Custom Software Development for Energy & Utilities
Asset management, grid operations, and compliance systems built for the operational complexity and regulatory requirements that generic enterprise software cannot accommodate.
Energy and utility companies operate some of the most complex and heavily regulated infrastructure in any industry. Generation facilities, transmission networks, distribution systems, and customer-facing operations each have distinct technology requirements, yet they all need to work together seamlessly. The software managing these operations must handle real-time data from thousands of sensors, comply with state and federal energy regulations, and support field crews working in remote locations across vast service territories.
Washington State's energy sector faces additional complexity from the transition to renewable generation, the integration of distributed energy resources, and the unique challenges of operating infrastructure across the state's diverse geography. From Puget Sound Energy and Seattle City Light to independent power producers developing wind, solar, and hydroelectric projects, the technology requirements are specific to each operation and generic enterprise software falls short.
Scale Labs builds custom software for energy companies, utilities, and independent power producers across Washington State and the Pacific Northwest. We integrate with SCADA systems, GIS platforms, and existing enterprise tools to create the operational visibility, asset management, and compliance systems that your specific operations require. Whether you are managing a generation fleet, operating a distribution network, or developing renewable projects, we build software that fits your operations rather than forcing your operations to fit the software.
Common Challenges in energy
Operational Data Trapped in Silos
SCADA systems monitor equipment in real time, GIS tracks asset locations, your CMMS manages work orders, and your ERP handles financials. But these systems do not share data effectively, so getting a unified view of asset health, operational performance, and cost requires manual assembly from multiple sources.
Regulatory Compliance Reporting Burden
BCUC rate filings, environmental compliance reports, reliability metrics, and safety documentation require pulling data from operational, financial, and environmental systems. Each regulatory obligation has specific data requirements and filing formats that generic reporting tools do not support natively.
Reactive Asset Management
Critical infrastructure assets have operating data available from SCADA and IoT sensors, but your maintenance programs still rely primarily on time-based schedules. Equipment fails unexpectedly while other equipment is maintained unnecessarily, because the connection between operating data and maintenance decisions is manual.
Renewable Integration and Grid Complexity
Distributed generation, battery storage, demand response, and EV charging are adding complexity to grid operations that legacy systems were not designed to handle. Forecasting, balancing, and settlement for variable renewable resources require capabilities beyond traditional energy management systems.
Why Generic Enterprise Software Fails Energy Companies
Enterprise platforms like SAP, Oracle Utilities, and IBM Maximo dominate the energy sector, but they were designed for a simpler era of centralized generation and one-way power delivery. They handle asset registration, work order management, and financial tracking adequately, but they struggle with the real-time operational requirements of modern energy systems.
The integration challenge is the core problem. SCADA systems produce time-series data at sub-second intervals. GIS systems maintain spatial relationships between assets. CMMS platforms track work history and maintenance schedules. Customer information systems manage billing and service. Each operates with its own data model and its own view of the world. Enterprise platforms attempt to be the single system of record, but the real-time operational data that drives the most valuable decisions often lives outside their reach.
For smaller utilities and independent power producers, enterprise platforms are simply too expensive and complex. A 50-person utility or a renewable energy developer does not need the full weight of SAP or Oracle, but they do need operational visibility, compliance tracking, and asset management capabilities that off-the-shelf tools cannot provide. The mid-market gap in energy software is even wider than in most other industries.
What Custom Energy Software Looks Like
Custom energy software creates the operational intelligence layer that connects your SCADA, GIS, CMMS, and enterprise systems into a unified operational picture. Rather than replacing these systems, we build the analytics, automation, and decision-support tools that turn raw operational data into actionable insights.
For a utility, that might mean an asset health monitoring platform that combines SCADA operating data, maintenance history, and environmental conditions to predict equipment failures before they cause outages. For a renewable developer, it could be a portfolio performance management system that tracks generation, availability, and revenue across all sites with automated regulatory and investor reporting. For an energy retailer, it might be a customer analytics platform that segments customers by usage patterns, predicts demand, and optimizes pricing strategies.
