Oslobygg enters into a 10-year framework agreement with Guard Automation for data capture and monitoring of its solar parks

Professionalising operations

Energy and environmental advisor at Oslobygg, Andreas Nilsen, explains that the new collaboration with Guard is helping to professionalise the operation of the solar installations.

”The City of Oslo has an ambitious commitment to solar energy. Going forward, approximately ten new plants will be added each year, including the new Tøyenbadet, Hovseter secondary school and Bjørnsletta school. We therefore have a great need to simplify, professionalise and standardise the operation of the solar installations,” says Nilsen, who led the procurement process.

He shares that last year the solar installations produced somewhere between 4-5 GWh. This is enough electricity to cover the needs of 200-250 single-family homes for an entire year.

”We are really looking forward to gathering all operational data from the solar installations into a single platform that works across all solar suppliers. Today we actually have five different operational solutions that we have to check every single day to monitor the installations. This is time-consuming, makes operations unnecessarily difficult, and increases the risk of downtime,” says Nilsen.

He explains that the new shared cloud solution will be in place during the autumn and will deliver several benefits.

”It will be easier and more efficient to monitor the systems, fix errors, extract reports and check that the installations are delivering what we have been promised. We will receive alarms as soon as an installation goes down; for example, inverters can trip if the fire alarm goes off, and in such cases it is crucial to get the renewable energy production back up and running quickly,” says Nilsen.

Paving the way for the future

Nilsen at Oslobygg points out that collaborating with a Norwegian actor is a major advantage because it simplifies joint development of the solution and provides peace of mind that the data is stored in Norway.

”In addition, the cloud platform paves the way for us to move towards predictive maintenance in the long term. That means fixing errors before they occur using machine learning and prediction. The digitalisation of operational data creates major opportunities for smarter operation and energy management. Furthermore, data exchange with research environments such as Sintef and the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) will be simplified,” says Nilsen.

He adds that the cloud solution has great flexibility, making it possible, for instance, to combine data from inverters, battery banks, energy meters, weather conditions and the electricity market.

”In sum, this new operation and monitoring system ensures that the City of Oslo gets a better return on its solar investments,” he concludes.

Oslobygg manages more than 2.7 million square metres of kindergartens, nursing homes, schools, fire stations, cultural and sports facilities on behalf of the City of Oslo. It has now been decided that data from existing and future solar installations in the portfolio will be integrated into a Norwegian-developed cloud solution from Sandefjord-based Guard Automation.

”It is a major feather in our cap that Oslobygg has chosen us as their cloud and automation partner for their solar installation portfolio. The agreement is the largest we have entered into within data capture for solar energy installations. We look forward to working together on this in the time ahead,” says Hanne Torp Nilsen at Guard Automation.

The company assists approximately 40 per cent of Norwegian municipalities with systems for critical infrastructure.