A live camera for hydropower and energy sites

What an energy company uses a live stream for

Dozens of small and medium hydropower plants run on Georgia's mountain rivers — in Racha, Svaneti, Adjara and Khevi. The site is far away, but many people need to see it: management, engineers, investors, the bank, sometimes the local community too.

• Management and engineers: a view of the intake, forebay or dam on their phone, with no VPN or special software. When there is news of a flood or mudflow, they look at the camera first and then decide whether to drive out.
• Investors and partners: a view of a site under construction or in operation on a password-protected link that is never published anywhere.
• Local community and transparency: a public camera on the river below the dam shows that the river is alive and the water keeps flowing. That is a solid argument in community relations.
• Tourism: large reservoirs and dams are sights in their own right; their view fits on a regional tourism site too.

What to point the camera at

• Water level: aim at a staff gauge or the level markings on the dam wall. The numbers must be clearly readable — adjust on site with a varifocal lens.
• The intake and trash rack: debris, logs and ice collect here, and it is what people most often need to check.
• The river below the dam: the most suitable view for a public camera.
• A wide view of the reservoir: for a tourism or image camera.

Network and security

Our server connects to the camera over the internet, so you need a public IP and a forwarded RTSP port. See port forwarding. On an energy site this has to be done with particular care:

• A separate network. Never connect a streaming camera to the plant's control (SCADA) network. It needs its own router or an isolated segment.
• A separate camera or a view-only user. A dedicated camera is better than exposing the security recorder to the internet; in every case, use a separate user with view-only rights.
• Only the RTSP port. Never open the camera's or recorder's web interface (80/443/8000) to the internet. Change the default password and keep the firmware updated.
• On our side: viewers never see the camera's IP or password, passwords are stored encrypted on the server, and viewing tokens are short-lived and signed. See protecting a stream.
• Agree it with your company's security team before you put any camera on the internet.

A remote site: internet and conditions

• Internet: a plant often has a fibre link; set aside a separate channel or VLAN for streaming. Mobile and satellite internet usually come without a public IP — ask for a static IP, or call us.
• Bandwidth: 720p needs 1–2 Mbit/s of upload, 1080p needs 3–4. To read a water level, 720p is often enough.
• Humidity and fog: in a gorge, use a heated housing rated IP67 and fit a sun shield.
• Night: infrared reflects off the water surface. Light the gauge with a separate floodlight, or mount the night camera to the side, at an angle.
• Lightning: a camera on a mast needs lightning protection and grounding.
• H.265: on a narrow link H.265 uses less upload, and the system converts it for browsers itself. See H.265 in the browser.

Access control — the key feature here

Each camera has its own access mode, so on one site one camera can be public and another closed. For example:

• Revoke and rotate links: if a link reaches the wrong person, revoke it in one click — the old one stops working immediately.
• Live switch: stop the stream within seconds during an incident or maintenance.
• Logo editor: company logo and site name on the video, so every screenshot shows where it came from.

How to start

1. Create an account.
2. Add the camera or recorder channel: see Axis, Hanwha, Hikvision or NVR/DVR recorders.
3. Run the connection test and choose the access mode.
4. Embed the camera on the company website or an internal portal, or send the direct link: embedding on a website.

NEWTECH works on remote sites too: we choose the camera, link and power and start the stream on site. Phone: +995 577 79 53 77, info@videocamera.ge.