D e ce mb e r 2016
www.energydigital.com
Putting thermal energy storage on the rocks
SUSTAINABLE TOMORROW
10 Biomass generators Setting the sector alight
N O I T A S I T I G I D D E A IL TH
Innovative ways of generating power
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EDITOR’S COMMENT
SMART WATER HELLO AND WELCOME to the final edition of Energy Digital for 2016. There is a big focus on technology across the magazine this month, with our lead feature on Maynilad Water Services, Inc. We spoke to Dr Francisco Castillo, the company’s CIO and Senior VP, about how Maynilad has helped the large population of Manila reap a huge dividend in health and lifestyle benefits thanks to an IT transformation of its water service In our front of book section you will find a roundup of the newest technologies being developed and deployed around the world to generate energy, methods of power generation that could prove crucial in years to come. We also take a look at the most important biomass generators in this month’s top 10. Be sure to check out our other interviews, which include Fujitsu and North American Power, detailing their latest plans and drives for excellence. Finally, we wish you all a wonderful end to the year. See you in 2017!
Enjoy the issue! Tom Wadlow Editor tom.wadlow@bizclikmedia.com 3
CONTENTS
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12 4
F E AT U R E S
PROFILE
Putting thermal energy storage on the rocks
TECHNOLOGY
Sustainable tomorrow
December 2016
20
TOP 10
Biomass generators
C O M PA N Y PROFILES
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Maynilad Water Services,Inc. Asia
North American Power USA & Canada
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66
Fujitsu Australia
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PROFILE
PUTTING THERM STORAGE ON T
Siemens is taking the batterie W r i t t e n b y : A L I C E YO U N G
MAL ENERGY HE ROCKS
es out of energy storage… 7
PROFILE METHODS OF GENERATING renewable energy are becoming more productive. Whether it’s a more efficient solar cell or a larger rotor blade, developers are continually coming up with more efficient methods of harnessing natural resources. While many companies are devoting their efforts to refining existing technologies, there is an issue with renewables which has yet to be definitively resolved: energy storage. That is, how do we store the excess energy generated by renewable resources? An advantage of utilising oil or gas is the energy generated is available on ‘on-demand’
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The storage situation One of the advantages of utilising oil or gas in energy generation is that they are ‘on-demand’ energy sources. When a driver wants to make a trip in his vehicle, he can be sure it will start if there is fuel in the tank. Oil also boasts a high energy density, meaning that a relatively small amount of refined crude oil can produce a comparatively large quantity of energy. However, as the world seeks to decarbonise, it must also develop equally dispatchable methods of powering our way of life. Lithium ion batteries — with their impressive energy density and long lifetimes — have been touted as the favoured method for combatting the intermittency of renewables, especially solar. Tesla famously utilises the batteries in its home-use Powerwall and utility-scale Powerpack energy storage solutions. The lifetime of these batteries, and equivalent products manufactured by Panasonic, are reportedly limited to roughly 500 ‘deep cycles’. This is the measure of the number of times a battery can deplete from full charge to 20 percent power before its performance deteriorates. While lithium ion batteries might be suitable for use in smartphones with an
THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE
anticipated life of two years, they may not be the large-scale storage ‘silver bullet’ that the renewable industry is seeking. This doesn’t mean that battery solutions should be abandoned altogether, but companies in the sector are already trialling new and innovative ways of capturing energy for later use.
Powerwall2 by Tesla
‘In October of this year, Germany’s Siemens, the largest engineering firm in Europe, debuted a thermal storage concept for wind power which promises low costs and reliability’
The Siemens solution In October of this year, Germany’s Siemens, the largest engineering firm in Europe, debuted a thermal storage concept for wind power which promises low costs and reliability. The company has partnered with Technical University Hamburg Harburg (TUHH) and utility Hamburg Energie to test the viability of what the company calls its Future Energy Solution (FES). The system will reportedly deliver energy at below US $111 per megawatt hour. The technology combines existing steam turbine technology with packed-bed heat storage. The system works by utilising excess wind energy to power an industrial-scale heater which then blows air heated to 600 degrees celsius across a bed of rocks inside an insulated container. When power is required, the heat stored in the rocks provides steam to a conventional 9
PROFILE
“Because we are working here with tested thermal components and a series-ready steam turbine, we will be able to offer a practical solution within a few years� 10
December 2016
THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE
turbine capable of funneling electricity to the grid. The system is being designed to work with wind energy, but could theoretically accommodate other forms of renewable generation, too. With the help of scientists for the TUHH Institute for Thermofluid Dynamics, Siemens is currently researching how to make the process of charging and discharging the FES more efficient. The firm and its venture partners are assembling at 25-cubic-metre model of the storage tank in Hamburg’s Bergedorf borough. As it stands, the mock-up environment only tests the thermal requirements for the storage process with no reverse current generated. Researchers are planning to test the system’s energy conversion potential in spring of next year. According to a statement issued in late September, the company is also constructing a full-size FES capable of storing some 36 megawatt hours of energy in a container with 2,000 cubic metres of rock. Siemens predicts that the solution will generate up to 1.5 megawatts (MW) of electricity for up to 24 hours a day. “The technology of our FES store deliberately uses mainly tried and trusted technology,” said Till Barmeier,
