Renewable energy is environment-friendly, cost-effective, and abundant. Sadly, only 26.2% of renewable resources were used to generate global electricity in the last two years. But fortunately, due to multiple reasons such as decreased renewable energy costs, the pandemic, and increased climate-friendly efforts, the renewable energy sector will potentially reach $2152.9 bn by 2025. Even the United States is focusing on producing renewable electricity through environment-friendly resources avoiding coal burning for the first time in history.
In this regard, digital transformation has enormous potential to restructure the renewable energy sector while also ensuring to meet sustainable climate change goals.
Therefore, the energy and utility sector must ensure an effortless transformation towards speed, scalability, and consistency. Software testing tools and techniques play a crucial role in meeting the green goals. Let’s discuss the technologies that are empowering the digitization of renewable energy, with the extended need for software testing:
Technological Advancement for the Energy and Utility Sector
Every technology has an important role in achieving long-term renewable energy goals in the realm of digital transformation. Let’s find out how these technologies are effective in the E&U sector:
1. Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)
Renewable energy is central to all the smart city projects and hence, leads the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). The rising need for renewable energy generation is also giving rise to energy & storage management solutions. High-resolution radars, remote examination systems, sensors, and laser-based drones are considered cost-effective IIoT. The interconnection of sensors, radars, and analytical procedures will ensure that every renewable energy project remains closely linked to smart national networks, industries, buildings, and even homes. Such extensive level connectivity will improve supply & demand management, remote supervision, and analytical maintenance and sustenance capacity of the renewable energy corporations.
2. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)
Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Learning (ML) in the renewable energy sector is crucial for enhancing energy productivity. AI-enabled data interpretation and insights support projected energy demands and energy-preservation decisions. Paired with machine learning systems, AI can stop energy deficit or over-generation issues in the generation plants. Furthermore, AI and ML systems assist in automating sectoral maintenance and operations activities. AI integration within the storage systems of renewable energy industries can provide sustainable and consistent smart grid energy storage solutions. These smart grids can examine bulk data volumes in simultaneously taking insightful energy distribution decisions. With smart & central monitoring centers, micro-grid integration, and control management, AI is the easy gateway towards safe and reliable renewable energy generation ventures.
3. Big data and intelligent asset management via advanced analytics
The data collected in the renewable energy sector is quite diverse as it is extracted through various sources such as loggers, meters, or Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA). All data is rudimentary without framework and applicability. Therefore, by analyzing big data, climate change scientists can be more preemptive, predictable, and practical. Intelligent asset management and smart data framing can together produce a satisfying customer experience in terms of renewable energy generation, distribution, and transmission. Smart data analysis offers an accurate way to increase efficiency in the process & workflow automation, enable data transparency, and assure on-request information availability.
Become Climate-friendly with Software Testing
The innovative technologies improve energy efficiency and help in controlling environmental threats. In addition, these innovations address the difficulties linked with the unpredictable, inconsistent, and unstable nature of renewable resources. As discussed earlier, the combination of these technologies can garner ideal results and gain quantifiable results. In any case, integrating all these technological units is a hefty challenge itself. Moreover, the number of digital solutions brings along massive cyber risks to the renewable energy sector. Along these lines, cybersecurity is perhaps the most fundamental element of the digitally transforming renewable energy system.
Therefore, as the energy and utility sector shifts towards digital and innovative technology, software testing tools and techniques become inevitable to achieve modern energy utilization, production, preservations, and distribution solutions. Software testing and QA engineering assure the anticipated scale of speed, versatility, and dependability by supporting on-demand changes, compliance projects, and administrative supervision for the worldwide E&U sector.
Executing performance testing across end-to-end smart grid systems can assist with app burden management across different geographical locations delivering higher authority to the end-users. Moreover, security testing can help in exposing security threats to renewable energy systems to avoid potential cyberattacks.
Therefore, the energy sector must invest in software testing techniques to achieve sustainable and renewable goals for a greener world.
