The purpose of Insole, the first Clean Fintech in Brazil, is to help people change the way they consume energy, offering financial solutions through the electricity bill. The customer transfers the energy bill to Insole, which, in turn, designs and develops solar capture projects, both for companies and end consumers, who believe that clean energy is a world of possibilities, sustainability and savings to make many more dreams come true. Currently, Insole has more than 5,000 systems installed throughout the country, being established as one of the largest distributed generation companies in Brazil.
Since the company was born in 2013, projects were already prepared with AutoCAD, but given the accelerated growth resulting from the retail vision adopted for the business in recent years, the need to innovate in the way of engineering was seen, as well as the integration with other platforms. That's how from 2020, after much research, Insole created its own methodology adopting Autodesk Revit as a pillar for 3D projects and later other tools that allow not only the visualization and understanding of the project, but simulation and analysis, and even even augmented reality. These resources, according to Ananias Gomes, CEO of Insole, made it possible to increase the productivity and cost management of all projects within a dynamic industrial production line.
The adoption of BIM, with the support of the AX4B reseller, took place in record time. The beginning of the process was in January, the pilot project was carried out in July and in October the methodology was definitively implemented.
It is noteworthy that the entire BIM implementation process was carried out in a challenging year, in which the world had to deal with a pandemic and the limitations imposed by it. For this, Insole created a nucleus that was focused on understanding the methodology while the projects continued to be carried out in the traditional way, so that no customer was harmed.
What has changed?
To create a solar panel installation project, the area where they will be allocated must be registered. Previously, this was done in an almost artisanal way with measurements collected by a technical consultant. Even with the use of drones, the information on the studied perimeter was limited to measuring distances. This ended up exposing data that was not considered and, therefore, Insole understood that it should go beyond this information and act more assertively.
Today, using images captured by drones, a point cloud is generated with Autodesk Recap, which allows the use of context information in the simulation of strategic details for the efficient use of solar energy.
“Imagine that the captured image has a tree, but the issue of pruning is not considered? Or the behavior of the sun over the course of a year? This is essential information when creating a project and installing the panels, so that no solar stimulus is wasted. With Autodesk tools, it became much easier to predict this type of detail and deliver effective solutions to our customers”, explains Ana Cláudia, project and innovation manager at the company.
Another point of automating the process is being able to report the quantity of each project more accurately. With this, cost analysis and quality control were taken to another level.
“The adoption of BIM in an industry that is not yet fully immersed in this methodology was a watershed for us. Accelerating the digital transformation process reduced human interaction and process integration. In this way, we doubled productivity and reduced project costs by 50%. Not to mention that the information obtained through BIM could integrate other areas of the company and thus facilitate decision-making”, says Ananias Gomes.
Insole, which is a signatory to the UN Global Compact, reports a series of results that go beyond the issue of technology, but which were only achieved through it adopting ESG practices. Among them, with the implementation of solar energy projects, almost 5,000 trees were saved and there was a reduction of 789.89 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, and the company's social engagement in social actions in 2020, the year in which BIM was implemented .
“Since we started working together with Insole for the application of Autodesk solutions, we realized that it was something totally innovative in this sector and we promptly directed the technical team of AX4B to support in an advisory way in the construction and choice of the ideal tools based on the objectives. We support the Insole team with specific training and support in the creation of some procedures, such as surveying and processing data captured by drones”, explains Thiago Miranda, AX4B’s design and engineering business leader.
“For us at Autodesk, it is very rewarding to see a company as innovative as this one have this level of maturity in adopting the BIM methodology. It is a practical example of how our tools contribute to building a better world”, says Fernanda Machado, technical specialist at Autodesk Brazil.
