Uniper : Hydropower plants embracing digitization

Progress at Uniper: Many of the milestones in our digitization plan 'Digitization@Generation', consisting of seven projects, are already complete. One of these, the 'Mobile Workforce App', was developed by our teams in just four months.

According to Dr. Christian Kunze, Head of Quality & Performance at Uniper Hydro Germany, 'The maintenance app is already being used successfully by Uniper Hydropower. Eighty percent of the approximately 100 hydropower plant operators in Germany currently use the app. The rollout will be completed in 2019.' Soumya Chatterjee, Project Manager at Uniper, adds: 'Hydropower is a very decentralized form of generating energy, sometimes involving many small and medium-sized plants. Effective order management is therefore very important. In the past, this required a lot of paperwork and reporting, but our maintenance app has made things much easier.'

For example, the app, which was developed by Uniper IT and SAP, can be used by a plant's foreman to send all maintenance orders to the tablets of the plant operators almost in real time. Since the app works offline as well, the mechanic can also view and enter all the information relevant to the execution of his order on-site at the power plant without an internet connection. He can submit his feedback in just three clicks. The power plant operator can also enter any observations or suggestions for improvement directly in the app. This ensures that the foreman is always kept informed and can make the right decisions based on up-to-date data.

Roland Eichiner, Team Leader at Uniper River Group Lech, is delighted 'that we now have a modern order system that does not require paper. It allows us to allocate and process maintenance orders much more efficiently. This saves time for our entire team, which gives us the freedom to do other things such as optimizing and maintaining our systems. The app is simple and easy to use.' During the implementation of the app, particular attention was given to its offline functionality, intuitive design, and the introduction of users to this digital solution. This makes the maintenance of hydropower plants much more efficient and, in particular, significantly reduces travel and process times in the large regions of Bavaria and Hesse where the app is used.