By Andrew Parker, SPL Director of ESG and General Manager
In late 2021, SPL Inc., a leader in testing, inspection, and certification (TIC) for the energy industry, announced a strategic partnership with CleanConnect.ai to bring their artificial intelligence-based autonomous operations platform forward in the market.
Fast-forward to the first quarter of 2022. The partnership is already creating opportunities for operators to remotely manage their Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE) and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) activities, including best-in-class emissions and methane leak detection services.
The CleanConnect.ai technology is one of the most sophisticated continuous monitoring platforms on the market, allowing operators to detect leaks and measure emissions using OGI cameras autonomously. Identifying and addressing emissions in near-real-time is a game-changer for our industry. Not only does it allow us to comply with ever-tightening emissions regulations, but it also provides us with actionable insights that help improve operational efficiency and reduce costs.
“Energy producers are facing an increasing amount of regulation and pressures from stakeholders, state, federal, and global agencies, as well as buyers, who want provable clean energy,” said Mark Smith, the President and co-founder of CleanConnect.ai. “And then there’s the revenue pressure, requiring new ways of increasing profitability. Our mission is to help energy companies produce clean energy at a profit by using artificial intelligence and computer vision to automate HSC, ESG, and operations.”
In addition to reducing emissions, the CleanConnect.ai platform can also help energy companies save money by reducing the need for manual inspections and increasing operational efficiency.
“Our Clean Connect Autonomous 365 suite is like having the most experienced operator on your site, 24-7, who can see everything—including invisible VOC gases, pumper truck load-outs, or liquid leaks,” said Luke Coats, co-founder of CleanConnect.ai and co-founder of Energy Strong, a Colorado-based energy advocacy group. “It can instantly see any fire, smoke, or safety violation, and monitor tanks as accurately as guided wave radar without opening the thief hatch ever.”
The benefits of the CleanConnect.ai platform are clear. Not only does it have a positive environmental impact, but it also has a direct return on investment for energy companies.
“Most operators engage with us because of HSE or ESG,” Smith said. “Once they have the CleanConnect.ai platform, they start to see even more possibilities for the combination of machine modeling, cameras, and sensors. One of our clients was able to save $60 million across 11 sites, across 10 years—a 900% ROI—by finding these operational efficiencies.”
It is a win-win solution that allows everyone involved to really focus on their area of genius. CleanConnect.ai focuses on technology, software, and machine modeling. SPL provides operators end-to-end platform support and an unrivaled solution for tracking methane leaks, emissions, and spills on their production facilities. For our clients, it means seeing an ROI on multiple levels.
This partnership with CleanConnect.ai reinforces SPL’s commitment to finding innovative solutions to help its customers meet their ESG targets.
“You can automate HSE compliance so you can avoid fines and win new drilling permits,” Coats said. “Or, you can automate ESG reporting, so you can earn carbon offsets and dramatically reduce carbon fees and greenhouse gasses. Or, you can automate operations, so you can manage your sites remotely and reduce your call-outs by 90%.”
We’re also excited about CleanConnect.ai’s unique model that offers Hardware-as-a-service (HaaS).
“By combining the FLIR OGI camera with our machine model, we can actually offer this as a service,” Smith said. “We can eliminate the capital expense upfront, and we continually monitor the camera to make sure it’s up to date, and the firmware is up to date. We provide the entire solution as a bundle. So, our customers only pay a monthly service fee.”
CleanConnect.ai integrates seamlessly into an organization’s supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system and other processes.
“When you work with us, we design a proof of concept,” Smith said. “We look at your network infrastructure, your WAN, your LAN, how you connect to SCADA. We give you a whole game plan of how you can then digitize your site and take advantage of the benefits.”
At SPL, our forward-thinking, solution-driven approach is always centered on helping operators produce clean energy at a profit. With this partnership with CleanConnect.ai, we can provide real solutions to the challenges the energy industry faces while supporting the production of low-cost, reliable energy for consumers.