Business Challenges:
- Increasing electricity generation demand in Saudi Arabia, leading to a need for smart grids and smart meters. The demand for smart grids and smart meters increased from 333 TWh in 2014 to 383 TWh in 2018.
- Performance and scalability issues in the existing system, which could only handle up to 70-75% of its potential.
- Integration challenges with various systems like SAP-ISU billing, multiple HES systems (Schneider, NARI), smart meter operations center, outage management system, and distribution management system.
- Networking and hardware limitations affecting the system’s full-fledged operations.
- The installation of smart meters had to be completed in just two months, which presented significant challenges.
Solutions:
- Collaborated with Oracle to identify and address the performance and scalability challenges, which were primarily due to RAM limitations. Increasing the RAM across all systems allowed the system to scale up to 100%.
- Customized the existing system and developed new services to streamline the upgrade and integration with various systems.
- Advised against the client’s request to move the production system to Riyadh, and instead proposed moving the disaster recovery system to mitigate the networking and related challenges.
- Worked tirelessly, day and night, to update the SEC’s systems and integrate the smart meters, ensuring timely completion of the project.
- Conducted thorough analysis and suggested a simple adjustment to increase the RAM, which allowed the system to scale up to 100%, ensuring smooth operations.
Outcomes:
- Successful implementation of 10 million smart meters for the Saudi Electricity Company, solidifying Abjayon’s position as a trusted partner in transforming the energy landscape.
- Extensive user acceptance testing and signing of a two-year maintenance and support contract.
- The smart meter project supports Saudi Arabia’s efforts to modernize its power grid, reduce energy losses, and embrace a sustainable energy future.
- Despite some pending functionalities due to hardware constraints, the system is currently operating 20 hours a day with approximately 80-85% of its customized functionalities in production.
- The project features advanced technology solutions such as Meter Data Management (MDM), Smart Grid Gateway (SGG), Abjayon Digital Self Service (ADSS), and Information Lifecycle Management.
- The successful integration of the MDM-SAP system is a key highlight of the project.
