sakthivel, Treasurer

Mr. K.R.D.Pradeep Chand, Joint Secretary

Mr. S. Jeyaram, Joint Secretary

Members :

Mr. S. Baskara SethupathyChairman Academic Interface

Mr. R. Sundar, Vice President, Southern Region

Mr. G.L. Srinivasan, Imm. Past President

Publisher :

Mr. S. RamalingamHonorary PresidentEnergy & Fuel Users’ Association of India

Editorial-cum-Admn. Office :

No. 4, B-1, J.P. Tower7/2, Nungambakkam High Road,Chennai - 600 034. INDIAPhone : (091 - 044) 2820 5553e-mail : [email protected]

[email protected]

Printer :

EDITORIAL

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I

Internet of Things (IoT) is taking the technology worldby storm. The number of connected devices is expectedto grow from 10.3 Billion in 2014 to 29.5 Billion in 2020,and the IoT market is expected to grow from $655.8 Millionfrom $1.7 Trillion during the same period. IoT has potentialapplications in all hardware domains(like home appliance,machines and other industrial applications), and energyis no exception.

In this quarterly edition of the ENFUSE Journal, wetake a look at what Internet of Things(IoT) is and how itwill impact the energy industry. The IoT is expected toplay a key role not only in the Oil and Gas industry, butalso in the renewable energy industry.

But before we get into the IoT section, we take alook at the latest happenings in solar and wind industryglobally and in India. Mr. Narendra Modi launched theInternational Solar Alliance, and our President has adetailed report on the topic. The alliance is expected toplay a key role in ensuring widespread growth of solaracross the world, especially in the sunbelt countries. Inother interesting solar news, you will find the details ofthe first round-the-world trip by a solar plane.

In the wind industry, there has been a consolidationwith the merger of Siemens and Gamesa Wind energy,and we look at the impact of the same on the Indian windindustry. When it comes to wind energy in our backyard,Tamil Nadu is now in a position to sell 1GW of wind powerbut transmission infrastructure continues to be abottleneck.

Apart from the above, you will also find the regularENFUSE news that provides updates about the variousactivities conducted by ENFUSE.

We hope you find this edition of the ENFUSE Journalinteresting and useful. Do let us know your feedback andcomments.

MADHAVAN NAMPOOTHIRI


FROM THE PRESIDENT’S DESK

After the crowded activities for OGCFEvents in the first quarter of 2016, thesecond quarter is rather a relaxed periodwith limited activities for ENFUSE. Wewish to report on the progress related toPEER and WISE initiatives during thecurrent quarter.

You may recall that we had set inmotion certain initiatives to have tieups with PEER. (PerformanceExcellence in Electricity Renewal)Systems. Mr. Ramnath S Mani , VicePresident (Eastern Region) had sincediscussions with USGBC Authorities atWashington in USA on the possibilitiesof establishing PEER in India withENFUSE playing the facilitator role. Wehave to continue our efforts further.

As related to WISE (WaterlooInstitute of Sustainable Energy),we hadsince met Director, International relationsAnna University and discussed with himThe responses were very positive anddirector indicated that we can schedule aworkshop between academics fromWISE and Anna University during theyear2016, or in the first quarter of 2017.

The possibilities are being discussed withDirector Wise and a clearer picture islikely to emerge shortly.

On the National front, You may recall,our Prime Minister Sri Narendra Modihas triggered the initiative to form a groupof 107 sunshine countries at the IndiaAfrica Summit and held a meeting amongthem before the conclave of 2015 UnitedNations Climate Change Conference inParis on 30 November 2015. . Thealliance is also called InternationalAgency for Solar Policy and Application(IASPA). Further Prime Minister of IndiaNarendra Modi, and the President ofFrance François Hollande, jointly laid thefoundation stone of the International SolarAll iance (ISA) Headquarters andinaugurated the interim Secretariat of theISA in National Institute of Solar Energy(NISE), Gwalpahari, Gurgaon on 25January 2016. Government of India hasdedicated 5 acre land in NISE campusfor the ISA Headquarters and also hascontributed ¹ 1.75 billion (US$26 million)for ISA campus fund and also for meetingexpenditure for initial five years.

International Solar Alliance (ISA ) isconceived as a coalition of solar resourcerich countries to address their specialenergy needs and will provide a platformto collaborate on addressing the identifiedgaps through a common, agreedapproach. ISA’s Mission and Vision is toprovide a platform for cooperation amongsolar resource rich countries where globalcommunity including bi lateral and

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III

multilateral organizations, corporates,industry, and stakeholders can make apositive contribution to the common goalsof increasing utilizing of solar energy inmeeting energy needs of ISA membercountries in a safe, convenient,affordable, equitable and sustainablemanner.

ISA will have five key focus areas:

1. Promote solar technologies andinvestment in the solar sector toenhance income generation for thepoor and global environment:

2. Formulate projects and programmesto promote solar applications:

3. Develop innovative FinancialMechanisms to reduce cost of capital:

4. Build a common Knowledge e-Portal:Build a knowledge platform, includinga 24x7 e-portal for sharing of policydevelopment experiences and bestpractices in member countries;

5. Faci l i tate capacity bui lding forpromotion and absorption of solartechnologies and R&D amongmember countries:

It will be appropriate for ENFUSE todesign awareness programs on theactivities of ISA in the days to come.

We are planning to have our Annualgeneral body meeting in the 2nd week ofSeptember 2016 and we look forwardmeeting you in good numbers.

S.RAMALINGAM

Power Ministry sets green energy target for state discomsState discoms will have to mandatorily draw at least 2.75% of their total power

consumption from solar plants in the current fiscal, according to the renewable purchaseobligation (RPO)norms laid down by the power ministry. States will have to increase theshare of solar power to 4.75% in 2017- 18 and 6.75%in 2018- 19, the guidelines said.While the Ministry of Power has issued guidelines, the final targets will be set by eachindividual state’s electricity regulatory commission (SERC). The RPO has been dividedinto energy from solar sources and non-solar. The ministry has set the quota of power tobe drawn from non-solar renewable energy sources at 8.75% in 2016- 17, 9.50% in 2017-18and 10.25% in 2018-19. This adds up to a total renewable energy share of 11.50% thisyear, 14.25% in 2017-18and 17% in 2018-19. India had earlier announced a goal ofachieving 8% intake of solar power by March 2022. The new guidelines amount to asignificant increase in the targets set, in keeping with the government’s ambition of having175,000 MW of renewable energy capacity by 2022,including 100,000 MW of solar energycapacity. Track record of state discoms is not very encouraging though. In the last threeyears, solar RPOs set by different SERCs varied between 0.25% and 1%, and yet theywere rarely fulfilled, with penal action rarely being taken against defaulting discoms. Also,discoms, many of them badly cash-strapped, are hardly in a position to encouragerenewable energy growth. Though renewable energy tariffs have been falling of late, thermalpower remains more attractive for them. More so because solar and wind power, by theirvery nature, erratic or infirm with output varying considerably.


Seminar on “Indian Energy Scenario” atEGS Pillay Engineering College on 23rd April2016:

A seminar on Indian Energy Scenariowas organized at EGS Pillay EngineeringCollege on 23.04.2016 by ENFUSEStudents Chapter.

Mr. R.Rengarajan, Coordinator, Energydepartment welcomed the gathering.

Dr. N.Mishra, HOD R&D Departmentgave felicitation.

Dr.D.Ananthanarayanan, Sr. Manager,CPCL-CBR, gave a presentation on ’PresentIndian Energy Scenario’ for the benefit ofstudents.

The presentation covered the followingareas:

Energy demand

Harnessing alternate sources ofenergy

Energy Potential in India

Need for energy conservation

A large no. of students (200 nos.)participated in the seminar.

Mr. Gokul Rajan, CEO,The Innovation,Consulting and Engineering organization, adivision of ManageTeam Consulting Inc.,registered in Ontario, Canada, shared someof the various innovation frameworks and itsapplicability in key verticals in Canada andUS. He made the presentat ion at theExecutive Committee meeting held on 10th

June 2016.

The lecture covered few case studiesalong the lines of innovative management of

ENFUSE NEWS strategic initiatives from inception to businessbenefit realization. The presentation coveredsetting up Project/Program ManagementOffice or Result Management Office / Centerof Excellence, driving agile disaster recoverystrategic plans and tactical roadmaps andimplementing e-governance towards efficientoperational management.

