Up close, solar panels shimmer in the sunlight. And as the sun peeks through the morning clouds, there is plenty of shimmering happening on the solar field at the Louisiana Regional Test Center for Emerging Solar Technologies (LA RTC) at the University of Louisiana (UL) at Lafayette. This is one of the largest outdoor solar testing facilities in the Southeastern United States, boasting 4,200 solar panels across six acres, resulting in 1.1 MW of solar energy production. It’s enough to power UL Lafayette’s nearby stadium, with extra to spare.
Tracking all the data from such a sprawling setup required an equally robust solution. That’s why LA RTC collaborated with The Integration Group of Americas (TIGA) to consolidate the data from their solar fields into a unified system, enabling better data management and demonstrating the magnitude of the lab’s research. TIGA, with help from UL Lafayette students working at LA RTC, developed the system using Ignition, the enterprise industrial integration platform for SCADA, HMI, IIoT, and more.
A Lack of Interoperability
Before implementing Ignition, RTC struggled to collect and process data due to the highly diverse set of devices, systems, and protocols used in the solar field. “It’s been a little bit of a challenge with other vendors because we have so many different types of systems here,” said Dr. Terrence Chambers, Director of the LA RTC. “That’s the nature of being a test lab. And every other vendor that we tried had trouble with that concept.”
In addition to a lack of interoperability, the previous system offered limited visualization, storing all data in a cloud-based system without customization options. Not having the ability to monitor day-to-day production meant that LA RTC struggled to achieve the high level of data granularity necessary for completing research projects or quickly addressing maintenance issues.
Establishing an Internship Program
While many of the engineers at TIGA graduated from UL Lafayette, LA RTC personnel first became acquainted with the integration company during an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) conference hosted on campus. “We actually came in to assist with some other electrical services and PLC programming services,” said Ben Gaspard, Manager of SCADA Services at TIGA. “We just so happened to see a cornerstone of like, ‘Hey, what’s this? What’s this visualization? What are we using?’ And then the explanation of, ‘It’s over here and over here and over there,’ that kind of jogged our integrator brain to say, ‘We can help out with this.’ And then it turned into, ‘We should get someone from the university to help out with this.’”
The LA RTC and TIGA discussed the possibility of establishing a workforce training pipeline that would fulfill the test center’s needs for a robust data system while giving students real-world training to help transition to industry. “You rarely get out of school and do the exact thing you were hoping to do, or that you have exact experience in. And this is one of those cases,” said Gaspard. “And to provide that, I think, is very important.”
To establish this two-pronged initiative, TIGA recommended implementing Ignition for the SCADA system. However, funding is always a concern for educational institutions, so TIGA reached out to Inductive Automation directly. Even though this request predated the launch of the Educational Engagement Program, Inductive Automation responded quickly, offering the Ignition license for free. “They supported us,” said Gaspard. “They were all ears and extremely responsive. It made you feel like they actually cared about what was going on here. And you don’t get that very often. It’s refreshing.”
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