zek HYDRO 2022

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Global Hydro is a widely-acknowledged specialist in the field of hydropower and has been investing in a comprehensive programme of digital transformation for several years. Today the company is recognised as a pioneer in the fields of Machine Learning and Predictive Maintenance.

All photos: photo credits: Global Hydro

HYDRO

UPPER AUSTRIAN HYDROPOWER SPECIALIST DETERMINED TO DIGITALISE ‘Digovation 2025’ is the banner under which the Upper Austrian hydropower experts at Global Hydro are combining digitalisation and innovation to achieve some very ambitious goals. As well as innovations under consideration in machine building, geometry and manufacturing technology – efforts are also being invested in various digitalisation projects. These include popular trending developments in the thematic field of artificial intelligence: machine learning and predictive maintenance. Self-driven learning processes are soon expected to enable machines to make their own decisions and to predict probable scenarios. These are no longer visions of the future at Global Hydro, since several power plants are already testing their prototypes.

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from the Mühlviertel area coined the phrase ‘Digovation 2025’ a couple of years ago as they launched an ambitious plan that divided digitalisation transformation thematically – on the one hand into digital workplaces, and the digitalisation of power stations and products on the other. Richard Frizberg is Managing Director at Global Hydro and responsible for business development, finances, HR and the allocation of expertise within the company. He explains: “In order to be able to implement these projects we established our

own new department, ‘HydroLab’, and formed a new ‘DataScience’ team within the software development department. Depending on each task and each set of requirements there is collaboration between members of various teams from data engineering, data science, software engineering and gauging technology.” A TEAM OF EXPERTS HydroLab was set up in its present form more than a year ago. It is now responsible for the

graphics: Pixabay

ver the past few years very few issues have fascinated the hydropower industry more than the phenomenon of digitalisation. There has been feverish activity in the various R&D departments of the industry’s leading companies on hearing buzzwords and phrases like ‘Digital Twin’, ‘Big Data’, ‘Machine Learning’ and ‘Predictive Maintenance’. One company pioneering these developments is Global Hydro, the well-known hydropower allrounder from the Upper Austrian town of Niederranna. The specialists

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