These case studies were derived fromMr. Gokul’s direct experience in managingand leading high-profile provincial/federalinitiatives in India to varied industry verticalsin Canada/US. Some of the verticals thatwere discussed are:

1. Forest Department – Andhra Pradesh

2. Oil and Natural Gas – California

3. Telecommunication – Ontario

4. Professional Accounting &Consulting Group – Deloitte

Some of the Innovative directives wereimplemented through various frameworks,such as:

1. Portfolio Optimization Techniques

a. Provides organizational executivesstrategic platform to identify, evaluate and runseveral scenarios based forecastingdashboard (Resources, Costs, Schedule,Benefits realization etc…) to drive currentprojects and future pipeline initiatives

2. Project Predictive Analytics

a. A new approach to reducing projectrisks and predicting success. It Addresseslikely impacts of any projects in these areas(Significant costs, operational failures,regulatory non-compliance, customerdissatisfact ion or loss of competi t iveadvantage…and these impact not only theproject manager, but also the executivesponsors, senior management teams andboards of directors)

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3. Demand Management – ForecastingResource availability andmanagement

a. Abi l i ty to quantum manageorganizational resources to their skillset,qual i f icat ions, leadership capabi l i ty,hierarchy, experience and professionaldiversity

4. Enterprise Project Management

a. Managing organizational initiativeswithin the triple constraints of Cost, Scopeand Timeline in a structured effort to integratewithin organizational IOT (Internet of Things)

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to ensure seamless integration betweenclient, vendor and the user

5. Risk and Value PropositionTechniques

a. Special ized technique to mapinitiatives based on inherent risks, probabilityfor the risk to realize, value of the item inquestion and effect ive benefi t to theorganization in pursue of the same forstrategic growth

6. Management Consulting toolkitsdesigned to optimize operationalmanagement

A view of the audience at EGS Pillay Engineering CollegeDr. D. Ananthanarayanan delivering the lecture atEGS Pillay Engineering College

Dr. D. Ananthanarayanan getting felicitated at EGS Pillay Engineering College


CONTENTSPage No.

1. GLOBAL SOLAR FUNDING UPDATE - Q2 2016 12. SOLAR POWER TARIFFS EXPECTED TO FALL TO AS LOW AS

RS 3.50 A UNIT IN 3 YEARS 33. CHEAP CHINESE IMPORTS SET TO SALVAGE INDIA'S SOLAR POWER

GENERATORS? 54. INDIA EYES 146 MW OF AIRPORT SOLAR NATIONWIDE 65. MODI LAUNCHES INTERNATIONAL SOLAR ALLIANCE 76. SOLAR IMPULSE 2 FINISHES ITS EPIC ROUND-THE-WORLD TRIP 87. INDIA TO ADD 4,300 MW WIND POWER CAPACITY IN 2016-17: TULSI TANTI 108. SIEMENS-GAMESA WIND ENERGY MERGER TO HELP SIEMENS GET

STRONGHOLD IN INDIAN WIND MARKET 119. TN READY TO SELL 1,000MW WIND POWER 1210. INDIA PROPOSES AUCTION FOR 1 GW OF WIND ENERGY PROJECTS 1311. FROM THE LAB: HARNESSING THE WIND AT SEA 1412. NARENDRA MODI LURES INDIA’S TOP FOSSIL FUEL COMPANIES TO BACK

SOLAR BOOM 1613. A SIMPLE EXPLANATION OF 'THE INTERNET OF THINGS' 1814. INTERNET OF THINGS TECHNOLOGIES COULD TRANSFORM OIL, GAS INDUSTRY 2115. THE INTERNET OF THINGS FOR THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY: WHY QUALITY

ASSURANCE IS CRITICAL 2416. THE FUTURE OF THE INTERNET OF THINGS IN RENEWABLE ENERGY 28

AN APPEALAs you are aware our advertisement tariff had been kept at very low levels for a long

time. However due to run away cost in all activities, the production cost of the journalalso has increased tremendously. This has necessitated a reworking of the advertisementtariffs us given hereunder. This Tariff comes into force with effect from 1.4.2011.

All members are requested to cooperate:

BACK WRAPPER - Rs.10,000/- per insertFRONT INNER PAGE - Rs. 5,000/- per insertBACK INNER PAGE - Rs. 5,000/- per insertFULL PAGE (ART PAPER) - Rs. 2,500/- per insertFULL PAGE - Rs. 2,000/- per insertHALF PAGE - Rs. 1,000/- per insert

For Details Please contact:

Hon. Secretary, ENFUSE4, B-1, J.P.Towers, 7/2 Nungambakkam High Road,

Chennai - 600 034. Phone: 044-2820 5553

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Total corporate funding in Q2 2016 wasat its lowest level in three years, as “the solarindustry continues to experience weakness,”according to Mercom Capital Group’s latestreport and Raj Prabhu, CEO and co-founderof the Austin Texas-based market intelligencegroup.

In addition, total corporate funding in thesolar sector in Q2 2016 was at US$1.7 billion– a significant loss compared to the US$5.9billion of funding in the second quarter of lastyear. Given the tax calendar, i t is notsurprising however that Q2 total corporatefunding experienced a 41% drop comparedto the US$2.8 billion raised in Q1 2016.

Solar corporate funding Q2 2015-Q2 2016.Source: Mercom Capital Group

On the upside, it was a good quarter forresidential and commercial solar funds, withUS$1.36 billion raised in 11 deals – a 36%increase over the US$1 billion raised in sixdeals in the previous quarter. The financingin this segment was led by key residentialinstaller SolarCity, former crowdfunding start-

up Mosaic, and Sunnova Energy. Of that totalfund, US$800 million went towards the leasemodel and US$555 million was allocated toloan funds. The residential/commercial solarsector has been well-backed by corporatefinancers since 2009; where almost US$20billion has been filtered into this marketsegment.

Solar project acquisitions

Top five solar project acquisitions bydollar amount in Q2 2016. Source: MercomCapital Group

On the consolidation side, there were 17M&A transactions in Q2 2016 – a slightincrease on the 14 in Q1 2016. Eight of thosedeals were attributed to solar downstreamcompanies, with the remaining five frombalance of system (BOS) manufacturers anddistributers.

A key deal for the quarter wasthe Sungevity merger with EasterlyAcquisition Corp valued at US$357 million.

More than 2GW of solar projects wereacquired in the second quarter compared to theslightly higher 2.4GW in the previous quarter.

Global Solar Funding Update – Q2 2016

60

50

40

30

20

10

00

1,500

3,000

4,500

6,000

7,500

Solar Corporate Funding Q2 2015-Q2 2016

Q2’15 Q3’15 Q4’15 Q1’16 Q2’16

No. of DealsDisclosed Amount (SM)

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The largest disclosed project acquisitionin this quarter was the US$1.4 bi l l ionWelspun Renewables acquisition by TataPower Renewable Energy, a Tata Powersubsidiary. Theacquisi t ion included atakeover of the 1,140MW (994MW and146MW of wind) project pipeline.

Notably, 8point3 Energy Partners, ayieldco formed by First Solar andSunPower acquired an interest in the 40 MWKingbird solar project located in Kern County,California, from First Solar, for US$60 million.

In addition to the 38 large-scale solarproject acquisitions (13 disclosed for US$1.9billion) in Q2 2016, compared to Q1 2016 with50 transactions (22 disclosed for US$1.2billion), Mercom also tracked 196 new large-scale project announcements in Q2 2016totalling 11.3GW.

Large-scale project funding

Top five announced large-scale solarprojects by dollar amount in Q2 2016. Source:Mercom Capital Group

The biggest large-scale project fundingdeal this quarter was the US$588 millionsecured by Engie for its 100MW Kathuconcentrated solar plant (CSP) project inSouth Africa.

Disclosed debt financing amounted toUS$1.3 billion in 12 deals in Q2 2016 – a

decline on the US$2.3 billion raised in 18deals in the previous quarter, and an evensteeper decline on the US$3.4 billion raisedin 14 deals in the same quarter of theprevious year.

Solar public market financing in Q2 2016came to US$179 mil l ion in four dealscompared to $94 million in four deals in thefirst quarter of 2016 and US$2.3 billion in 12deals in Q2 2015.

Global venture capital funding (includingprivate equity) was also on the downturn thisquarter with US$174 million in 16 dealscompared to US$406 million in 23 deals inQ1 2016. However, year-over-year venturecapital figures fared better in comparison tothe US$142 million in 24 deals in Q2 2015.64% of the overall venture capital funding inQ2 2016 came from downstream companieswith US$112 million across seven deals. Akey contributor to this is the US$100 millionraised by Silicon Ranch from private equityfirm Partners Group.

Solar venture capital funding Q2 2015-Q2 2016. Source: Mercom Capital Group

(Source :PV Tech - July 2016)

600

450

300

150

0

30

25

20

15

10

5

0Q2’15 Q3’15 Q4’15 Q1’16 Q2’16

Disclosed Amount (SM) No. of Deals

Solar VC Funding Q2 2015-Q2 2016

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Solar power tariffs in India, which havefallen below Rs.5 per unit since November,are expected to fall further as the industrydoubles volumes every year and the cost ofproducing power continues to decline.

At least three industryexperts Mint spoke to said that tariffs will fallto as low as Rs.3.5 per unit in three yearsowing to better use of technology, highervolumes, increased competit ion and afavourable regulatory environment.

“There is no question about whether they(tariffs) will go down or not. Typically we areseeing a 3-4% increase in efficiency andabout 3-4% reduction in costs. So we expectthat solar tariffs will continue to go down by5-8% year-on-year,” said Vikram Kailas,managing director at renewable energyproducer Mytrah Energy Ltd.

Solar module prices have already fallensharply, down by 10% in the first half of2016 , leading to higher margins and revivingprojects which were termed unviableearlier, Mintreported on Monday.

“The cost of production continues tocome down. The challenge of course is byhow much and whether i t becomesunsustainable in specific points in time,” saidVinay Rustagi, managing director, Bridge toIndia, a consulting firm.

Bridge to India sees tariffs falling by atleast 5% annually and calls a sub-Rs.4 perunit tariff a realistic number.

“Other subsectors within powergeneration do not expect (a) decline in prices.

Solar power tariffs expected to fall to aslow as Rs.3.50 a unit in 3 years

So from grid-parity or competitive aspect,solar is the most attractive source of energyfor long-term,” added Rustagi.

