Outcome-based Lifecycle Management for Renewable Energy ... › en-US › online... · This report reviews Honeywell’s outcome-based lifecycle management products and services as

VISION, EXPERIENCE, ANSWERS FOR INDUSTRY

ARC VIEWAUGUST 29, 2019

Outcome-based Lifecycle Management for Renewable Energy Assets and Projects

By Rick Rys

Keywords Renewable Energy, BESS (Battery Energy Storage Systems), Wind, Solar, Ge-

othermal, Electric Grid, Outcome-based Lifecycle Management, Energy

Management

Summary Eren Ergin, head of renewable energy at Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS),

recently briefed ARC Advisory Group on his group’s recently introduced

outcome-based lifecycle management approach

for renewable energy assets.

Honeywell is an established worldwide provider

of automation and process control systems and

services for a range of industries including power

(conventional and renewable energy), chemicals, oil & gas, pulp & paper,

food, and pharmaceuticals. The company also has an extensive offering of

products and services for building energy management.

Honeywell has created a new Renewable Energy group to focus on the

unique needs of the growing renewable energy market segment. The group

is focused on providing solutions to help users monitor, control, and manage

their renewable energy assets. These include wind, solar PV, concentrated

solar power (CSP), battery and thermal energy storage, biofuels, microgrids,

geothermal, and integration with operation centers and grid, transmission,

and distribution system operators. Significantly, Honeywell seeks to help

asset owners and operators develop the future electric grid by assuming

some of the risks associated with guaranteed performance.

This report reviews Honeywell’s outcome-based lifecycle management products

and services as they apply to renewable energy assets. The company can help

asset owners manage microgrids, inverters, wind farms, grid scale batteries,

Honeywell expands its offerings into the renewable energy space with guaranteed performance outcome-based lifecycle management systems and service solutions.

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and associated grid services. The basic method is to measure and connect

smart assets to be able to act on operational and maintenance opportunities.

Honeywell systems can change operational modes for power export, energy

storage, or power imports; curtail generation when commanded; or provide

stacked ancillary services for frequency control,

load shifting, VAR control, peak load avoidance,

or to manage arbitrage to take advantage of time-

of-day price variations. By enabling operators

and maintenance staffs with critical operational

and situational intelligence, the assets can operate

with a high capacity factor and avoid unplanned

outages. Honeywell is proposing to assume the

risk with contractually guaranteed performance.

Key takeaways from this briefing include:

• Honeywell’s well-established technology platforms are designed to offer

safety, reliability, and security and work well with virtually all renewa-

ble energy assets.

• New outcome-based solutions are designed to optimize assets and

productivity using guaranteed performance for key performance indica-

tors.

• The solutions leverage the company’s global expertise and local services

for smart devices, field instrumentation, and control system hardware

and software, plus its proven expertise in helping clients transform data

into actionable insights.

Increasingly Complex Electric Grid Requires Innovative Solutions The energy industry is changing, with considerable growth in non-dispatch-

able renewable generation and declining central station power generation.

This situation is further complicated by new microgrids appearing mostly on

the distribution side of the electric network and shifting loads on transmis-

sion and distribution systems. Innovative solutions are needed to integrate

these new renewable assets in a way that keeps power costs low and electric

power reliable.

The trend in the electric power sector is for a decline in central station power with increases in renewable energy generation. The electric grid of the future is arriving fast and many complex design, operational and maintenance issues must be resolved for electricity to be both low cost and reliable

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The trend towards declining use of fossil fuels for transportation and build-

ing HVAC will increase the demand for electric power over the next decade.

Electric vehicles (EVs) will carry more of the transportation load and build-

ings will move towards electrically driven heat pumps and geothermal

systems for HVAC.

The electric grid, already the largest and most complex system in the world,

continues to get more complex as power is generated by many smaller inter-

mittent generators and as ever smaller consumers are integrated into the grid

operation with new demand response markets and systems.

Complex Rules and Regulations Add to the Challenge The complexity of the equipment and controls that makes the electric grid

work as a reliable, secure, unified system is only eclipsed by the constantly

changing electric grid rules and regulations with local, state, and government

systems. The methods employed to achieve the simple goals of low cost and

high reliability vary widely geographically and are subject to environmental,

technological, legal, and political constraints.

