3E is a leading technology and SaaS company providing digital solutions and expert services that maximise the performance of renewable energy assets. As a trusted data services partner, they deliver future-proof and easy-to-deploy solutions over a project’s entire lifetime, supporting developers, asset managers, operators, investors, EPC contractors and IPP’s.
Interview with Joris De Cuyper, Products Director at 3E.
How do your products or solutions help clients lower their overall operating costs?
Joris De Cuyper: 3E SynaptiQ provides advanced monitoring and analytics solutions for renewable energy assets, such as solar parks, wind parks and storage solutions, enabling clients to proactively detect inefficiencies and optimize performance. By automating asset management and providing actionable insights, SynaptiQ reduces manual interventions and helps identify cost-saving opportunities, ultimately lowering the total cost of ownership for solar and wind installations.
In what ways do you contribute to improving efficiency or productivity for your clients?
J.D.C: SynaptiQ’s platform delivers real-time data and intelligent analytics, allowing clients to maximize energy output and streamline operations across their portfolio. By centralizing data from diverse assets and automating performance analysis, SynaptiQ empowers teams to focus on strategic improvements, boosting productivity and ensuring that resources are allocated where they have the most impact.
How do you help clients reduce energy, material, or resource consumption?
J.D.C: By providing granular visibility into asset performance and energy flows, SynaptiQ enables clients to quickly detect and address underperforming equipment or energy losses. This early detection reduces unnecessary resource use and supports preventive maintenance, minimizing waste and optimizing the use of materials and energy.
What technical characteristics in your solutions reduce maintenance or lifecycle costs?
J.D.C: The platform’s predictive analytics and automated alerting systems help clients anticipate and resolve issues before they escalate, reducing unplanned maintenance and extending asset life. These capabilities are enabled by a physics-based digital twin, which is a digital representation of the actual renewable asset, modelling the physics behind the actual electricity generation. This physics-based digital twin unlocks deeper and more accurate insights on the behaviour of the renewable energy asset.
SynaptiQ’s scalable architecture also supports integration with existing systems, reducing implementation overhead and ensuring long-term cost efficiency.
How do you support clients in minimizing downtime or production interruptions?
J.D.C: SynaptiQ’s continuous monitoring and instant fault detection capabilities enable operators to respond rapidly to incidents, minimizing downtime and protecting revenue. Automated reporting and root-cause analysis tools facilitate swift troubleshooting, ensuring that assets are back online as quickly as possible.
In what ways do your solutions simplify processes and reduce further costs?
J.D.C: The unified SynaptiQ dashboard consolidates data from multiple sources, simplifying workflow and decision-making for asset managers. By automating routine tasks such as reporting, benchmarking, and compliance checks, the platform eliminates labor-intensive processes and reduces administrative costs.
How do your technologies enable clients to scale operations in a cost-effective way?
J.D.C: SynaptiQ’s modular and cloud-based design makes it easy for clients to expand their renewable energy portfolios without significant upfront investment. The platform’s ability to accommodate diverse asset types and geographies ensures seamless scaling, while centralized management keeps operational costs predictable and manageable.
How do you help clients meet regulatory or sustainability requirements without excessive costs?
J.D.C: By automating data collection and compliance reporting, SynaptiQ helps clients meet regulatory obligations efficiently. The platform’s sustainability tracking features also provide transparent performance metrics, facilitating adherence to environmental standards while minimizing the administrative burden and associated costs. Changing grid conditions are leading to an increasing need to efficiently monitor or even control active or reactive power ingestion and curtailment conditions.
What role does automation or digitalization play in cost savings for your clients?
Automation and digitalization are central to SynaptiQ’s value proposition, streamlining asset management and reducing manual workload. Automated analytics, reporting, and alerting drive operational efficiency and allow clients to reallocate resources to higher-value activities, delivering significant cost savings over traditional management approaches.
Can you share a concrete example where your solutions generated measurable budget savings?
J.D.C: Several SynaptiQ clients—from international solar portfolio owners to global players in O&M— have reported between 15% to 50% reduction in operational expenses after implementing the platform, due to improved fault detection and faster issue resolution. Additionally, automated performance benchmarking identified underperforming assets, enabling targeted maintenance and further reducing costs across the portfolio.