Siemens’ Project Manager in a statement. “Because we are working here with tested thermal components and a series-ready steam turbine, we will be able to offer a practical solution within a few years. Our complete experimental system will be operational in just around 15 months.” Barmier has said that Siemens is going to develop a commercial pilot project of between 30 and 40MW in 2019. It is in the process of identifying potential customers. Further down the line, the firm anticipates that the FES would have a capacity that could exceed 100 megawatts and be able to store 48 hours’ worth of energy for up to seven days. No single answer Just as no single form of renewable energy generation will be capable of meeting all demand, no storage solution will universally house excess energy. It’s likely that a mix of technologies — from solid-state batteries to pumped hydropower — will act as storage facilities. Siemens’ FES admittedly breaks new ground in terms of cost and efficiency, but it will be one of many available options for capturing energy to be dispatched as-needed. 11
TECHNOLOGY
Sustainable tomorrow Energy Digital goes around the world looking at some of the innovative ways of generating power, methods which could become crucial to energy security in years to come W r i t t e n b y : TA S M I N O X F O R D
TECHNOLOGY GLOBAL EMISSIONS NEED to drop by 80 percent by 2050 or the world is set to experience the true reality of the global warming crisis. In less than 35 years, extreme weather, higher sea levels and pollution will be the norm, and delicately balanced natural ecosystems will be permanently disrupted or destroyed. Global warming is no longer a maybe, a possibility or a threat uttered by a madman on the corner of the road with a cardboard placard and an interesting beard. Sustainable energy sources and solutions must be sought out and implemented, emissions must be drastically cut and countries must keep to their global warming promises. Or else. Fortunately, there are entrepreneurs and enterprises with sustainability top of mind, inventing alternatives to the traditional fossil fuels which power the globe. In Norway, Seaweed Energy Solutions AS cultivates seaweed as an energy source, planting a forest and finding ways to harness the endless potential of this versatile weed. At the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, researcher KhanhQuang Tran is investigating a way 14
December 2016
of turning seaweed into a biocrude which can be refined and used as a biofuel. Thanks to the fjords and restless oceans of Norway, the area is ideally suited to the growth and development of this plant, and the research is showing positive results. Interwaste in South Africa is a company which pulls energy from waste. Considering the vast expanses of rubbish which lie across lands around the world, the ability to harness it as a sustainable energy source is both brilliant and essential. The solution has seen a 648.82 percent increase in the diversion of hazardous waste from landfill with statistics pointing to continued success - in 2014, 2, 239.85 tons were used, in 2015, the figure rose impressively to 16, 772.55 tons. “The blending platform is the first of its kind in Southern Africa and is a 50:50 joint venture between Lafarge and Interwaste,� says Jason McNeil, Sales and Marketing Director at Interwaste. “We have developed an environmentally sound solution for combustible waste products that are banned from landfill. By blending it in this processing facility, we produce a sustainable replacement
S U S TA I N A B L E T O M O R R O W
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TECHNOLOGY for coal that services the high fuel demands of Lafarge Cement and indirectly takes pressure off South Africa’s existing natural resources.” Still sitting under the African sun is a company called Solartrack. Started by Russel Bowden in 2013, the idea behind Solartrack was to create a solution which could move or track Solar PV panels so they remained permanently perpendicular to the sun. The technology available at the time wasn’t cost-effective nor did it justify the level of energy yield it delivered. His research found that dual axis tracking systems could yield up to 35 percent more energy than static panels and that a single axis system could deliver up to 27 percent more energy. “After three years of development, we have finally produced a costeffective product which is ready to go to market,” says Bowden. “The dual axis tracking system on our test site has shown increased energy yields of up to 39 percent. We have designed it from scratch and the electronics have a very low energy consumption while delivering great energy output. They use 0.1kWh of energy to yield 20kWh of additional energy.” 16
December 2016
Moving up along the coastline to Mozambique finds Rolls-Royce investing in sustainable energy through the use of its B35:40V20 natural gas engines. A perhaps unexpected enterprise to be investing in the sustainable energy demands of a small African country, but a welcome one nonetheless. The power plant consists of 13 of these engines, each one delivering an electrical output of 120MW and helping an energy-strapped country stabilise its power supplies.
S U S TA I N A B L E T O M O R R O W
“This is a very successful and efficient project for Rolls-Royce Power Systems and we are ready to scale into Africa,” says Andrea Nono, CEO of MTU South Africa, a wholly owned Rolls-Royce Power Systems Company. From engines to geysers – Amahlathi Eco-Tech recently made the finals of the Global Cleantech Innovation Programme in South Africa for the development of the Hot Spot. This geyser sleeve or conduit can be retrofitted to any standard
geyser element to push hot water from the bottom to the top. This delivers 50 litres of hot water within 30 minutes at 50 degrees Celsuis and helps alleviate the impact of geysers on grid consumption – 6.2 million geysers consume 40 percent of monthly electricity at an average heating time of 1.5-3 hours. Still on the awards track, at the 2016 Ashden Awards, 12 sustainable energy organisations and programmes from four continents won top spot for sustainable work. In the UK, the Low Carbon Hub won the Ashden Award for Sustainable Communities thanks to its focus on scaling up renewable energy generation in local areas. Their work has included solar panels for schools and a micro-hydro project on the Thames. Then Greenlight Planet won the Ashden Award for Increasing Energy Access by developing and manufacturing reliable solar products which anyone can afford. They sell their products across 40 countries and focus on delivering them to remote regions so people in rural areas gain access to light at night. Back in Africa, Energy Partners has decided to put tyres to good use by extracting oil from them while in the 17
TECHNOLOGY
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S U S TA I N A B L E T O M O R R O W
