eSmart Systems and Border States Electric to bring drone technology and high-end analytics to U.S. utility industry.
FARGO, N.D. — Innovations in the power generation and utility industries are leading to safer, more efficient ways to inspect infrastructure, and detect outages and leaks. For more than five years, researchers have been looking for ways to improve the safety and efficiency of the utility industry using drone technology to inspect electric, gas and oil infrastructure.
Monday, eSmart Systems Inc., U.S. announced they finalized an agency agreement with Border States Electric (BSE) to provide eSmart Systems’ Thundercloud, Connected Drone and Connected Grid systems to customers in the 48 contiguous states. Both companies have been instrumental in advancing the technology specifically for the utility and power generation industries.
Thundercloud is an end-to-end solution for infrastructure inspections, featuring the Connected Grid and Connected Drone software components. The main client, Connected Grid, provides real-time monitoring of the grid allowing operators access to detect faults, plan maintenance needs while reducing investments and reduce costs related to outages. The Connected Drone uses artificial intelligence to catalog infrastructure components and monitor their health. The results are used to view infrastructure status and provide a basis for maintenance tasks. This not only brings a significant safety component to the inspection of utility assets using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV’s), or drones, but allows for safe, efficient, reliable and intelligent grid operations.
Gerald “Poke” Buck, BSE’s senior vice president utility sales, said, “The Thundercloud, Connected Drone and Connected Grid solutions from eSmart Systems are just what our utility, gas and oil customers have been asking for. We are thrilled about our new relationship with eSmart Systems and the high-quality, end-to-end, complete solutions that we will be supplying to the utility and industrial markets.”
The partnership with BSE is an important milestone for eSmart Systems and our continued growth in the U.S. market. We are very excited to work with an industry leader such as BSE to further advance the applications of drones, big data analytics and intelligent asset management through our Thundercloud solution, to help utilities and their customers across the U.S. to lower costs and experience a more reliable service.
Read the full press release here.
About BSE
BSE supplies products and services to construction, industrial and utility customers. The 100 percent employee-owned company is rated the seventh largest electrical distributor in the U.S. by Electrical Wholesaling magazine. BSE has more than 2,500 employees and 111 branches in 20 states. The Branch Support Center (corporate office) is located in Fargo, North Dakota.
About eSmart Systems
eSmart Systems develops digital intelligence for the energy industry and smart communities. The company is based on more than 20 years of international experience in establishing and operating knowledge based, leading IT and energy related companies targeting global markets. eSmart Systems provides software solutions to the energy industry, service providers and smart cities. Its platform is designed to handle and exploit the Internet of Things, Big Data and Analytics in real time. It has broad application possibilities that give grid operators insight into their distribution network.
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TEA and eSmart Systems help JEA restore power to Hurricane Irma victims.
JACKSONVILLE – September 15, 2017
In the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, JEA, the largest municipal utility in Florida, was able to deploy advanced drone technology to safely and quickly assess damage from the storm. As an owner of The Energy Authority (TEA), a non-profit Data Analytics, Energy Trading, and Risk Management company, JEA has full access to many unique resources. For example, TEA utilizes eSmart Systems’ (eSmart) Connected Grid© software to perform big data analytics functions for the benefit of JEA and other public power utilities. As Irma approached the Florida peninsula, TEA and eSmart identified an opportunity to help JEA in its post-storm recovery.
While JEA currently has four employees licensed as drone operators, eSmart and its partner firm, SkySkopes, were able to provide the equipment, expertise, certifications, and cutting edge software features to quickly add capacity and structure to JEA’s efforts that delivered information in real time to work crews more safely and quickly than could be accomplished otherwise.
We at eSmart Systems are once again proud to be a valued partner of TEA to bring solutions to its utility members. And no solution could be more important than helping the people of Florida to more quickly and safely get their lights back on after Hurricane Irma
From Harvey to Irma
Prior to the storm, SkySkopes’ operators arrived in Jacksonville from Houston where they had recently been providing similar services to assist Texas utilities in recovering from Hurricane Harvey. The team weathered the storm in a downtown hotel so they were assembled and ready to begin operations as soon as wind speeds were at a safe level.
“Safety is always our highest priority, but SkySkopes is also constantly striving to find use-cases for small unmanned aircraft to benefit partners and clients. Using our advanced aircraft, sensors, mobile command stations, and professional UAS pilots we were able to successfully demonstrate the unique value of new aerial data collection methods to TEA, JEA, and eSmart Systems in hurricane damage assessment. Every day we save in the delivery of critical data to a utility such as JEA can save weeks in elements of the recovery process, which ultimately means value to their customers,” said Matt Dunlevy, President and CEO of SkySkopes, Inc.
