The Internet of Things offers massive opportunities to improve outcomes across every industry. One excellent example the solar industry which through the IoT could help push it further ahead as a major alternative energy player. Although most parts of a solar system are already computerized and collecting massive amounts of data, the utilization of that data to build predictive capabilities remains mostly untapped.
Azeez Mohammed, president and CEO of GE Power Conversion, recently stated, “The gas world is way more sophisticated than the solar world today, but even they aren’t in the analytic space.” Mr. Mohammed believes the solar industry would benefit greatly from greater integration of intelligent technologies such as the internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence, and machine learning. Some intelligent technology implementations are already being completed. GE is working to develop predictive maintenance capabilities via digital twins, and the solar products company SunLink has developed an intelligent torque rod that can cut production costs for its tracking systems and software that has the potential to cut operations and maintenance costs. By driving down the costs, solar energy can become more affordable and deployments of solar farms more tenable for businesses.
Due to the shear size of solar farms. IoT provides a tremendous opportunity for monitoring and predictive maintenance. But through taking the massive data collected through the IoT, AI and machine learning can take center stage with truly transforming the solar industry. Gathering data and turning it into actionable insights could provide better opportunities to build efficiencies into the solar supply chain.
Read the story on how GE and SunLink are integrating IoT at www.powermag.com.
