IBM Consulting Energy Data Hub

IBM Energy Data Hub is an integrated data platform that enables energy companies to securely process streaming data from field assets in near real-time to create insights for intelligent operations.

IBM Energy Data Hub is an integrated, scalable data platform based on Open-Source technology and deployable on Microsoft Azure that enables energy companies to securely process streaming OT and IoT data from field assets in near real-time, and combine it with rather static data from the IT estate to create digital insights for intelligent operations of Clean Energy infrastructures. The solution works alongside an energy company's existing OT and IT, comprising efficient collection, aggregation, validation, inter-/extrapolation and interpretation of operational data to provide a foundation for a wide range of Clean Energy applications leveraging advanced analytics and AI/ML, such as AMI / smart meter operations, optimizing hydrogen production, and developing digital twins for (renewables) power generation and MV/LV networks that can be leveraged to augment network control room as well as field operations, and also to improve network and asset planning.

The Energy Data Hub solution helps energy companies to accelerate the development of new data-driven capabilities required to efficiently handle the increasing complexity and volatility of a decentralized and instrumented Net Zero energy system spanning the entire lifecycle from planning, construction, all the way through to intelligent operations and reliability centered maintenance.

• Captures and processes streaming data from instrumented field assets and devices in near real-time and combines it with IT data for augmented operational and situational awareness, and improved operational control and informed decision-making.
• Provides the data foundation for advanced analytics and AI/ML, such as asset health scores or forecasting grid congestion, to create role-specific predictive insights supported by what-if simulations for more effective long, medium and short term planning.
• Enables enterprise-wide intelligent workflows and automation by combining data across the OT, IoT and IT estates with AI/ML services.
• Best-of-breed architecture that combines the best elements of several custom-developed solutions for energy clients, such as a rules engine for data validation to check data quality and completeness, and multiple persistence technologies and adapters for easy integration with a client’s existing environment.
• Built on Open-Source technologies to overcome the high cost of scaling, as traditional OT platforms (e.g. historians) are priced by the number of endpoints managed and as such, license costs explode with increasing instrumentation of field assets and devices.
• Highly scalable Cloud-ready data orchestration platform built on Microsoft Azure that supports high volume, high velocity sensor and control message processing.

The Proof of Concept aims at supporting clients with rapid provisioning of the Energy Data Hub on Microsoft Azure and integrate it with select OT, IoT and IT data sources for a specific Clean Energy use case, ultimately to demonstrate the business value and technical feasibility of the solution as a data orchestration platform that enables secure, real-time streaming data processing capabilities across the OT, IoT and IT estates – at an affordable cost.