Proactively Forming Strategic Partnerships
The flight crews went into action on Tuesday, September 12. They were used to assess damage and flooding without putting human crews at risk while relaying essential information that prepared JEA crews to repair damage quickly when they arrived at an impacted site. Additionally, eSmart’s mobile operations center, ThunderCloud©, was driven out to affected areas to serve as a base for flying inspection drones along power lines. A major advantage of the state-of-the-art unmanned aerial systems used by SkySkopes is that they employ machine learning and provide live steaming video to utility professionals who could remotely detect damage or monitor repair and recovery efforts.
JEA strives to provide excellent service to its customers. Collaborating with companies at the forefront of software and drone technology operations is a great example of how JEA proactively forms strategic partnerships and leverages them to innovate and constantly improve our critical response processes
TEA actively seeks out and builds relationships with industry partners that provide public power with the advantage of flexibility, faster response time, adaptability, and cutting-edge technology. When the stakes are high, like unprecedented hurricane conditions, TEA’s relationships enable public power utilities as they perform essential restoration services to their customers and communities.
Find the full press release here.
Read also: Norwegian eSmart Systems Helps Unpowered Americans After Hurricane “Irma”
Read also: Thundercloud Launched in the USA
By using drones and Artificial Intelligence (AI), Halden-based eSmart Systems aims to help provide Americans with power as soon as possible.
We assist the US authorities with damage control and with finding problems in the power grid as quickly as possible
Representatives from the company are now in place in Florida to assist US power companies in clearing up after the storm.
This article is translated from the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK). Read the full article (in Norwegian) here.
Over six million homes and companies lost power due to destructions caused by hurricane “Irma” in Florida. Local power vendors say it will take weeks before the power grid is 100 percent up and running again.
A great part of the challenge is to find the fractures in the power lines – and here is where eSmart Systems comes in.
We have a mobile operational center consisting of a truck, equipped with all necessary soft- and hardware for identifying grid destructions. This mobile operational center is driven out to actual areas, before flying inspection drones along the power lines while collecting and analyzing data continuously. That way, we can locate fractures quickly
Johansen explains
Developing for Usage on Infrastructure
Data collected by the inspection drones, is analyzed using AI. Machine Learning enables the system to learn from the data it collects; gradually becoming better at identifying fractures and damages in the power grid single-handedly.
eSmart Systems is now working to further developing their technology so that it can be used on other types of infrastructure.
Read also: Thundercloud Launched in the USA
eSmart Systems Connected Drone solution to employ Kongsberg Geospatial IRIS situational awareness display for power line inspection in North America and Europe.
Kongsberg Geospatial, an Ottawa-based developer of real-time, mission critical, geospatial visualization software, and eSmart Systems, who develop digital intelligence for the energy industry and smart communities, announced today that they have integrated the Kongsberg Geospatial IRIS UAS situational awareness system into the eSmart Systems Connected Drone solution for powerline inspection.
The Connected Drone solution collects real-time powerline inspection data for analysis in the eSmart cloud, which provides actionable data that helps utility companies to reduce power failures and operational costs.
Kongsberg Geospatial has been providing technology for military UAV platforms for over a decade, and is now actively working with industry and regulatory groups in the United States and Canada to develop a simple, portable display for civilian UAV operators that provides them with a unified situational awareness picture combining a wide range of live data feeds into an easy to understand display format.
Read the full press release here.
“Exactly the type of enterprise partnership we are looking for”
The IRIS display for eSmart Systems will enable multiple drones to be managed simultaneously by a single operator and provide real-time calculation of communications line-of-sight to enable BVLOS operations. IRIS will provide the operator with real-time 2D and 3D visualization of airborne track and weather data, as well as geo-fencing capabilities.
