Eneco takes the next step in sustainable energy supply thanks to IoT

With the Azure Cloud-based IoT platform, Eneco has made a leap forward compared to the existing local infrastructure. This platform contributes to Eneco's energy transition objectives. The platform provides individual insight into the use of energy and the higher measurement frequency provides a more detailed picture of energy consumption over the entire day. The uniform data processing makes it easy to connect a large number of different devices and the use of Azure Cloud is also easily scalable. Eneco can use the data from the platform to further optimise the algorithms present and increase the reliability of the network. There is also an opportunity to send signals back at an individual level in order to better balance the supply and demand of energy within the network and to innovate in various areas.

Background 

Eneco strives to supply sustainable energy for all its customers. This allows them to switch to more sustainable and smarter energy consumption. Implementing a 'customer intimacy strategy' to digital services requires a huge transformation. Eneco wants to guide its customers in the digital journey from energy consumers to a consciously informed consumer, who receives full insight and advice on energy consumption and production. With these insights, Eneco expects that consumers and companies will be better able to deal with energy consumption more consciously and the company will be able to make its own production more efficient.

Advantages of IoT at Eneco

Everything revolves around gaining a better understanding of the needs of customers. The IoT chain plays a crucial role in this and makes it possible to measure and control smart energy devices at the user's location and at specific points in the network. An important part of the IoT chain is the communication hub that links the devices in a generic way to Eneco's central systems. This allows many devices to be connected to the platform. The processing of the messages to and from this communication hub is done via an IoT platform based on Azure PaaS components. This forms a decoupled platform with a bridge between customers' devices and Eneco's systems. This platform forms the basis for improving business services, such as: stabilizing energy consumption within the network, better forecasting of supply and demand and gaining better insights into short-term usage and peak loads.

The execution: self-managing agile team delivers high productivity

The program had a multitude of challenges, deadlines, and dependencies. During the implementation, the technology, the environment, the preconditions and the functionalities were still subject to change. Robbrecht van Amerongen, Head of IoT at Conclusion: "Together with Eneco, we have opted for an approach that has a maximum effect on the expertise involved." A multidisciplinary scrum development team has been put together consisting of employees from Eneco, Conclusion and other partners. This team has been given joint responsibility and mandate for delivering the right business functionality. "In practice, we steer this team towards the desired result and leave the implementation entirely to the team."  The team has the freedom to independently carry out its own design and implementation within the frameworks of Eneco. "This means that occasionally things are picked up that do not necessarily fall under the tasks of the project but are necessary to achieve the result". Paolo Herdé: "The result is a team with high productivity and flexibility, which was certainly necessary given the large number of uncertainties at the start of the project."

Security en privacy ‘by design’

The security and privacy of customer data is central to Eneco. The platform is built with the highest privacy guidelines. Data is not stored in the platform longer than necessary and encryption is applied immediately when sending data, so that the data is not usable if it falls into the wrong hands. Finally, the end user is able to adjust the privacy settings himself.

Data as a driving force behind energy transition

Robbrecht van Amerongen: "By using the Azure IoT platform, Eneco gains a detailed insight into the current status and demand in the energy network. This makes it possible to switch quickly and further optimize models for even energy consumption. It is also possible to optimize and balance the network at the smallest level of detail." Paolo Herdé: "This platform is an important asset for Eneco in the context of the energy transition. It is possible to manage the heat network in a smarter way; for example, in the first months after the introduction, we have already succeeded in reducing the average temperature in one of our heat networks by 5-10 degrees Celsius. That means a direct reduction in CO2 emissions."

Results are the basis for next steps

The Azure-based IoT platform offers Eneco many advantages. The processing is faster, the platform can scale better, the availability is higher and it gives more flexibility for the development of new products and services. This enables the IT team to quickly develop new projects for its customers. In the case of proof of concepts, Eneco can now directly present examples with tangible results to the decision-makers. This makes calculating the business case a lot easier.