Scrubgrass Generating Company
Scrubgrass optimizes the profitability of its power plant with AVEVA PI System
In the Pennsylvania energy market, the cost of a megawatt of electricity changes every few minutes. As a result, the Scrubgrass power plant was unable to tell whether it was generating at a profit or a loss, due to a two-month lag in the availability of financial data that made real-time operational decisions virtually impossible. To change this, engineers deployed AVEVA PI System along with a suite of complementary tools to model the plant's production costs against market prices. The company now tracks the profit margin of every megawatt generated in real time, securing the future of a coal-fired plant located in an economically fragile region. The forecasts generated also make it possible to optimize the timing of planned outages and have already saved $160,000 in a single week. Scrubgrass is thus preserving local jobs while demonstrating the value of data-driven decision-making.
Testimonials
FAQ
How does AVEVA PI System help run a power plant in a volatile market?
In the Pennsylvania energy market, the price per megawatt changes every few minutes. Scrubgrass Generating Company deployed AVEVA PI System to model the production costs of its coal-fired plant in real time and compare them with market selling prices. This continuous analysis shows whether each megawatt produced is profitable or not, so that production can be adjusted accordingly. It is a flagship example of real-time data as an industrial financial management tool.
Why is a 2-month lag in financial data a major operational risk?
Before AVEVA PI System, Scrubgrass learned its profit margin 2 months after the fact, which made any real-time operational optimization impossible. This lack of visibility threatened the economic future of the plant, located in an economically fragile part of coal country. The AVEVA platform eliminated this lag by linking production data directly to market prices. Management becomes instantaneous, turning a potentially loss-making plant into a profitable, sustainable operation.
How does AVEVA help preserve jobs in the traditional energy sector?
Scrubgrass shows how AVEVA PI System is saving local jobs in Pennsylvania's coal country. By making the plant financially viable through real-time margin tracking, the platform prevents a closure that would have had a devastating impact on the community. Here, digital transformation is a lever for a just transition: it extends the economic life of existing facilities while the energy transition unfolds. It is an important human dimension of deploying industrial data.
What ROI can be expected from an AVEVA project at a coal-fired power plant?
Scrubgrass saved $160,000 in a single week thanks to forecasts generated by AVEVA PI System, which made it possible to optimize the schedule of planned outages. This one-off gain illustrates the platform's potential: by scheduling maintenance during low-price periods and maximizing output during peaks, the plant captures the full value of every megawatt. Over a year, these cumulative optimizations represent a very significant return on investment, amply justifying the AVEVA project.
How does AVEVA PI System help optimize a power plant's maintenance schedule?
AVEVA PI System provides Scrubgrass with forecasts that make it possible to optimize the schedule of planned outages based on market conditions and equipment status. The plant shuts down for maintenance during low-price periods (low opportunity cost) and maximizes output during peaks. This synchronization between commercial strategy and maintenance strategy is a new standard in the deregulated power sector, where operational flexibility is becoming a major competitive advantage.