The expertise and capability of eSmart Systems is exactly the type of enterprise partnership we are looking for to employ our technology. We are very pleased to join with eSmart Systems to help lead the way in the emerging drone aviation market where real-time situational awareness will be needed to ensure safety.
eSmart Systems has five years of expertise and experience in Norway of providing software solutions for energy companies and their service providers using UAS tools. We have identified strong partners like Kongsberg Geospatial to enable Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) flights that will accelerate the usability for the utility industry. Visualizing this information within the Kongsberg Geospatial IRIS display is a very powerful tool to enhance safety for UAS operations
Read also: eSmart Systems partners with Atea
About Kongsberg Geospatial:
Based in Ottawa, Canada, Kongsberg Geospatial creates precision real-time software for mapping, geospatial visualization, and situational awareness. The Company’s products are primarily deployed in solutions for air-traffic control, Command and Control, and air defense. Over nearly three decades of providing dependable performance under extreme conditions, Kongsberg Geospatial has become the leading geospatial technology provider for mission-critical applications where lives are on the line. Kongsberg Geospatial is a subsidiary of Kongsberg Defence Systems.
Wednesday afternoon, Crown Prince Haakon Magnus and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway arrived eSmart Systems at Remmen Business Park in Halden. The Royal Highnesses’ goal for theCrown, Prince, Princess, Norway, eSmart Systems, day, was to learn more about the possibilities that lie within current and future technologies.
Having the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess here, was a good experience for several reasons. There is no doubt that they are genuinely interested in the technological development and the IT revolution we are experiencing. They take interest in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and understand the potential effect this will have on society
Arriving Halden and Remmen Business Park, the Royals were greeted by several children from the local kindergartens before being guided through eSmart Systems’ offices and having lunch with representatives from eSmart Systems, Smart Innovation Norway, Smart Cognition and Halden municipality.
are shown around eSmart Systems’ offices.
Engaging in the IT Revolution
Then, the Crown Prince and Crown Princess were more thoroughly introduced to the IT revolution, AI, machine learning and drone operations – before given the chance to perform a physical task; Coding the drone so that it would recognize one of the attendees from the Royal staff.
During presentations and coding, both the Crown Prince and the Crown princess actively participated in discussions, asking questions and even filming and taking pictures with their private mobile phones.
CTO, Davide Roverso.
Read the full article from Smart Innovation Norway here (in Norwegian)
Read also: The Norwegian Crown Prince and Crown Princess are visiting eSmart Systems
Read also: eSmart Systems expands – Opens new office in Oslo
The new office will provide eSmart Systems a base to accelerate its expected growth.
eSmart Systems US Inc, a subsidiary of eSmart Systems AS from Norway, has just opened its new US headquarters in Bellevue, WA.
eSmart Systems develops digital intelligence for the energy industry and smart communities, and already has a large customer base in Europe. The Bellevue/Seattle area is one of the fastest-growing high-tech regions in the US – and the Global Hub for any Cloud related services.
With this location, eSmart Systems is close to two strategic partners; One is Microsoft, which provides eSmart Systems with both the Azure Cloud platform and a Board Member – Joseph Sirosh, CVP over Microsoft’s Cloud AI Platform. The second local strategic partner is The Energy Authority (TEA), which offers TEA Connected Analytics to public power utilities nationwide.
These Bellevue area partners provide eSmart Systems a base to accelerate its expected growth.
This is not only an important step into the US market, but it is also a big step in eSmart Systems’ global expansion
It is a pleasure to have eSmart Systems here in Bellevue, and we look forward to further joint engagements that grow analytical utility services in the US market
Read also: Thundercloud Launched in the USA
Read also: eSmart Systems to Open Office in North Dakota
Read also: eSmart Systems Expands – Opens New Office in Oslo
Thundercloud and Connected Drone were officially launched in the US market on August 22nd, 2017.
The announcement was presented on stage at the UAS Summit in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
eSmart Systems was given a one-hour keynote time slot on the agenda, and Knut E. Gustavsen from eSmart Systems was invited to take the stage by U.S. State Senator John Hoeven. Knut was then leading a panel consisting of Xcel Energy (among the 10 big utilities in the US), SkySkopes (drone operator), Robot Aviation (drone manufacturer), Kongsberg Geospatial (flight operation SW), Microsoft Fargo and Tore Lie from eSmart Systems. Tore gave a 30 min. presentation about technology trends and Connected Drone and Thundercloud, which was very well received.
Taken by Storm
Later in the afternoon, eSmart Systems was sponsoring an ice cream social event in the Alerus Center arena. Following this networking event, the CEO of eSmart Systems, Knut H. H. Johansen, took the stage and shortly informed about eSmart Systems – before making the grand announcement of THUNDERCLOUD.