A fall in tariffs would be a shot in the armfor the government, which has pushedrenewable energy to the top of its energysecurity agenda and has been looking toprovide green power at less than Rs.4.50 aunit. India has targeted 100 gigawatts (GW)of solar and 60GW of wind energy capacityby 2022. It currently has about 8GW of solarcapacity and about 27GW of wind powercapacity.

Bigger factories and lower cost ofmanufacturing will ultimately lead to areduction in tariffs over the next few years,said PashupathyGopalan, president, AsiaPacific, SunEdison Inc., which has over 1GWof operational and under-construction solarprojects in India.

Indeed, solar tariffs hit a record-low inNovember last year when SunEdisonbid Rs.4.63 per unit in a reverse onlineauction and fell to Rs.4.34 in Finland-basedFortum’s bid at a January e-auction.

To be sure, many have called the fallingtariffs “unviable” and “suicidal”, cit inginstances of companies unable to findfinancial closure for their projects.

Power producers argue that they havebeen able to bid aggressively at government-provided solar parks thanks to ready-to-useinfrastructure such as land and transmissionfacilities. Global firms such as Fortum,SoftBank and SunEdison have also used

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aggressive bidding as a means to get a footin the door of this nascent sector.

Between 2010 and 2015, solar capacityaddition had doubled annually. It is expectedto grow even faster to touch 12GW by theend of this year. India will then become thefourth largest solar market, overtaking theUK, Germany and France.

While lower tariffs will be a positive forconsumers and the environment, there areconcerns that investors won’t get the returnsthey want. “This is, end of the day, acommodity industry,” SunEdison’s Gopalansaid. Returns in the sector range from 12%to 16% depending on tariffs and other factors.

In India, which holds reverse auctionsfor tendering solar projects, the role of the

buyer and seller is reversed and a businessbid is won by quoting prices downwards. “Inany other country, bidding is a double-edgedsword, so they have a condition that onecannot bid below a certain price or IRR(internal rate of return). But India does nothave any such condition. We believe thatpeople will continue to be aggressive,”Mytrah’s Kailas said.

Tariffs will go down only if there will be adecrease in the overall cost of setting up solarprojects from Rs.5.5 crore per MW to Rs.3-4 crore and plant load factors increase fromthe current 15-20%, said Anubhav Gupta, ananalyst at Maybank Kim Eng Securities India.

(Source : Mint dated 26 July 2016)

Scientists turn CO2 into fuel with solar powerResearchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago believe that they’ve perfected

the art of photosynthetic solar cells. It’s a technology that mimics a plant’s ability toinhale carbon dioxide and, with water, convert it into glucose and oxygen. This systemis capable of drawing in carbon dioxide and processing it into a synthetic fuel that couldbe used to power vehicles. Theoretically, this device could create a virtuous cycle whereclimate-altering carbon could be removed from the atmosphere and pumped back intocars.

The artificial leaf contains a pair of solar cells that power an infinitely more complexversion of the electrolysis you learned about in high school science. Energy from thesun is used to catalyze a reaction with various obscure compounds like nanoflaketungsten diselenide (which is a transition metal dichalcogenide). Synthetic gas comesout of the other side, which can either be used directly by vehicles that can take it, orconverted further into diesel.

Should UIC’s newer process prove to be cost-effective, it could spell the end oftraditional gasoline production as we know it. Instead, a network of these cells wouldbe installed at a solar farm, creating fuel and reducing the quantity of atmosphericcarbon dioxide at the same time. The only downside is that we’d still be re-releasingthe deadly gas back into the atmosphere, but it’s a decent stop-gap while we work onreducing our carbon emissions more permanently.

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A drop in prices of solar panels made inChina is set to boost the green powergeneration industry in India, which isstruggling to remain viable because of highinput costs— though Indian manufacturersare unlikely to cheer.

The situation has been aggravated asmany companies have already bid forprojects at prices under ` 5 per unit, which istoo low to cover production costs.

In 2016, prices of Chinese photovoltaicmodules— the key component of a solarpanel accounting for 60% of the total cost —have fallen 10%. The price fall has beenattributed to low demand in China andcontinued trade restrictions by the EuropeanUnion on imports from the country.

The depreciation of the Chinese yuanwith respect to the rupee will also drive pricesdown for Indian importers.

“While this would make tariffs viable, Idon’ t think prices( cost of solar power) willfall any further,” said Sumant Sinha, promoterof RE New Energy.

Solar projects, which had been setup ataggressive bids of ` 4.60 to ` 4.70 per unit,had made projects unviable forcing

Cheap Chinese imports set to salvageIndia’s solar power generators?

companies such as US-based Sun Edison,to exit India.

“Solar cell prices going down will be abig positive for the solar industry in India,”said Suni l Rathi, director, sales andmarketing, Waaree Energies, a provider ofsolar energy solutions.

“A 5-10% drop in module prices means15-20 paise impact on solar prices in termsof rupees per kWh. So, for some of theaggressive bidders, it gives them that littlebit of a cushion. It will help some of theseprojects move forward, get financing etc,”said Santosh Kamath, partner, KPMG inIndia.

But Chinese imports in the sector havefaced opposition from Indian manufacturers,who have demanded the imposition of anti-dumping duty on cheap photo voltaic cellsproduced by China, which is world’ s largestmanufacturer of the product.

India is likely to become the fourthlargest solar market globally in 2016, with anestimated new capacity addition of about 5.4G W (gigawatt), according to renewableenergy consultancy Bridge to India. TheNarendra Modi government has set a solarpower target of 100GW by 2022.

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India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation is poisedto sign off on an agreement to install vastamounts of solar PV at the country’s airportsover the coming years.

The plan was formulated during ameeting between the ministry and the AirportsAuthority of India (AAI) to discuss and reviewthe progress of the country’s energy andwater conservation measures at airportsnationwide. The AAI has already overseenthe installation of 5.4 MW of solar PV capacityacross 16 Indian airports, but the ministry iseager for the number of airport-locatedinstallations to increase.

“So far, 51 lakh energy units have beengenerated from the 16 plants installed,leading to a reduction of 4,600 metric tonnesin carbon emissions,” said a statement issued

India eyes 146 MW ofAirport Solar Nationwide

by the ministry. “By December 2016,additional 24.1 MW of solar power plants willbecome operational at 11 more airports.”

According to the ministry, a further 16airports have been identified for the nextphase of the project, which wil l seeapproximately 116 MW of additional solar PVcapacity added.

The AAI manages 125 airports acrossIndia, of which 11 handle international flightsand 81 are for domestic routes. Thegovernment has been exploring ways to givegreater purpose to many of the country’sunderutilized airports, and believes thatcheaper solar energy could play a role indelivering this, allied to cheaper internal airtravel as India’s middle class grows.

(Source: PV Magazine)

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The new body, which has invited allcountries located fully or partly between thetropics of Cancer and Capricorn to join, is tofunction from the National Institute of SolarEnergy in India, Gurgaon.

India launched an International SolarAl l iance (ISA) at the CoP21 ClimateConference here on Monday, with anannouncement by Prime Minister Modi thatthe revolution in the field would bring powerto all citizens, and create unlimited economicopportunity.

The new body, which has invited allcountries located fully or partly between thetropics of Cancer and Capricorn to join, is tofunction from the National Institute of SolarEnergy in India, Gurgaon. The Centre willprovide land and $30 million to form asecretariat for the Alliance, and also supportit for five years, the Prime Minister said at anevent that was co-chaired with him by FrenchPresident Francois Hollande.

In its launch resolution, the ISA says itseeks to share collective ambitions to reducethe cost of finance and technology that isneeded to deploy solar power widely;generation and storage technologies wouldbe adapted to the individual countries’ needs.

Modi launches International Solar Alliance

Among the tasks that the Alliance wouldpursue are, cooperation in training, buildinginstitutions, regulatory issues, commonstandards, and investment including jointventures.

Addressing a packed audience, whichwas treated to visuals and a song on thetheme, Mr.Modi said solar had created arevolution, as costs had declined sharply,technology continued to evolve and gridconnectivity was improving. The responsefrom industry was also encouraging. ThePrime Minister presented “ConvenientAction”, a book he has written on the Gujaratexperience with solar energy and a music CDwith songs on the environment to Mr.Hollande.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moonsaid the United Nations would work closelywith the ISA and commended India’s successin adopting the technology, as witnessed inthe solar projects in Gujarat.

Union Minister of State for Power PiyushGoyal presented the goals of the ISAcontained in its resolution.

(Source: The Hindu dated December 1, 2015)

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The Solar Impulse 2 concluded itsjourney the other day, becoming the firstaircraft to circumnavigate the globe withouta drop of liquid fuel. And while we won’t beboarding sun-powered commuter flightsanytime soon, the solar plane’s feat doespoint toward the future of energy.

Pilots Bertrand Piccard and AndréBorschberg made the trip during 17 months,stopping in 17 cities. Sun power propelledthem across approximately 26,718 miles(43,000 kilometers). Their landing in AbuDhabi happened one day after the birthdayof Amelia Earhart, who became the firstwoman to fly alone across the Atlantic in1932.

The historic flights join earlier onesby Earhart, Charles Lindbergh, and otherpioneers—but Solar Impulse was alwaysmore about energy than aviation.

