Electric Days - Innovations - IoT in Industrial Environments

IoT, or the Internet of Things, is a mature technology that can be rolled out in industrial environments. The goal of the Eas’Hy programme (Improved and simplified hydroelectric power plant operation) is to transfer this technology to hydroelectric power generation facilities. The principle: equip existing instrumentation with autonomous sensors that collect and transmit data in real time.

Benefits

• Easy-to-install technology available at a competitive price point
• Improved operations and maintenance
• Operator involvement is optimised

IoT technologies are reaching maturity. Their application in industrial environments has been made possible through compliance with additional requirements such as cyber security, reliability of sensors and the data transmitted. In this context, it is known as Industrial IoT (IIoT).

This technology allows existing instrumentation to be supplemented in areas that are sometimes remote and lack connection to a 4G network, and where difficult weather conditions or environmental considerations come into play.

The Eas’Hy programme has developed many tests based on the needs of hydroelectric facility operators. Since the programme began in 2019, more than 100 use cases have been deployed or are underway.

Eas’Hy gives all business lines access to IIoT in a way that is simple and economical, in order to improve their operational performance or to allow them to develop new services.

Eas’Hy also furnishes a full menu of solutions, for example, for measuring water and snow depth or compensation water in remote zones, monitoring transformer temperature, and even tracking valve operations. IIoT opens up a broad range of possibilities for multiple experiments that have yet to be explored.