ORIX Renewable Energy Management Corporation (OREM), and Envision Digital have recently agreed to deploy advanced analytics and remote monitoring applications in utility-scale solar farms across 82 sites in Japan.
OREM is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ORIX Corporation, a Japan-based diversified financial services group.
The partnership will involve the deployment of Envision Digital’s the cloud-based Enlight Solar solutions. By leveraging Ensight Solar’s algorithms, which proactively detects emerging system underperformance and component health issues from raw data and delivers recommendations for corrective action, OREM’s operations and maintenance (O&M) teams can visualise power generation conditions and pre-emptively maintain the long-term efficiency and health of its photovoltaic (PV) assets.
Enlight Solar then overlays real-time remote operational monitoring capabilities across ORIX’s diverse portfolio of distributed PV sites, allowing OREM’s O&M teams to provide immediate recovery support in the event of malfunctions and maximise power generation capacity. Both solutions are powered by , Envision Digital’s AIoT operating system.
“With Envision Digital’s end-to-end solution and expertise, we can provide total customer support – from proposals to implementation to maintenance, which in turn helps our customers optimise energy use and reduce costs,” said Yurita Kazuhisa, chief strategy officer at ORIX Renewable Energy Management Corporation.
“This reinforces our dedication toward expanding renewable energy-based power generation and asset management, supporting the popularisation of renewable energy, and adding value to our communities in Japan,” he added.
By improving energy productivity and operational efficiency, the deployment will enhance ORIX’s efforts to popularise renewable energy and contribute to Japan’s national goal of increasing its reliance on renewables to 24% of its energy mix by 2030.
With one-gigawatt (GW) of solar energy assets, including utility-scale, commercial and industrial, ORIX is the largest solar asset manager in Japan.
It also develops and operates its own rapidly growing fleet of solar farms that currently generate 420 megawatts (MWs) in utility, including the Niigata Yotsugoya Power Plant (55.6 MWs), the Shiriuchi Mega Solar 20M Power Plant (24 MWs), and the Hirono-Cho Mega Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Plant (24.3 MWs). ORIX’s OR Yamaguchi Mine Solar Power Plant (56.4 MWs), for instance, is scheduled to commence operations in October 2021.
“Japan is one of the fastest-growing nations and leaders in the global PV market. As the country strives to achieve 24% renewable energy capacity by 2030, AIoT projects like this, which help to improve the productivity of existing renewable energy assets, are vital,” said Sylvie Ouziel, international president at Envision Digital.
“Over time, the wider adoption of AIoT in the sector will create further network effects and amplify current benefits. This local project, among others, along with our recent expansion of operations with a new office in the Kanagawa prefecture, reinforce our commitment toward empowering a more sustainable future for citizens and businesses in Japan,” she said.
Singapore-based Envision Digital specialises on providing AIoT technology, with more than 500 employees across 12 offices in China, France, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