recycling process. The pilot plan is capable of producing around 50,000 litres of oil per month from used tyres using a process which is both costeffective and environmentally friendly. “The environmental impact of the recycling plant cannot be discounted,” says Andre Agenbag, Head of Business Development, Energy Partners. “You need to be able to manage and dispose, or create a market for the by-products of this process. We are looking at expanding the plant next year and our process is set to produce a low-cost and environmentally friendly alternative fuel.” Another notable company, Hyperdrive Innovation, has recently announced it is about to become the first commercialised product using Nissan LEAF technology for electric vehicles and energy storage. This addresses one of the biggest challenges which has surrounded solar and sustainable energy sources – storage. Most solutions are either too big or expensive for installation in homes or rural locations so there is always a need for a solution which is low on price, but big on capability. “The commercial availability of this
technology allows for homeowners, businesses and network operators to expand their energy storage capacity,” says Stephen Irish, Hyperdrive Innovation’s Managing Director. “For homeowners they can store the energy they generate from renewable systems such as solar panels and for businesses it will bring operational benefits, energy cost savings and grid continuity.” Finally, at the end of October 2016, Elon Musk, eternal driver of all things sustainable, revealed a new range of energy products. Two of these were of particular interest – the Tesla Powerwall 2 battery with extended capacity and the company’s new solar roof tiles. The latter look incredibly stylish, a far cry from the usual solar seen on rooftops today, and are both durable and adaptable. The price point is, according to Musk less than a traditional roof plus solar, and for the design-conscious, they make solar look sexy. Coupled with reliable storage and stylish design, perhaps these entrepreneurs and their solutions are going to be the reason the planet cuts its emissions enough to prevent the warming crisis. 19
10 BIOMASS GENERATORS setting the sector alight Written by: Alice Young
TOP 10
TOP 10
DRAX POWER STATION, UK The Drax power station, near Selby, North Yorkshire, has the singlelargest capacity of any power station in the UK — and it’s one of the largest in Europe. At one time solely coal-fired, the plant converted one of its generators to run on compressed wood pellets in 2013. A second power unit was upgraded the following year, with a third expected to be completed in 2017. As it stands, 70 percent of the plant’s total electricity output is provided by the new biomass generators. The wood pellets used to fuel the Drax plants are made from low-grade wood, like forest thinnings and waste from sawmills and agricultural processes. It’s then transported from Drax Group’s North American production facilities to the UK.
Ow n e r: Drax Gr oup plc Capaci t 4,000M y: W MW
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B I O M A S S G E N E R AT O R S
Ow n e r: lmens Oy Alho Kraft t y: Capaci 265MW
ALHOLMENS KRAFT, FINLAND Alholmens Kraft is located at the site of the Finnish pulp, paper and timber manufacturer UPM-Kymmene in western Finland’s Ostrobothnia region. The plant has been in operation since January of 2002. It supplies an additional 100MW of heat for the paper mill as well as 60MW used for homes and businesses in the nearby town of Jakobstad. The plant’s steam boiler utilises wood-based materials as fuel, as well as peat moss. Coal is also used as a reserve fuel. 23
Image copyright: Tarniak08 / CC BY-SA 4.0
TOP 10
Ow n e r: Eng Capaci ie t y: 205 MW
POLANIEC, POLAND In 2013, French utility Engie — then known as GDF Suez — debuted the massive Polaniec power station in south-east Poland. The plant is fuelled by a mixture of agricultural and tree-farming by-products. The plant is said to provide enough electricity to 600,000 households annually, and prevents 1.2 million tonnes of CO2 emissions each year. 24
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B I O M A S S G E N E R AT O R S
ATIKOKAN GENERATING STATION, CANADA Canada’s coal-fired Atikokan Generating Station was converted into a biomass plant in a two year project completed in the summer of 2014. The firm which owns and operates the plant, Ontario Power Generation, opted to use wood pellets as fuel because the energy content is similar to that of the coal that the facility was initially designed to burn. As a result, much of the equipment could be easily adapted during the conversion.
Ow n e r: Ontario Power Genera tion Capaci t y: 205 MW
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Ow n e r: New Ho pe Pow er Partner ship Capaci t y: 140 MW
NEW HOPE POWER PARTNERSHIP, USA Based at South Bay, Florida, the New Hope Power Partnership is one of the most significant biomass projects in the country and has an installed capacity of 140MW. The power plant burns sugar cane fibre (bagasse) as well as recycled urban wood for electricity generation. The power output of the plant is used for processing sugar cane as well as for supplying electricity to around 60,000 homes. It sells 500,000 Mwh of electricity per year to the wholesale markets and provides process steam to the Okeelanta Sugar Mill and Refinery. 26
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B I O M A S S G E N E R AT O R S
MAASVLAKTE 3, NETHERLAND Although predominantly coal fired, Maasvlakte 3 still burns a substantial amount of wood chips to generate power. Currently the plant supplies around seven percent of the Netherlands’ domestic requirements – analysts predict that around 20 percent of the output will eventually be generated by biomass, with the raw materials having to be delivered by ship. Maasvlakte is a harbour and industrial district near Rotterdam. Ow n e r: E.ON Capaci t y: 1,070 M W
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RODENHUIZE POWER STATION, BELGIUM Opened in 2011, Rodenhuize is a converted coal power station located in Ghent. Now firing 100 percent biomass, the plant offsets around 1.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year and generates enough electricity to power 320,000 homes. Electrabel has signed a longterm agreement for the supply of 225,000 tonnes of biomass a year to the plant, a key part of Belgium’s plan to generate 20 percent of its energy via renewable Ow n e r: sources by 2020. Bilfi nger Capaci t y: 180 MW
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B I O M A S S G E N E R AT O R S
Ow n e r: WA Bio mas Capaci s t y: 40 MW
MANJIMUP BIOMASS POWER STATION, AUSTRALIA Although not yet complete, the Manjimup project is an important step for Australia in terms of its adoption of biomass as a viable renewable energy source. The 40MW capacity will power 50,000 homes and is located around 300 kilometres south of Perth. Manjimup is strategically located within the existing South West timber region, with good access to plantation timber. 29
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VASKILUODON VOIMA OY, FINLAND The CFB gasifier for Vaskiluodon Voima Oy was built in response to the critical need to reduce the environmental load of traditional coal-fired power plant. As a result, 40 percent less coal is now used at the site and biomass alone can generate enough power to heat 10,000 homes during the bitterly cold Finnish winters. Valmet completed the conversion project in late 2012.
