Edge Computing in Energy
Penguin Solutions helps Società Elettrica di Favignana SpA enhance infrastructure resilience, ensure business continuity, and protect critical data
Overview
SEA Società Elettrica di Favignana SpA, responsible for reliable power on an off-grid island in Italy, faced infrastructure and availability challenges in harsh conditions. The company selected the Stratus ztC Edge® platform from Penguin Solutions for its fault-tolerant architecture and simplified management, delivering resilient, uninterrupted electricity service and streamlined operations.
Challenge
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• Ensure consistent, high-quality service for users
Transition from traditional server-based architecture to an industrial platform without service interruptions
Integrate numerous field-deployed devices
Operate reliably in environments with extreme temperature fluctuations
Handle peak electricity demand efficiently
Solution
• • Stratus ztC Edge platform from Penguin Solutions installed directly in the control room's technical console
Fault-tolerant protection for the Progea Movicon™ control software in a virtualized environment
Benefits
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Enhanced resilience for electricity generation and distribution operations
Integrated business continuity and data protection within a fully redundant solution
Simplified system usage and maintenance
Eliminated the need for a data center
Enabled professional growth for technical personnel, transitioning from field maintenance to system operation
Image source: SEA Società Elettrica di Favignana SpA
SEA Società Elettrica di Favignana SpA is a trusted energy provider that generates and distributes electricity for both public and private use across the island of Favignana, Italy. Because the island is not connected to the national electricity grid, SEA enables Favignana to independently manage its energy needs.
This self-sufficiency positions Favignana as an “edge” territory, operating at the remote edge of a broader network, both geographically and through its advanced, localized energy services and infrastructure.
With a production capacity of 22 MW, SEA Società Elettrica di Favignana SpA serves over 4,000 users through around 40 substations distributed across the island. This local generation provides reliable electricity supply for the island and allows the system to meet and respond to seasonal demand spikes.
To ensure uninterrupted service, the company selected Stratus ztC Edge from Penguin Solutions, a zero-touch computing platform with built-in fault tolerance. It delivers reliable performance, robust computing power, and easy maintenance, improving operations and eliminating unplanned downtime.
Enhancing infrastructure to achieve business continuity
As SEA Società Elettrica di Favignana SpA expanded its customer base and services, upgrading technology and modernizing infrastructure became essential. To meet rising energy demands, especially the surge during summer months, SEA invested in automation and advanced systems to enhance precision and maintain high-quality service.
Reliable IT infrastructure plays a key role in managing electricity generation and distribution, ensuring consistent service. An advanced supervision system manages and controls hundreds of interconnected devices—including PLCs, network analyzers, meters, and wireless equipment—across roughly 40 substations on the island.
To further improve business continuity, SEA, with support from system integrator Posdata, transitioned from a traditional server setup to a virtualized server cluster. While this upgrade enhanced their system, it didn’t fully achieve their goals for greater resilience and uninterrupted service.
Recognizing the need for a more robust solution, Guido Palmeri, Head of the Automation Department at SEA Società di Favignana SpA, turned to Penguin Solutions and our expertise in fault-tolerant computing. By implementing the Stratus ztC Edge platform, SEA achieved the simplicity, zero-touch operation, and high availability required to meet their goals.
In this scenario, the Stratus ztC Edge from Penguin Solutions represented an efficient and functional solution that allowed us to achieve numerous advantages in line with the objectives we had set… simplicity, robustness, and reliability are three of the main characteristics that made the Stratus ztC Edge platform the perfect solution for our needs; for example, Stratus ztC Edge is able to withstand the harsh environmental conditions typical of industrial environments, making it well-suited to the island’s climate, which is particularly severe in terms of temperatures, especially during the summer.
Guido Palmeri Head of
Automation
SEA
Società
di Favignana SpA
The fanless design of the Stratus ztC Edge platform proved to be another major benefit for SEA, removing the usual limitations of data center operations. With the Stratus ztC Edge platform, the company was able to decommission the data center that previously housed its IT assets.
