Scatec’s Control and Monitoring Centre (CMC) in Cape Town has officially rebranded as the Global Operations Centre (GOC). This decision follows a process which has involved multiple stakeholders in the organisation to align on a name which better covers the current function and vision for this unit.
Why the Change?
When the CMC was established in 2018, Scatec’s operational portfolio was around 325 MWp across 12 plants, mainly in South Africa. Fast forward to 2024, and we’ve grown nearly 10x to over 3,000 MWp (3 GWp) across solar, wind, and Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) worldwide.
“While the CMC has in principle always been a global unit, there is a significant difference in terms of what Scatec’s operating portfolio looks like now compared to 2018” says Andreas Størdal, VP of Production Optimization. “We’re present in a wide range of countries globally – South Africa, Egypt, Brazil, Philippines, Ukraine – to mention a few, and for the plants which Scatec operates, the GOC and the wider Production Optimization unit aims to provide its full suite of services with the same quality to all plants regardless of location.”
From “Control & Monitoring” to “Operations”
While monitoring remains at the core of what the GOC does, our role has expanded to include a suite of value-added services that support production optimization across our entire portfolio. Jaco de Jager, Head of GOC, explains, “The GOC now goes beyond traditional plant monitoring, focusing on data quality, production analysis, forecasting, and more. As the eyes and ears of the company, we play a key role in helping our site teams achieve peak performance by leveraging our global scale and resources.”
Key Functions of the GOC:
Data Quality Monitoring – For services such as reporting and analysis to be relevant and value-adding, it is critical that the quality of the data collected from our sites is as high as possible. The GOC works continuously to improve the data quality from our sites by monitoring relevant data quality KPI’s and notify the sites if e.g. sensors seem to be disconnected or misaligned
Reporting & Data Sharing – The GOC manages core reporting processes, ensuring both internal alignment and external transparency for stakeholders like partners and lenders. Using our access to data and analytics skills to streamline and professionalise these functions.
Production Analysis & Optimisation – the GOC runs regular reviews of all the plants in the portfolio to also pick up broader trends and production-affecting issues such as soiling, and recommends improvement initiatives to the site teams
Short-term Forecasting – With the growing need for accurate day-ahead and intra-day forecasts, the GOC plays a critical role in optimising production forecasts. For certain plants, such as those in Ukraine and the new hybrid plant in Kenhardt in South Africa, the accuracy of such forecasts also has commercial implications for Scatec and our partners, as in-accurate forecasting will results in a reduction of the revenues for these projects.
The Future of the GOC
The GOC will continue to be part of the Production Optimization business unit within the Operations segment, working closely with our O&M Analytics team to identify and act on production improvement opportunities across our global network.
This transformation is an exciting milestone in Scatec’s journey as we continue to lead the charge in renewable energy across the globe.