The arena went dark as the yellow signal light started to blink on the rooftop of the Thundercloud truck at the far end of the arena. It drove up to the audience with all lights on. The rear hatch folded down and the drone automatically came out on the extracted platform. The drone pilot stepped out of the Thundercloud Mobile Operation Center, prepared the drone for operation and lifted off from the platform for an inspection in the arena. The drone camera streamed live images on the big screen in the arena and found Tore Lie who was hidden high under the roof in the arena. Tore announced a scenario from a power line inspection from Nodak. And after the inspection, the pilot landed the drone safely on the platform of the truck. Knut Gustavsen ended the show with presenting the Thundercloud partners on stage and concluded a very successful launch of Thundercloud in the US market.
We are extremely happy and proud to launch Thundercloud at the UAS Summit here in the Silicon Valley for Drones. eSmart Systems has had an extremely fast turnaround time building this first Thundercloud truck here in North Dakota, thanks to good partners. The feedback is overwhelming and we are determined to roll out the Thundercloud solution in the North America market
Read also: eSmart Systems to Open Office in North Dakota
Thanks to all eSmart Systems resources and partners who made this possible, and to our fantastic media partner Nordic Media Lab represented by Trond-Atle Bokerød.
eSmart Systems has of July 1st entered a partnership agreement with Atea. This partnership is strategic both in terms of innovation and concrete sale of eSmart Systems’ solutions.
With access to world leading technology such as Internet of Things (IoT), very effective management of extreme amounts of data and Artificial Intelligence, eSmart Systems already has the competence and technology others will be talking about tomorrow
He says there is already great interest in this type of technology from several customer segments, such as “power and energy”, “smart buildings and cities” and “welfare”.
Norway is a country with a wide geographical diversity and local challenges – which need local understanding. As society changes, Atea’s strength lies in our local offices which are able to give customized advice and solutions
Jacobs says
The CEO of eSmart Systems, Knut H. H. Johansen, believes Atea will become an important partner for further innovation and sale of eSmart Systems’ technology.
This is an important partnership agreement for eSmart Systems. Atea covers a majority of the Norwegian and Nordic market. Through this cooperation, we will be able to deliver competitive solutions to the energy-, health- and municipal sector
says Johansen
Jacobs adds that with Atea’s wide knowledge and solutions from among others eSmart Systems, they will be able to help their customers into the future.
eSmart Systems are at the forefront of platform development for IoT and other exciting solutions to various industries. The platform they are offering is very impressive. Combined with Atea’s knowledge, this cooperation can be used for providing our customers with smarter solutions containing machine learning and analytics, enabling them to take advantage of various sensor technologies and collect data which can provide valuable insight, the CEO of Atea says.
About Atea Norway (Atea AS):
Atea is the leading IT supplier in Norway, with wide knowledge and competence within all fields of the IT infrastructure market. The company has 1650 employees and is located in 25 cities all over Norway. The Atea Group is the Nordic and Baltic’ largest, plus Europe’s second largest supplier of IT infrastructure. The company had a 31,2 mrd NOK turnover in 2016.
EMPOWER is a R&D project meant to contribute to reaching the EU climate goals regarding the usage of more renewable energy. Recently, eSmart Systems with consortium partners reached an important project milestone.
Friday, June 23rd 2017, partners from Norway, Germany and Spain met at the eSmart Systems headquarters in Halden to observe a Factory Acceptance Test (FAT-test) related to the project EMPOWER.
EMPOWER is a research and development project with a duration of three years. It lies under the EU-program Horizon 2020. EMPOWER started in January 2015, has a 60 MNOK budget and is meant to contribute to reaching the EU climate goals regarding the usage of more renewable energy.
eSmart Systems has developed a system which helps prosumers (users who also produce power) to gain a better overview of their own power consumption, and to save money by producing and storing power in a more effective and smart way. The system also permits sales of new services for power- and service providers. An important part of the delivery is flexibility management as needed for power utilities, something which can contribute to a reduced need for grid expansion.
Put to Trial
During the FAT-testing, the system delivery from eSmart Systems was put to trial, with testing of functionality for prosumer management, contract management and flexibility management.
The testing went as expected. We conducted a detailed test of functionality, with data collected from – among other – from the pilot area at Hvaler. Now, we are working toward making the solution more robust before the pilot activities this fall
We were presented a comprehensive system solution which connects customers, markets and power utilities together in a whole new way. The systems is developed with good functionalities and has a user-friendly and attractive interface. This is a product which will have a short way to a larger, European market, and which will be a great tool for realizing a functional flexibility market. In Norway, this platform will perfectly fit provident power providers developing their business concepts to also include the revenues of flexibility. Norgesnett sees great opportunities, both in terms of efficient operations and good investments, in purchasing flexibility in such a market and such a system
For eSmart Systems, there lies great business potential in utilizing these system solutions in various new solutions. The EMPOWER functionalities are already being requested by companies and partners in the energy industry taking digitalization seriously. We are looking forward to working on implementing the EMPOWER-solutions to our customers
After the FAT-testing, further work consists of strengthening the solution towards the next phase of the project – testing of the system solution in the pilot areas of Malta, Germany and Norway (Hvaler). This will be done during fall 2017.