Ow n e r: EPV Energia Oy and Pohjola n Voima Oy Capaci t y: 140 MW
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Ow n e r: rie Macqua A and PK t y: Capaci 299 MW
TEES RENEWABLE ENERGY PLANT, UK
A new 299 MW biomass fuelled combined heat and power project is set to be built on land within the Teesport Estate near Middlesbrough in North East England. Site preparation is underway, with main construction works starting in a few months. Commercial operations are due to start in 2020. The project will cost approximately ÂŁ650m to construct and will be built under a turnengineering, procurement and construction contract by a consortium of Tecnicas Reun Spain and Samsung Construction and Trading (SCT) of South Korea.
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B I O M A S S G E N E R AT O R S
-key nidas of
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e n h o T itisati g i d aynilad M f o nlon a H ’ O John n Chavda y b n Writte ed by Kiro c Produ
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Maynilad Water Services, Inc. has helped a large population of Metro Manila reap huge dividends in health and lifestyle benefits, thanks to an IT transformation of its water service
T
he Philippines is not a country that suffers from a lack of water. The capital Manila enjoys an average monthly rainfall of around eight inches, and its 22 million population does not generally go thirsty. However like every large city that has grown through rapid urbanisation, it has struggled to modernise its infrastructure at the pace required. Managing the supply of clean water and the downstream activities of runoff and sewerage management were inadequate prior to 1997 when the water service was privatised. The government-owned Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System served the metropolitan area, however, a significant proportion of sewage ended up in storm drains or open canals. It was neither an efficient nor a healthy situation.
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In 1997, the government awarded contracts to two companies, splitting Metro Manila into west and east zones. The West Zone went to Maynilad Water Services, Inc. (Maynilad), a consortium that subsequently ran into financial difficulties and returned the concession to the government. In 2007, water services were again placed in private hands—under the DMCI-MPIC Water Consortium. New management subsequently implemented the necessary intervention and poured the needed investments that made possible Maynilad’s dramatic turnaround from financially crippled utility to consumer-focused organisation. Today, Maynilad is under the ownership of three principal shareholders: Metro Pacific Investments Corporation which holds majority shares at 53 percent; DMCI
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M AY N I L A D WAT E R S E R V I C E S , I N C .
Holdings, Inc., a local infrastructure company, with 25 percent; and Marubeni of Japan with 20 percent. Maynilad is responsible for the water and wastewater services in the western part of the Greater Manila area, serving a population of more than nine million in 17 cities and municipalities. Maynilad’s concession contract has been extended to 2037. Clearing the way for improvement The new management invested heavily, and it needed to. Leaking pipes were a big concern. In 2007, 67 percent of the water that left the treatment plants was classed as ‘non revenue’, in other words most of it was lost though leaks, though much was illegally diverted. Replacing the large pipes made a big difference in a reasonably short time, but detecting leaks and illegal extraction was just one aspect of running a complex and geographically extensive utility that cried out for the application of new technology. In March 2011, Dr Francisco Castillo, who had been overseeing the IT system from his position as Managing Consultant at the Spanish IT consulting firm Indra Systems, was appointed as CIO and Senior VP of Maynilad, with a seat in the management committee to reflect the key role IT was to play in setting the strategy that would
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Francisco Castillo CIO and Senior VP
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1 In everything now in one place. #
Let the transformation begin.
Copyright Š 2016 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. 10/2016 DIH1894
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take the company right up to the cutting edge of global best practice. In-house IT was never going to be the answer – his strategy was to outsource all of the operational and maintenance systems. “It meant redrawing the organisational map” he says. “I now have a very small and strategic IT team of nine, six of them as Project Managers engaged in managing contracted-out projects.” His first priority was to fix the networks, servers and storage, so he set in motion a series of projects to create a robust infrastructure out of something that was, frankly, a mess. “It meant revamping our network in terms of cabling, putting in fibre connections to connect all of our remote offices and changing every one of our switches. Then we standardised and virtualised all our servers, becoming the first organisation in the Philippines to do so.” At the same time it was necessary to re-engineer all the applications. SAP had been set up as a tool to automating manual processes rather than as an ERP platform that would support all the business critical systems. SAP was re-implemented with additional modules, and the customer relations platform revamped to the latest iteration of MS Dynamics software. “The CRM system used to reliably crash every four hours,” he observes wryly, “and the solution the former IT team had reached was to programme it to reboot every three hours.”