Outlining his vision for the project 12years ago, Piccard noted that clean energy“lacked really dynamic promotional marketingimpetus.” Solar Impulse, then, is an airbornemascot for the technologies its backers saycan cut the world’s energy consumption inhalf and protect a warming planet.

“Impressive” Achievement

The Solar Impulse assembled a numberof technically advanced components in a waythat wouldn’t have been possible years ago,saysCraigSteeves, associate director of theUniversity of Toronto Institute for AerospaceStudies.

Solar Impulse 2 FinishesIts Epic Round-the-World Trip

“I certainly think it’s a pretty impressivetechnical achievement,” he says. “They’repretty far ahead on a path that the aerospaceindustry would like to go.”

That said, solar-powered commercial airtravel at the capacity and speeds we expectisn’t feasible, “certainly not in my lifetime,”Steeves says. Solar Impulse can only carryone person—the pilot—and travels at aboutthe speed of a car, 46 miles per hour (75kilometers per hour) on average. (Learnabout the secrets of the flights.)

“A lot of what they’re demonstrating,”Steeves says, “is probably going to berelevant to earth-bound applications beforeit becomes important to flight.”

Indeed, the plane’s l ightweightmaterials and other components could beused on the road and the power grid. Itssuper-efficient engine ran on electricitygenerated from 17,248 solar cells. Special,energy-dense batteries stored sun power sothe plane could fly at night.

“Solar Impulse has proved that a 24-hourelectrical system, powered exclusively byrenewables, is possible,” says Conor Lennon,manager of special projects with ABB, whichmakes electric transformers, EV chargingstations, and other power technology.

Four ABB engineers were embedded onthe Solar Impulse project, Lennon says,working in part to extract maximum powerfrom the solar panels and keep batteries fullycharged. The plane’s cells are nearly 50percent more efficient than regular ones.

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An Electrifying Flight

Masdar, the sustainability testing groundlocated in Solar Impulse’s beginning andending destination, also supported thejourney. “In Abu Dhabi, you can feel theexcitement surrounding Solar Impulse,” saysMasdar CEO Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi.“Being the host city is a source of tremendousnational pride.”

In particular, Al Ramahi says, the plane’s118-hour fl ight over the Pacific Ocean“shattered the myth that solar energycaptured by PV panels can’t be stored andutilized at night.”

Here again is where Solar Impulsestands for advances that will more likelyappear first on the ground, as power plantslook to introduce more renewable energyonto the grid while balancing the intermittentnature of the sun and wind.

“We are working to crack the code onhow to make solar a baseload provider ofenergy,” Al Ramahi says.

The plane’s efficient engine can serveas a model for other motors, the SolarImpulse team notes, while its lightweight,extra potent LED lighting and insulation canbe used in housing. Its sensors and data-

collecting tools, meanwhile, could help informother types of energy management systems.

And while much of the tech aboard theSolar Impulse may be better employed onthe ground for now, the aviation industry isworking on similar light materials, smartercontrols and other efficiency improvements.

Dan Rutherford, program director formarine and aviation technology at theInternational Counci l on CleanTransportation, sees the Solar Impulse as agood emissary for clean-energy awareness,but echoes Steeves in saying we won’t beseeing solar-powered commercial flightsanytime soon. He notes that Solar Impulseis not just about the solar power: It’s alsoabout using electricity instead of combustionand hydraulics.

“We’ve already seen a movement towardmore-electric aircraft,” Rutherford says,pointing to the Boeing Dreamliner, which hasbatteries that power its auxiliary system andcomputers.

Between the envelope-pushingadvancements boasted on the Solar Impulseand the most advanced commercial planesgoing into service today, he says, “definitelyyou are seeing an overlap.”

(Source: Solar Impulse 2)

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India’s wind power capacity is set to grow30 per cent or 4,300 MW in 2016-17, helpedby capacity addition in Andhra Pradesh,Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, among others,Suzlon Group Chairman Tulsi Tanti said.

At present, the total wind power installedcapacity in the country is around 27 GW,accounting for about 9 per cent of India’s totalinstalled capacity.

“ India is a very promising anddemanding market. It is set to grow by 30per cent annually. In 2016-17, the country willadd about 4,300 MW of wind power,” Tantitold reporters here.

Suzlon has i ts rotor bladesmanufacturing facility in Bhuj and maintainssites for some of its clients.

Interacting with the media through videoconferencing from Germany, Tanti said: “Mostcapacity will be added by Andhra Pradeshfollowed by Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh,Karnataka, Rajasthan and Maharashtra.Some capacity will be added in Tamil Nadu.”

In a blog post in April, the founder ofIndia’s leading wind turbine maker hadtermed 2015-16 as a “historic year” for theIndian renewable industry. Wind energysurpassed all its previous records with about3,300 MW installation, a growth of 43 percent. The previous highest installation wasaround 3,196 MW in 2011.

“India’s wind energy sector witnessedunprecedented acceleration last year,

India to add 4,300 MW wind power capacity in2016-17: Tulsi Tanti

propelled by technology and conducive policyenvironment for renewables, by central andstate governments. The growth was wayhigher than the industry estimates of 30-40per cent,” he had said.

The industry has attracted an investmentof over USD 3.16 billion and the cumulativeinstallation of the sector is about 64 per centof India’s total grid interactive renewableenergy capacity. This is equivalent toreducing carbon emission by over 58.56million tonnes per annum or planting over1.76 billion trees, Tanti had noted.

Globally, India is at the fourth spot interms of wind power installed capacity afterChina, the US and Germany. The Centre hasset an ambitious target of achieving 175 GWcapacity from renewable energy resourcesby 2022 and of this, 60 GW is seen to comefrom wind power.

Tanti sounded positive on Suzlon’sperformance in 2016-17 during his videoconferencing with reporters.

“We will achieve a market share of 40per cent in 2016-17 and will generate cashfrom operations,” he added.

In 2015-16, the firm had a market shareof 27 per cent in India, up from 19 per cent in2014-15. Last fiscal, Suzlon commissioned900 MW wind energy projects, of which 520MW was commissioned in the January-Marchquarter alone.

(Source: Economic Times)

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German capital goods major Siemenswill get a stronghold in the Indian windenergy, where it had a late entry, after signingan agreement with Spain’s Gamesa tocombine their wind energy business to createthe world’s biggest builder of windfarms.

Siemens has struggled to turn its windenergy business profitable and its businessin India, through its listed arm, is a fledglingbusiness. Siemens will hive off its windenergy business and merge it with Gamesa.Siemens will hold 59% stake in the mergedentity, while Gamesa will hold the balance41%

“India was the biggest market forGamesa globally representing 29% of theglobal business. The Indian businesses of thetwo companies are complimentary. Siemenshas a fairly small presence in India, while weinstalled 1,003 mw of wind turbine capacityin India in 2015-16,” Ramesh Kymal,chairman and managing director of GamesaIndia, told ET.

A spokesperson from Siemens in Indiasaid that they are studying the deal detailsand i t was early to comment on i tsimplications of India business.

As part of the merger, Siemens will payin cash Euros 3.75 a share to shareholdersof Gamesa upon completion of merger. Thecash payment represents 26% of Gamesa’sunaffected share price at market close onJanuary 28, 2016. The new company, whichwill be consolidated in Siemens’ financialstatements, is expected to have a 69gigawatts installed base worldwide, an order

Siemens-Gamesa wind energy merger to helpSiemens get stronghold in Indian wind market

backlog of around 20 billion, revenue of 9.3bi l l ion and an adjusted EBIT of 839million. The combined company will have itslegal domicile and global headquarters inSpain and will remain listed in Spain.

“The combination of our wind businesswith Gamesa follows a clear and compellingindustrial logic in an attractive growthindustry, in which scale is a key to makingrenewable energy more cost-effective. Thecombined business will fit right into ourSiemens Vision 2020 and underlines ourcommitment to affordable, reliable andsustainable energy supply,” said Joe Kaeser,President and CEO of Siemens AG.

India aims to scale up its wind energycapacity to 60 gigawatts by 2022 from around27 gigawatts now, making it a growthdestination for European wind turbine andengineering companies.

In February, Siemens and Gamesaagreed in principle to combine their windbusinesses but the deal was delayedbecause the latter had to renegotiate itscontract for an offshore wind joint venture,known as Adwen, with French engineeringcompany Areva SA.

(Source : Economic Times)

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In the wake of a surge in wind powergeneration in the state, TamilNadugovernment has sought the Centre’sintervention to increase the inter-statetransmission capacity to sell the harvestedrenewable energy to other states that havenot met the renewable power purchaseobligation (RPO) prescribed by the CentralElectricity Act.

Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, in a letterto Prime Minister Narendra Modi onSaturday, said Tamil Nadu was ready to sellas much as 1,000MW wind power to otherstates, but inadequate transmission capacityin the grid remained a hurdle. “Whilededicated infrastructure would take sometime to be created, in the mean time,thePower Grid Corporation may be directedto allocate dedicated transmission capacityto transfer the surplus wind energy availablein Tamil Nadu to other states this season (tillSeptember). I would be grateful for earlyaction in this regard,” said Jayalalithaa.

She also called upon Modi to instruct theUnion ministry of power to speed up work onthe inter-state green energy corridor. TamilNadu is in the process of setting up one suchcorr idor and the work is almost over.Increased evacuation of wind energy this

TN ready to sell 1,000MW wind poweryear can largely be attributed to this corridor,which is operational in major wind corridorslike Kavalkinaru and Kayathar in southernTamil Nadu.

