Client: Renen energy solutions (PTY) ltd
Automated heating & pumping solution
Renen partners with Odyssey for best-in-class DRE automation and visualization solution.
Among South Africa’s leading renewable energy specialists, Renen Energy Solutions is known for its expertise in building almost any type of solution requiring “green” grid-tied or off-grid energy. The team has installed more than 1.6MW of Solar PV throughout Southern Africa, and continues to grow its footprint by finding new and innovative ways to serve customers across farms, shopping malls, homes, and a variety of businesses in the area.
Opportunity
One such project was the Sappi commercial forestry nursery, where vast amounts of fossil fuel had been used to heat the nursery’s root zone germination beds. The nursery turned to Renen for a more environmentally friendly and cost effective alternative to fossil fuel, and Renen responded with the engineering and product expertise for which the company is known.
Renen knew that solar was the answer for the Sappi nursery, but they took the challenge a step further. The company saw an opportunity to automate their heating and pumping solution and give the Sappi nursery the ability to visualize critical data on a single screen. To build such a best-in-class solution, they needed a technology partner that wasn’t only innovative; it was also customizable enough to fit within Renen’s and the nursery’s current workflows.
Solution
In Renen’s quest for a powerful and customizable technology partner that could adapt to ensure customer success, they discovered Odyssey Energy Solutions. With a platform that streamlines planning, financing, building and operating renewable energy projects at scale, Odyssey has worked with more than 1500 companies across 5 continents, specifically catalyzing over $1B in financing to distributed renewable energy projects in Africa and Asia.
Renen worked with Odyssey’s technology as well as the company’s engineering services to customize an automated control system for turning pumps on and off based on temperature thresholds set by the domain experts at the Sappi nursery. To do so, Odyssey integrated three additional devices into the nursery’s FernFlex controller – RTD temperature sensors, tank level sensors and variable frequency drives. The solution allowed the nursery to view all pertinent data and manage its fleet of disparate systems, all from a single portal.
Benefits
For Renen, partnering with Odyssey was the ideal answer for a company that knew an off-the-shelf solution wouldn’t work, but did not want the headaches, costs and timelines associated with developing a complete software solution from scratch.
Odyssey’s customizable technology and support services empowered Renen to curate an innovative approach that got the job done, while also providing the company with comprehensive analytics and insights they could share with stakeholders and investors. With one powerful and efficient solution under the developer’s belt, Renen is continuing to innovate with Odyssey on future projects throughout South Africa and beyond.
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