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Over the last few years, ARC has been blogging about how IIoT-enabled solutions can provide real business 
and operational value across many different industries, products, and solutions. However, we believe that IIoT-enabled rotating equipment, turbomachinery, and pumps represents the “lowest hanging fruit” from which operators and end users can benefit from the most. The aftermarket opportunity for turbine monitoring & control is expected to recover solidly once the COVID-19 pandemic is brought under reasonable control, and economic recovery begins on a rolling basis across most countries across the world.
Even before the global pandemic slammed into the world, companies faced continued challenges to raise productivity, lower production costs, lower oil extraction and refinement costs, reduce manufacturing operating expenses, and increase return on investment in order to compete in the global market. Optimizing turbine performance and up-time can play a critical role in helping companies deal with the economic impact of COVID-19 and eventually realize operational excellence.
Industrial-IoT enabled turbine monitoring & controls market is growing as the value enabled grows
ARC recently completed a new market analysis report on turbine monitoring & controls. Turbine monitoring & controls solutions are slowly being updated with new features to fulfill many market demands and increase their value proposition, such as the growing demand for smart connected products based on, for example, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Smart connected turbines provide opportunities to increase operational efficiency from the power plant floor (or the platform) to the supply chain by optimizing data, information, and analytics ranging.
The drive for process manufacturing productivity growth, for which turbine optimization is critical, is pushing companies to invest in new turbine monitoring & controls for various process industry applications, driven by cross-industry movements, including digitalization, IIoT, and Industrie 4.0. Furthermore, the advances in data quality, software processing, and ease of use continue to increase the value proposition for end users
Enhanced turbine monitoring & controls enable new business models to spread value
Data gathering and communication capabilities via standard networking technologies are built-in features of some turbine monitoring & controls solutions. With IIoT, smart turbines could considerably improve electric power generation and mechanical drive of compressors or pumps, driving the use of more automation. In addition, IIoT offers opportunities to apply new kinds of business models that will promote growth. Turbine monitoring & controls suppliers may start selling energy or mechanical drive for compression services if they also offer turbines, or they could partner with turbine manufacturers to offer remote monitoring and control services for a monthly or yearly fee.
IIoT-enabled solutions help optimize performance and increase availability of turbine
Companies operating turbines in the plant or on the offshore platform continue to face the challenges of increasing efficiency, reducing energy consumption, and maintaining turbine and related process operational uptime, i.e., minimizing downtime. Investing in new and improved turbine monitoring & controls across all three turbine types (gas, steam, water/hydro) covered has been benefiting most users. The turbine monitoring & controls market has requirements, standards, and capabilities that vary by industry. The study addresses the unique requirements and standards for turbine monitoring & controls used by a broad base of industries.
IIoT-enabled solutions may be used, for example, to help improve the performance and uptime of turbines in conjunction with engines, compressors or AC drives, which control this type of equipment and play an important role in business profitability for industries, such as electric power generation, or for on-site power or mechanical drive in oil & gas, chemicals, refining, and other industries. To increase the availability of turbines, monitoring & controls providers need to incorporate technological innovations, such as IIoT, to help these turbines run more reliably and closer to their maximum designed performance.
Continuing innovations in sensor instrumentation, embedded advanced control algorithms, and predictive condition monitoring are all critical to the future of the smarter turbine monitoring & controls that will become integrated within the emerging IIoT infrastructure. It is interesting to note that a few users are starting to demand that turbine monitoring & controls solutions must be ready for an IIoT ecosystem. However, they have not figured out the full benefit of it. At present, most of these end users will demand this requirement from suppliers, because they feel that they would be “future proof.”
ARC’s Turbine Monitoring & Controls report is available for investment today. I certainly welcome the opportunity to learn about your turbine challenges, issues, and/or solutions therein, so please contact me at [email protected].