As of now, the state is selling 60MW windenergy to Goa for a month and another60MW to Odisha at ‘4.4 per unit. Tamil Naduis routing power to Goa via NTPC VidyutVyapar Trading Agency.

There are other states like Uttarakhandwhich are ready to purchase up to 500MWeach, but are unable to do so owing to lackof transmission capacity. “Uttarakhand hasoffered to give hydro power in return to usduring April-May next year,” said a Tangedcoofficial.

Tamil Nadu, in recent days, has beengenerating about 4,000MW wind energyagainst an installed capacity of 7,600MW.

On an average, about one-third of thestate’s daily power requirement of 300 millionunits is met by wind energy, said sources inthe state power utility. Even private powergeneration companies in the state are nowfree to sell power to other states as thegovernment had lifted restrictions imposedon them a month ago.

(Source : Times of India)

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India may soon launch its first-everauction for wind energy projects as it plansto keep the investors interested even assome crucial financial incentives are setto expire by early next year.

The Ministry of New & RenewableEnergy has issued a proposal to auction 1GW of wind energy capacity across variousstates in India. The ministry has called forsuggestions and comments fromstakeholders about the same.

According to the proposal, the ministryplans to auction at least 1 GW of wind energycapacity. Project developers will be free tochoose the site of project installation. Thebase tariff for auctions will be equal to thewind energy tari ff determined by therespective state electr ici ty regulatorycommission where the project is planned tobe implemented.

Power trading agencies will sign powerpurchase agreements with wind energyprojects. These power traders will in turn sell

India Proposes Auction for 1 GW OfWind Energy Projects

the electricity to power utilities for a periodof 25 years. Project developers selectedfollowing the auction will be required tocommission the projects with 15 months.

The main goal of this proposed auctionis to allow states that lack wind energyresources to purchase electricity from windenergy projects and meet their non-solarrenewable purchase obligations.

The wind energy potential in India isassessed by the National Institute of WindEnergy (NIWE) at 100 meters above groundlevel, which is estimated to be over 302 GW.Most of this potential exists in 8 windy states,namely Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka,Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan,Tamil Nadu, and Telangana.

India has set a target to achieve 60 GWof operational wind energy capacity by March2022. The installed wind energy capacity on30 April 2016 was 26.8 GW.

(Source :Cleantechnica – June 2016)

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There has been a lot of discussion in thelast couple of years around harnessing solarenergy to meet climate change objectives aswell as to strengthen India’s energy security.In these conversations, wind energy is seenonly as a supplementary source of renewableenergy.

Two years ago, India said it would aimto produce 100 GW of electricity throughsolar energy and another 60 GW throughwind energy by the year 2020. But keepingin mind the higher energy production capacityand efficiency of wind turbines in comparisonto solar panels, our doctoral study aims toestimate the quantum of extractable windenergy from viable offshore locations alongthe Indian shoreline.

Further we also aim to assess thesustainability of the harnessable energy inthe future, in the light of long term climatechange. India’s entire installed capacity ofwind is based on land, either on the coastlineor in the interiors. We are yet to have anyoffshore wind farms that countries likeDenmark have exploited with greatadvantage. There are several advantages oflocating windmills in the sea, some distanceaway from the coastline.

Wind speeds are higher by about 25 percent on the sea due to a higher temperaturegradient and smoother interface with the seasurface (there are no bui ldings orconstructions to obstruct wind flow). These

From the lab:Harnessing the wind at sea

Sumeet Kulkarni, M C Deo and Subimal GhoshDepartment of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay

higher speeds are obtained at lower heights,and wind directions are more stable. As such,use of smaller size turbines are possibleoffshore.

A general perception regarding offshorewind energy is that the cost of constructinga wind farm is more compared to those onthe land. Nonetheless a study based on costto benefit assessment by Chennai-basedNational Institute of Ocean Technologyshowed that offshore wind farm can costabout 111 per cent of an onshore one, butthis additional cost can be offset by a 184per cent rise in annual power production.

We have tried to assess the potential ofthree sites selected by the government forthe development of the first offshore farms.These are Jakhau in Gujarat andKanyakumari and Rameshwaram in TamilNadu. Simultaneously, we have also tried todetermine the potential of offshore farmsalong the entire Indian shoreline.

We have studied the changes incharacteristics of wind at these places in two30-year time slots: from 1976 to 2005, andfrom 2006 to the present time, which has thenbeen extrapolated till the year 2035. We ranten general circulation models, which arestate of the art climate models that simulatepast and future climate data, consideringvarious carbon emission scenarios.

For enhanced accuracy in site specificassessment of wind energy, we interpolated

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the square grids of 150 to 300 km to 50×50km grid size. There is a certain apprehensionabout the sustainability of offshore windfarms in the light of climate change inducedby global warming. Certain aspects of windassociated with climate change are expectedto favour the wind energy industry while someothers are likely to have an adverse impacton it.

Our results show that annual mean windpotential at the three selected sites are likelyto increase by about 25 to 30 per cent by theyear 2035. Annual average wind powerproduction at Rameshwaram is likely to be326 watt/square metre (w/sq m), while it islikely to be 257 w/sq m at Kanyakumari and289 w/sq m at Jakhau. An annual average of200 w/sq m or above is considered very good.

(Source : The Indian Express)

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India’s biggest energy companies aremoving beyond their roots in fossil fuels toinvest in renewables, backing Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s goal to build up alternativesto the most polluting forms of energy.

Indian Oil Corp., a prominent refiner,along with Oil India Ltd, are working to builda 1-gigawatt solar farm in Madhya Pradesh,according to the state agency responsible forimplementing energy pol icy. The oi lcompanies join India’s largest conventionalelectricity generators like NTPC Ltd and TataPower Co., which are aiming to be the biggestplayers in clean energy.

India’s biggest oil explorer is also gettingin on the game.

“We already have some wind capacities,and now we want to position ourselves big insolar,” said Dinesh Kumar Sarraf, chairmanof Oil and Natural Gas Corp. “Investments inrenewable energy are not for meredemonstration, but also because of businessreasons. We are working towards givingrenewables a reasonable share in our overallbusiness mix.”

Modi’s support, along with a plunge inthe cost of wind and solar technology, ismaking more renewable projects economicalto develop. That’s making clean energy abright spot in an industry where state powerretailers are struggling to pay their own billsafter amassing Rs.2.5 trillion ($37 billion) ofdebt.

“More renewables than coal power willbe built in Asia over the next 25 years, and

Narendra Modi lures India’s top fossil fuelcompanies to back solar boom

most of i t wi l l be bui l t by these bigconventional power companies,” said JustinWu, head of Asia and Pacific for BloombergNew Energy Finance in Hong Kong.

The Indian companies are catching upto counterparts in Europe and Asia, wherebig energy companies have already movedinto renewables. China Guodian Corp., thenation’s fourth-biggest conventional powercompany, is the largest wind-asset owner inthe world through unit China Longyuan PowerGroup Corp. Other leading renewablesdevelopers include utilities Enel SpA of Italy,Iberdrola SA of Spain and Finland’s FortumOYJ.

Renewables opportunities

In India, companies are just starting torecognize the opportunity.

Tata Power, one of the country’s largeprivate power producers with 7.3 gigawattsof capacity, signed the biggest renewablesdeal in India last month, acquiring 1.1gigawatts of clean-energy capacity valued at$1.4 bil l ion from Welspun RenewablesEnergy Pvt Ltd.

Government-owned NTPC, India’slargest power generator with coal-basedinstalled capacity of 35 gigawatts, intends totransform itself into the largest green powerproducer in coming years, according to itswebsite. NTPC and i ts power-tradingsubsidiary, NTPC VidyutVyapar Nigam Ltd.,also act as the buyers for most solar auctionssponsored by the central government.

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Another private coal-based powerproject developer, RattanIndia Power Ltd.,told Bloomberg earlier this year that it’sconverting a parcel of land initially intendedfor conventional energy projects to solar.

Indian Oil is planning to consume partof the clean energy produced for their ownrefineries and sell the remainder to otherpublic sector enterprises like Steel Authorityof India Ltd, said Manu Srivastava, managingdirector of Madhya Pradesh UrjaVikas NigamLtd, the agency that’s implementingrenewable policies in the province.

“The state government will provide landto the oil companies for this project and we’relooking at district Chhatarpur for the same,”Srivastava said.

Modi’s promises

Indian Oil said in a statement that theproject is in preliminary stages and it’s tooearly to comment. Officials at Oil Indiaweren’t available for comment.

CLP India, a unit of Hong Kong-listedCLP Holdings Ltd, also has 1.1 gigawatts ofrenewable capacity either working or beingplanned in India.

Both local and foreign companies arebeing drawn by Modi’s promise to supportmore wind and solar developments throughsubsidies and auctions of power-purchasecontracts. His target is to expand cleanenergy in India to 175 gigawatts by 2022 from45 gigawatts currently.

Still unanswered is whether investors areable to prof i t from their clean energyinvestments. India’s power retailers aresuffering losses, partly because they’reforced to sell electricity below the cost theypay for it. Their reliance on loans andsubsidies has made them slower to embracesolar and wind.

“If power distribution companies don’timprove financially in next three years, cleanpower projects will be in danger of turninginto non-performing assets,” said NitinZamre, managing director at consulting firmICF International.

