• Voith presents concept for smart hydropower
• Customized service level agreements increase availability and profitability
• Interactive virtual reality (VR) application brings HyService to life at the trade fair

Seville, Spain: Voith is showcasing its range of products and services at HYDRO 2017. At Stand 21, the focus will be on the company's HyService and digital solutions for hydropower plants of all sizes. HYDRO, which takes place in Seville from October 9 to 11, 2017, is regarded as one of the most important events in the hydropower industry worldwide. Last year, more than 1,400 delegates from over 70 countries visited the conference and associated trade fair.

Hydropower and digital expertise combined
In line with the theme "Intelligent Hydropower – Made by Voith", the company will showcase its concept for an expansion of the digital hydropower plant: Working with customers, Voith’s digital experts tap into a pool of secure technical and system-specific data in the cloud, visualize and analyze it and develop self-learning models that facilitate well-informed and forward-looking decisions. This allows the efficiency and service life of hydropower plants and their infrastructure to be increased. Products like HyCon and HyGuard are already contributing to this concept and other solutions are in the development pipeline.

Voith will also be presenting its range of service agreements at the event. The custom solution takes account of the individual life cycle and daily challenges faced by hydropower plants and allows for the development of an optimized repair and servicing plan, for example, which results in greater availability and cost savings. Voith HyService also offers round-the-clock regional availability and an extensive machine pool so that almost all servicing works can be carried out on site. Voith offers HyService for hydropower plants of all sizes.

Exciting VR environment brings HyService to life at HYDRO
At the Voith stand, visitors are able to try out HyService for themselves. Using modern 3D/VR technology, they take on the role of a technical manager to discover the hydropower plant from an unusual perspective. The application, which was designed by the Ray Sono digital communication agency, allows the user to experience the benefits of the remote "OnCall Video" service, in which power plant and/or maintenance staff and service experts work together, for example using a portable tablet. Communication is not just spoken; both parties can use video and images to display, zoom in on and color-highlight various components. This digital interaction speeds up maintenance and repairs and therefore improves power plant operation.
 
"Digitalization opens up innovative opportunities to optimize the operation of hydropower plants even more and increase their availability,'' says Uwe Wehnhardt, Member of the Corporate Management Board and CEO of Voith Hydro. "Whereas until now there has just been a lot of talk in the industry about digital solutions, Voith is already supplying intelligent products that benefit the customer."

About the company
For 150 years, Voith’s technologies have been inspiring customers, business partners and employees around the world. Founded in 1867, Voith today has around 19,000 employees, sales of €4.3 billion and locations in more than 60 countries worldwide and is thus one of the largest family-owned companies in Europe. Being a technology leader, Voith sets standards in the markets of energy, oil & gas, paper, raw materials and transport & automotive.