Schneider Electric, the leader in the digital transformation of energy management and industrial automation, today announced that it has partnered with Platinum Electrical Engineering to implement the EcoStruxure Automation Expert solution for Brilliant Planet, a pioneer in low-cost, algae-based carbon capture.
Brilliant Planet uses algae as an affordable method of permanently and quantifiably sequestering carbon at the gigaton scale. The company grows vast quantities of microalgae in open-air pond-based systems on coastal land. These can sequester up to 30 times more carbon from the atmosphere than the same area of forest. According to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), carbon capture technologies are a crucial part of the efforts to tackle climate change.
Following eight years of research and development, including four years of trials at its three-hectare facility in Morocco, Brilliant Planet is now developing a scalable platform that will be deployed at sites worldwide.
“To scale at the speed required, we need to be able to modularize our application,” said Adam Taylor, CEO at Brilliant Planet. “The Schneider Electric and Platinum Electrical Engineering solution enables us to copy, paste, and scale at each site. This means we can utilize resources more efficiently, while seeing drastic improvements in control. We hope this system provides the foundation for further expansion in the coming years.”
The carbon capture process requires a highly flexible and efficient control system that can easily scale as needed. Brilliant Planet chose Platinum Electrical Engineering, a Schneider Electric Alliance Certified Partner, to deploy EcoStruxure Automation Expert, the world’s first software-centric universal automation system, alongside AVEVA System Platform and AVEVA Insight to provide complete visibility and control of operations.
Universal automation
Traditional industrial automation systems are closed, proprietary, and hardware-driven. They can make it difficult and costly for organizations looking to integrate new technologies from different brands to optimize efficiency. EcoStruxure Automation Expert is a universal automation solution, based on the IEC 61499 standard for interoperability, and can therefore be easily integrated with new or existing third-party equipment, and scale with ease across Brilliant Planet’s new sites globally.
As the first certified EcoStruxure Automation Expert global Alliance Partner, Platinum Electrical Engineering was chosen by Brilliant Planet as the system integrator for its deep understanding of the technology. Having recently earned Schneider Electric’s Global EcoStruxure Partner of the Year Award, Platinum Electrical Engineering has demonstrated software-centric automation installations that generate high levels of efficiency.
“By using EcoStruxure Automation Expert, we can significantly reduce the time spent on integrating and testing control software for each of Brilliant Planet’s sites,” said Stephen Maltby, Managing Director at Platinum Electrical Engineering. “It gives us the tools to be considerably more creative in the way we approach projects, allowing us to work with both green and brown-field projects, in a much more agile manner. The standardized application makes it straightforward to troubleshoot and adapt processes to customer-specific needs and deliver a complete bespoke, yet scalable system.”
“To help us achieve our mission of sustainability and next-generation industrial automation, we require a network of trusted Alliance Partners and valued customers, and this project demonstrates both,” said Sanjith Singh, Global Vice President, Software Centric Automation at Schneider Electric. “While Brilliant Planet is using our technology to deliver sustainable solutions to meet the challenge of climate change, Platinum Electrical Engineering is delivering an efficient and scalable solution.”