Government goals

Even so, Modi has mandated that utilitiesbuy more renewable power to stimulate theindustry.

In order to promote renewable energyand energy security, the government hastargeted eight percent of total consumptionof electricity, excluding hydro power, fromsolar energy by March 2022 as part ofamendments to the country’s tariff policyreleased this January.

“The fall in the price of clean energy isdriving massive capacity build across Asiaand that is an opportunity that evenconventional energy firms can’t ignore,” saidAshish Sethia, head of Asia-Pacific gas andpower analysis at BNEF.Bloomberg

(Source: LiveMint dated 22 July 2016)

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The “Internet of things” (IoT) is becomingan increasingly growing topic of conversationboth in the workplace and outside of it. It’s aconcept that not only has the potential toimpact how we live but also how we work.But what exactly is the “Internet of things”and what impact is it going to have on you, ifany? There are a lot of complexities aroundthe “Internet of things” but I want to stick tothe basics. Lots of technical and policy-related conversations are being had but manypeople are still just trying to grasp thefoundation of what the heck theseconversations are about.

Let’s start with understanding a fewthings.

Broadband Internet is become morewidely available, the cost of connecting isdecreasing, more devices are being createdwith Wi-Fi capabilities and sensors built intothem, technology costs are going down, andsmartphone penetration is sky-rocketing. Allof these things are creating a “perfect storm”for the IoT.

A Simple Explanation Of‘The Internet Of Things’

So What Is The Internet Of Things?

Simply put, this is the concept ofbasically connecting any device with an onand off switch to the Internet (and/or to eachother). This includes everything fromcellphones, coffee makers, washingmachines, headphones, lamps, wearabledevices and almost anything else you canthink of. This also applies to components ofmachines, for example a jet engine of anairplane or the dri l l of an oil r ig. As Imentioned, if it has an on and off switch thenchances are it can be a part of the IoT. Theanalyst firm Gartnersays that by 2020 therewill be over 26 billion connected devices…That’s a lot of connections (some evenestimate this number to be much higher, over100 billion). The IoT is a giant network ofconnected “things” (which also includespeople). The relationship will be betweenpeople-people, people-things, and things-things.

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How Does This Impact You?

The new rule for the future is going tobe, “Anything that can be connected, will beconnected.” But why on earth would you wantso many connected devices talking to eachother? There are many examples for whatthis might look like or what the potential valuemight be. Say for example you are on yourway to a meeting; your car could have accessto your calendar and already know the bestroute to take. If the traffic is heavy your carmight send a text to the other party notifyingthem that you will be late. What if your alarmclock wakes up you at 6 a.m. and thennotifies your coffee maker to start brewingcoffee for you? What if your office equipmentknew when it was running low on suppliesand automatically re-ordered more? What ifthe wearable device you used in theworkplace could tell you when and where youwere most active and productive and sharedthat information with other devicesthat you used while working?

On a broader scale, the IoT canbe appl ied to things l iketransportation networks: “smartcities” which can help us reducewaste and improve efficiency forthings such as energy use; thishelping us understand and improvehow we work and live. Take a lookat the visual below to see whatsomething like that can look like.

The reality is that the IoT allowsfor virtually endless opportunitiesand connections to take place, manyof which we can’t even think of orfully understand the impact of today.It’s not hard to see how and why theIoT is such a hot topic today; itcertainly opens the door to a lot of

opportunit ies but also to manychallenges. Security is a big issue that isoftentimes brought up. With bill ions ofdevices being connected together, what canpeople do to make sure that their informationstays secure? Will someone be able to hackinto your toaster and thereby get access toyour entire network? The IoT also opens upcompanies all over the world to more securitythreats. Then we have the issue of privacyand data sharing. This is a hot-button topiceven today, so one can only imagine how theconversation and concerns will escalatewhen we are talking about many billions ofdevices being connected. Another issue thatmany companies specifically are going to befaced with is around the massive amounts ofdata that all of these devices are going toproduce. Companies need to figure out a wayto store, track, analyze and make sense ofthe vast amounts of data that wi l l begenerated.

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So what now?

Conversations about the IoT are (andhave been for several years) taking place allover the world as we seek to understand howthis will impact our lives. We are also tryingto understand what the many opportunitiesand challenges are going to be as more andmore devices start to join the IoT. For now

the best thing that we can do is educateourselves about what the IoT is and thepotential impacts that can be seen on howwe work and live.

Jacob Morgan is a keynote speaker,author (most recently of The Future of Work),and futurist.

(Source: Forbes)

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The global oil and gas industry’s huntfor hydrocarbons in increasingly remote,extreme environments and its focus on safetyand efficiency as it faces a shortage of expertiseis driving the need for Internet of Thingssolutions within the industry.

The Internet of Things – where objects,people and animals have unique identifiers andcan transfer data over a network withoutrequiring human-to-human or human-tocomputer interaction – has evolved from theconvergence of wireless technologies, micro-electromechanical systems and the Internet. Inthe Internet of Things, a thing can be a personwith a heart monitor implant, a car with built-insensors that alert drivers to low tire pressure –or any natural or manmade object that can beassigned an IP address and able to transferdata over a network.

The shift from human input generating data– such as credit card transactions at a gasstation pump – to data generated betweenmachines, is greatly expanding the number ofpossible transactions that can occur. Presently,there are at least 10 billion unique devicescurrently connected, according to technologyanalysis firm Gartner. By 2020, Gartner expectsthe Internet of Things will have more than 50billion devices.

The number of machine to machine (M2M)communications devices, which are a subsetand major component of the Internet of Things,also is expected to grow. Originally used forautomation and instrumentation (SCADA),M2M communication technologies allowdevices to use fixed and wireless networks to

Internet of Things Technologies CouldTransform Oil, Gas Industry

communicate with one another, said FrankWeber, director of cybersecurity for the energysector with NSS Labs, in an interview withRigzone.

The number of devices with cellular orsatellite connectivity deployed in oil and gasapplications around the world was 423,000 atthe end of 2013, according to Berg insight, ananalyst firm focused on the M2M market. Bergestimates that number will rise by 21.4 percentto 1.12 million by 2018. At the end of thisforecast period, the mix between cellular andsatellite-based M2M devices will be around781,000 cellular units and 244,000 satellitecommunication units.

Examples of transactions in the M2M worldinclude a wireless sensor on a pump in an oilwell, and devices such as cell phones mixedwith human and machine-generatedresponses. In retail, radio-frequencyidentification, shipping and cell networks,machines are recording and reporting on whatother machines are doing, which increases theamount of data being generated. This includessmart homes and power distribution grids, saidWeber.

Internet of Things solutions are importantfor the oil and gas industry in that it allows oiland gas companies to manage and gather datafrom operations in remote environments whileeliminating the need for workers in theseenvironments. Already facing a challenge inqualified skilled labor, the global oil and gasindustry faces losing even more of its workforceas Baby Boomer-aged workers begin to retirein the next few years.

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“To cope with this future loss, the industrymust address how to best leverage its existingresources,” said SerhiiKonovalov, who leadsCisco’s O&G Global Industry Solutions Practiceand O&G Innovations, in an interview withRigzone.

“As we look back in history, there’s been alot of different technological advances that havemade a huge impact, such as canals, railroadsand electricity,” said Greg Carter, head of CiscoSystem’s Internet of Everything business unit,in an interview with Rigzone. “We see theInternet as the next major driver of change.”

Several drivers are behind the movetowards Internet of Things technologies. Safety,which Carter said is the first priority for Cisco’soil and gas customers, is one factor. Thetightening of regulations in the oil and gasindustry, coupled with accidents such asDeepwater Horizon and cyberattacks thatthreaten everything from safety to productionsystems to a company’s brand, also is drivingthe shift towards Internet of Things solutions.Another major driver is operational efficiency,such as maintaining uptime in productionsystems and optimizing operations to cope withpricing pressures.

Instead of flying an expert out to a remoteoil and gas site to troubleshoot a problem, videotechnology can allow remote experts and onsiteworkers to share data and collaborate onsolving an issue, said Carter. This can allowpeople on site and the management team atthe home office to look at well and sensor datato manage a number of onshore or offshorewells and work with value chain partners andcustomers to solve problems more quickly. Thistechnology, which can close the gap betweenremote operations and oil and gas experts, alsois available from Librestream.

In addition to these drivers, the falling costsof sensors and introduction of simple, easy-to-

use next generation sensors are allowingcompanies to more easily deploy sensors. Theincrease in sensors in onshore and offshore oiland gas operations – which can generate oneto two terabytes of data per day per well – hascontributed to the Big Data trend in the oil andgas industry. These sensors can be used in anumber of settings, from wells to pipelines.Innovation in sensors also continues to growas oil and gas companies test distributedacoustic sensors.

Fog computing is also extending the cloudcloser to the ground, allowing companies toidentify select data sets in the cloud, and tobring this data down for analysis at the edge ofthe cloud, rather than sending all data acrossat once, which takes up bandwidth and raisescosts. Fog computing doesn’t require additionalappliances, allows for the storage of data andenables companies to detect leaks and otherissues more quickly, Konovalov noted.

Implementing Internet of Thingstechnologies can provide oil and gas companieswith the visibility to better control and maintainassets while reducing health and safety risks.

“This allows companies to better predictwhen equipment needs maintenance, to trackspare parts on rigs, to know whether contractworkers at a refinery are certified to be in certainareas, and to know how many people toevacuate when an incident occurs,” Konovalovsaid.

