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Caption if needed sdkvjb sdkvjnsdlk dvsdvdvsdvsdvsdv dv skjbdv lskdjvbsdkljvbsdkv ONSITE OPTIMISATION plant in collaboration with Ang- lian, and there's capital work due on that plant, we might look to defer that or introduce a new solution." With the framework now into its second year, McKenna says Veolia is looking to outperform the delivery targets and "imple- ment continuous, innovative improvement" into the pro- cesses going forward. "Anglian Water don't want to just sit on their laurels because their performance is relatively good," he adds. "It's fundamen- tal to have fully optimised assets to be able to provide the right level of resilience. "Depending on what the methodologies are, it gives you new ways of doing things, new interventions, innovative changes in process, and cultural buy-in from the operator to sus- tain it. They're driving the sup- ply chain to give them ways of doing things that are indus- try-leading in the UK." Veolia operates more than 8,000 water and wastewater sites around the world Putting efficiency into effect • As part of Anglian Water's Energy Efficiency and Optimisation framework, Veolia is using its global experience to assist the company's drive for resilience A nglian Water operates in one of the driest regions in the country and has had to deal with substantial population growth as well as the increased threat of weather extremes. As part of its work to contend with these challenges and achieve its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050, the company has stepped up its efforts to improve efficiency. Building on the success of the 'Energy Initiative' it intro- duced in 2006, Anglian ten- dered an Energy Efficiency and Optimisation framework in 2016, seeking companies that could work together to provide specialist expertise in optimis- ing the performance of its equip- ment and systems with a view to saving carbon, energy and cost. Veolia, which joined Boult- ing Technology, Aqua Consult- ing, Integrated Water Services, Projective, Air Technology and Panks Pumps in securing a place on the framework, recently announced that it aims to deliver savings of £1.07 mil- lion over the course of the con- tract, which runs for an initial three years to late 2020. "Anglian Water is obviously one of the best performing water and sewage companies in the UK in terms of efficiency and resilience but they're looking at new ways to support the exist- ing asset base and deliver opti- mised performance," Tony McK- enna, Veolia's head of business development and optimisation services in the UK, says. "They've brought in a num- ber of companies that they believe can help them in differ- ent fields, building a framework that complements the different parts of the supply chain." Veolia, which secured three lots, is delivering an optimised process control service, which KPIs and better value for money to their customers." While the focus of the work for Anglian has been on improv- ing the operation of the existing asset base, Veolia is also seek- ing to deliver better value on capital investment. "Such optimisation allows companies to postpone some of the capex spend," Aragon adds. "By improving these opera- tional costs and the use of chemicals and energy, they also get more from their existing assets and can as a consequence postpone this investment to either replace or add to their existing capabilities, or even downsize whatever capital investment they needed to do." McKenna adds: "We've also worked at the request of Anglian with their @one Alliance to make sure some of the capital investments being made are the right capital investments. If we changed the performance of a water or wastewater treatment covers clean water, wastewater, aeration and pumping systems. One of the key advantages it can offer is its global expertise – Veolia operates more than 8,000 water and wastewater sites around the world and has developed bespoke tools to measure performance. Utilising that data, it has benchmarked the existing pro- cesses and assets across Angli- an's water and wastewater treat- ment plants, including sludge treatment centres, against worldwide standards. "Globally, we know what 'good' looks like," McKenna says. "That's a really good start- ing point for the discussion with the water companies." AŸer benchmarking its cur- rent performance, Veolia works closely with the water company as part of a peer-to-peer service to develop new processes and interventions. The improvements – which follow a 'use less power, generate more' approach – have covered a variety of areas, including minimising water losses, optimising chemical usage and improving sludge quality, although everything is agreed in collaboration. "It's really done as a team," Xavier Aragon, Veolia Water UK's regional director for the south, says. "We cannot deliver without them. There was a learning curve on how to work together but I think we've pro- gressed a lot from that." Anglian has also sought to incentivise collaboration between the companies on the framework, pooling their particular areas of expertise as well as its own team's skills. In the pumps and optimisa- tion lot, for example, Veolia has provided the insights from its benchmarking tools as part of a close working relationship with both Anglian and local pumps and pumping systems experts Panks. The collaborative approach has helped to lay the groundwork for changes and improvements that can stand the test of time, which is central to Veolia's 'iden- tify, implement, sustain' strategy for water optimisation. In addition, a series of key per- formance indicators have been agreed with Anglian – such as mapping differential potable water quality across the seasons and measuring the quality of the sludge – to help ensure the posi- tive results continue. "I've worked in the water industry as an operator for 33 years in a whole range of different companies, and one of the frus- trating things is when changes go in and aren't sustained," McK- enna says. "This process and methodology that we're applying enables these improvements to be sustained across the longer term." Aragon adds: "It's a very inno- vative approach that Anglian has decided to take on. They're using our expertise to deliver better wwtonline.co.uk | MARCH 2019 WET NEWS 9 NEED TO KNOW • The Energy Efficiency and Optimisation framework began in 2017 and runs for an initial three years, with two further 12-month extension options • For water optimisation, Veolia's services include treatment processes and pumping systems, energy demand management, maximising plant availability, asset utilisation, HVAC and lighting • For wastewater optimisation, Veolia provides services for sludge treatment, aeration processes, pump and compressor efficiency, steam generation and tariff management THE VERDICT "Whatever the issue, we always have this global network of experts that can come in and give us some guidance on how best to deliver what we are looking for. Our international work gives us not only the ability to benchmark performance globally but also access to this network of experts." Xavier Aragon, Veolia Water UK regional director (south) Veolia's Xavier Aragon says collaboration is key to the optimisation work

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