More about EMPOWER:
The EMPOWER concept aims to encourage and enable the active participation of citizens who consume and produce energy in the electrical system. It is based on the insight that a significant reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and an increase of energy efficient appliances require radical changes in the way we produce, consume and manage energy resources. The goal of EMPOWER is therefore to develop an entirely new energy market in Europe where consumers can buy and sell locally produced energy from solar panels, micro wind turbines and other decentralized energy production, as well as offering flexible load to relieve central and regional infrastructure. This will be demonstrated and tested in three pilot site cities across Europe – in Germany, Norway and Malta.
EMPOWER is not only a project compromised of a sustainable energy future, but also an example of synergy among industry and university. The consortium is constituted by very diverse entities:
- Norgesnett (NO)
- Malta Intelligent Energy Management Agency (MT)
- NewEn Projects GmbH (DE)
- Schneider Electric Norge AS (NO)
- Smart Innovation Norway (NO)
- Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya – CITCEA (ES) University of St. Gallen (CH)
- eSmart Systems AS (NO)
In November 2017, national politician Jonas Gahr Støre expressed a wish to work as a summer intern at eSmart Systems. Friday, June 23rd, his wish was fulfilled.
Jonas has contributed to Connected Drone and is effectively coding according to best practices. He values quality in his work and executes his profession with pride. During his rather short time in the company, Jonas became a natural centerpiece and has with his glow and interest been a good resource to his colleagues.
This is an excerpt from the work certificate the national politician and prime minister-candidate Jonas Gahr Støre received after his first (and last) day as a Summer Intern at eSmart Systems June 2017.
Minimum Wages
– That was amazing, I am almost touched, was Støre’s immediate reaction after the “judgment” was read out loud. Where as he quickly added:
– Maybe we can negotiate the salary now?, to the laugh from the many employees who were listening. Because after a presentation of the company and their most important projects, Støre’s internship started – as it should – with the review and signing of an employment contract. The pay? Zero.
– It’s fine, assured the Labour Party-leader.
The contract also said that “the employee shall, to the best of his ability, use knowledge and experience gained through his position, for the greater good of community and industry.”
– A wonderful wording, Støre exclaimed.
Learning to Code
Støre and his advisor for the day, NRK TV-host Live Nelvik (with a TV team), were handed, and changed into, shirts with the eSmart Systems logo.
– My job today is to give Jonas some tips for being popular in the working environment, because politicians are often a bit stiff. I am here to break down the wall, so to say, Nelvik said with a smile.
The new summer intern then took place in front of a computer, where he logged in with his unique user – created for the occasion.
Now, you are going to use artificial intelligence in the form of image recognition to detect faults along power lines
Wishes to Understand Digitalization
Støre nodded and carefully followed the instructions he was given. The politician seemed engaged and curious, and asked several questions along the way.
I have gained a further understanding of the importance of digitization and how we can use it to solve problems within social services. I will probably never be a programmer, but I have ambitions to understand more about how technology can be a tool for solving tasks in the community, “he emphasized after finishing his work at eSmart Systems.
Afterwards, he received a good lunch and distribution of the exceptionally good work certificate.
A Helping Hand
Neither Støre, nor his temporary advisor Live Nelvik, tried to conceal that they liked what they saw and heard at Remmen Kunnskapspark this day in June.
I do not think politicians are necessarily very up to date on future technology, but they need to be in order to manage this country. If not, they will build hospitals as if five years of technological progress is worth nothing. They must understand that the world will look different in twenty years, and that the changes will happen very fast. That is why I think Jonas being here today, is a way of trying to reach out a helping hand for more knowledge, which is good to see, commented Live Nelvik.
What we have experienced today, is very exciting. That is what I thought the last time i was visiting eSmart Systems, and that is what I think after visiting them again today. I would very much like to come here again – prefferably as prime minister of Norway, Støre revealed. He continued:
I would like to quote my Swedish colleague, Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, when asked if he feared new technology. He replied: “No, I fear old.” We must stick to that.