In July, Cisco announced two new industrysolutions – Cisco Collaborative Operations andCisco Secure Ops Solutions to address thechallenges that its customers face from theInternet of Things – or what Cisco calls theInternet of Everything – in terms of riskmanagement and compliance for industrialcontrol environments in a number of industries,including oil and gas, as well as connecting

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experts for mission-critical communications andcollaboration.

Carter estimates that between $10 and 20trillion dollars is at stake in the different verticalsin which Cisco plays, including oil and gas.

“Oil and gas companies can realizeefficiencies in their operations by takingadvantage of technology that enables theconvergence of data, voice and video andmultiple business processes that can connectremote workers into systems and connectproduction data into the supply chain,” Cartersaid.

Internet of Things technology can bringbenefits to operations in unconventional oil andgas plays, where companies are adopting amanufacturing approach to drilling andcontending with low gas prices. The Internet ofThings can also allow companies to have more

visibility in operations in challengingenvironments such as ultra-deepwater, whereautomation has a chance to play a larger role.Several companies are building Internet ofThings capabilities inside of blowout preventersthat will allow for better control and decreasemaintenance time. Opportunities exist in themiddle of these two examples of how theInternet of Things can help the oil and gasindustry meet its goals of cost efficiency,reliability and safety, said Konovalov.

Oil and gas companies initially met Internetof Things solutions with skepticism, Konovalovsaid, but noted that many companies are nowacknowledging that the Internet of Things ishere and are trying to organize themselves forthe Internet of Things.

“When companies look at the future,competition will be about who can best capturethe value of technology,” said Konovalov.

Breakthrough invention of solar cell that works like a plantResearchers have developed a potentially game-changing solar cell that essentially

does the work of plants — converting atmospheric carbon dioxide into usable hydrocarbonfuel using only sunlight for energy.”The new solar cell is not photovoltaic – it’s photosynthetic,”said senior study author Amin Salehi-Khojin from the University of Illinois at Chicago.”Insteadof producing energy in an unsustainable one-way route from fossil fuels to greenhouse gas,we can now reverse the process and recycle atmospheric carbon into fuel using sunlight,” headded. While plants produce fuel in the form of sugar, the artificial leaf delivers syngas, orsynthesis gas, a mixture of hydrogen gas and carbon monoxide. Syngas can be burneddirectly, or converted into diesel or other hydrocarbon fuels. The ability to turn CO2 into fuelat a cost comparable to a gallon of gasoline would render fossil fuels obsolete. Chemicalreactions that convert CO2 into burnable forms of carbon are called reduction reactions, theopposite of oxidation or combustion.

The technology should be adaptable not only to large-scale use, like solar farms, butalso to small-scale applications, Salehi-Khojin said. It may prove useful on Mars, whoseatmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide, if the planet is also found to have water.

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Operations in the Oil and Gas (O&G)industry function under extremeenvironmental conditions, located in remoteareas, and spread across geographies. Atypical O&G production shop floor requiresspecific skills and continuous monitoring toensure smooth functioning. The shortage ofskilled labor has driven industry experts todiscover smart alternatives that can drivecore business processes with automation andreduced workforce dependency. However,given the magnitude of productionequipment, including sensors and digitaldevices, business automation software alonecannot address the industry’s automationneeds. To add to this, the industry needs tocomply with health and safety regulations.With i ts machine to machine (M2M)communication capabilities, the Internet ofThings (IoT) is evolving as a potentialsolution. However, in order to ensure O&Gbusiness success, it is pivotal to ensure thecorrect, complete, and optimal performanceof these IoT enabled devices. This paperdiscusses how IoT can be successfullychanneled to deliver a positive businessimpact across the O&G process lifecycle.

The Oil and Gas Life Cycle

With declining prices and exponentialincrease in global demand, the O&G industryis undergoing major changes. Companiesneed to manage demand-supply imbalancewith smart operations. With remote areas andextreme environments characterizing theoperational landscape, companies in theO&G industry need a skilled workforce to

The Internet of Things for the Oil and GasIndustry: Why Quality Assurance is Critical

manually monitor and manage productiondata. To gain actionable business insights,this production data needs to be analyzedacross upstream, midstream, anddownstream processes:

Upstream processes involve explorationand production of crude oil. In additionto continuous optimization, theseprocesses mandate the highest levels ofworkforce safety, health, andenvironment standards, to ensurecompliance with environment and otherregulat ions and improve overal lproduction efficiency. To meet theseprocess objectives, oil companies needto continuously monitor fluid flow rate,temperature pressure and density, 3Dand 4D seismic data, and well logs.

Midstream processes involvingmovement of crude oil from productionsites to ref ineries, necessitatecontinuous monitoring of supply chainmediums such as pipelines, rail, trucks,and oil tankers. Transportation plays animportant role in the O&G industry’svalue chain – facilitating transfer of crudeoil from wells to refineries, and finishedproducts from refineries to end customersites. With a large network of pipelines,trucks, trains, and ships, thetransportation process is complex.Combined, the midstream processeshave a larger economic impact - not juston ensuring on-time delivery of crude oilto refineries, but also in contributing toeconomic balance by reducing thedemand supply gap.

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Finally, crude oil refinement, part of thedownstream processes, results in theproduction of toxic gases as by-products.Leakage of these by-products can behazardous to human l ives andenvironment. Cracked or corrodedpipelines, aging equipment, naturaldisasters such as earthquakes ortsunamis, intentional and unintentionalhazards need to be accounted for –through regular inspection, repairs andmaintenance, or by retiring pipelinesdamaged beyond repair. Data on by-products needs to be continuouslymonitored to mitigate risks and preventhazards.

Given the challenges, the three-stepprocess chain requires smart solutions thatextend beyond automation and drive not justcore business processes, but also ensureregulatory compliance and business results.

Channeling IoT in the O&G Life Cycle

Gartner, Inc. forecasts that 4.9 billionconnected things will be in use in 2015, up30 percent from 2014, and will reach 25 billionby 2020. The Internet of Things (IoT) hasbecome a powerful force for businesstransformation, and its disruptive impact willbe felt across all industries and all areas ofsociety1 . The Internet of Things (IoT) isgrowing at an exponential rate. It offers greatpotential for organizations worldwide,enabling them to unlock the value andbenefits from devices, systems and servicescommunicating with each other, using theinternet as a backbone.

Here’s how IoT enabled sensors candrive production eff ic iencies for O&Gcompanies:

Sensors on dri l l ing machines cancapture data on pressure, temperature,density, f low-rate, geological andseismic aspects. Analysis of this datafacilitates understanding of the earth’ssub-surface, and helps drive accurateequipment performance analysis forl i fet ime predict ion and scheduledmaintenance. This enables earlydetection of errors, reduced failure rate,efficient equipment performance andreduced downtime.

Interconnected devices and data frommultiple sensors help in selecting theright drilling equipment for differentenvironments, ultimately resulting inefficient drilling operations.

Sensor data, linked with EnterpriseResource Planning (ERP) systems,drives eff ic ient supply chainmanagement, resulting in right-time rawmaterial and spare parts ordering. Thisoperational efficiency, in turn, leads toefficient inventory and working capitalmanagement.

IoT enabled sensors not only facilitatean efficient supply chain, but alsoaccelerate go to market. These sensorsenable automonitoring of midstreamprocesses, thereby reducing thecomplexity of a large transportationnetwork comprising pipel ines,trucks,trains, and ships, and ensuringon-time transfer of crude oil from wellsto refineries, and finished products fromrefineries to end customers.

Safety data from sensors helps monitorrelease of toxic gases, and enables

1 [1] Source: Gartner Press Release, Gartner Says 4.9 Billion Connected “Things” Will Be in Use in2015, Nov 2014, http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2905717

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prompt response to and analysis ofincidents, thereby preventing unwantedaccidents, ensuring compliance withsafety regulations and standards, and ofcourse, ensuring workforce health andsafety.

Sensors mounted on equipment provideanalysis data for well monitoring, fire andgas safety, emergency shutdown, andother processes, resulting in efficientproduction operations.

Further, machine to machine (M2M)communication, driven by IoT, is also gainingpopularity across O&G companies. It enablesmachines and systems to communicate withother devices. When working in unison, M2Mand IoT can help companies reduce costs,improve performance, enhance safety, anddrive operational efficiencies.

IoT enabled devices and systems canfacilitate efficient O&G operations, withminimum human intervention, providinghigher value than traditional technology andautomation. Correctly implemented IoTsolutions hold the potential to introduceefficiencies in upstream, midstream, anddownstream operations. IoT sensorsdeployed across the value chain – fromexploration and production, to transportationof crude and refined oil - can bring in themuch needed visibility and workplace safety,with better control and maintenance ofassets. IoT enabled tools, systems, devices,sensors, and other equipment, when inter-connected with monitoring systems, canextract meaningful process information forquick analysis – analysis that can enableefficient utilization of resources, and improveproduction efficiency, safety standards,transportation, and other aspects. Manyorganizations are using IoT enabled sensors

and devices to remotely monitor operations,and improve end-to-end processes. Whilesuch IoT initiatives hold potential to drivebusiness bottom-line, the industry’s high riskproduction operat ions cannot be leftdependent on untested and immaturetechnologies. It is pivotal to assure these IoTinitiatives – so that they meet their intendedpurpose. It is here that assurance plays acritical role in validating IoT performance andverifying its correct deployment in production.

