Overvejelser 06.02.2023

Two hot topics: chili growing and metering as a service

By the beginning of February, an engineer who grows chilies as a hobby has already thought carefully about what kind of qualities should be found in the chili species of the new season: hot or less hot, new or familiar and safe, or some suitable mix? At the same time, the first varieties have already been put to germinate with an eye to the upcoming season. Already in the previous autumn decided to what extent the life cycle of the previous season’s plants will be extended to the new season.

Careful planning is important when growing chilies. Without proper seedbed, lighting, watering and nutrients, it is pointless to wait for the result. So that you don’t have to do everything yourself and especially manually, it would be good to have some automation, for example, to control lighting and watering. Then there are the insect pests – a constant threat to chilies. How to make sure that they do not get to destroy the budding crop?

So there’s a lot to master when it comes to growing chilies, if you have the time and interest. There, as I was planting the chili seedlings, my thoughts drifted away from my work and I found myself reflecting that managing the reading of electricity meters is much the same. It’s all about resources, expertise and managing the big picture.

We at Aidon noticed years ago that the amount of data collected from the electricity network will increase significantly. The information must be reliably available and, at the same time, an increasing amount of this information will be produced with smart electricity meters. In addition, integrations and automation between different systems will play a significant role in the transmission and analysis of information. The huge amount of data will place completely new demands on the scalability of the systems. External pest control, i.e. information security, must be top-notch.

For DSOs, all this requires a significant investment in IT systems and expertise. At the same time, it provides an opportunity to consider alternative approaches. Aidon’s answer to the challenges of the changing operating environment is a new metering service solution, Aidon MaaS. This solution, based on a native cloud platform provides the customer with efficient and modern integrations, built-in security and excellent scalability. Aidon operates the MaaS service on behalf of the customer, allowing the customer to focus purely on their own business and leave the daily operation and monitoring of the metering solution entirely to Aidon. In addition, the service is produced using Aidon’s own technology, which ensures that the best experts in the technology operate the service.

Aidon’s MaaS is designed to be flexible and it takes into account the different needs of the customer. The basic solution always includes the metering devices, a reading system and service desk functions. In addition, a connectivity service can be added to the service, which provides the data connections between the meters and the reading system. The connectivity service includes an eSIM solution that allows Aidon as part of the service to change operator during the service lifecycle without a field visit.

Just as in chili growing, transferring plants from the previous season to the new season, connecting the customer’s previous generation of meters to Aidon’s MaaS service is possible under certain conditions. The device installation can also be purchased as part of the service, either for the roll-out phase or, in addition, for maintenance and new installations throughout the service life cycle. And if the customer wants Aidon to deliver the metering data directly to the national data hub in accordance with market rules, it is also possible to include it in the service.

Aidon MaaS offers the customer a cost-effective way to handle the reading of metering devices as a complete service under a single contract. Aidon’s service also includes a continuous development model. This enables, if the customer so wishes, the development of the service together with all Aidon’s MaaS customers. Brainstorming, scheduling and implementing new features and development targets together is a flexible and cost-effective way to bring new features and solutions to the service in a timely manner.

Would you like to discuss about Aidon’s MaaS service, or about growing chilies? Don’t hesitate to contact me! firstname.lastname@aidon.com