Monitoring industrial and commercial energy savings

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EnergyPartners

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Client

EnergyPartners

Industry

Energy & Utilities

Services

UX design, Front end, Backend, Web app, Data pipeline

Energy Partners builds and operates core energy utilities such as solar, refrigeration and steam that cater for commercial and industrial markets. Their aim is to ensure a future where energy becomes a right, not a cost. We were onboarded to create a reliable data management platform that collects and manages data from IOT devices across the Energy Partners network.

The Situation

Energy Partners, a leading energy utility provider in South Africa and Africa, creates better energy solutions that fuel Africa’s growth through a results-driven, cost-efficient and sustainable approach. The company provides world-class utilities throughout Africa, including solar power, steam, refrigeration and end-to-end water treatment solutions.

We joined forces with Energy Partners to create a reliable data management platform that collects and manages data from IoT devices across the Energy Partners network. This scalable platform provides data and business insights to all stakeholders and creates user-friendly products that revolutionise communication between partners and clients.

The Objectives

Having a large footprint with multiple energy plants spread across the continent, Energy Partners needed to collect, measure and analyse the data from these various utilities. For this, they needed a reliable and scalable data management platform. Data would be collected by monitoring energy consumption at different plants using meters and IoT devices to see if it functions effectively. But to trust these measurements, the captured data had to be accurate and reliable – a reliable utility management platform would thus be the first step towards the goal.

Their existing platform was unable to scale effectively and we were contracted to build an improved platform focusing on data retention and management. This new platform had to scale rapidly and be able to seamlessly generate insights from the data collected with a specific focus on business intelligence.

The Solution

In consultation with Energy Partners, we identified four user groups and highlighted the need for customised, interactive reporting and accurate analysis. Taking into consideration Energy Partners’ unique user groups (both internal and external), it required a specific focus on product management and the ability to scale.

We put all these pieces together by building a platform and utilising existing products to visualise the IoT data as it flows through Energy Partners’ intelligence processes.

“We understand that extracting data from devices and displaying it in an app is simply not enough. At Polymorph, we help our clients to unlock the value of their IOT data by gathering sample or raw data, cleaning it, and storing it using a scalable IOT platform. We turn this data into information using apps or dashboards with the right context. This allows data to be transformed into information and actionable insights. Energy Partners needed to know how well their systems are performing, how much money they are saving for their partners and clients, and how much energy, steam, refrigeration and water are being generated. And they did the sensible thing by approaching Polymorph as we specialise in IOT and software application development and have an excellent reputation for good rapport with well-established businesses across South Africa,” continues Barry.

“We realised that energy is a very technical and complex field and required clever ways to communicate in a way that our entire stakeholder group and the end user could easily utilise and understand. We realised we needed a platform which could collect and organise all the data from hundreds of connected (IoT) devices and integrate with our energy utilities to communicate with our clients. We needed an experienced development team to develop a platform which would form the basis of various user-friendly EP products which could integrate and easily monitor everything on the Energy Partners backend. Since we started working with Polymorph to outsource this part of our business we haven’t looked back. It has grown into a strong partnership and great friendship between both companies,” says Arno Middelberg, CTO at Energy Partners.

The Results

The newly developed platform, Glo, is Energy Partners’ utility data management and business intelligence platform. It opened a new way of communicating with Energy Partners’ users and provides access to reliable data and actionable insights for internal stakeholders and clients.

With Glo Energy Partners can reduce utility costs and use, optimise asset performance, and ensure value for clients. Plus, the Glo Kiosk application shows a live view of current solar generation and carbon dioxide and cost savings on two levels: plant and portfolio.

The utility management system is expected to be specifically geared towards Energy Partners’ data pipeline from data collection, scheduling, storage, and adding a business logic layer that meaningfully engages with the data and apps.

We have been involved in developing a number of products within the larger data management platform. The Energy Partners management team and directors were very satisfied with the quality of the first final product, which was completed within budget. Conceptualisation and implementation are continuing as we apply the platform to improve internal processes and ways to expose more value from the data to clients. “Polymorph’s unique approach allows us to tailor our feedback and make data available to our user groups when they need it and in the form that they need it instead of forcing a one-size-fits-all approach,” says Middelberg.

CUSTOMER TESTIMONIAL

“We are very positive and see the creation of new products built on the new Glo platform, a potential game-changer giving Energy Partners an edge over its competitors. Usability is one of the key components in any successful business becoming and keeping the lead in its industry. We are looking forward to an ongoing partnership with Polymorph and see how we can work together towards increased client engagement and satisfaction.”

Arno Middelberg

CTO@Energy Partners