From Periodic Inspections to Continuous Monitoring in Nuclear & Hydro Power with Eagle Edge LoRa

Location: Europe
Application: Nuclear & Hydro Power

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

A major energy provider needed to improve the availability and reliability of its nuclear power plants and hydro power stations by replacing periodic, subcontracted data collection with an automatic wireless monitoring system. Due to remote locations and strict regulations, LoRaWAN was the only authorized wireless protocol.

Acoem deployed Eagle Edge LoRa vibration sensors and Edge LoRa gateways in nuclear environments as well as in isolated hydro power plants, with the potential to scale these solutions for large-scale deployment.

The Challenge

The customer relied on manual, periodic measurements performed by subcontractors, leading to:

Delayed fault detection and reactive maintenance.
Higher operational costs due to inefficient inspections.
Limited visibility on the condition of remote hydro assets.

Without a real-time monitoring solution, the risk of unexpected failures remained high, affecting both energy production and maintenance budgets.

The Solution

Technology Implemented

Eagle Edge Lora wireless vibration sensors
LoRaWan gateway for secure data transmission
Triaxial Vibration and temperature monitoring
Automated diagnostics delivered from the sensor
Remote access to real-time machine health data

Why Acoem?

LoRaWAN compatibility, ensuring compliance with site infrastructure.
Validated cybersecurity and metrology performance.
Scalability from pilot phase to full deployment.

The Results

Increased reliability: Real-time monitoring prevents unexpected failures.
Optimized maintenance costs: Transition from scheduled inspections to predictive maintenance.
Scalable deployment: Expansion from pilot to larger scale rollout.

The Impact

Industry benchmark: The project sets a new standard for predictive maintenance in energy production.
Future expansion: Potential to extend Eagle Edge LoRa solutions to others sites and additional critical energy assets.