In recent years, there has been substantial growth in the production of wind and solar energy sources worldwide. Vietnam alone has witnessed an increase in the contribution of renewable energy sources to the power grid by 8 percent with a total generation capacity at 5 gigawatts. Thus, with renewable energy sources accounting for a growing and substantial share of the power supply, the capability to control and make a forecast for power system operation plays an increasingly critical role. For power plants, the control of Reactive power, Active power, Frequency, and Voltage at the Point of Connection needs to be performed precisely per system operators’ requirements. As wind and solar energy are non-dispatchable resources, a substantial amount of historical data and suitable algorithms are required to meet system operators’ needs. In terms of power system planning, the use of wind and solar power sources calls for an accurate power generation forecast, which poses a challenge as it requires a reliable source of wind and solar irradiance forecast data. A substantial historical database is also needed.

Additionally, the operation of wind and especially solar power plants can result in a large amount of operational and non-operational data. For solar power plants, each inverter can be considered a generation sub-unit, and the monitoring of each unit can extend to as far as each Photovoltaic (PV) string. For tracking of each string, thousands of data points shall be generated in real-time with a frequency of less than 1 second. If the entire set of real-time operation data can be recorded, a valuable resource for analysis and forecasting of the power system will be obtained, on which AI/Machine Learning technology can be deployed for big data processing. The Historian Information System (HIS) used for these power plants shall need a specialized database that can ensure optimization of time-series data storage throughout the power plants’ operation.

Born with a singular focus on redefining the power system, Applied Technical Systems (ATS) offers a wide range of products and solutions that can be customized to address client’s needs for data acquisition, data storage, and data processing used for system control and forecasting. The company’s Historical Information System (SmartHIS) is specially designed to store all data gathered from the operation of the system, which is created continuously with time. The use of intelligent algorithms to analyze these data can help operators to optimize the operation of the system while ensuring system security. Further, ATS has played an active role in such development, offering solutions including PV SCADA and Power Plant Control, power generation forecast, fault diagnosis, and maintenance prediction.

Besides, ATS provides its clients with customized solutions for their specific needs, offering a range of comprehensive products on an integrated platform, from IED/sensor to advance application with integrated grid connection and power plant system.
ATS’s products are capable of data access and acquisition from IED and sensor, standardization of real-time data and storage of historical data, applications for real-time monitoring, control and computation for decision-making, and post-operation analysis, forecast, diagnosis, and planning. “Our advanced applications are built on a big data analytic platform using AI/Machine Learning and the experience of our domain experts, which altogether differentiate ATS’s products from other vendors,” says Thai Tran, the Chief Technical Officer of ATS. Also, the integration of comprehensive functions in ATS’s solution helps its clients optimize the management and deployment of their assets while reducing maintenance-related time and cost.
In current renewable energy projects, ATS’s clients have been able to benefit from the company’s integration of Grid Station and Solar/Wind Farm in a unified platform, which provides system operators a comprehensive set of data and, consequently, a holistic view of the system operation. Adding to that, ATS’s centralized Operation Control Centre (OCC) solution will prove to be advantageous for asset owners with multiple power plants at various locations. The centralized OCC allows for standardized management of all the plants while reducing human resources needs and OPEX cost. The centralized OCC allows for standardized management of all the plants while reducing dependency on human resources and OPEX cost. In a solar power project with a capacity of nearly 200MWp, ATS has been able to complete hot-commissioning and all procedures necessary for the plant to be commercially operable almost three weeks before the deadline, which resulted in significant revenue gain for clients. In another case, ATS has provided an Operation Control Centre solution to an O&M provider for Wind and Solar Farms, helping its client to remotely operate four solar plants with a total capacity of 150MWp from their headquarter.

ATS was established 22 years ago in Vietnam when the country’s power system was under-developed. The desire to drive the development of the country’s power system has led to the company’s inception, launching its first product—IEC61850-based Substation Automation System (SAS). Nowadays, ATS’s Substation Automation System accounts for nearly 40 percent of the Vietnam Transmission Grid. Currently, ATS is a provider of solutions for Substation Automation and Power System Monitoring & Control, with innovative solutions that can help redefine how the power system can be smarter, safer, and more reliable.