“Today, the control room is just an office, with a technical console inside which the Stratus ztC Edge platform is integrated: from there we monitor the entire system and intervene on devices in the field.”
Beyond technology: The Stratus ztC Edge is a complete, service-centric solution
The Stratus ztC Edge provided SEA Società di Favignana with the ideal solution for protecting and supporting their mission-critical applications.
Specifically designed to ensure continuous availability of critical software applications, including Progea Movicon SCADA, the Stratus ztC Edge features a fault-tolerant architecture with integrated redundancy. This safeguards against hardware, software, and environmental failures, operating as an active IT unit to ensure maximum uptime.
Beyond its easy installation, deployment, and management, Penguin Solutions' unique technical support was a key factor in the solution's success. The support team’s expertise in root-cause analysis was critical in analyzing and optimizing the infrastructure, efficiently balancing data traffic from field devices, and ultimately earning the customer's trust and satisfaction.
“From this perspective, Penguin Solutions has proven to be a reliable partner that, together with Posdata, worked in complete harmony towards the goals, leading to the optimal success of the project.
The benefits of implementing Stratus ztC Edge
It is not common for a supplier to be so proactive but given the quality of their products and the support their team provided, even in the analysis and testing phase, we weren’t surprised by their active collaboration, which went well beyond their scope,” emphasizes Palmeri.
Penguin Solutions has proven to be a reliable partner that, together with Posdata, worked in complete harmony towards the goals, leading to the optimal success of the project.
Guido Palmeri Head of Automation
SEA Società di Favignana SpA
The Stratus ztC Edge, a key component of the IT architecture managing SEA’s electricity generation and distribution system, is built to perform reliably in rugged environments. With built-in virtualization, self-monitoring to minimize downtime, and features tailored for electricity generation, it has been integral to their success.
The system connects over 100 devices, including PLCs, remote I/O, and electronic boards, using protocols such as Modbus TCP, IEC 60870-104, and S7 symbolic. It exchanges over 4,500 tags in real-time, ensuring reliable and efficient data communication essential to operations.
Its ease of deployment, robust security, and simple local and remote management streamline maintenance and servicing, helping SEA achieve and exceed its objectives. Additionally, the Stratus ztC Edge has supported the professional development of the company’s workforce.
“With centralized automation supervision and the Stratus ztC Edge, the architecture we have today offers flexibility and simplicity that has fostered the professional growth of our technicians, whose activities are now comparable to those of system operators,” Palmeri continues. “Previously they used to spend much of their time in the field monitoring equipment. Today, the system’s reliability ensures that technicians can access all real-time information with complete confidence from a single centralized point.”
Compared to the previous system, the new platform provides technicians with a significantly improved, holistic view of critical assets. This new operational approach enhances safety, service continuity, and system efficiency, allowing operators to focus on the entire process rather than individual components and analyze the platform’s overall evolution.
This optimization extends to operations like electrical maintenance. Previously, a blackout required on-site visits to manually reset equipment. Today, an electrician can collaborate directly with an operator from the control console. If a replacement is needed, the intervention is limited to the specific device, leaving the system configuration and virtual machines untouched.
The Stratus ztC Edge platform’s ability to perform updates, maintenance, and repairs without service interruptions is crucial for companies managing distributed or remote assets. It allows them to maintain high operational efficiency and optimize the end-user experience, enabling them to meet customer needs and expectations more promptly.
Conclusion: A resilient path forward
The implementation of the Stratus ztC Edge platform has been transformative for SEA Società Elettrica di Favignana SpA. Modernizing its IT infrastructure with a fault-tolerant, zero-touch solution has enabled SEA to achieve significant resilience, operational efficiency, and service continuity. The platform's robust design has improved the reliability of electricity generation and distribution and allowed SEA's workforce to shift focus from routine maintenance to strategic operations.
This partnership highlights how reliable technology from Penguin Solutions and Posdata can overcome complex challenges. SEA's success demonstrates that cutting-edge solutions like the Stratus ztC Edge can provide reliable, efficient, and future-ready infrastructure for even the most remote and demanding environments.
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Image source: SEA Società Elettrica di Favignana SpA