Unified Operational Dashboard
Real-time visibility across generation, transmission, and distribution assets in a single interface. Combine SCADA data, GIS spatial views, and CMMS work order status into an operational picture that supports both daily operations and strategic planning.
Predictive Asset Health Monitoring
ML models trained on your equipment's operating history that predict failures before they occur. Transition from time-based maintenance to condition-based strategies that reduce both downtime and unnecessary maintenance costs.
Automated Regulatory Compliance
Automated data collection and report generation for BCUC filings, environmental compliance, reliability metrics (SAIDI, SAIFI, CAIDI), and safety reporting. Reduce the manual effort required for regulatory compliance by 60 to 80 percent.
How We Build Energy Software
Energy software projects start with understanding your operational technology landscape: what SCADA systems you run, how asset data is structured in your GIS, what your CMMS tracks, and where the data gaps and manual processes live. We map the flow of information from field sensors through operational decisions to regulatory reports, identifying where automation and integration would have the highest impact.
Integration with operational technology is our specialty in the energy sector. We connect to SCADA systems via OPC UA, DNP3, and IEC 61850 protocols. We integrate with GIS platforms like Esri ArcGIS for spatial asset data. We link to CMMS systems like Maximo, SAP PM, and Maintenance Connection for work management. And we build the data pipelines that transform raw time-series data into the metrics and analytics your operations and planning teams need.
Security is critical for energy infrastructure. We implement industrial cybersecurity best practices aligned with NERC CIP standards and CSA Group guidelines. Network segmentation between IT and OT systems, encrypted communications, role-based access controls, and comprehensive audit logging ensure that custom software enhances your security posture rather than creating new vulnerabilities.
ROI for Energy Technology Investment
Energy companies that implement predictive asset management typically see unplanned outage durations decrease by 20 to 35 percent within the first year. For a utility, each hour of avoided outage prevents thousands of dollars in customer impact, regulatory penalties, and emergency repair costs. Condition-based maintenance also reduces total maintenance spending by 15 to 25 percent by eliminating unnecessary scheduled maintenance while catching emerging failures earlier.
On the compliance side, automated regulatory reporting saves 200 to 500 hours annually for mid-size utilities, freeing regulatory affairs staff to focus on strategic rate cases and regulatory strategy rather than manual data assembly. For renewable developers, automated performance monitoring and reporting ensures warranty claims are filed on time, curtailment events are documented accurately, and investor reporting reflects actual portfolio performance rather than estimates assembled after the fact.
What We Build for energy
Asset Health Monitoring and Predictive Maintenance Platform
Combine SCADA operating data, maintenance history, inspection results, and environmental conditions into predictive models for critical assets. Prioritize maintenance based on actual equipment condition and failure risk rather than calendar schedules. Track asset health trends across your entire fleet.
Renewable Energy Portfolio Management System
Centralized performance monitoring for wind, solar, hydro, and storage assets across multiple sites. Automated availability calculations, curtailment tracking, warranty claim management, and investor reporting. Compare actual generation against resource forecasts and financial models.
Regulatory Compliance and Reporting Automation
Automated data collection and report generation for BCUC rate filings, environmental compliance, reliability metrics, and safety reporting. Maintain a compliance calendar with automated task assignment and deadline tracking. Store all compliance documentation in an audit-ready format.
Grid Operations and DER Management Platform
Monitoring and management of distributed energy resources including rooftop solar, battery storage, EV chargers, and demand response participants. Forecasting tools for variable generation, real-time balancing support, and settlement calculations for DER participants.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you integrate with SCADA and other operational technology systems?
Can custom software handle the cybersecurity requirements for energy infrastructure?
How long does it take to build custom energy software?
Is custom software practical for a smaller utility or independent power producer?
Ready to Build Energy Software That Matches Your Operational Complexity?
Tell us about the asset management gap, compliance burden, or operational visibility challenge that is limiting your energy operation. We will design a system built for your infrastructure.