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The product itself was not at fault – it just hadn’t been implemented properly.
field of IT/OT convergence. Now he has another OT team of 15 people, larger because these functions have IT/OT convergence not been outsourced. “By uniting the Revamping the core IT was a major two, data can be taken straight from task, and it delivered great results in the plant into the IT system and you increased efficiency throughout the can see online how production is organisation. There was however doing, what issues you have with your another side to equipment, and how the coin. There is you need to schedule a huge amount maintenance.” of information To facilitate this, available from he has implemented the sensors, the FIELD MOUS equipment and (Field Monitoring User plants belonging to System). It’s a set of employees currently a sprawling water software modules at Maynilad Water utility, much of it designed for plantServices, Inc. ‘locked in’ and wide monitoring hard to access. and analysis. It also These monitor water flows, pressure, comprises a system data archive that chemicals, pollution, acidity and many handles the collection, storage, and other things besides. Most companies retrieval of data and also acts as a run their IT and OT (operational data repository for all applications. technology) functions as separate Ultimately it allows management to departments, so it was a radical step understand where the business stands in 2014 when OT was placed under operationally at any given moment Castillo. It established Maynilad as in time. FieldMOUS is Maynilad’s IoT a leader in the much talked about platform, enabling sensor data to be
2147
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Part of daily monitoring tasks is to read the value displayed at the power meter
The FieldMOUS (Field Monitoring User System) program is the main technology for monitoring vital field data.
By uniting IT and OT, data can be taken straight from the plant into the IT system and you can see online how production is doing
M AY N I L A D WAT E R S E R V I C E S , I N C .
Changing Business Changing Lives
shaping tomorrow with you
info@ph.fujitsu.com www.fujitsu.com/ph/
Fujitsu Cloud
(+632) 841 8488
A platform for Human-Centric Intelligent Society Empowering business and social innovation Transparency on spend Balancing strong and eventual consistency
Fujitsu has over 100 Data Centres worldwide and brings this technology to our local cloud in the Philippines.
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viewed, virtually in real time, at the new central control room which was commissioned only in August this year. The major manifestation of the IT/ OT landscape has seen the number of applications running within the business from 16 in 2011 to around 60 today, and from 35 physical servers to more than 350 virtual servers, says Castillo. Over the same period the number of reportable incidents has reduced dramatically, in fact by 70 percent within the first nine months. “It is hard to argue with myself if it is all under me. We are reaping the benefit because we can get the data straight from the sensors and feed it into our
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The Maynilad Central Control room, from where all water and wastewater facilities are monitored and controlled
different IT systems. There are many ongoing projects to maximise the benefits of that convergence. Over 50 facilities have been automated, with more than 900 instruments regularly calibrated and maintained,” he says. Better for business, better for users At any point in time Maynilad has some 60 IT projects ongoing, and a similar number of OT projects. “Over the last five years we have moved fast. I could say we have improved from Jurassic to even beyond the state of the art in some areas.” Postconvergence (though that process is
still ongoing) among the priorities now being refined are IT/OT security and the physical security of the facilities and remote equipment. One important focus is the improvement of customer service and customer experience. The key thing has been to provide a reliable water supply. Back in 2007 only 46 percent of customers were receiving a 24-hour water service, now it is close to 100 percent: then the number of connections was around 700,000, now it’s over 1.3 million. Nevertheless a lot more can be done. The first phase, now complete, was to make billing available online, via SMS or by e-mail, and the next
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target will be to have an automated advisory service that will give advance notice of interruptions in service, maintenance issues and the like. The people in the West Zone concession don’t need a long memory to appreciate the difference, and now the management of Maynilad can make informed decisions knowing precisely the true state of the business thanks to the business information dashboards they can access. It’s important to remember, he says, that in a highly regulated industry, where water prices are set by the government, the only real business improvement deliverables are internal ones, mainly in operational efficiency. Automation is an ongoing process says Francisco Castillo, but many plants have been fully automated and over the next two years all of them will be managed directly from the central control room. “We have dramatically improved on all of the key performance indicators that the regulator expects of us, and we are now on a par with any 21st century utility,” XXXXXhe concludes. “Non-revenue
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water is now down to 30 percent and that is improving monthly.” In September, Castillo was declared ASEAN CIO of the year, an annual recognition given to an individual who has displayed exceptional leadership and contributed significantly to his company’s growth and influence. Under his leadership, Maynilad was able to obtain an ISO 20,000:1 certification for its information technology service management system, and also received the SAP Customer Centre of Expertise certification for its efficient business processes. Capturing all these lessons learned, this year he wrote a book entitled ‘Managing Information Technology’ (Springer, Germany) which in effect is a compendium of best practices in the industry and how to apply these.
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NORTH AMERICAN POWER BUSINESS:
A powerful partner Managing energy costs can be the biggest headache for large businesses and the energy brokers they engage. Fortunately, North American Power Business (NAPB) has the experience, technology, and responsive service to help
Written by John O’Hanlon Produced by Tom Venturo
A
s we noted in these pages a year ago, North American Power’s residential business, founded in 2009, has been a runaway success and continues to grow, having already served more than a million electricity and natural gas customers across twelve states. Since Deryl Brown’s arrival as CEO in 2014, however, the company has stated its intention to also enter the Commercial and Industrial (C&I) market in order to further grow and diversify its business. This year, the company realized this intention by entering the Texas C&I market under its new C&I brand, ‘North American Power Business’, and is already making a big first impression. In many respects, North American Power has taken the ingredients for success from its residential business and applied them to North American Power Business. While the management team for its residential business is stacked with individuals possessing decades upon decades of combined industry
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experience, the same can also be said of North American Power Business’ leadership. North American Power Business is led by chief executive officer Deryl Brown, chief information officer Jim Crysdale, chief sales officer Kris Hertel, chief operations officer Jason Bear and senior business development manager Taylor Brown. Together, this team boasts over 150 years committed to leading and innovating in the retail energy space. Moreover, this team was largely responsible for starting two other enormously successful C&I companies. North American Power Business, headquartered in Bedford, Texas, for the most part operates independently of its North American Power retail business based in Norwalk, Connecticut. Although NAPB has a different leadership structure and home base, the new C&I affiliate intends to mirror the rapid growth that the residential side of the company has enjoyed. The company’s
Deryl Brown, Chief Executive Officer Deryl Brown is responsible for North American Power Business’ overall strategy and composition. He is a seasoned energy business executive with a proven track record of value creation in the competitive retail energy industry. He has over 40 years of experience in the retail energy industry, which includes strategy development, engineering, operations, customer service, technology, marketing, and sales.