Assurance of Devices for the IoT

By eliminating the need for human-to-human or human-to-machine interaction, theIoT puts operations in auto-pilot mode. Whilethis in itself is innovative, it also demandsadequate, ongoing assurance of theconnected devices, as well as the systems,software, platforms and processes that drivethem. Mainstream O&G processes such aswell planning, drilling, oil exploration, pipelinemonitoring, and crude refining are riskintensive, requiring continuous monitoringand analysis of temperature, pressure, oiloutflow, water outflow, and other process datathat requires validation, before being usedas an input for subsequent processes.

IoT enabled devices and sensorsgenerate astronomical volumes of data,which is used to analyze and improveoperations. These devices, sensors, andassociated applications and underlying dataneed to be tested for accuracy andcorrectness. The testing process requireslarge volumes of production-l ike data.However, using existing production data cancompromise data privacy norms. Generatingsynthetic data too, is a difficult option, as itrequires near perfect knowledge of datasemantics, which is not always readilyavailable. Further, generating testing data of

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such a large magnitude is difficult and timeconsuming. In such a situation an automateddata generator tool should be considered toensure the effect ive functional i ty andperformance of these devices. Someimportant features that should be consideredwhen select ing an effect ive test datamanagement tool are:

Quality: It should generate realistic testdata that not only maintains referentialintegrity and business rules, but alsoseamlessly preserves intricate datapatterns. Given the large volume of databeing dealt with, the ability to drill down,roll-up and auto-incorporate schemachanges and refresh data on demand isa must-have.

Usability: The tool should automaticallyread database constraints and includeuser friendly interfaces for specifyingtransformations. This will reduce testingt ime, cost and effort, shorten thelearning curve, and improve overallproductivity.

Data on demand: Data should be readilygenerated on demand and as perrequirements, thereby reducing storagerequirements.

Data integration: The tools should beequipped to handle large volumes ofdata from varied geographies,

applications and devices, includingsensors, handheld equipment, websources, and social media feeds. Thiswill ensure correct integration andcompleteness of the system.

Data security: Security measures shouldbe available to prevent unauthorizedaccess, fix vulnerabilities, and mitigaterisks and threats from all devices andsystems, towards ensuring overallcompliance.

Data validation: Data should be validatedfor its correctness as per businessvalidation rules.

Conclusion

Fascinated by its ability to enable puttingoperations in auto-pi lot mode, O&Gcompanies are adopting and investing in theIoT to drive operational efficiencies. But meredevice installation cannot yield results. Infact, it could pose challenges and risks. Anassurance deficit could wipe out potentialbenefits, and may also result in catastrophicfailures. For O&G companies to mitigate risksand create stakeholder value at all levels, itis both critical and essential to continuouslyassure IoT technologies.

(Source :http://www.tcs.com/

SiteCollectionDocuments/White-Papers/IoT-Oil-Gas-

quality-assurance-critical-0715-1.pdf )

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Renewable energy companies haveexperienced strong global growth over thelast several years, but they face pressure toimprove profitability and productivity as theindustry continues to scale globally. Thatsaid, the energy business can no longer bedifferentiated by simply applying moreimprovements via mechanical engineeringand physics.

The next wave of innovation will bedriven by sensors and data – in other words,the Internet of Things (IoT).

To keep up with strong demand,renewable energy companies have beengreatly increasing capacity. According toWorld Wind Energy Association, cumulativecapacity in the wind energy sector hasincreased from 24 GW in 2001 to 370 GW in2014.

However, with strong growth comes thechallenge of scaling operational excellenceand maintaining profitability. Companies seekimproved methods to manage much largercapacities, with many more physical assets,located in widely distributed and remoteareas – a very complex situation.

IoT analytics can help. Today’s IoT datacan be analyzed at near real-time speedsdue, in part, to the growth of complex eventprocessing systems. In fact, one could arguethat the effective use of IoT will be a keydifferentiator for the winners in this nextphase of growth in the renewable energysector.

THE FUTURE OF THE INTERNET OF THINGS INRENEWABLE ENERGY

I believe there are at least four growthareas of IoT analytics use in this vertical:

Big data, fast data and more analytics

Horizontal integration and vert icalapplication

Decentralization

Integration of advanced analytics andmachine learning

Big Data, Fast Data and More Analytics

The good news is that we will generallysee more demand for IoT analytics. Due toincreased competi t ive pressure,organizations are forced to optimizeprocesses and products. The key to identifyoptimization opportunit ies and trackimprovements is in the IoT data itself. But,as sensors and data processing becomescheaper every day, we will see more dataavailable, and the expectation is that it willbe processed in near-real-time.

In addition to analyzing data for learning,near-real-time analytics allows companies toreact quickly – to avoid problems, addressthem before they become serious, offer helpor simply better prepare in advance for anemerging issue to reduce its impact.

Take a large wind turbine farm, forexample. A sensor that collects real-time datafrom turbines that is quickly analyzed andturned into actionable insights is a keycompetitive advantage. Companies arealready using advanced sensors tocontinually assess acceleration, temperature

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and vibration. Extracting data from windturbines uncovers trends for performanceoptimization to increase productivity andpredict ive maintenance to minimizedowntime.

Horizontal Integration, VerticalApplication

Today’s business world is seeing atremendous shift in the speed at which wehave to respond to market changes, leadingto the need for a very flexible solution thatcan be adapted on the fly, ideally by businesspeople, and not requiring complex tasks suchas IT-support, coding or deployment.

I believe we will see more horizontalcomponents with tremendous marketsuccess. Organizations will use buildingblocks optimized for certain infrastructuraltasks, including device management, datacollection, storage, analytics and applicationmanagement. However, we will also seevert ical appl icat ions, such as in therenewable energy sector, because it is thebest way to put data in context and conveyinsight to a specific, unique user-group.

For instance, analyzing turbine sensordata with greater granularity shows therelevant information in a way that the targetaudience easily understands. Analytic frontends, as beautiful as they may be, are onlygood for analytically minded people. Inmyexperience, not everyone enjoys “surfingdata;” most prefer a context-specif icpresentation of just the most relevant data.

Decentralization

We will see much growth in data volumecoming from disparate devices that requireboth real-time and post-mortem analysis.Knowing the importance of efficiency, do we

really want to transfer all of the (low-value)log data from all sensors, machines andswitches to a central data analyt icsinstallation?

The costs of transferring data from allover the world in real-time to a centrallocation is much higher than the savingsthrough the economy-of-scale of acentral ized solut ion. Further, networklatencies and interruptions omit the usage ofcentralized solutions. A fundamental principlefor fast and efficient data processing is tomove the query to the data.

With IoT, where data is created fromgeographically distributed devices, we willsee a decentralization of data storage,processing and analytics. Technology inrenewable energy running on a system’sedge (the sensors on the wind farm, forexample) benefits from the ability to runqueries at any given time, whether in its owndata center, in the cloud, or at customerlocations by using edge analytics. Theserequirements are not possible with legacy orgeneral-purpose technologies, which are notoptimized for IoT.

Integration of Advanced Analytics andMachine Learning

There is so much talk about advancedanalytics (AA), artificial intelligence (AI) andmachine learning (ML) that most people havea hard t ime understanding thesetechnologies. The good news is, the majorityof people do not have to understand; theyshould spend their time on their operationalprocesses and products – not on the math.My view on AA (including AI, ML, etc.) is thatit delivers hints that normal people might havemissed due to volume, speed and complexityof the IoT data available.

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The use of advanced analytics andmachine learning, for instance, can help autility check for irregularities in operationalperformance, potentially leading to theprediction of a potential failure before ithappens.

With the world relying more heavily onrenewables as a critical source of energy, we

need a way to harness IoT data quickly andaccurately in order to successfully scalerenewable energy across the globe. Onecould argue that the effective use of IoT willbe a key differentiator for the winners in thisnext phase of growth in the renewable energysector.

(Source : Renewable Energy World)

World’s largest solar power plant planned forChernobyl nuclear wasteland

The world’s most famous and damaging nuclear meltdown is now being consideredfor the world’s largest solar power plant. The Ukrainian nuclear power station Chernobylhad a nuclear meltdown on April 26, 1986. Since then 1,600 square miles of land hasbeen deemed an ‘exclusion zone’ as the radiation levels are too high for human health.But in a recent interview, Ukraine’s ecology minister said the government wasnegotiating with two US investment firms and four Canadian energy companies, whichhave expressed interest in the Chernobyl’s solar potential.

It would be among the modern world’s greatest technical ironies if one of theworst industrial accidents ever would be replaced with a solar power plant, one of theworld’s safest energy technologies. Greenpeace estimates that 100,000 people willdie of cancer as a result of fallout from the disaster. Interestingly, as a result ofhuman activity within the region being minimized larger animal populations are thriving,while the smallest of animals – microbes that digest leaves – are showing signs ofstress.

The European Bank for Reconstruction & Development has stated they would beinterested in participating in the project, “so long as there are viable investmentproposals and all other environmental matters and risks can be addressed to thebank’s satisfaction.” A 1GW solar project – based upon a global market price of $1-1.5/W for large scale development – would cost between $1 and $1.5 billion dollars.

One interesting and perhaps important logistical concern to be considered: whatconstraints will the workers who build this be under? Will they have to wear radioactivesuits and will they be able to work normal days? How will this affect the constructioncosts?

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