BHE Renewables and MidAmerican Energy, two subsidiaries of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, have renewed their contract with Uptake Technologies.
Uptake has previously worked with both companies to deliver AI-enabled SaaS products to optimize maintenance operations and increase energy production across their wind fleets. The new contract builds on the previous engagement, expanding the use of Uptake’s product from the current 4,914 MW across 23 sites to an additional 13 sites and 2,283 MW.
“Three years ago, our companies recognized the potential of Uptake’s AI capabilities at a time when Uptake’s products were promising, though still emerging,” says Tom Budler, president of wind at BHE Renewables. “We have been pleased with the results and look forward to expanding the application to additional sites and collaborating with Uptake to develop and implement application enhancements over the next three years.”
Uptake’s power performance AI application enables engineering and operations teams to quickly identify power production issues and their root causes, correcting for confounding variables; leverage supporting evidence to decide on and take action or improve service provider management; and prioritize machine learning recommendations based on potential energy production gains. Uptake has proven to increase annual energy production up to 2% at typical wind customers’ sites, including those under warranty maintenance.
The original engagement between Uptake and MidAmerican and BHE Renewables began in 2017 with the goal of increasing the energy production of the companies’ wind turbines through predictive data analytics.
Since then, Uptake has been deployed across 16 MidAmerican and seven BHE Renewables sites. Between January 2019 and September 2020 alone, Uptake has delivered a total of 981 validated power performance alerts for MidAmerican and BHE Renewables.
“It’s incredibly validating that one of our largest and longest-standing customers is doubling down on Uptake,” says Brad Keywell, founder and CEO of Uptake. “These companies represented our first customer in the energy industry – they believed in our software and our ability to uncover operational recommendations from the available data coming off their wind turbines. I’m proud that our products have delivered helpful and impactful insights that have enabled legitimate value to Berkshire Hathaway Energy’s business.”
