110 INTERVIEW Energising operations Caleb Northrop explains how energy firms can use IBM Maximo on Azure to modernise operations for predictive, intelligent asset management Following a power outage in April 2025, the region of Iberia was left without electricity for a day. The outage shut down internet and phone services, stopped trains and flights, closed most shops and businesses, and brought banking services to a standstill. After six months of investigation, the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity determined the incident was the first known blackout to be caused by overvoltage, which occurs when there is too much electrical voltage in a network. The report said that “collecting complete, high-quality data proved very challenging for this investigation”, suggesting the lack of real-time visibility into the grid made it harder to detect and prevent the failure in advance. Fragmented data and disconnected systems can leave energy networks vulnerable, making it harder to detect issues, coordinate responses and prevent cascading failures. “Modern enterprise asset management (EAM) systems offer a path forward with cloud-based data storage, embedded AI and advanced analytics enabling energy and utility companies to streamline their data and monitor performance in real time,” says Caleb Northrop, product leader and manager asset lifecycle management solutions at IBM. IBM Maximo Application Suite, available on Microsoft Azure, helps energy companies keep their equipment running efficiently and reduce downtime. The platform uses IBM watsonx.ai to track and manage the entire lifecycle of assets. “With the IBM Maximo application suite, organisations can manage both traditional power plants and renewable energy assets, such as wind and solar, within the same system,” says Northrop. “By running Maximo on Azure, energy and utility firms can collect real-time data from machines and sensors using Azure IoT Edge and IoT Hub, view and analyse that data instantly through dashboards and widgets, build digital twins of assets to spot issues early, compare performance against benchmarks, and plan maintenance before problems occur.” IBM Maximo on Azure unifies management of both conventional and renewable energy assets – from wind turbines and solar arrays to substations and transmission networks – helping utilities optimise performance and reduce downtime across their energy portfolios. “The solution’s embedded AI capabilities allow reliability engineers to make faster, more informed decisions, whether they’re optimising performance of a turbine, monitoring grid stability in preparation of a storm or scheduling crews for required maintenance,” says Northrop. Importantly, employees don’t require any technical expertise to interact with Maximo’s AI agent. “It uses plain language queries so employees can easily retrieve and analyse data such as BY ALICE CHAMBERS “ Energy companies can analyse the root cause of underperformance, optimise maintenance and drive toward a more resilient, low-carbon future” CALEB NORTHROP
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NzQ1NTk=