The large number of suppliers of renewable assets means that connecting as-

sets together and then to an electric grid can be a challenging business and

systems integration problem. Many planning mistakes have been made and

business models failed by not understanding all the constraints. Virtually

every microgrid or renewable asset has a unique situation related to local

contractual obligations, hardware, and software along with specific rules and

regulations. And, of course, there’s no shortage of uncertainty about how

things will change over the life of that asset.

Skilled Systems Integrators and Capable Automation Platform Needed The right hardware, software, communications, security, and services must

be assembled to achieve the KPIs identified by stakeholders. This typically

requires putting together a systems integration team with the complete au-

tomation capability needed to gather appropriate measurements, integrate

all subsystems, and provide appropriate software applications and user in-

terfaces for all stakeholders.

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This should enable operating the assets in a way that pushes against the most

profitable constraints without damaging any equipment. The human asset

is perhaps the most important part of the solution. All operations and

maintenance staff need to be empowered with proper training support, and

timely and actionable information. Engineering and business stakeholders

also need to have access to the right information at the right time. Data col-

lection and analytics can confirm proper operation and may be used to

identify new opportunities to modify the assets or operate them in an opti-

mal way. Honeywell’s Remote Operations Center ties all the data together

from the operating level to the ERP level enabling interaction and coordina-

tion by all stakeholders on a single platform.

Honeywell Remote Operations Center Ties Together Energy and Other Data

How Honeywell’s New Offering Can Provide Value to Asset Owners Different types of renewable generation require different management and

control approaches. Solar PV system installers, for example, use a wide

range of new products to collect, combine, and invert DC power and regulate

interaction with loads, battery storage, and the grid. Solar CSP and geother-

mal systems are very similar to normal process control and building energy

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management systems. Wind turbines, in contrast, come with their own con-

trol systems and often with integrated vibration monitoring. Wind turbine

manufacturers need to have remote access to their machines to provide sup-

port.

Ideally, to be able to add maximum value for any of these applications, tech-

nology and system integration suppliers like Honeywell should get involved

early in the project development phase as consultants.

The Honeywell team can provide value to

asset owners that have multiple geograph-

ically separated facilities and/or require

integration with HVAC, thermal storage,

battery or other forms of energy storage, mi-

crogrids, and complex grid services. This

includes utilities with multiple renewable

assets on the distribution system; industrial

users such as factories, refineries, petro-

chemical plants, and mines; commercial and

educational users such as office buildings

and college campuses; and city infrastruc-

ture that needs to get smarter. Honeywell’s

solutions in this area can even help

ISO/TSO/DSOs gain a better understanding of their electrical systems for

improved operation and system planning.

According to the company, operational and economic benefits are realized

through reduced downtime, improved asset utilization, and increased

worker efficiency, as well as reduced safety and compliance incidents. Users

can establish a cyber- and physically secure infrastructure in compliance

with NERC-CIP standards.

To help better manage the risks typically associated with renewable energy

generation and grid integration, Honeywell Process Solutions provides an

outcome-based lifecycle management program, offering contractual guaran-

tees on mutually agreed KPIs.

Honeywell Battery Energy Storage System

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Conclusion Honeywell is expanding its already considerable process control and build-

ing management expertise to include monitoring, controlling, and managing

distributed renewable generation, microgrids, grid-scale battery storage, and

the integration of these assets with grid operators.

Honeywell’s approach to digitalizing renewable assets is designed to help

transform an enterprise by connecting technology and people to meet strate-

gic goals. Collecting the right data and putting that data to use requires

experience integrating a wide range of instruments, controls, and digital de-

vices. The goal is to help asset owners:

• Effectively benchmark with KPIs

• Develop enterprise visibility for all stakeholders

• Make sure best practices are followed to get top performance from hu-

man assets

• Reduce business risk

ARC has been monitoring how new technologies for digitalization, IIoT, and

cloud computing are expanding the capabilities of asset management across

many industries. The Honeywell approach to outcome-based lifecycle man-

agement for renewable energy projects combines the company’s subject

matter expertise with its systems integration capabilities for industrial pro-

cess control and building energy management.

For further information or to provide feedback on this article, please contact your

account manager or the author at [email protected]. ARC Views are published and

copyrighted by ARC Advisory Group. The information is proprietary to ARC and

no part of it may be reproduced without prior permission from ARC.

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Outcome-based Lifecycle Management for Renewable Energy ... › en-US › online... · This report reviews Honeywell’s outcome-based lifecycle management products and services as