Telstra Energy

Most of Telstra’s generators are managed and maintained by technicians that are required to attend each site. Due to the large amount of truck rolls associated with maintenance and testing, it has been an expensive and inefficient process.

Telstra Energy chose to work with accesstel to implement an IoT solution for remotely networking and managing their Standby Generator Plant.

They wanted to ensure the best possible customer experience for Telstra’s customers through enhancing the reliability of their network. The ability to remotely manage their stand-by generators and perform black-start tests on these units would achieve this.

accesstel successfully implemented an IoT solution to increase Telstra’s visibility of their generator plants.

The remote management system implemented by accesstel enables the:

• Remote control of stand-by generator units (remote start/stop), operated by a user through the Graphical User Interface (GUI) for test, maintenance and NEM signal purposes
• Transfer of the maximum load to the generator
• Greater visibility of generator sites, including:
  • key operating status
  • Information about the stand-by generator plant and its operating parameters and conditions
  • Visibility of key alarms
  • Visibility of day-tank fuel levels
• Leveraging of existing hardware and communications infrastructure where possible
• Maintenance of a high level of network security
• Storage of data and reporting including historical data
• Automation of generator control for both routine testing and automatic dispatch in response to NEM prices
• Reduction in maintenance costs for the generators
• Greater transparency of asset performance

We were able to successfully leverage energy market benefits to generate substantial savings from existing generators that were largely a sunk cost (ie utilise those generators to support the electricity market and the electricity grid at times of high price and high demand).

We were able to reduce the annual maintenance cost of managing the stand-by generators by reducing the need to physically go to site for routine maintenance testing.

We were able to increase the reliability of Telstra’s fleet of stand-by generators, through increased visibility and ease of testing.