confidence to do so resides in NAPB’s leadership, which has been there and done it all before. Energized Partnerships While North American Power’s residential business is entirely focused on the end user, North American Power Business has a slightly different strategy. With gas and electricity making up a major proportion of overheads across
the board from manufacturing to IT and data heavy businesses, and the need to comply with complex regulations across different states and jurisdictions, big business invariably turns to consultants, aggregators and energy brokers to obtain the best advice and the best deals available. In fact, more than 60 percent of energy transactions in the United States are done through
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a broker or consultant. This is because brokers and consultants can not only find a great price for a business’ energy supply, but many also advise on energy efficiency tactics such as energy management systems, equipment and lighting retrofitting as well as renewable energy sourcing. Several brokers and consultants also specialize in selling ancillary products and services that assist customers in achieving LEED compliance for their facilities. North American Power Business’ leadership therefore understands the importance of focusing on these key players in the market,
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supplying them with the power their clients need, in the way they need it and with outstanding transparency and flexibility when it comes to pricing, billing and commissions. NAPB approaches the market almost exclusively through these third-party brokers. “The brokers we work with, we call them sales partners, are vital to our company’s success,” chief sales officer Kris Hertel said. “As a result, our value proposition to potential sales partners needs to be just as strong as our value proposition to the end user.” Powered by Best-in-Class Technology So, what is that powerful value proposition that is already attracting top brokers in the industry? According to Hertel, in addition to its highly experienced management team that knows what brokers want and need, it’s North American Power Business’ technology that is the competitive advantage in the marketplace.
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Kris Hertel, Chief Sales Officer Kris Hertel is responsible for leading North American Power Business’ customer acquisition channels throughout the US. He brings 25 years of sales and marketing experience to NAPB, including 17 years of retail energy industry experience. Most recently, Kris served as Chief Marketing & Sales Officer for Pro Power Providers, a Circular Energy company. He also served as Vice President of North American Commercial markets for Hudson Energy, a Just Energy company.
Jason Bear, Chief Operations Officer Jason Bear is responsible for leading the middle office and back office functions of North American Power Business in all markets. He brings more than 15 years of customer operations and IT experience to NAPB, including 12 years of retail energy industry experience. Most recently, Jason served as Vice President of Operations for Pro Power Providers, a Circular Energy company. He also served as Senior Director of US Operations for Hudson Energy, a Just Energy company.
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“We see our partnership going well beyond the usual scope of that overused word” Specifically, brokers have come to expect supply partners to make sales, commission and account management as easy and transparent as possible—that’s why Hertel said that developing the technology to meet and exceed that expectation was number one on the to-do list when NAPB was founded. “We’ve developed top-of-the-line broker sales and commission portals, powered by our new end-to-end system we’ve named ‘Joules’,” Hertel said. “Jim Crysdale led the development of the industry’s first sales portal and has more than 26 years of experience in this space, so having him on our team as a primary architect of all three of these proprietary pieces of technology has put NAPB in a league of its own when it comes to its technological performance and capabilities.” Elaborating on the company’s broker portals, Hertel said, “The
portal is our conduit to get the data from the broker to price the customer. It will generate pricing, proposals and executable documents – we are very proud of it, and our brokers love it!” It is a completely integrated platform that takes the broker right through customer pricing, to enrollment, to billing and to commissions, says Hertel. “It gives us the ability to move from market to market very quickly, and it is entirely scalable.” The portal ultimately gives the broker control in whatever way they choose to use it. Being able to upload customer data and generate pricing and documentation means that deals can be automated, with no manual intervention on the part of NAPB. A commissions platform is integrated with the sales platform, giving a broker the ability to see its past commission statements alongside its projected income from NAPB. “It allows
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Billing, Reporting & IT Solutions for RETAIL ENERGY A Znalytics’ partnership provides much more than just EDI and Billing. Our system is designed to provide: • Incredible customization ranging from broker portals to pricing engines and customer facing applications • Predictive data analysis that let you run What if scenarios to improve sales and reduce churn • Support for non-commodity billing and a wide range of affinity plans and promotions
READ MORE
www.ZNALYTICS.com
3625 Brookside Pkwy. #395, Alpharetta, GA 30022 +1 678-466-9738 info@znalytics.com
our brokers to self-serve. Having this accounting-like function through the commissions portal is rare in the industry, and it underlines our commitment to the broker channel,” Hertel said. “It is a really neat system: they can opt for full automation of customer accounts or any level of intervention they choose.” The strength of the technology platform gives NAPB scalability and consistency as it moves from market to market. That’s
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a long-term advantage that the broker will appreciate more and more as the end customer becomes accustomed to dependable pricing and transparency – it’s a frequent occurrence, he says, to have issues with billing timeliness and accuracy, or the common practice of outsourcing billing to a third party. As it develops, NAPB wants to expand the technology it has introduced to the market to become increasingly integrated with its
USA AND CANADA
Jim Crysdale, Chief Information Officer Jim Crysdale is responsible for developing and maintaining North American Power Business’ IT systems and processes. He has over 26 years of executive management and technology consulting experience, focused specifically on utilities and competitive energy. He has delivered solutions in the areas of IT strategy, large-scale system implementation, organizational strategy, process management, product management, enterprise architecture, program management, office development, operational efficiency, customer relationship management, custom application development, and sales force automation.
