IBC Solar’s Remote Service boosts Clean Energy

Remote Service within the industry – using IBC SOLAR as an example: POINTR Remote Collaboration secures investment in Vietnam and supports IBC SOLAR to provide clean energy which is used for the production of clean drinking water for millions of people.

Even without the corona pandemic, it would have been a complex project that was successfully launched in Vietnam by IBC SOLAR Energy LLC with the help of POINTR last December.

The investor aimed to provide clean energy for the production of clean water for 1.5 million people. IBC SOLAR Energy LLC was assigned to provide this energy for a river water processing plant near Hanoi. Since December 2020, the photovoltaic roof plant, covering a total area of over 20,000 square meters, has contributed to this objective with an installed capacity of 2.7 megawatts. However, the coronavirus pandemic presented the project board with great challenges before that plan was up and running.

IBC SOLAR Energy LLC is responsible for the international project operation within the IBC SOLAR Group – from planning to construction and to the activation of the plant.

Harald Bultmann, who is in charge of Commercial Contract Management within the company, illustrates the challenges of the project and how the industrial video telephony via the POINTR Remote Collaboration Tool helped to overcome them: “The project was already quite complex due to the commercial structure and the network of companies that were involved. We were tasked to plan and install the plant in collaboration with a local partner. At the end of 2019, the contract for these services was signed. In any event, the power supply line had to be installed within 2020.”

The EPC contractor, Eric Herrmann, recalls: “The implementation started at the beginning of last year with an on-site kick-off meeting and a design conference which initially went as planned. The delivery of the main components was coming up soon. Then came corona! And along with it came a total delivery stop. At that time, the water processing plant was already active and thus absolutely system-relevant for the Greater Hanoi area. During this phase of the pandemic, the parties concerned in Vietnam were understandably cautious and put the safe water supply above everything else. As a result, the plant was closed off, and external workers were no longer permitted on the premises while the employees were put under a company quarantine. At the beginning of August, delivery was taken up again, enabling us to attend to the realization of the project again. Due to the travel restrictions, it was still not possible to monitor the on-site installation with our European specialists. In addition, our on-site partner was not familiar with our system components yet, which already led the German end client to worry about the quality. Since not only the adherence to the contract but also a lasting relationship with the client are critical for us, we decided in this phase to rely on Remote Service and POINTR.”

POINTR Collaboration Tool ensures Remote Service within the industry

• Immediately usable
• Straightforward
• Guaranteed functionality on all conventional smart devices
• Extremely high functionality
• Free of charge for end clients

“We had to find an alternative for remote monitoring which allowed us to compensate for us not being on-site. An alternative that ensured a correct installation even without personal on-site supervision and that maintained the high quality that we aspired,” Herrmann says, explaining the decision to opt for POINTR, which “was an immediate cause for relief for our clients. Especially because we did not merely shrug our shoulders but reacted to the existing difficulties immediately. Our decision to use industrial video telephony has definitely proven to be the right one for this project.”

With the support of the POINTR Collaboration Tools, Remote Service, and a local construction manager, the project was completed with the highest quality and on schedule! 

“The functionality of POINTR exceeds conventional messenger programs, which we had previously used for remote monitoring ­– regardless of the immense data security,” Herrmann points out. “And yet, we only used the software’s basic features on our existing end devices, such as smartphones and laptops, due to the immense time pressure of this project. We are talking about a very large area regarding this project, and thus the shared view counted among the greatest added values ​​for us. Both parties involved can view the same scenario on their respective devices without any delays. The fact that they could freeze and edit the screen was extremely valuable and facilitated a lot for our Technical Supervisors, who were located more than 8,500 kilometers away in the Franconian town of Bad Staffelstein.”

Profitability of POINTR became apparent quite quickly

Harald Bultmann: “The profitability of our decision became apparent quite quickly. After all, we were able to avoid an economic loss for our customers and our company by investing little capital expenditure. In short, we were able to achieve a very ambitious goal with a small solution. The successful completion is even more relevant, considering that the customer is planning more plants in the region and is now assured that they can rely on us, no matter what happens.”

Hereafter, IBC SOLAR Energy LLC will rely on POINTR and Remote Service again due to the positive experience. Here, an expansion of the end devices, such as AR glasses, is planned in order to use the full range of the app.

Information on customized Remote Service solutions via the POINTR Collaboration Tool can be found here.