In South America, one of the great challenges of the energy sector is to optimize its performance and, in this way, mitigate the imbalance due to the unequal geographical distribution of resources and asymmetries between the levels of technological development in the different countries.
By Andrei Junqueira*
According to data from the sector, it is estimated that in the coming years there will be a growth of between 7 and 10 percent in energy demand, with which companies must be prepared to face this scenario and manage to supply the market in the expected way.
Both in the maritime fields in the middle of the ocean, and in the biodiesel plants in the interior of the country, the entire energy sector faces the same security challenges, such as theft, equipment breakages and depredations.
The good news is that, in recent years, our region has had companies that built extensive expertise in countries such as Brazil and Venezuela on the protection of these environments, while technological development made it possible for network video monitoring to integrate security into production control, from a single system.
While previously cameras served only for surveillance, today they can assist in the access control of the entire property, eliminating, for example, unnecessary reactions to false invasion alarms, through visual verification. They can also help monitor the processes of the production plant, and because they are connected to the network, they can be managed both in a local control room and remotely.
What many system integrators have done, being hired to protect critical infrastructure, is to think of protection as a series of concentric circles: first the perimeter, then the buildings and finally the energy production as such.
These projects, which always have the collaboration of a specialized consultant, focus on three vulnerable aspects: the perimeter (extensive and often poorly lit), the entrances and exits of the buildings (under the constant risk of facilitating access by unauthorized people or at unforeseen times), and the areas with the greatest potential for danger (which depends a lot on each floor). These are the main points where profits can be lost due to production disruption and costly repairs.
There are a lot of perimeter protection technologies such as sensors and radars. In the case of thermal cameras, any unauthorized presence is detected, and they are smart enough to dismiss weather events and distinguish the presence of animals.
If this is integrated into high-definition imaging cameras and resources to adapt them to unfavorable lighting conditions, you reach another level of analysis of the fact that triggered the alarms, and greater precision to define the necessary reaction.
It is an efficient combination for monitoring vulnerable areas such as pipelines in remote and unpopulated areas. In this case, cameras with wireless transmission also make the difference, although fiber optics are increasingly used for long distances since its cost has dropped a lot in recent years.
In the area of buildings, the important thing is to control access and the flow of people in critical areas. To give an example of this, during an emergency evacuation, the surveillance system assists the rescue team to ensure that no one is in the building, through the counting of people and the generation of high-precision images, even if there are only emergency lights on.
If equipped with two-way audio, they can function as intercoms and detect sounds outside the camera's field of view. And, if it is thermal cameras, they are another aid for the detection of people in the middle of the smoke.
While protecting property and people is essential, it is also important to monitor production processes, ensuring that safety rules are being adhered to and equipment handled properly.
Some of the most important companies in the energy sector have realized that smart cameras can improve monitoring in sensitive areas, providing a mechanism of visual inspections of several premises at the same time without the physical presence on the premises.
In addition, adherence to an open pattern platform ensures the integration of video resources with production components, equipment and software. It is a strategy that brings significant benefits. For example, when SCADA systems are integrated with network video, factory managers can obtain information on temperature, pressure and speed meters in real time.
With visual confirmation, operators can instantly detect alterations in production sensors and take corrective action before the situation gets out of hand, forcing a temporary halt to production.
In any of the aforementioned cases, you can have remote access to all the images – from the company's headquarters in another city or from the cell phones of the managers – and then share them with first responders, police and government agencies.
In essence, a networked system allows everyone to be virtually present anywhere in a facility and work together to achieve the best possible protection.
*Andrei Junqueira is a business development manager at Axis Communications.
