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In Foundries, Press, Berlin, Energy & Natural Resources

For the First Time, Vegetation Risk to the Entire US Electrical Transmission Grid Has Been Analyzed With Satellite Data

For the first time in history, vegetation encroachment risk to the entire publicly available U.S. transmission grid has been analyzed from space by the Berlin-based startup LiveEO.

The goal of this large-scale analysis was to demonstrate LiveEO’s market-leading analytic capabilities to a North American audience. In total, over 15,000 public satellite images were used to evaluate risk to 574,000 miles of electricity lines. (Details about the analysis can be found at www.live-eo.com/us-power-transmission-grid-analysis).

The analysis covers the detection of vegetation along the transmission grid, as well as the identification of grid segments that are exposed at dangerously close distances. These are some of the biggest challenges and operational cost factors for utility companies in maintaining their assets. Proven by studies vegetation is one of the main challenges for utilities globally, causing up to 56% of externally triggered power interruptions. In the United States alone, approximately US$ 6 billion is spent on vegetation management by utility companies annually.

“The scale combined with the detail of the analysis represents a milestone in satellite data analytics for utility companies and proves that satellite data represents a viable alternative for vegetation management to Lidar or foot patrols.” says LiveEO’s Co-Founder Daniel Seidel. “Additionally, these insights can be made actionable directly via our tool set of mobile and web apps, and API integrations to improve workforce efficiency in the field and to realize OPEX saving” adds LiveEO’s other Co-Founder Sven Przywarra.

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In Tel Aviv, Energy & Natural Resources, Foundries

Democratizing Solar Plant Management With Raycatch

We chatted with Raycatch’s Chairman and Co-Founder, Mike Goldstein! Raycatch’s AI-driven digital asset management system automates and optimizes solar photovoltaic plants. In this episode of energenius, Mike shares how Raycatch’s software helps PV plant owners democratize operations and efficiently manage their assets, talks about the latest trends in the solar industry, and discusses how merging SAP and Raycatch’s capabilities will help clients with solar assets in their portfolios leverage their insights and reduce operational costs.

Customer Success

“Today, solar project owners and operators look with their own eyes on screens and graphs in order to analyze data and detect issues, which is very laborious, intensive and time consuming. Using Raycatch, without installing any new sensors or hardware, customers simply rely on existing data to quickly get clear insights and better prioritize their focus.”

Standing Out from the Competition

“While the cost of building solar assets is going down, operational costs such as hiring and renting as well as labor-based logistic costs are not. Raycatch democratizes this process and makes it financially sustainable with a software that helps operators and managers better manage their assets, automatically detect issues, and improve decision-making.”

Working with SAP

“Being focused on a specific vertical niche allows us to be the experts, so once our software and capabilities are merged with SAP capabilities, our joint clients with solar asset portfolios can enjoy the full solution A-Z; they can get software support in ERP and management, plus the deep, thorough, and sophisticated automatic diagnostics tool through Raycatch.”

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In Foundries, Article, Tel Aviv, Energy & Natural Resources

Pexapark is Changing the Game in the Renewable PPA World

We sat down with Pexapark’s Co-Founder and CEO, Michael Waldner! Pexapark provides the operating system for post-subsidy renewable energy sales. In this episode of energenius, Michael shares the latest trends in the PPA landscape, talks about the company values driving Pexapark to success, and discusses how Pexapark will help SAP’s utilities customers more efficiently manage their PPA contracts.

Customer Success

“Transitioning from subsidised to post subsidised markets opens up new risks. Companies now need to access new capabilities for energy risk management. We helped a large company and major investor in renewable energy with 2,000 MW installed capacity across different European markets. First we educated them on these new risks, structured and closed PPA agreements for them and followed up with our software solutions to help transform their organization to build up their risk management capabilities.”

Standing Out from the Competition

“The big difference is you no longer need to rely on an RFQ methodology where the price can become out of date by the time you are able to close. With our product, you can stay up-to-date every day with what the price should be for PPAs. You can follow pricing during your negotiations and spot deviations in pricing methodologies You get the same market pricing intelligence as utilities.”

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