Utilities provider Origin Energy has inked a partnership to push IoT driven systems dubbed 'Lighting-as-a-Service' (LaaS) to industrial and commercial customers through a deal with green tech upstart Vivid Technologies.
Revealed to the market on Wednesday, the deal connects heavy duty industrial internet smarts developed by Vivid which use embedded sensors harnessed to the cloud to measure and control ambient temperature, passive security, heat mapping, building intelligence, daylight harvesting and manufacturing environment sensing.
There's a lot more in play than tech buzzwords too.
Vivid's smart lighting systems have already been deployed into a clutch of Australian blue chip industrial facilities including Linfox, Arnotts, Woolworths, Diageo and Coca-Cola Amatil, where controlling lights on costs - quite literally - is a major concern amid rising energy costs.
Although LED based systems have reduced lighting costs for years, what's recently switched is the sharp uplift in efficiency that IoT devices can deliver when they are linked to complementary technologies to create and efficiency an productivity sweet spot.
Vivid said the service is able to reduce the cost of powering lights by up to 90 percent, and can be more than 74 percent more efficient than “typical” LED systems.
The platform achieves energy savings by taking into account each site’s features such as ceiling height, the availability of natural light and activity within sections of a workspace or warehouse to automatically adapt the artificial lighting output.
Dubbed 'LightingFlex' the 'lighting-as-a-service' offer comes into play by bundling-up traditionally separate infrastructure and energy costs into a "fully installed, managed and monitored" deployment "without any upfront cost for an agreed contract term."
Lighting Flex runs on Vivid’s “intelligent” IoT platform, Matrixx, which will continue to be designed, installed and operated by Vivid.
Vivid will also be responsible for providing ongoing monitoring and analytics of the systems.
The IoT element also allows for preventative maintenance of lighting systems while also getting real-time insights into operational costs, Vivid said.
Origin will pilot LightingFlex for 12 months while it expands its renewable energy solutions and diversifies its energy efficiency products.
Business Energy & Solar general manager at Origin, Ryan Willemsen-Bell, said the new offering would add to the company’s “growing product portfolio specifically tailored for large energy users and business customers”.
“Our large energy users are telling us they want simple and easy access to energy efficiency solutions, so we’re providing this through a one-stop shop.”
Origin Energy recently spun-off its smart-metering business Acumen, which is currently being acquired by intelliHUB and will continue to supply Origin’s customers with smart meters.