Taylor Brown, Senior Business Development Manager Taylor Brown is responsible for managing the growth of NAPB’s commercial indirect sales channel in multiple markets. He brings six years of energy sales experience to NAPB. Most recently, Taylor was a Senior Business Development Manager for Hudson Energy in Houston, Texas. Taylor earned a BA degree from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas.
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large brokers. “The more integrated we can become with their systems, the more advantageous that partnership becomes,” Hertel says. “That may mean integrating with their CRM packages to make that customer experience better. We plan to provide more reporting and integration with their finance packages like Quicken and MS Dynamics. We see our partnership going well beyond the usual scope of that overused word, to a point where we become indispensable to them and they in turn help us grow quicker as we enter new markets.” Hertel was quick to point out that beyond its own leadership, the company’s development partners have been integral to its technological success. Specifically, Znalytics has been a key partner in the building of the company’s end-to-end system, Joules. “Jim Crysdale and Znalytics made
for an ideal pairing when it came to creating Joules,” Hertel said. “Because of their combined efforts, we believe that Joules truly stands alone in the industry.” For the size of the company, such a level of investment and the sophistication of the technology is almost unprecedented in the industry, he adds. Technology never reaches a finished state, by definition, but the platform has been refined to a level that allows NAPB to run its current business effectively, and it can easily be given added functionality as the company expands. Just Getting Started From a soft launch with ten or so brokers in February 2016, North American Power Business is already well into its full launch in the Texas market. NAPB is now approaching the number of
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brokers and aggregators it needs to call itself an established player in Texas, and is now looking to expand into other states. In the US, many brokers are licensed in multiple states, and indeed a number of the customers it works with in Texas are not headquartered there. The relations NAPB has with these brokers is an excellent springboard for it to move into New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio in the very near future. These states are all within what
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is called the PJM Interconnection that co-ordinates the movement of electricity within Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. “50 percent of the brokers we work with in Texas also do business in PJM,” explains Hertel. “Additionally the relationships we already have with brokers headquartered in the northeast also operate in multiple
USA AND CANADA
states. So, if a broker is licensed to do business in Ohio it is most likely licensed in Pennsylvania and New Jersey: even in New York and across New England.� For now, a consolidation of Texas and a phased expansion into PJM will take a lot of hard work. Kris Hertel is keen to expand into as many states as possible as quickly as possible. Much of this will be achieved by following the existing broker network, though, and many of these brokers have an
international footprint. Suffice it to say that it was CEO Deryl Brown who established Hudson Energy as a leading independent provider of electricity and gas to businesses across the UK. It would be in no way surprising to see NAPB quickly achieving its expansion goals in the USA, then perhaps even looking further afield.
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THE POWER to process Written by John O’Hanlon Produced by Josef Smith
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Fujitsu entered the Australian market in 1973 and today provides key ICT infrastructure to both public and private sectors. It is also one of Australia’s leading data centre providers, leading the technology market in sustainable practices
E
veryone is aware of the impact technology has on the way we live, and most people know that as the Internet of Things (IoT) gathers momentum a further transformation will happen. Smart cars, smart appliances, smart buildings, and smart clothing are just some of the
things that promise to enhance our lives, and at the same time the soft aspects of life like medical, educational, financial, and legal services are being transformed by the application of big data. Fewer people understand that the ‘the cloud’ is in fact a world embracing
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network of physical servers, most of Australia’s public sector, financial of them located in data centres. services, retail (it’s Fujitsu that keeps Fewer still have any idea what data the point of sale services going for centres are or even where they are: some of Australia’s major retailers) certainly not the amount of power and the national airline Qantas. they use. Ten years ago, they used an With that hat on he supports these imperceptible proportion of electricity clients’ environmental performance consumption: today they account targets. “When doing consulting for some three percent work we benchmark to see of global electricity where they stand, and supply and two look for the quick I find that even percent of total wins first,” he says. companies that greenhouse gas “Sometimes profess to be green, emissions. Ten that’s just a policy and committed to 100 years from now change or putting percent renewable that is expected in a power meter. power are missing out to reach ten Or checking on many opportunities percent. the actual power to do better consumption Advice and of equipment consultation like laptops against Lee Stewart has been the manufacturer’s leading Fujitsu’s strategy to make claim before purchasing. sustainability a part of its DNA “I find that even companies that for the last five years. As Head of profess to be green, and committed Sustainability for the Oceania region, to 100 percent renewable power are he is part of a large sustainability team missing out on many opportunities within the global company. He does a to do better.” When you consider lot of consultancy work with Fujitsu’s that for a bank, 70 percent of its clients, which include large swathes energy costs are associated with
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Fujitsu has their entire Data Centre portfolio rated proving that they operate at 27% more efficient than the industry average
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Schneider Electric and Fujitsu: Delivering energy-efficient Data Centres For over 15 years, Schneider Electric has been a data centre infrastructure technology provider for Fujitsu across Australia. By applying simplification and innovation at every level, Schneider Electric has future-proofed and redefined data centres, and addressed the balance of speed without compromising availability or operational efficiency. The data centre solution integrates the latest in IT, uninterruptible power supply (UPS), computer racks, PDUs, plus low voltage and medium voltage electrical technology to achieve reliable and sustainable facilities. Fujitsu clients can expect to see significant improvements in energy efficiency through enhanced data centre design and management technology. Data Centre Innovation at every level Data centres are the centre of everyone’s digital life. Digitisation, and the growth of IoT are going to place huge demands on the world’s networks and data centre infrastructure. Growth in the cloud and at the edge is creating a distributed architecture that will require a new way to manage holistically. We need to ensure data centres physical infrastructure can adapt quickly to support whatever the future brings, without compromising availability or operational efficiency. Schneider Electric’s commitment to simplifying data centres in the cloud and at the edge – using our lifecycle approach, digital tools, connected offers and digital services – will facilitate addressing the challenges in the new digital world. “We build energy management and automation technologies that ensure Life Is On everywhere, for everyone and at every moment. We engineer solutions to make energy safe, reliable, efficient, sustainable and connected. We invest heavily in innovation, connecting our products and systems through the Internet of Things to our portfolio of software, making energy more distributed and connected, “ said Joe Craparotta, Vice President for IT Business and Strategic Segments, Schneider Electric. About Schneider Electric Schneider Electric is the global specialist in energy management and automation. With revenues of ~€27 billion in FY2015, our 160,000+ employees serve customers in over 100 countries, helping them to manage their energy and process in ways that are safe, reliable, efficient and sustainable. From the simplest of switches to complex operational systems, our technology, software and services improve the way our customers manage and automate their operations. Our connected technologies reshape industries, transform cities and enrich lives. At Schneider Electric, we call this Life Is On.
