Prescinto Technologies: Building an efficient SaaS platform for clean energy projects

Building an efficient SaaS platform for clean energy projects

Founded in 2016 by Puneet Singh Ja­ggi, Prescinto Technologies Private Limited works on building software that enables clean energy companies to extract the full potential of their assets. The company’s co-founders are Sanjay Bh­a­sin and Ram Menon. Headquartered in Ahmedabad, the company provides an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered cle­an energy software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that helps in raising the power production from solar power plants. The AI-powered SaaS platform collects plant data, applies data science models to id­entify causes of plant underperformance, and provides actionable insights for work orders to the plant crew to increase po­wer generation. The company’s clientele in­clu­des SoftBank Energy, Stride Climate Investments (part of the Macquarie Asia Infrastructure Fund), Essel Infrastructure, GMR and Radiance Renewables. As of now, the company is monitoring over 12,000 MW of clean energy projects. The smart operations of the company ha­ve been deployed in more than 14 countries globally.

The platform has assisted in increasing the generation capacity of solar power pla­nts by nearly 7 per cent as its AI systems re­cognise the root cause for plant underperformance in real time, thus reducing the plant losses. Furthermore, it assists in lo­we­ring the operations and maintenance (O&M) cost of the plants. The company focuses on a three-solution approach of mo­nitoring, analysing and operating.

Prescinto’s analytics model

The company’s model encompasses a platform that consists of postulated patte­rns and projects efficiency, and provides ti­me­ly notifications by evaluating volumes of historical and real-time data. Factors such as solar irradiance, module temperature, and electrical parameters such as AC and DC power generated at each of the inverters are among the few time-series data points that are collected for analysis. The plant operators further receive timely insig­hts to perform preventative maintenance for the effective assessment and prediction of plant events.

The digitalisation of operations is streamlined with daily activities across the plant for efficient task management. This speeds up the problem assessment and troubleshooting processes. The recorded data is efficiently segmented into controllable and uncontrollable losses in the platform’s back-end database, and the corresponding maintenance actions are delivered contextually to the ground team via a built-in CMM (chassis management module). This involves the simple transfer of responsibilities among multiple resour­c­es. Such applications also allow for integrated communication that helps in re­mo­te monitoring. They also allow the operators to keep an eye on the power generation activities.

The deployment of such an analytics model by the company helps in the ab­sor­ption of high frequency data in real time across project portfolios to gain actionable insights. Further, it eases the process of decision-making and enhan­c­es the asset performance. It supports the reduction of costs and improves accountability by streamlining O&M activities.

Recent developments

The company has recently been in the ne­ws for its successful fundraising round in the US. In September 2022, Prescinto an­n­o­un­ced that it had successfully raised $6.5 million in a financing round and was laun­ched in the US market with its first US-based client. The partnership entails real-time data monitoring and analytics of energy storage assets installed by the company on a global level.

In March 2022, Prescinto and Inte­g­rum Energy collaborated for the latter’s hy­brid plants, including digital transformation of the client’s existing 100 MW of as­sets across India. Prescinto’s platfo­rm will be used by Integrum to gain in­telli­gence on their wind, solar, and hybrid port­folio. Prescinto will also provide real-time monitoring and analytics for the wind and solar farms of Integrum in India.

In March 2021, Prescinto raised $3.5 mi­llion as part of a seed round led by Ven­­ture Catalysts. Inflection Point Ven­tures, Mumbai Angels and LetsVenture also participated in this round. The company was looking to use the funds to ex­pand in in­ternational markets such as the United St­a­tes with a focus on performa­n­ce enhan­cement.

Outlook

Looking forward, there are continuous innovations taking place for the digitalisation and technological upliftment of the gr­een energy sector. All such automation and technological solutions aim to maximise the efficiency of renewable power ge­nera­tion. In terms of business model, SaaS is gaining uptake in India.

Prescinto entered a phase of product development during the period of 2017 to 2019. The company has been scaling up since 2019. In the long run, it aims to lead the digital transformation of clean energy assets. With its entry into both the energy storage market and the North American market, Prescinto is taking rapid strides to­wards its goal of becoming a leading operating system for renewable energy projects globally.