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UTILITY WEEK | 21ST - 27TH FEBRUARY 2020 | 25 Six technologies to watch D o w e h a v e e n o u g h d a t a t o r u n s m a r t e r n e t w o r k s ? Frequent and reliable data is the currency upon which water and power networks of the future will run, but how it should be harvested and analysed to maximise the opportunity is an area of fi erce debate. IoT sensors can track things like water leakage and water pressure, energy eff iciency and energy consumption in near real time; the data can be analysed to identify ways to improve eff iciency or perform more proactive maintenance. South East Water is currently running a Narrowband IoT trial on 2,000 homes that will combine data from pressure and water quality monitors in an eff ort to reduce leakage levels. But installing IoT devices across entire networks, including "dumb" legacy infrastructure with no digital capability, would require an expensive and disruptive retrofi t campaign. e national grid may have hundreds of millions of data points that require sensors, which is a huge undertaking. Rather than adopt a blanket IoT approach, a more viable alter- native may be to install sensors in some areas and fi ll in the gaps using advanced data techniques like state estimation, machine learning and AI. " at's what a lot of our digitalisation of the grid is now focused on," says Roger Hey at Western Power Distribution. "Understanding which areas need what level of data estimation or measurement on them and fi nding ways to do it in a clever way, for example using the computing power of IBM Watson." e company utilises "twinning" – the practice of installing measurement devices on one part of the grid then adjusting and scaling the data based on known rules to provide an accurate estimate of how another similar area will function. Other utilities investigating the benefi ts of data analytics and machine learning include Severn Trent Water, which teamed up with French company Capgemini to process fi ve billion records of fl ow and pressure data in a bid to reduce leakage. United Utilities uses the AI platform HARVI to process data from weather, water demand, pump performance and electricity prices to make decisions on the most cost-eff ective and eff icient way to run the network. Data is the big ticket, and utility companies are only just scratching the surface of the potential it has to revolutionise operations and customer services. THE UTILITY OF THE FUTURE Climate change; Regulation; Business models and skills; Consumers; Technology. Cutting-edge technology is one of the fi ve pillars of Utility Week's Utility of the Future series, which is also the overarching theme of this year's fl agship show and exhibition, Utility Week Live, taking place in Birming- ham in May. For more details about the show, visit: www.utilityweeklive.co.uk payment systems for renewable energy and electric vehicle charging. US-based LO3 technology has developed a block- chain-based energy platform that was recently deployed in a Local Energy Market trial run by Centrica in Cornwall. Meanwhile, energy company Ovo invested in UK energy tech company Electron to develop its blockchain-based distributed energy trading platform. Utilities haven't given up on AR yet either, North- umbrian Water teamed up with Ericsson and O2 this year to trial an AR of 5G. Engineers wearing augmented reality glasses in the fi eld will be able to consult with more experienced and knowledgeable colleagues remotely who will relay to them live information and data in real time. Nigel Watson, group director of information ser- vices at Northumbrian Water, tells Flex: "We've got older workers with a lot of knowledge, some of whom might like to have a more graduated retirement and work a couple of days a week on call from home. Using an iPad, they could help a young engineer in the fi eld who's dealing with an asset they perhaps haven't seen before." says Nigel Watson at North- umbrian Water. " e system would create automatic notes for the agent and maybe detect the overall disposi- tion of the customer. If an operational incident is being passed into the fi eld, our people in the fi eld will know exactly what the cus- tomer said to the agent on the phone, the urgency of the situation and get the full context of the call." says Nigel Watson at North- umbrian Water. " e system would create automatic notes for the agent and maybe detect the overall disposi- tion of the customer. If an operational incident is being passed into the fi eld, our people in the fi eld will know exactly what the cus- tomer said to the agent on