How Conduit Power manages costs by operating renewable power plants remotely
- The start-up uses cloud-based SCADA/GMS solution from Hitachi Energy and Amazon Web Services collaboration
- Not having to overprovision its digital infrastructure allows it to expand intelligently with few technical limitations and without investing millions of dollars in constructing, expanding, and managing an on-premises data center
Texas-based Conduit Power, an independent power producer (IPP), has a bold vision to operate as a lean, agile startup, using technology and data as a competitive advantage in the highly competitive power generation industry. Their core mission is to build power plants for companies that want to co-locate power generation near where they need it — for data centers, new industry and other rapidly growing energy needs.
To exceed customer expectations and provide self-generation services that help companies lower energy costs, improve operations, and reduce carbon emissions, Conduit tapped into a collaboration between Hitachi Energy and Amazon Web Services (AWS). Together, the companies deployed Hitachi Energy’s Network Manager supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) solution and Generation Management System (GMS) in the AWS cloud.
The cloud-based Network Manager SCADA/GMS solution delivers a secure, reliable, resilient, and scalable way for Conduit to operate its modern control room systems remotely. The solution leverages AWS’ highly available cloud architecture, meeting Conduit’s need for resilience, compliance, security, and deployment speed and ease. Conduit is the first joint customer to work with Hitachi Energy and AWS.
“Cloud strategies deliver numerous advantages and are central to modernizing operational technology systems amid an increasingly complex and evolving grid,” said Andy Howell, Global Head of Enterprise Software Solutions, Business Unit Grid Automation at Hitachi Energy. “This collaboration with AWS provides the foundation and access to the cloud our customers demand as they advance their digital transformation initiatives and drive the energy transition.”
Built-in redundancy, security, and scalability
According to Matt Herpich, Conduit Power CEO, building a data center can be cost-prohibitive and time-consuming for a small company. By deploying Network Manager SCADA/GMS in the AWS cloud, Conduit’s system was operationalized in under six months at approximately a third of the cost of a typical on-premises deployment. Currently, the plant control units (PCUs) and other assets operated by Conduit within Texas are managed by the cloud-based solution. Operators can monitor and control these assets from a central control room in Houston, eliminating the need to build separate control rooms at every site.
Deploying on AWS allows Conduit to leverage a powerful solution without the complexity and cost of an on-premises infrastructure. The Network Manager solution includes fast-response redundancy, disaster recovery, and security services that meet Conduit’s extensive compliance requirements without hiring or training personnel with that specific expertise.
In addition, the cloud-based solution allows Conduit to grow its IT footprint in line with business growth objectives. Currently, the company operates plants that generate less than 100 megawatts (MW) of power. Not having to overprovision its digital infrastructure allows it to expand intelligently with few technical limitations and without investing millions of dollars in an on-premises data center. When the time comes to manage much larger facilities, Conduit has flexibility to add another cloud instance in a matter of minutes without losing functionality or resiliency.
“One advantage that a startup has over big, legacy energy companies is the opportunity to build digital infrastructure from scratch and run it in the cloud,” Herpich said. “Resiliency is critical for our line of business, because we need to make sure our power plants, regardless of size, are operating at peak performance 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
Remote management enabled by Hitachi Energy on AWS proved its value recently when Hurricane Beryl disrupted power throughout the Houston area. Rather than being forced to deploy operators to a redundant site, in an area not impacted by the outages, Conduit simply sent people home where they could maintain operations from a web-based dashboard. This reduced the need for travel, while ensuring continuous service across plants during the federally declared disaster.
“Running our Network Manager SCADA/GMS solution in the cloud allows us to monitor and control power plant components from anywhere – even from someone’s home office. AWS is one of the most stable platforms in the world, meets NERC compliance requirements, and provides operational flexibility – something critical for our startup mentality,” Herpich added.
Learn more about Conduit Power’s Network Manager deployment on AWS
Learn more about how Hitachi Energy and AWS collaborated on a cloud-based grid and generation management solution for Conduit Power:
- Hear Hitachi Energy and Conduit Power speak at the 2024 AWS Energy Symposium.
- Register for our upcoming webinar with Conduit Power.