www.schneider-electric.com.au
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IT, the amount of value that Fujitsu can add becomes apparent. His conversations with clients these days have moved up to board level as the reputational and financial gains to be made are made clear. But like charity, sustainability begins at home. Fujitsu has more than 100 data centres round the world. Six of these are in Australia, and the company has been among the first to grasp the energy nettle. Fujitsu’s 17,500 square metres of data centre space accounts for 97 percent of the company’s greenhouse gas emissions. The data centres accommodate Fujitsu’s own servers and cloud infrastructure as well as a large amount of space dedicated to colocation services. Each of the data centres uses as much power as a small sized town. Sustainability - a global imperative Most of the power available in Australia is generated from coal: renewable alternatives are making inroads but the electricity they generate is still more costly. Basically, most of Australian
power is ‘dirty power’. Stewart tells how even his thinking, driven by a passion for sustainable development as it already was, was given a jolt at the Asia-Pacific Energy Leaders’ Summit New Zealand earlier this year. “The former Prime Minister of Kiribati Anote Tong spoke about how he has already bought land in Fiji to relocate his people. It was his speech to COP21 in Paris that swayed the adoption of a 1.5-degree target for global warming when he explained that even that would not be enough to save his entire country, which is only just above sea level, from being swamped. Inspired by Anote Tong’s words he wants to drive forward an initiative that has been dear to his heart from day one. “When I took this role over five years ago our data centre managers were doing very good work but what I found frustrating was that the power use effectiveness (PUE) metric that we use in our industry was not being applied transparently.” PUE measures the ratio between the total power used by the data centre and the energy delivered to run
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Fujitsu Australia Head Office. The recent move to a new office with activity based working has saved over 60% in office energy costs
computing power vs. the overheads such as cooling, backup power and lighting. A ratio of 1:1 would mean that no energy at all was used for cooling or lighting. “We set our interim target at 1.6, but I found it frustrating that competitors were making unverifiable claims of 1.2. So, I was very excited when the government announced it was going to introduce independently validated rating of PUE.” Transparency for clients and regulators The federal government brought in the National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) to assess
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data centres and give them a star rating, with one star for unsatisfactory, and six for market leading performance. The system was already familiar in the construction industry, where it has been used for a decade to rate the environmental performance of a building, rather like LEED in the USA. Before this happened, it was too easy for data centre owners and operators to make claims they couldn’t achieve. “Sustainability is all about transparency and honesty,” says Stewart. “Now you need twelve months’ of energy bills before you can be audited by a trained assessor who has been through a course run and
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accredited by the government. They audit the meters and equipment, and average out your energy load over the year minus your IT load, which gives you a reliable PUE rating.” In June 2016, Fujitsu achieved an Australian first, gaining NABERS Energy ratings across its six data centres. It publishes all its ratings on the NABERS website, so all its clients can be assured it’s achieved an average rating of 3.75 stars. Its target is to take the portfolio up to 4.5 by 2020. Suddenly the language changed, says Stewart “The customers get it: it gives them a credible assurance of our energy
efficiency efforts and also provides us with a common language that works globally. And the internal stakeholders get it – I hear our data centre people discussing what they need to do to get a half star better. We were the first to adopt it, the first to submit a portfolio, and we are now driving the market to make sure our customers ask for a NABERS rating if they are looking for hosted space. “More than that, we are working closely with state bodies to ensure it is adopted and taken up as a standard ‘business as usual’ practice.” A
Lee Stewart at the New Fujitsu Australia Head Office at Macquarie Park in Sydney
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good example of this is the recent announcement by the government of New South Wales that by 2017 it will no longer use any data centre space with less than a 4.5-star rating. It has been a rewarding journey. Lee Stewart likes to differentiate Fujitsu from other data centre operators by the customers, whose interests he puts first. “Our industry often gets bogged down in the technical detail and tends to lose sight of the big picture, the overall transparency and assurance for our customers, which is a big driver.” He has been working on a major new report, the Australian SMARTer2030 Report, jointly produced by Fujitsu and Telstra, Australia’s largest telecoms company. This concludes among many other things that as ICT becomes less expensive and more accessible, billions more people around the world will become connected by 2030 improving their income potential and wellbeing, and that even in Australia there is significant opportunity for ICT to deliver substantial social benefits, equalising access to services
and allowing full participation in society, regardless of location. The report speaks of the broad effects of ICT on the human race, but it should never be forgotten that every transaction, every communication, every search and every automated response is touched by many data centres. It’s in everyone’s interests to achieve monumental levels of upscaling in a sustainable manner.
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