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Data visibility is now mandatory in the utility industry as utilities implement smart grids and electric vehicle charging stations.
FREMONT, CA: The energy industry is undergoing its most radical upheaval in decades. The entire industry must achieve net-zero emissions to accomplish the goals. And while fears about new carbon restrictions are rising, forward-thinking utilities recognize that investor trust is the greater prize. The energy transition strategy of a company is crucial to assessing creditworthiness. Investors perceive carbon-intensive operations as a business risk and, by extension, a threat to their returns.
Many investor-owned utilities have launched their ESG efforts and net zero goals. Now they must demonstrate that they are keeping their pledges. These factors are causing an increase in data volume and complexity, making it more difficult for utilities to manage, retain, and utilize emissions data. To increase the demand for enhanced access to reliable, timely data, the necessity to report on these activities also increases the demand for such data.
Data collecting: For many utilities, data management difficulties begin with their information collection systems. Most utilities, for instance, have continuous emissions monitoring systems (CEMS). These systems collected information from numerous sources and dumped it into a remote database. CEMS alone is insufficient for performance analysis and conclusion. A centralized environmental data management software solution will enable enterprises to collect emissions data at the source and combine it with information from other systems, giving value to the raw data so that organizations may extract insights and make better strategic decisions.
Data volume: The sheer volume also presents a formidable obstacle. Consider the diversity of emission data sources at a single facility. Monitoring these sources around the clock generates thousands of unique data points that must be cleaned, categorized, structured, and organized before they utilize. Now, spread this throughout the organization, and it becomes even more challenging to maintain clean, complete, and current emissions data. Processing this data can consume the available time, leaving little time for information utilization. A modern cloud-based solution automates these procedures, freeing up environment engineers' time for analysis and allowing them to analyze massive volumes of data at the source.
Data visibility: It is a significant blind spot in the energy industry. Data visibility issues can negatively influence compliance performance and delay responses to nonconformities, resulting in large fines and penalties. Adequate data visibility can help utilities satisfy new regulatory and voluntary obligations. The utility industry has reached a tipping point where a lack of data visibility is inadmissible. As utilities undertake new projects, such as smart grid technology and charging stations for electric vehicles, this issue will intensify further.
