Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | JULY 2021 | 35 utilities built on shared, accurate real-time data. "We default to a certain number of bene ts, but we're missing the big picture a lot of times. If we can zoom out and see the bigger view, some of the qualitative bene ts could be quanti ed. If we open that scope, and start taking on more non-traditional bene ts into consideration and get agree- ment that they are right, then you can have a better business case. Not everything is going to be done to the pound, there could be non- tangible bene ts." Ben Earl, formerly of Southern Water and now director of sustainability, energy and water e- ciency at "disruptive" consultancy Skewb, added that water companies may need to change their internal processes and their skills pro les – such as fully analysing the data they receive then acting on it, or giv- ing customers the behavioural prompts of monthly billing to conserve water – in order to extract full value from "smart network" investments. "There's actually a multiple number of di„ erent departments that can bene t from this technology, and certainly looking at demand management, we've never fully uti- lised smart meters in terms of what they're providing, or adequately going back to cus- tomers to give them that real update on their own information. So that is a progression of di„ erent skill sets within a business, whether it's a„ ordability, whether it's actually the water e- ciency team connecting with the leakage team. So for me, how do you show those bene ts by actually landing [smart metering] e„ ectively as a kind of encompass- ing series of initiatives within the business?" Learning from case studies While the workshop set out the conceptual challenge and some potential answers, the panel discussion focused on practical appli- cations. First, case studies of pilot "Smart water" projects in Australia and She- eld demonstrated the di„ erent use cases that can contribute to a business case: optimal pumping e- ciency, improved insight into network performance that allows a move from "reactive" intervention to predictive planning; and reduced disruption and cus- tomer friction. However, once sensors and communica- tion networks are actually installed, addi- tional use cases can be stacked up. The data gathered for operating platforms can also populate "digital twins" and feed into AI algorithms; enhanced access to data about the network can o„ set the knowledge lost when sta„ retire, and cross-vector partner- ships that belonged previously in pilot pro- jects can become a reality when two or more utilities share the same data, insights and decision making. Dan Sullivan runs Iota Services, the com- mercial arm of Australia's South East Water, one of three publicly owned water compa- nies in the state of Victoria. He described the "Aqua Revo" water recycling trial at a new development of 420 homes, and also a wider scheme to roll out 850,000 smart meters across its patch. Rather than installing a "digital version of a mechanical meter" (or AMR-types devices), the company is installing domestic meters "packed with sensors so they become almost edge-of-network devices that give us really good data in real time". The aim was to give South East Water a much clearer picture of "what's happening beneath our feet". Aœ er 50,000 installations, there was a clear and quanti able payback. "For every dollar we spent on sewer monitoring, we get about $3 in bene ts – in early warning of sewer over¡ ow, the avoidance of massive clean-ups and regulator nes," Sullivan said, describing how triangulating the data from di„ erent vibration sensors integrated into customers' meters had allowed it to locate a sewer blockage at one property with pin- point accuracy. Sam Bright, innovation programme man- ager at Yorkshire Water, also snapshotted what can be achieved, describing a £2 mil- lion smart water trial in a pilot area covering 20,000 customers, 23 district metered areas (DMAS) and with 18 partner companies, including smart network supplier XyLem. Nearly 4,000 data streams – from cus- tomer meters, acoustic loggers, water quality sensors, transient pressure monitors, ¡ ow sensors and reservoir levels – feed into an integrated network management soœ ware platform. "We were trying to push forward our understanding of what we need to do in this space," he says, adding that the Shef- eld project is now going to be scaled up across Yorkshire Water. As he describes, the business rationale starts with leak detection and prioritising where to send maintenance crews. "The system takes ¡ ow data, pressure data, and acoustic data and combines all of that to tell us where's the most likely place for a leak to be. The system prioritises the most likely locations for us to send our teams." But additional use cases can be stacked on this foundation. The project's real-time data coverage creates the functionality for a "digital twin" embedded in the platform, allowing it to run accurate simulations mir- roring conditions in the eld. This function- ality allows eld engineers to "sense check" planned interventions, and also to ll gaps in individual engineers' knowledge. "It gives our engineers ngertip advice and brings data in to better decision-making. A lot of our technicians have been in the industry a long time and know their areas really well, but a third are going to be retiring in ve years' time, so all of that knowledge is going to be leaving. This kind of solution can help us mitigate that." Bright adds that the modelling soœ ware uses accessible "drag and drop" technology. "Modelling can be quite challenging to pick up. But this soœ ware is really trying to do what Apple did, because it's drag and drop, continued from previous page "We default to a certain number of benefi ts, but we're missing the big picture a lot of times." Niko Louvranos, commercial and product lead for 5G communications, Digital Catapult "We default to a certain number of communications, Digital Catapult

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