Conference:  KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America 2022

Authors: Harry Lee

2022-10-27

The conference presentation discusses the design and implementation of a central data aggregation platform for a smart energy management system in South Africa, targeting big energy consumers such as office blocks, industrial factories, and the mining industry. The platform uses IoT devices to measure energy usage, estimate costs, and optimize electricity usage with automation. The presentation highlights the challenges of building a solution for companies and industrial plants located in rural areas with infrastructure limitations, intermittent internet connectivity, and power outages due to load shedding. The solution needs to be resilient, work offline, and use open-source technologies. Kubernetes is chosen for its resilience, high availability, and ability to run pods from previous states.

• South Africa is facing an energy crisis due to a limited supply of electricity, which drives up costs and impacts businesses heavily reliant on electricity
• The smart energy management system targets big energy consumers and uses IoT devices to measure energy usage, estimate costs, and optimize electricity usage with automation
• The central data aggregation platform is designed to work offline, be resilient, and use open-source technologies
• Kubernetes is chosen for its resilience, high availability, and ability to run pods from previous states
• The solution needs to be flexible, work with existing network infrastructure, and reduce setup costs
• Multiple teams are involved in building the IoT devices, gateway, IoT platform, and advanced data analytics in the cloud