AI and the future of remote monitoring in power generation

In today’s power generation market – shaped by aging infrastructure, leaner teams, fluctuating demand, and growing decarbonization pressures – foresight isn’t just useful, it’s essential.

For power producers, identifying issues before they lead to failures or forced outages can be the difference between profitability and penalty.

That’s why many utilities and independent power producers (IPPs) are turning to remote monitoring, along with predictive maintenance strategies and AI-powered diagnostics, to run their assets more efficiently, safely, and cost-effectively.

Let’s take a closer look at how remote monitoring works, what makes it different from traditional methods, and what benefits it delivers for utilities and IPPs.

Real-time visibility that drives results

Traditional inspection methods have long played a role in plant maintenance – but they’re limited. They only offer a snapshot of asset conditions, often revealing issues too late to prevent costly downtime.
Remote monitoring changes that.

Unlike traditional methods, remote monitoring uses a digital infrastructure to collect and analyze real-time data for 24/7 visibility across the entire facility. 

It works by monitoring physical parameters such as temperature, pressure, vibration, and speed. These data points help teams detect subtle signs of abnormal behavior in turbines and balance-of-plant (BoP) components – such as pumps, boilers, and condensate systems – before issues can escalate into faults or outages. 

Whether it’s heat rate losses, step changes in vibration, or shifts in steam flow, operators can rapidly respond to issues – advising local teams, planning targeted interventions, or dispatching site personnel to investigate and act when needed.

This shift from reactive to proactive maintenance is vital in a sector where even short outages can have significant financial and operational impacts. Over time, this approach leads to:

• Improved thermal performance and fuel efficiency
• Reduced forced outage rates and downtime
• Extended equipment lifespan, including rotor and component preservation
• Smarter resource allocation, minimizing the need for 24/7 onsite staffing

In short, remote monitoring gives plant operators the ability to do more with less – without compromising reliability.

How AI enhances monitoring from data to decisions

Remote monitoring becomes even more powerful when combined with artificial intelligence (AI).

Advanced AI-powered systems use neural networks and pattern recognition to learn the ‘normal’ operating behavior of each asset. They continuously compare live data to this model, flagging subtle anomalies long before traditional alarms would trigger.

This type of intelligence enables early intervention – often before operators are even aware an issue exists – whether it’s a potential fault in a blowdown tank, or a developing inefficiency in a BoP component.

Some key capabilities of AI-powered remote monitoring systems include:

• Learning from thousands of historical and real-time data points
• Modeling thermal behavior across an entire plant
• Generating proactive alerts within control limits
• Tracking and managing issues through a collaborative digital dashboard system for engineers and plant managers to action, whether they’re onsite or remote

Together, these tools remove the guesswork from diagnostics and support faster, more accurate maintenance decisions. They also help refine long-term planning, such as extending rotor life or adjusting outage intervals based on real asset behavior.

Predictive maintenance: benefits across the board

Predictive maintenance offers a wide range of benefits across the power generation sector. While the technology remains the same, the way these benefits are prioritized can vary slightly depending on the operator’s business model.

(It’s important to note: these advantages aren’t exclusive to either utilities or IPPs – both can gain from greater efficiency, reliability, and cost control. The difference lies in where the focus tends to be.)

For utilities, predictive maintenance can help:

• Reduce ongoing operations and maintenance (O&M) costs
• Improve long-term asset reliability and availability
• Provide stronger business cases for capital investment planning and compliance
• Give opportunities to capitalize software and digital infrastructure under certain regulations to improve ROI

For IPPs, benefits often include:

• Maximized output efficiency and plant competitiveness
• Improved performance across peaking and cycling assets
• Reduced downtime and fuel consumption per megawatt-hour
• Increased revenue from capacity payments and fewer penalty risks

In both cases, predictive strategies support a more proactive, data-led approach to plant operations, enabling teams to reduce their reliance on manual processes or siloed systems.

AI is powerful – but people still matter

While AI can identify and prioritize issues, expert intervention is still key to resolving them effectively.

That’s why robust monitoring platforms include around-the-clock access to experienced operators and engineers – specialists with deep knowledge of turbines, generators, boilers, transformers, and BoP systems. Every flagged issue is tracked through to resolution, with consistent communication maintained across all relevant teams.

This combination of advanced diagnostics and expert oversight gives plant operators complete confidence in every recommendation, alert, and adjustment – helping them stay ahead of issues and maintain operational integrity.

Why the ROI of remote monitoring adds up over time

Remote monitoring might seem like a technical upgrade, but it’s also a strategic one.

The value of remote monitoring isn’t just in immediate savings – it’s in what it enables over the long term.

Each time a minor issue is caught early, a more costly failure is avoided. Each fuel-saving adjustment, each optimized outage, and each extended component lifecycle contributes to a broader picture: lower total cost of ownership and higher asset performance over time.

But there's more to it than that.

Remote monitoring also: 

• Builds a historical performance baseline, enabling better future investment decisions and fleet benchmarking
• Supports asset life extension strategies, helping operators defer major CAPEX through data-led risk assessment
• Improves agility, allowing teams to adapt quickly to shifting market demands, regulatory changes, or staffing constraints
• Reduces operational uncertainty, with more predictable maintenance needs and fewer emergency costs 

Ultimately, the ROI of remote monitoring comes not just from what it prevents, but from the smarter decisions it empowers.

Smarter today, stronger tomorrow

Remote monitoring is quickly becoming a cornerstone of modern energy management.

Delivering more than just operational peace of mind, it gives operators the visibility, insight, and agility they need to keep assets running reliably, efficiently, and safely – no matter the market conditions.

With the right combination of AI, expert support, and secure infrastructure, it doesn’t just monitor performance – it unlocks its full potential.

Ready to see it in action?

Discover how EthosEnergy’s Performance Center is helping utilities and IPPs get more from their assets – through 24/7 remote monitoring, AI-powered diagnostics, and on-demand engineering support.