Ignition Brings Control, Flexibility to Energy Management Software
Technology Category
- Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Database Management & Storage
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Middleware, SDKs & Libraries
- Automation & Control - Supervisory Control & Data Acquisition (SCADA)
Applicable Industries
- Utilities
Applicable Functions
- Business Operation
Use Cases
- Remote Asset Management
The Customer
Cofely
About The Customer
Cofely is a division of GDF SUEZ, a French multinational electric utility company. Cofely is headquartered in Madrid, Spain, and it has established itself as a leader in energy and environmental efficiency services throughout the country
The Challenge
The energy management project encompasses many different facilities such as public buildings, swimming pools, industrial plants, and even street lighting. It involves over 22,000 tags, and nearly 600 devices and 50 clients, and those numbers continue to grow.
The size of the project presented many challenges. There were a large number of prospective users, all of whom needed access to the system without it being installed at each client. There was an enormous amount of data in many different formats, and vast geographical distances between installations. Also, the software had to be flexible enough to grow with the system as new installations were added. Cofely needed a SCADA solution that would give their customers the ability to analyze all their real-time and historical energy data, and would also be cost-effective and scalable.
The Solution
Granero’s team was able to use Ignition’s unique features to fulfill the new system’s requirements. Ignition provides the company with unlimited tags and clients at a reasonable price. The software doesn’t need to be installed or maintained at the client level because it is fully web-deployed. It connects to SQL databases, which lets the company leverage SQL data without expensive additional software. It supports OPC-UA, so it can connect to the many devices with embedded OPC-UA servers that are dispersed throughout the country. The modular architecture of Ignition makes the system scalable so it can match the scope of new contracts that will be added in the future.
A unique part of this project was the task of developing a graphical user interface (GUI) to keep track of the various sites in the system. Ignition’s use of modules and its easily accessible software development kit (SDK) were factors that made it stand out as the clear choice for this project. “Given that the project scope required monitoring several hundred sites, and thousands in the long run, we needed a graphic interface to jump from one site to another by clicking on a map icon, as well as to display main status and alarm conditions for every location,” Granero explains. Since the project spans across all of Spain, setting up the ability to locate and easily switch between remote sites was a huge undertaking that the project team was determined to see to fruition.
A unique part of this project was the task of developing a graphical user interface (GUI) to keep track of the various sites in the system. Ignition’s use of modules and its easily accessible software development kit (SDK) were factors that made it stand out as the clear choice for this project. “Given that the project scope required monitoring several hundred sites, and thousands in the long run, we needed a graphic interface to jump from one site to another by clicking on a map icon, as well as to display main status and alarm conditions for every location,” Granero explains. Since the project spans across all of Spain, setting up the ability to locate and easily switch between remote sites was a huge undertaking that the project team was determined to see to fruition.
Operational Impact
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