Kristian Holm, VP Renewables, Kongsberg Digital, dropped in to PES to give us his views on our industry and digitalization in particular. We know that cost and time saving have been a top priority for turbine owners and operators for many years and here we learn how it is possible to achieve even more reductions. Data management is the key. Find out why…
PES: Hi Kristian, welcome back to PES Wind. As always, we are pleased to say we have many new readers, so would you like to begin by explaining a little about the background of KONGSBERG and the importance of the wind industry to you?
Kristian Holm: As a company, KONGSBERG has existed since 1814, and has been at the forefront of technology development throughout. 2016 saw the need to create a company solely devoted to creating software and solutions for industrial purposes. That was when Kongsberg Digital was established.
Since then, we have been committed to creating solutions that contribute to higher efficiency and lower climate impact within the energy sector. Within the renewables domain, wind has been our starting point.
PES: Digitalization is the word on everyone’s lips at the moment, this is no surprise, but what does digitalization mean to Kongsberg and is this topic impacting on your solutions?
KH: Digitalization is a concept that holds great opportunities, but because it is also complex, I think the most important thing is knowing where to start. We firmly believe that what needs to be resolved first is the basic logistics covering data needs. This means that data needs to be collected from either sensors, encoders, SCADA or other 3rd party software applications and stored for further utilization. All this needs to be done securely and correctly. Nothing can get lost, tampered with or changed wilfully or by accident. KONGSBERG’s digital platform and open ecosystem is called Kognifai.
Kognifai handles data collection, storage and accessibility in a safe, structured and secure way. On top of Kognifai, we have built a whole system of applications. These create added value, are integrated and work together and handle entire work flows. This saves time, removes repetitive tasks, increases efficiency and dramatically improves planning ability.
For example, it has the ability to detect an upcoming component failure, adjust the operational parameters accordingly and start planning component changes well ahead of a run-for-failure scenario. A tremendous benefit when we look at parameters like saved costs for spare part handling, equipment lease, man power allocation and reduced down time.
