ABB company Ventyx, at its Ventyx World 2013 customer conference attended by IM, has launched what it says is “an innovative new solution for managing the health of mission-critical assets underpinning the operations of companies in asset-intensive industries such as energy and mining.” Available for electric transmission companies worldwide, the Ventyx Asset Health Centre will also be available in future releases to support electric distribution, power generation and mining. Developed by Ventyx and ABB in partnership with American Electric Power (AEP), one of the largest electric utilities in the US, the new Ventyx Asset Health Centre solution for transmission companies “represents a significant step forward in asset management that fully leverages utilities’ new smart grid technology investments”, says Ventyx.
By integrating real-time data generated by operational technology (OT) systems with transactional and historical data housed in information technology (IT) software, the solution offers utilities access to more timely and actionable insights into the health of vital transmission network assets. Armed with a real-time analysis of asset health across the entire transmission network, utilities can reduce unplanned outages caused by asset failure, and increase service reliability to their customers. Since 2009, AEP has been partnering with ABB and Ventyx to develop a similar pioneering asset health platform supporting AEP’s business. Incorporating the “wealth of operational and diagnostic experience provided by AEP and ABB”, the Ventyx Asset Health Centre is now available to all transmission owners and operators.
“At AEP, we faced a range of issues common to all transmission operators with aging infrastructures,” said Robert Bradish, Vice President Grid Development, AEP. “At the same time, we recognised an opportunity in the rising tide of big data being generated at unprecedented rates by our equipment’s smarter sensors, equipment monitors and the like. To transform this data into practical and actionable information, we knew we needed a new combination of technologies, and partnered with market leaders ABB and Ventyx to develop this strategic solution.” At its core, the Asset Health Centre manages the collection of data from across the transmission grid, automating what is otherwise a time-consuming manual process performed by highly skilled individuals. It then applies advanced analytics to real-time, transactional and historical data to achieve more timely insight into asset performance across the grid, helping to drive decisions and actions that maximise asset health and performance. It further advances this process by delivering real-time visibility through a comprehensive set of business intelligence dashboards customized for transmission operations.
“With the new Asset Health Center, utilities can now transform the real-time and historical data gathered from across their increasingly smart transmission networks into meaningful and timely insights about the health of their transmission infrastructure,” said Enrique Santacana, ABB’s North America President and CEO. “Thus, they can now proactively monitor and maintain mission-critical assets in real time, and gain critical insights necessary for asset replacement, prior to failure.”
The Ventyx World 2013 customer conference in San Francisco is the first annual gathering of the global Ventyx customer community to share best practices in asset-intensive industries for minimising risk, maximising efficiency and driving bottom-line results. For more information, visit http://www.ventyxworld.com