Nomad Electric opens a high-tech monitoring center

Nomad Electric launched a new high-tech monitoring center which is equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and software technologies. In the coming months, the company plans to complete other high-tech projects, mainly focused on data-driven predictive maintenance.

So far Nomad Electric has concluded O&M contracts for the technical support of utility-scale PV systems with a total capacity of over 800 MW. The company has the ambition to reach at least 1 GW in the coming months. The recently opened monitoring center helps engineers to ensure the high performance of managed solar parks.
The heart of the monitoring center is the high-resolution video wall, allowing for the efficient display of various modes of operation, such as ongoing site interventions, alarms, and planned site checks. The video wall system automatically handles different layouts of all connected SCADA and other IT applications. The graphical processor used in the center has been designed to deliver smooth frame rates at high resolutions up to 8K, simultaneously on multiple screens.

On the software side, monitoring center engineers use several key applications to efficiently track sites performance and manage reactive and preventive maintenance tasks. The main tool is the SCADA system. Nomad Electric is open to using any SCADA provided by the investor, but has also developed a proprietary industrial-grade solution Nomad NX. It handles all standard tasks, such as real-time energy production and KPIs monitoring, or instantaneous alarm generation in case of solar farm malfunction. Other features of the system include full remote control of the facility, active and reactive power management or trackers control. Collected data are automatically analysed by algorithms to detect and prioritize deviations such as productivity drop or lower performance vs. KPIs. This enables a quick response and resolution of potential problems, and as a result, helps to minimize downtimes and to maximize energy generation.

The monitoring center staff also uses the Field Service Management platform to digitalize and automate all in-field processes, such as preventive, reactive, or repair assignments. The system allows users to generate, check status, and quickly create final reports for all the tasks performed by service engineers. The integrated mobile app enables monitoring of the location of all service engineers and checking the real-time progress of all field activities. All the processes are designed according to industry best practices, such as the O&M Guideline developed by SolarPower Europe, the requirements of investors, and ISO standards.

Other important applications include, but are not limited to, CCTV monitoring software, weather status and forecast tools, and a warehouse management system for spare parts storage. In the coming months, Nomad plans to complete other high-tech projects, mainly focused on data-driven predictive maintenance, and integration of data from all sources.