Our Innovation Analysts recently looked into emerging technologies and up-and-coming startups in the energy industry. As there is a large number of startups working on a wide variety of solutions, we decided to share some of our insights with you. This time, we are taking a look at 4 promising asset monitoring solutions for the energy industry.
Heat Map: 4 Top Asset Monitoring Startups
For our 4 picks of asset monitoring startups, we used a data-driven startup scouting approach to identify the most relevant solutions globally. The Global Startup Heat Map below highlights 4 interesting examples out of 250 relevant solutions. Depending on your specific needs, your top picks might look entirely different.
WMAC Cloud – Condition Monitoring
Condition monitoring is the process of measuring variations in indicators, such as vibration, temperature, current, flow levels, and pressure, to provide insights into the performance, health, and status of assets connected to the power grid network. This process assists to detect problems like insulator failure on critical lines or partial discharge in cables, which may go unnoticed and lead to failure of the energy supply. New Zealand-based startup WMAC Cloud develops smart sensors for electric grid condition monitoring. The startup’s sensors monitor and track low-voltage conditions, transformers, vibrations, and control systems. This provides total network awareness for asset managers, maintenance teams, and electricity distributors to identify potential equipment failures and mitigate downtime.
Laserpas – Drone Inspections
Drones are used to inspect utility assets, as well as oil & gas sector assets in remote locations. During the inspection, drones gather high-quality video and photographic images. This information is then analyzed using computer vision algorithms to determine an asset’s health. The main benefits of these inspections are cost reduction and safety improvements compared to manual methods. Drones can get to hardly accessible places that are too dangerous for workers, such as near high-voltage lines or going into vapor-filled fuel tanks. Lithuanian startup Laserpas operates helicopters and drones that specialize in power grid inspections. Laserpas’ solutions compete with the traditional on-ground inspection, allowing for the acquisition of larger amounts of data at an unprecedented frequency.
Wellkeeper – Remote Monitoring
Remote monitoring collects and further processes real-time data from IoT sensors about the state of assets or equipment. In the energy industry, this process is applied to utility assets or oil and gas facilities in order to provide insights into asset health and performance. US-based startup Wellkeeper provides remote monitoring solutions for independent oil and gas operators. Wellkeeper’s system allows 24/7 visibility of asset health and performance data via any internet-enabled device. Individual well and tank battery data such as pressure, levels, temperature, and flow rates are available to help optimize pumper routes in order to prevent spills and improve production.
InHand Networks – Wireless Communication Network
Technical solutions for the wireless communication of devices in the distributed power grid have an important role in the asset monitoring process. This technology allows for the communication of substations, transformers, smart meters, load management controllers, and other distributed grid assets to each other and the utility in real-time. The future emergence of 5G cellular networks will give utilities another high-speed connectivity option. US startup InHand Networks creates fast and easy-to-use 4G LTE network routers designed for real-time monitoring of substation performance. Utilities use this real-time data monitoring from substations to analyze the operational status of end-users. It also detects potential problems in order to shorten outage duration and improve the power supply quality.
What About The Other 246 Asset Monitoring Solutions?
While we believe data is key to creating insights it can be easy to be overwhelmed by it. Our ambition is to create a comprehensive overview and provide actionable innovation intelligence for your Proof of Concept (PoC), partnership, or investment targets. The 4 asset monitoring startups showcased above are promising examples out of 250 we analyzed for this article. To identify the most relevant solutions based on your specific criteria and collaboration strategy, get in touch.